Trade Proposal: Cavs Add Talent, T'Wolves Dump Salaries

As Minnesota lingers with the worse record in the NBA and Cleveland tries to jump into the top of the East, it looks like it may be time for both teams to make a trade. Minnesota is looking to rid itself of some of their veteran players with long-term contracts and Cleveland is simply looking to upgrade their talent.

Minnesota gets:
Ira Newble, $3,441,900, 1 Year Remaining
Eric Snow, $6,703,125, 2 Years Remaining
Donyell Marshall, $5,566,965, 2 Years Remaining
Shannon Brown, $1,044,120, 1 Year Remaining
2008 First Round Pick

Cleveland gets:
Gerald Green, $1,440,960, 1 Year Remaining
Antoine Walker, $8,329,640, 4 Years Remaining
Marko Jaric, $6,050,000, 4 Years Remaining

In this trade, Minnesota would be ridding themselves of two of their largest player contracts. Green has also expressed displeasure with his playing time and it appears he has fallen out of favor with the coaching staff. At only 22 years old, and 6'8", Green certainly has potential to become a contributer in the NBA. The Timberwolves will receive two players whose contracts expire after this year. The other two - Snow and Marshall - have one more year after this upcoming season, but both may retire.

Cleveland would clearly be getting the better talent in this swap. Walker would immediately become the Cavaliers top big man-perimeter threat and could help take some of the scoring pressure off LeBron James. Jaric would compete for time with Larry Hughes, Daniel Gibson, and Devin Brown for time at either guard spot.

This trade would help both team achieve its current goals: Cleveland would add more talent, while Minnesota would improve their payroll flexibility for future seasons.

Winning Now vs. Building for the Future

After this summer's exile, which saw Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Juwan Howard, Trenton Hassell, Troy Hudson, Mike James, and Kevin Garnett all come-and-go, it was widely believed that Minnesota was ready to start fresh and rebuild with young, exciting players. Through six games, Minnesota stands at 1-5 with their only win taking place at home against the 2-6 Sacramento Kings.

Some may say it is too early for a team to throw in the towel on a season and begin exclusively playing young players. In Minnesota, I say it is time to do so. Attempt to package Theo Ratliff's $11,666,666 salary with Antoine Walker ($8,547,000 with one year after this remaining). Look to move Marko Jaric (about $27,000,000 over the next four years) to a team looking for scoring from the point guard position. If they cannot move Walker, then it is time to buy him out. Minnesota should target a young wing player who can score or a legitimate center that can help them in the future.

Among the team leaders in minutes played, Ratliff, Greg Buckner, and Marko Jaric all fall in the top seven. Why? Why is Walker getting more than 15 minutes per game? The Timberwolves have put together a nice, promising core that needs experience and growth. Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes, Randy Foye, Rashad McCants, Corey Brewer, Craig Smith, and Gerald Green are all promising players all 25 years old or younger.

The coaches and management need to let these kids play together for extended time. This way, after the season, Kevin McHale and the rest of the management can accurately access what they have. Each one of these players have questions around them, but if they do not get extended time this year, then they will not be able to answer them:

• Can Jefferson be a superstar or more of a second leading scorer?
• Can Telfair run an NBA team
• Is Gomes more than just a hustle player?
• Is Foye a point guard or undersized shooting guard?
• Will McCants ever be more than what he is today?
• Can Brewer be counted on to score consistently in the NBA?
• Do Smith's abilities extend beyond rebounding and post defense?
• Is Green a potential 20 point per night guy?

However, if Minnesota continues to play some of their veterans significant minutes, then the team will not be able to determine what they have and what they need. This is an important season for Minnesota in the start of their rebuilding and they cannot waste it away.

Western Conference X-Factors

After looking at the Eastern Conference X-Factors, the Western Conference has a handful of players that are equally important to their team. An X-factor is a player on a team who will largely help a team towards success or failure.

