Mike Miller On the Move

With the recent trade of Pau Gasol to the Lakers, it appears the Memphis Grizzlies are in full rebuild mode. Miller is a 6'8" wing player, who at twenty-seven years of age, still has plenty of good years ahead of him. Miller has averaged double-digits every year of his career and is one of the best pure shooters in the NBA. This season, he is averaging 17 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game, and 3.7 assists per game. He certainly can help any team looking for an additional scorer.

With Miller having value, this is the perfect opportunity for the Grizzlies to stick Brian Cardinal's contract on someone else. Likely, the Grizzlies will be asking for someone to take on Cardinal with any trade for Miller. Cardinal is scheduled to earn $5,850,000 and is locked in for three more years.

Here are the five top trades, sensible for both teams, that would send Miller out of Memphis:

1) Golden State is always interested in shooters and have plenty of assets to make a trade. By using their trade exception, the Warriors could trade two disgrunteled players, for two guys who could help in Don Nelson's playoff push.

Mike Miller ($8,376,194, 3 Years Remaining) and Brian Cardinal ($5,850,000, 3 Years Remaining) for Patrick O'Bryant ($2,216,400, 1 Year), Mickael Pietrus ($3,470,771, 1 Year Remaining), and $9,999,999 Trade Exception (Jason Richardson)

2.) The Orlando Magic could acquire Miller and Cardinal without giving up key parts. Cardinal would get significant playing time on a team short with size and Miller would be an upgrade over existing talent. Concerns over Hedo Turkoglu and Miller being too similar may arise, though I would think Miller's ability to play and defend multiple positions would be of interest to Orlando.

Mike Miller ($8,376,194, 3 Years Remaining) and Brian Cardinal ($5,850,000, 3 Years Remaining) for Pat Garrity ($3,818,750, 1 Year Remaining), Carlos Arroyo, $4,000,000, 1 Year Remaining), James Augustine ($687,456, 1 Year Remaining), J.J. Redick ($2,000,160, 2 Years Remaining), and Brian Cook ($3,500,000, 2 Years Remaining)

3.) The Cleveland Cavaliers badly need another scorer next to LeBron James and Miller would be a great fit. The Grizzlies would have to take on two mid-sized deals to make the trade work, but would certainly still save money. Additionally, both players are 34 years old and would consider retirement.

Mike Miller ($8,376,194, 3 Years Remaining) and Brian Cardinal ($5,850,000, 3 Years Remaining) for Eric Snow ($6,703,125, 2 Years Remaining), Donyell Marshall ($5,566,965, 2 Years Remaining), Shannon Brown ($1,044,120, 1 Year Remaining) and Dwayne Jones($770,610, 1 Year Remaining)

4.) The San Antonio Spurs would be a strong pairing to make this trade with the Grizzlies. However, they would not be in position to take on Brian Cardinal as well. Therefore, the trade below swaps Miller and little-used Andre Brown for two replaceable players.

Mike Miller ($8,376,194, 3 Years Remaining) and Andre Brown ($770,610, 1 Year Remaining) for Brent Barry ($5,544,370, 1 Year Remaining) and Francisco Elson ($3,000,000, 1 Year Remaining)

5.) Like the Cavaliers trade, the Houston Rockets would also be interested in acquiring Miller, but would the Grizzlies would have to take on some multi-year contracts.

Mike Miller ($8,376,194, 3 Years Remaining), Andre Brown ($770,610, 1 Year Remaining) and Brian Cardinal ($5,850,000, 3 Years Remaining) for Kirk Snyder ( $2,358,433, 1 Year Remaining), Mike James, ($5,926,893, 2 Years Remaining), Steve Francis ($2,439,333, 1 Year Remaining) and Luther Head, ($1,122,000, 2 Years Remaining)

Lakers & Magic Try to Add Final Piece, Kings Look to Dump Salary

With the Magic and Lakers getting ready for a push to the top of their respective conferences and the Sacramento Kings seeing their top young players develop, it is time for a three-way trade.

