Lost in the bustle of possible trades…
February 21, 2008Or Maybe This Guy
February 21, 2008Trade Rumors Supposedly Involve Shawn Marion
Following all this trade talk has been a bit of a whirlwind. As I promised last night, I have been keeping my eyes peeled and my ears open today. First, Brian Windhorst released his latest blog post about the trade rumors, saying,
“Woke up this morning to an explosion of e-mails about the potential trade I reported the Cavs were thinking about last night. It is important to point out that the Cavs and many NBA teams have discussions about big trades all the time. Obviously they intensify around the deadline as teams get serious about shaking up their roster. The Cavs are no different. The rumors that I have heard may only represent 10 percent of what the Cavs are thinking/talking about. I talk to various people from various teams across the league, I don’t have sources in every organization and the information I bring to you is the best and most credible I can find. The overall chances of a “blockbuster deal” — and boy has that term been devalued a little in the NBA over the last couple weeks — are still less than 50/50 in my opinion.”
Um…….what?? Boy is that some quick backpedaling. But then it got even worse,
“As a Cavs fan what you need to know is that the front office is honestly looking at trying to make a deal to improve the team. That is the real reason why I decided to write the story about them considering a major deal. They are not simply standing pat as I hear them often being accused of. And not just for the top available players in the Jason Kidd/Mike Bibby class. They are trying to get creative and trying to balance out the short term and long-term benefits.”
Wow. I suddenly lost track of whether Windhorst was serving as a beat writer or as a PR rep for Danny Ferry. Look, I like Brian and he’s by FAR my favorite Cavaliers beat writer, but I really take issue with him throwing in that line last night about the Cavaliers being serious about a blockbuster trade, only to wake up today and have him tell us that “well, hehe, boy….that word ‘blockbuster’ sure is being misused these days, eh?” and “yeah, that trade isn’t really serious….Just wanted you to see that Danny Ferry does have a working phone.” As a consumer, I feel betrayed and used. We all know by now that Ferry was Brian’s favorite basketball player when he was growing up, and that’s fine….I don’t really see a huge confilct of interest or anything. But what I don’t need is my beat writers propping me up and assuring me my team is trying to get something done when in reality it’s the same story over and over and over again. I don’t want to know what trade fantasies Danny Ferry dreams about…..what I want to know is what are the realistic trade possibilities for this current Cavaliers team as constructed.
At least David Aldridge is unafraid to openly discuss this “blockbuster” trade rumor. In his blog, he writes,
“As to the substance of it, this is the only thing I hear: Miami and Memphis may be the other players involved. That makes sense because of the following sentence fragment: I was told by no less than six general managers during All-Star weekend that the Heat was shopping Shawn Marion around…..If–if–it’s Marion, that would certainly give LeBron James some serious help.
My guess is that Miami would wind up with Mike Miller, and Memphis would get that Jason Williams-Ricky Davis slew of expiring contracts. But what would Cleveland donate to the party? That’s what’s stumping me. Can’t imagine Riles would be excited about Larry Hughes, for example. Drew Gooden is on a much shorter contract, though. Ilgauskas? Well, Riles does believe in power basketball, and Z is still 7-2, last time we checked.”
These things are hard to keep track of, and it’s hard to decipher when a writer is giving us real inside info, and when they’re just making an educated guess. I’ll make an educated guess of my own and deduce that Aldridge is making an educated guess here, based on what he has heard in the recent past from his sources. Windhorst did say that Z was not involved in any trade rumors he had heard, so it seems unlikely to be Ilgauskas moving. But then again, maybe Miami is just one of the teams Brian doesn’t have a source with. Regardless, it’s hard to understand in this proposed scenario as to why exactly Danny Ferry would feel entitled to a 1st round draft pick in addition to Marion.
I’m all for any deal that involves Shawn Marion in a Cavaliers uniform for the rest of the season. I have never been a huge Marion fan, but there’s no doubt he would provide real value to this roster and would be a legit threat playing with LeBron. Plus, the two have played together for Team USA, and while I have no idea how their chemistry was, the point is that they do have some kind of existing chemistry already, whether it be good or bad. It could make for a quick assimilation into the lineup for Marion. The unfortunate thing would be having to watch Mike Miller go somewhere else, when he’s been a player I have really thought would be helpful to this Cavaliers team.
Regardless, I still feel like any kind of deal like this one is an extreme longshot at best. I’m not getting my hopes up, and I still feel like Windhorst was merely standing up for his idol Ferry, and Aldridge made an educated guess based on false pretenses. I hope I’m wrong and I will publicly apologize to Windhorst should something come of this trade rumor, but for now I remain a skeptic and will do so until 3:00 this afternoon or until a trade is made, whichever comes first.
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