Dallas Mavericks: Devin Harris
For the Mavericks to get back to the NBA Finals, Harris needs to move up a step in the league's group of point guards. The Mavericks are at their best when Harris is distributing the ball and Jason Terry slides over to the shooting guard spot.

Denver Nuggets: Kenyon Martin
Martin is coming of a loss year due to injury, and the Nuggets could use a consistent scorer next to Anthony and Iverson. A big year from Martin could mean a long run in the playoffs for the Nuggets.

Golden State Warriors: Stephen Jackson
Jackson played his best late last season and the Warriors need him to do the same all year in 2007-08. With Jason Richardson being traded during the offseason, the Warriors will certainly look to Jackson to pickup the lost production.

Houston Rockets: Mike James
The Rockets will look for James to push Rafer Alston at the starting point guard spot. James' ability to score from the perimeter will also benefit the Rockets off the bench, which is something they struggled to get last season.

Los Angeles Clippers: Al Thornton
With Elton Brand lost for a majority of the season, the focus will be on the 2008-09 season. Thornton's progress in his rookie season will be vital to the Clippers success in the years to come.

Los Angeles Lakers: Javaris Crittenton
The Lakers hope that Crittenton can be ready to start at point guard by mid-season. Crittenton is a big point guard, who can do things that no other point guard that the Lakers have.

Memphis Grizzlies: Darko Milicic
The Grizzlies have a number of good, young players in Mike Conley, Rudy Gay, and Keith Lowry. However, they are thin in post players that can score outside of Pau Gasol. If Milicic can provide consistent post scoring, then the Grizzlies rebuilding process will be a big success.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Gerald Green
Although still young, Green has now played two seasons in the NBA. Now with Minnesota, Green needs to have a strong season in order to remain as one of their core, young players. Minnesota knows what they will get in Randy Foye and Al Jefferson, but Green may be the wildcard here.

New Orleans Hornets: Rasual Butler
Butler will compete with Morris Peterson for time at shooting guard. Butler is the taller of the two and provides greater upside than Peterson. With a strong core of players in Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojakovic, Chris Paul, and David West, Butler would be a strong, versatile player if he can play at a high level this season.

Phoenix Suns: Boris Diaw
Coming off a disappointing season, Diaw needs to rebound with a year similar to 2005-06. The Suns are in need of Diaw to provide the offensive versatility and rebounding that he once brought them. If Diaw can play at a high level, then the Suns can afford to play Marion, Diaw, and Stoudamire at the same time. If not, Grant Hill will have to fill Diaw's role and the Suns will have to play smaller.

Portland Trail Blazers: Travis Outlaw
With Oden and Randolph off the team this year, Outlaw needs to provide the scoring that Portland will be missing. Outlaw played well at the end of last season, but needs to do that all season in 2007-08.

Sacramento Kings: Francisco Garcia
Garcia needs to have a strong year similar to what Kevin Martin had last season. Garcia played his best at the end of last season, but needs to continue to develop his all around game. As a long-armed, tall guard who can play three positions, he has the ability to become a very versatilite piece for the Kings.

San Antonio Spurs: Ime Udoka
A player in the mold of Bowen, Udoka will be expected to defend the opponent's top scorer. As the Spurs only significant addition from last year, Udoka will most likely play an important role in the playoffs this season.

Seattle Supersonics: Robert Swift
In his third season, Swift will get every opportunity to win the starting spot for Seattle. Swift has struggled to avoid injuries during his career, but Seattle will rely on Swift to provide defense and rebounding. Swift will compete with Chris Wilcox, Nick Collison, and Kurt Thomas for minutes - all of whom are proven commodities.

Utah Jazz: Andrei Kirilenko
With Kirilenko playing at his best, the Jazz have one of the most talented starting five's in the league. Kirilenko brings great versatility and arguably the best defensive player in the league. However, when he plays like he did towards the end of last season, Kirilenko is the most overpaid player in the NBA. A good year from Kirilenko means that Utah will compete for the championship.