Lakers get:
Adonal Foyle, $1,219,590, 1 Year Remaining
Ron Artest, $7,400,000, 2 Years Remaining

Magic get:
Mike Bibby, $13,500,000, 2 Years Remaining
Justin Williams, $862,456, 1 Year Remaining

Kings get:
Pat Garrity, $3,818,750, 1 Year Remaining
Sasha Vujacic, $1,756,951, 1 Year Remaining
Chris Mihm, $2,500,000, 1 Year Remaining
J.J. Redick, $2,000,160, 2 Years Remaining
Trevor Ariza, $3,100,000, 1 Year Remaining
Carlos Arroyo, $4,000,000, 1 Year Remaining
James Augustine, $687,456, 1 Year Remaining
Orlando's 2008 First Round Pick

Let's go team-by-team to take a look at how this would benefit each team.

Lakers: The Lakers would get the final piece to the puzzle to make them the favorite to win the championship. With a starting lineup of Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and then Lamar Odom, Vladimir Radmanovic, Ronny Turiaf, Luke Walton, and Jordan Farmar off the bench, the Lakers would be loaded. Artest would be the perfect complement on the wing to Bryant and Odom's versatility off the bench would fit well. Adding Foyle in place of Mihm would be a slight downgrade, but Foyle does play strong defense in the post. The loss of Ariza would hurt, but he is simply a poor man's Artest. Vujacic has played well and is young, but to make this trade work, he would have to go.

Magic: Today, the Magic sit three games behind Detroit and seven games behind Boston in the East. More importantly, as currently constructed, Orlando most likely will not be able to beat either team in a seven game series. Orlando's biggest weakness thus far has been at the point guard spot. Both Jameer Nelson and Carlos Arroyo have been given a shot, but neither has excelled. With a handful of expiring contracts for players that are not significant on the roster, Orlando has a chance to add a major player. J.J. Redick is a guard who has not fit in with the team and it would be a good opportunity to move him. In this trade, Arroyo would be the only impact player they would need to move. However, adding Bibby would create a situation with an extra point guard, so he could be moved.

Kings: Although the Kings would be giving up two of their most talented players, it would give them an opportunity to get out of long-term contracts that they are locked into. Sacramento would be getting six players whose contracts would expire after this season. A few of the players the Kings would be getting in this trade would be waived immediately. The Kings would also get a terrific shooter in J.J. Redick at a small salary, plus a first round pick of Orlando's next season. With Bibby and Artest moved, it would give Beno Udrih, Quincy Douby, Kevin Martin, John Salmons, and Francisco Garcia more playing time to continue to develop.

I would think only Orlando would have to consider not making this trade. They may not consider Bibby a great enough upgrade from Arroyo or Jameer Nelson to make this trade and take on a big salary for the 2008-09 season. I would think in an opportunity to dump both Bibby and Artest in one trade would be something they couldn't pass on. For the Lakers, to have an opportunity to add another major talent to their team would be a move they would make. Although they would be digging themselves even deeper into a luxury tax position, I would think they would make it for the chance to seriously contend for the title.

Philadelphia Moving Andre Miller?

Andre Miller is one of the most steady point guards in the NBA, averaging at least 13 points per game and 6 assists per game for every season since his second year in the league. Miller is stuck on a team that lacks talent and experience and most likely will not be participating in the playoffs this season. The 76ers have a handful of nice, young players, but are not ready to win yet.

With that in mind, it appears like Philadelphia will be looking to trade him before this years deadline. Miller is scheduled to make $9,366,666 in 2007-08 and $9,999,000 in 2008-09.

Here are a few teams that would be interested in him and have the assets to get him:

Orlando
Pat Garrity ($3,818,750, 1)
Carlos Arroyo ($4,000,000, 1
James Augustine ($687,456, 1)

Atlanta
Tyronn Lue ($3,500,000, 1)
Anthony Johnson ($2,860,000, 1)
Josh Childress ($3,631,449, 1)

Lakers
Trevor Ariza ($3,100,000, 1)
Javaris Crittenton ($1,285,200, 2)
Sasha Vujacic ($1,656,951, 1)
2008 first round pick

Denver
Anthony Carter ($770,610, 1)
Eduardo Najera ($4,952,380, 1)
J.R. Smith ($2,134,067, 1)
2008 first round pick

Cleveland
Miller & Louis Amundson ($687,456, 1)
for
Ira Newble ($3,441,900, 1)
Eric Snow ($6,703,125, 2)
Shannon Brown ($1,044,120, 1)

Each one of these trades would allow the 76ers to make a splash next season on the trade front of free agent market. Among the bigger names who will become restricted free agents next summer are Emeka Okafor, Luol Deng, Josh Smith, Andre Iguodala and Ben Gordon. Gilbert Arenas, Ron Artest, Corey Maggette, Shawn Marion, Jermaine O'Neal, Baron Davis, and Elton Brand are all eligible to opt out of their contracts as well to become free agents.

