Cavaliers Slices
December 5, 2007Talkin’ Heisman
December 6, 2007Pat saw this report today and passed it along to me. Very interesting.
The original report comes from Yahoo Sports. The article insinuates that Jason Kidd, who didn’t play in New Jersey’s game yesterday against the Knicks, sat out not because of a headache as is being reported, but because he is angry with management for not building a championship caliber team. Apparently Jason would like to be traded, more specifically, to be traded in order to play with LeBron.
There was no migraine headache holding Jason Kidd out of the New Jersey Nets’ loss to the New York Knicks Wednesday night, but a superstar sending a message to a floundering franchise that he’s irate with management and teammates, several league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
As the Nets flew back to New Jersey late Tuesday from a victory over Cleveland, sources said Kidd already had decided he would be sitting out against the Knicks in the Meadowlands. Kidd didn’t tell Nets officials until Wednesday afternoon, but several people inside and outside the organization were made aware of the meaning behind his sick day.
Kidd’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, isn’t believed to have formally demanded a trade, but Wednesday’s bold act could be the precursor to starting that process. Two sources said Kidd has been a constant text messaging partner with LeBron James since playing with him this summer on Team USA and that the Cavaliers are his preferred destination.
Interesting. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of players trying to force trades. I think it is bad sportsmanship, and reflective of a bad attitude. I can’t think of another player that has tried to force a trade to a team I root for however. Honestly I think that Jason Kidd is exactly the type of player that makes the Cavs an instant contender for the whole thing, not just the Eastern Conference title. A starting five of Kidd, LeBron, Pavlovic (who should see his game elevated with Kidd in the fold) Gooden and Z would be a force. Bringing Gibson and Varejao off the bench would be a great bonus.
While that is a nice dream, let’s look into reality for a moment. Forget trading Varejao, as he has to wait the mandatory three months for the ink to dry on his contract, meaning the deadline will have passed before he can go anywhere. Ditto with Sasha. Jason Kidd makes $19 million dollars. For any trade to work, (assuming of course that the Cavs want to keep LeBron and Z, which of course they do) Larry Hughes would have to be involved. He makes $12 million to sit the bench and otherwise destroy the Cavaliers’ chances of winning the title. Oh yeah, and he is signed for two seasons beyond this year. Attractive huh? Eric Snow makes $6.7 million for this year and next year, and Donyell Marshall makes $5.5 million this year and next. So Hughes would have to be included, plus one of those two, and an additional player to make the numbers work.
Shannon Brown could be that player, but his contract ($1.04 million) is only for this year. You would assume that the Nets would want a young player who is under contract for more than this season in exchange for Kidd. What about Daniel Gibson? I wouldn’t mind trading Gibson if it meant a two-year chance at a title. But Gibson makes just over $600K. And his contract is up after this year.
The reality is that unless the Nets want Larry Hughes, why would you make that deal? I’d love for someone to explain that to me, Because I would welcome Jason Kidd, but I think we have about as good a shot seeing Kidd playing for the Cavs as we do seeing me suit up for the wine and gold. Come to think of it, I’d play for the league minimum!
6 Comments
Nice post. You made most of the same points I was going to make. There is only a 10% chance this trade happens because it HAS to include Hughes, and that just ain’t gonna happen with 2 years left on his contract after this year.
As I was looking into the numbers and rumors, it seems that Andre Miller’s name has surfaced a few times. To accquire Miller the Cavs could give Shannon Brown and Eric Snow. That trade works on the ESPN trade machine. It would give the sixers a vet point guard, and a young player in return for Miller. Who knows, that trade probably has a better chance of being made than the Kidd one. Not that Andre Miller is close to Jason Kidd’s talent, but still better than what we have running the point.
I agree. The Sixers deal for Miller is the most realistic posibility because the Sixers are clearly stockpiling cap space. They’re about to go on an epic spending spree. I just wonder, though, if they would take Snow with another year left on his contract. They might do it instead for Brown, Newble, and Damon Jones. That would give them 2 expiring contracts and Jones would cost them less next year than Snow would. Although then that leaves the Cavs awfully thin.
rockking, so you’re saying you’re concerned if the cavs were to trade shannon brown, ira newble and damon jones for andre miller, it would leave them a little thin??? there’s nothing like a little bulimia to give the team a much needed “roster cleansing” so to speak. hee-hee!!! no but seriously though, i think it would make them more svelte and sinewy, not thin. they could always go out and finally sign free agent point guard earl boykins to come off the bench to provide instant offense for them then too. they could also bring back that demetrious nichols fella they just cut to make room for andy as well. honestly, if i was gm danny ferry, i would make that trade in a heart beat and not think twice about it. talk about seperating the wheat from the chaff.
Dave goes biblical…nice usage there.
[…] This just in… Jump to Comments Today while fishing around the interwebs, I came across this Cavs story by Brian Windhorst. I came across the story because ESPN’s rumor mill had a link today reporting that the Cavs have a better shot at trading for Andre Miller than Jason Kidd. So to recap, ESPN reported today (Monday the 10th) what Windhorst (who is paid handsomely to follow the Cavs) reported on Friday the 7th, which is what we reported on Thursday the 6th. […]