Without KG, What's Left in Minnesota?

This week, Minnesota traded superstar Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics for forwards Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Gerald Green, center Theo Ratliff, guard Sebastian Telfair and two future first round NBA draft picks. After giving up Garnett, Minnesota clearly got a lot of players in return, but what do they really have left?

Players Coming Off the Salary Cap After This Season:
Theo Ratliff - $11,666,666
Ricky Davis - $6,817,500
Eddie Griffin - $2,900,000
Ryan Gomes - $770,610
Craig Smith - $687,456

Comments: Minnesota will most likely look to bring back Gomes and Smith. Minnesota will have more than $20,000,000 come off their payroll after this season since they certainly will not bring back Ratliff, Davis, or Griffin.

Veterans Minnesota Will Try To Move:
Juwan Howard - Two years and more than $13,000,000 remaining
Mark Blount - Three years and more than $20,000,000 remaining
Marko Jaric - Four years and more than $26,000,000 remaining
Mark Madsen - Three years and more than $7,000,000 remaining

Comments: Now that Garnett is gone, there is certainly no need for Howard and Jaric. I would look for Minnesota to be successful in trading Howard soon. Blount is productive enough to probably stay with the Timberwolves. Madsen will most likely be included in a trade at some point.

Building Blocks for the Timberwolves:
Randy Foye (23)
Sebastian Telfair (22)
Corey Brewer (21)
Al Jefferson (22)
Rashad McCants (22)
Gerald Green (21)
Gomes (24)
Smith (23)
2008 Boston Celtics First Round Pick
2008 Boston Celtics First Round Pick (originally Minnesota's pick, which was dealt to Boston in the Wally Szczerbiak-Ricky Davis trade last year)

Comments: Minnesota clearly has a number of young players to start their rebuilding process. They are two deep at both guard sports and the small forward position. They need to add one more young big man to put next to Jefferson, which they should be able to do with the pick they acquired that was actually originally their own. If Minnesota has the type of season many expect them to do, they could be in the running for one of the top picks from a draft which should include: Michael Beasley, Darrell Arthur, Roy Hibbert, Kevin Love, Brook Lopez, and Hasheem Thabeet.

Overall, Minnesota is in a great space to quickly rebuild. With four first round picks over the next two seasons, more help will certainly come. General manager and Kevin McHale and the Timberwolves need to move some of his veterans who still have a few years left in their contracts. With a few moves, Minnesota will be in position to add one of the top free agents that will be available next year including: Baron Davis, Corey Maggette, Shawn Marion, and Antawn Jamison. Although they have lost their superstar, the Timberwolves should be able to rebuild quickly and get back to become a Western Conference competitor.

Three Teams Stuck in Neutral

The Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers last regular season combined to win 96 games, while losing 150 games. So it would be fair to assume that all three have a clear rebuilding plan, right? Not exactly. Each one of these teams would like to win today, but because of a nucleus of younger players or a lack of talent, at this point they are not ready to make the leap.

Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks must choose between taking a step back and again making cap room their goal while they wait for their young players to develop, retaining their existing nucleus and let them grow together, or packaging some of their young players to bring in another experienced veteran. Based on their moves this offseason, it looks like they plan to retain their existing nucleus and continue to add young talent to it. Tyronn Lue, Lorenzen Wright, and Anthony Johnson will all have their contracts fall off the Hawks payroll after this season clearing more than $9,500,000. Unfortunately for Billy King and the Hawks, with Joe Johnson being the exception, no major free agents have actually shown an interest in joining the Hawks. The Hawks instead are stuck waiting for guys like Marvin Williams, Al Horford, Josh Childress, Shelden Williams, and Acie Law to continue to develop. Josh Smith has shown that he is ready to make an impact now, but the rest of his young teammates are unproven. If I were in the Hawks shoes, I would look to package some of their young players like Childress, Shelden Williams, and Marvin Williams to bring in a star point guard and center to put around Johnson, Smith, and Horford. On a playoff contender, Pachulia, Claxton, and Law are contributors but not starters. By bringing in two experienced scorers at those two key positions, the Hawks would be ready to make a run at the playoffs and get out of neutral for the first time since the 1998-99 season.