With a season that looks like it could be a wash and Willie Green and Louis Williams currently in the fold and needing a legitimate look to be the point guard of the future, the 76ers should look to trade Andre Miller.

Otis Smith's Huge Mistake

On July 3, it was widely reported that Rashard Lewis gave Orlando a verbal commitment that when free agency opened on July 11, he would sign with their franchise. On the first day of free agency, the Orlando Magic signed Rashard Lewis to a six-year maximum dollar contract and renounced the rights to Darko Milicic, who then proceeded to sign with the Memphis Grizzlies. The Magic should be commended for signing a young, wing player like Lewis, who will make a great duo with Dwight Howard. However, Magic general manager, Otis Smith, clearly made a mistake with the way he went about this series of transactions.

Smith was fortunate to be able to get a commitment from Lewis before free agency began. Once he locked up Lewis, Smith decided that he would not be able to afford Milicic, so he renounced his rights allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent and taking away the opportunity to match any offer he receives.

So what’s wrong with this? From the time Lewis committed to Orlando, Smith should have began to either work on a sign-and-trade with Seattle or make a move to trim their payroll by trading away some of their players who are in the last year of their deal. With Lewis' new, large contract coming onto their payroll with Howard and Nelson's new extensions abou to be signed, Orlando needs to consider where they stand. The Magic have three players who are in their last year of their deal and making near $4,000,000 in: Carlos Arroyo, Pat Garrity, and Keyon Dooling. Otis Smith and the Magic could have tried to trade a group of these players to Seattle along with draft picks, or look to trade these players to another team. Moving two of the three of these players would have allowed the Magic to both add Lewis and bring Milicic back.

Instead, Smith did not give himself a chance to put out a Lewis, Milicic, Howard frontline because he unnecssarily renounced the rights to Milicic before he needed to. In the end, the Magic sent Seattle a conditional second-round pick and also acquired a trade exception believed to be in the $9,000,000 range. On July 11, Milicic signed a new contract with Memphis for three years and $21,000,000. So where did Smith make his mistake? If he would have forced Seattle’s hand earlier and let Milicic and his agent, Marc Cornstein, know that he was committed to signing him but needed time, the Magic could have ended up with a great, young frontcourt. Smith got flustered too quickly and renounced the rights to Milicic which essentially was waving the white flag on the possibility of bringing him back. Did Smith really think the SuperSonics would take nothing over something? The Magic would not have been risking losing Lewis because they were going to be paying him significantly more money than anyone else. Lewis would have waited a few days into free agency for everything to work out for his new team.

At the same time, Cornstein and Milicic would have had no choice but to wait for Smith to finalize a deal with the SuperSonics or another team to clear the cap space to bring back Milicic. As a restricted free agent, Milicic was not free to sign with another team without the Magic having the option to match it. At the minimum, Smith should have held onto Milicic and when Memphis wanted to sign him, at least get compensation in return. A future first round pick or a young, post player like Alexander Johnson would have been better than nothing. Johnson is a good leaper and shoots the ball well, but tends to be foul-prone. He played in 59 games for the Grizzlies last season, including a stetch in December where he played well. In the end, the Magic received no compensation for Milicic, after acquiring him last season from Detroit for Kelvin Cato and a first-round pick.

Smith completely dropped the ball here and now Tony Battie, Marcin Gortat, and James Augustine are Orlando's only other big bodies outside of Howard and Lewis. If you add in the critiscm that many have made that Smith threw in an extra, sixth year at close to $24,000,000 for no real reason, the series of transactions becomes even more perplexing. At the end of the day, what could have become a spectacular front line for the next six years, has now become a team that will be struggling to put together a competent rotation.