NBA 2008-09 Season

**Skyhi** · 02-19-2009 08:50 AM

Trade deadline today!! Always an exciting day for NBA fans.

**salsadancer7** · 02-19-2009 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by Skyhi

Trade deadline today!! Always an exciting day for NBA fans.

ALL kinds of juicy rumors all over the place...

**HD MM** · 02-19-2009 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by Skyhi

Trade deadline today!! Always an exciting day for NBA fans.

yep! Danny Ferry said this morning on 1100am that he's still not ruling out a trade. He continues to be in talks.....

3pm today is the deadline btw. Stay tuned.

**Skyhi** · 02-19-2009 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by HD MM

yep! Danny Ferry said this morning on 1100am that he's still not ruling out a trade. He continues to be in talks.....

3pm today is the deadline btw. Stay tuned.

Just heard on the radio that Ferry has been talking with Phoenix all morning about bring Shaq to Cleveland. Rumor has cleveland giving up Wallace and Pavlovic. Very interesting!

**HD MM** · 02-19-2009 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by Skyhi

Just heard on the radio that Ferry has been talking with Phoenix all morning about bring Shaq to Cleveland. Rumor has cleveland giving up Wallace and Pavlovic. Very interesting!

Wow. This is interesting indeed!!!

**HD MM** · 02-19-2009 12:43 PM

ESPN.com contributor Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the Cavs have offered [ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=885"]Ben Wallace Stats, News, Photos - Detroit Pistons - ESPN[/ame] and [ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=2172"]Sasha Pavlovic Stats, News, Photos - Minnesota Timberwolves - ESPN[/ame] to the [ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=pho"]Phoenix Suns News, Schedule, Players, Stats, Video - NBA - ESPN[/ame] for O'Neal.

And sources close to the process have confirmed to ESPN.com that the teams are indeed in talks involving O'Neal, which would offer the Suns some of the payroll relief they've been seeking. Because only $1.5 million of Pavlovic's contract is guaranteed next season, Phoenix would slice $5.5 million off of its 2009-10 payroll if it agreed to send Shaq to the Cavs.

It's believed, though, that the Suns are resistant to taking back Wallace and thus trying to convince Cleveland to part with [ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=831"]Wally Szczerbiak Stats, News, Photos - Cleveland Cavaliers - ESPN[/ame]'s $13.8 million expiring contract instead, which would turn this into a huge financial windfall for Phoenix.

**HD MM** · 02-19-2009 12:46 PM

Chris Sheridan: A source who has been in the know for years tells me that [ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=788"]Joe Smith Stats, News, Photos - Atlanta Hawks - ESPN[/ame] is keeping his fingers crossed that the Thunder do not find another trade for him now that he's back in Oklahoma City.

Smith, the source said, would like to do a buyout and then sign with the [ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=bos"]Boston Celtics News, Schedule, Players, Stats, Video - NBA - ESPN[/ame] as this season's version of [ame="http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=99"]P.J. Brown Stats, News, Photos - Boston Celtics - ESPN[/ame].

**HD MM** · 02-19-2009 12:53 PM

Anyone catch ESPN First Take this morning? Stephen A Mouth was on and said he had talks with teams that had talked about deals with the Cavs and that the Cavs on the phone sounded like they were in a panic and making other teams feel uncomfortable on the phone.

What an complete spazz!

**Skyhi** · 02-19-2009 01:11 PM

It seems like it will take Wally to get the deal done. I'm not sure how I feel. It would leave us awfully weak at SG. West is just getting back from his injury, Pavlovic is injured (or in Phoenix as well). That leaves us with Kinsey and a struggling Gibson.

Also, how would Shaq or Z take to coming off the bench?

**AntAltMike** · 02-19-2009 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by HD MM

...It's believed, though, that the Suns are resistant to taking back Wallace and thus trying to convince Cleveland to part with
Wally Szczerbiak

's $13.8 million expiring contract instead, which would turn this into a huge financial windfall for Phoenix.

Funny how valuable lousy contracts can be. Remember when the Celtics swapped the #7 pick and Raef Lafrenz for Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff? I think Lafrenz had three years left under contract at about $11M per year, whereas Ratliff had 2 years at 13M, so a lot of people thought that was better for the Celtics because they seemed to "save" $7 million, but they weren't really saving anything because they would have to pay that much to get a comparable player to fill that roster spot in th e third year.

What made the deal great for the Celtics was that Ratliff's salary was going to come off the books a year earlier, so they would have room to work with under the salary cap a year earlier. And when Minnesota decided to pat with Garnett early to salvage some valuie (which they certainly did by getting Al Jefferson), the Ratliff contract was very valuable since it met the requirement of substantially offsetting Garnett's immediate contract year value without burdening Minnesota in the future. It turns out that the trade of Telfair for Randy Foye was relatively inconsequential. Vin Baker's $6M/year contract might have come off the Celtics books at about the same time.