Boston Celtics
Since he was hired in 2003, Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics have spent their time trying to put a young group of talented players around their superstar, Paul Pierce. When they started with this plan, Pierce was only twenty-five years old and just had one of the most productive seasons of his career. He was seen as a go-to scorer, who could play two positions and had a solid reputation on defense.

Ainge has drafted young players such as Al Jefferson, Rajon Rondo, Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Glen Davis, Leon Powe, Gabe Pruitt, and traded for Sebastian Telfair. The problem is that they have only won 57 games over the last two seasons and have not gotten past the first round of the playoffs during Ainge's reign. At this point, they have to consider whether or not they are wasting the career of their star, Pierce.

With the trade for Ray Allen this offseason, it only reaffirms that Ainge lacks direction. He is stuck in a middle ground and the Celtics will continue to be mediocre. With a lineup of Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Jefferson, and Kendrick Perkins, they will never be good enough to seriously compete for the Eastern Conference title. Plus, with Allen about to turn 33 years old, they will only have a small window for success and then they will have to start over again.

As I have suggested before, if I was the Celtics I would look to package a handful of their assets, Theo Ratliff (expiring contract of $11,666,666), Sebastian Telfair, Tony Allen, Gerald Green, and a future first round pick for another veteran who can push the Celtics forward, such as Jermaine O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Lamar Odom, or even Drew Gooden or Boris Diaw. A rotation featuring veterans like Allen, Pierce, and an acquired post player to go along with youngsters Jefferson, Gomes, Perkins, Davis, and Pruitt would be serious competitors, and the Celtics would have true direction for the first time during Ainge’s stint as general manager.

Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers lack of direction has been well-documented this offseason as the trade demands of Kobe Bryant have been made. The talent around Bryant clearly is not strong enough for them to be true competitors in the Western conference. However, with Bryant in his prime, the Lakers should avoid having to rebuild and instead make a play to compete now. The Lakers need to move players like Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown, Andrew Bynum, and Jordan Farmar to bring in players who better fit with Bryant.

As I suggested before, Mitch Kupchek and the Lakers should target Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest in an effort to bring in talent that would suit Bryant's game well. Artest would be able to take the burden off of Bryant on the defensive end and O'Neal would be the true post player the Lakers are looking for. Sending Kwame Brown (expiring contract of $9,075,000), Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, and a first round pick to the Kings for Ron Artest and John Salmons (four years and more than $20,000,000 remaining) would be something both teams would be interested in. The Lakers would receive two players who could help right away, while the Kings would gain significant cap flexibility and some young players.

After acquiring Artest, the Lakers should turn their attention to the Pacers' O'Neal. The Lakers would have to give up Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, and Brian Cook to get O'Neal. This trade would give the Pacers a combination of young talent and veterans who can get the job done now. At this point, the Lakers would have rookie Javaris Crittenton and John Salmons at point guard, Kobe Bryant and Maurice Evans at shooting guard, Ron Artest and Luke Walton at small forward, Chris Mihm, Vladimr Radmanovic, and Ronny Turiaf at power forward, and Jermaine O'Neal in the middle. This team would be ready to compete for the championship immediately, and it would give the Lakers direction for the first time since Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat.

Without doing these trades and instead standing pat, the Lakers are looking at a rebuilding process. Although they will not drop to the bottom of the West, they will never truely be a contender. They will watch Kwame Brown and Maurice Evans' contracts come off the payroll at the end of the year, giving them about $10,000,000 in savings, but will be unable to bring in a talented veteran to assist Bryant. Wholesale changes need to be made in Los Angeles for the Lakers to have a good shot to compete for the title.

Jermaine O'Neal's Future Destination

What team does Jermaine O’Neal play for next season? Here are my top five possibilities, in order of probability:

(1) Los Angeles Lakers
Jermaine O'Neal for Andrew Bynum, Aaron McKie, and Lamar Odom.

This trade would give the Pacers a great mix of a potential star (Bynum), veteran talent (Odom), and future cap relief (McKie). Odom is good for nearly fifteen points and ten rebounds per game, and would do a decent job of replacing O’Neal’s production. It is hard to tell at this point what is holding up this trade. A combination of Kobe and Jermaine O’Neal would surely be an upgrade.

(2) New Jersey Nets
Jermaine O'Neal for Josh Boone, Richard Jefferson, Nenad Krstic, and Antoine Wright.

The Nets would get a good mix of younger talent in this trade. Everyone the Pacers would be receiving is under 27 and still has room to grow as a player. Although this trade wouldn’t bring back the top-tier talent as others would, this would certainly be an attractive package for the Nets.

(3) Celtics
Jermaine O'Neal and Troy Murphy for Al Jefferson, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, Brian Scalabrine, Tony Allen, and Sebastian Telfair.

This trade makes the most sense for both teams of any trade I have put together. So, why isn’t this higher on the list? O’Neal seems to not be interested in playing for the Celtics. With O’Neal, Murphy, Pierce, Allen, and Rondo, the Celtics would definitely be a serious contender for the Eastern Conference championship. For the Pacers, they would be ridding themselves of two huge contracts on their payroll, while bringing in two promising young players (Jefferson and Green), as well as, some major payroll relief upcoming with Theo Ratliff. Additionally, both Allen and Telfair have shown flashes of something special in the past.

(4) Warriors
Jermaine O'Neal and Keith McLeod for Brandan Wright, Monta Ellis, Adonal Foyle, $10,000,000 exception.

If the Pacers are looking to get much better through trading O’Neal for the future, this is a trade that Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh would seriously consider. In Wright and Ellis, the Pacers would be adding premier young talent. With the large trade exception the Warriors received from Charlotte, the Pacers would see major salary cap relief. Golden State would definitely be a contender for the championship next year with a promising mix of Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, Al Harrington, Jermaine O’Neal, Andris Bierdins, Marco Belinelli, and Mickael Pietrus.

(5) Washington Wizards
Jermaine O'Neal and Jamaal Tinsley for Antawn Jamison, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Andray Blatche (sign-and-trade).

If the Wizards are looking to get better right away, this may be a good way to go. Jamison is a versatile power forward, who would be able to replace most of O’Neal’s point production. In addition, Jamison becomes a free agent after next season, making his contract attractive to the Pacers. Navarro is an exciting combo guard from Spain, who the Wizards own rights to. He owns a quick first step and is capable of shooting consistently from the perimeter. He needs to continue to upgrade his upper body strength, and can be a defensive liability when defending guards quicker and smaller than him. However, Navarro would be great as a new-look from Tinsley. Blatche is a young, promising wing player, who would need to agree to a sign-and-trade.

Other teams such as the Bulls (Brown, Duhon, Noah, Gordon), Hawks (Williams, Childress, Pachulia), Mavericks (Ager, Croshere, Harirs), and Clippers (Kaman, Maggette, Ross) may have the ammo to make a move for the Pacers star.

Aditionally, there is a strong possibility that O’Neal returns next year to the Pacers and they make another run with a nucleus of Marquis Daniels, Ike Diogu, Mike Dunleavy, Danny Granger, Troy Murphy, Jamaal Tinsley, and Shawne Williams surrounding O’Neal. Either way, it is clear that the Pacers brass has a major decision to make concerning the future of their young all-star.