Tracking Trades

Portland wants him and the Bulls should give him to them. The potential Hinrich trade is just one of many trade possibilities at the NBA Draft.

This has already been an exciting offseason and the Draft hasn't even happened yet.

The Bucks made a painful trade to open salary cap room when they shipped Richard Jefferson to San Antonio for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto. Shortly after, the Bucks made a brilliant move and shipped out Oberto to Detroit for Amir "My potential is endless" Johnson.

Many speculate the Bucks could cut either Bowen or Thomas or maybe both. I wouldn't be surprised to see that happen. Trading Jefferson may have been their way of trading for Ramon Sessions and Charlie Villanueva.

Shortly after, Minnesota jumped on the trade game and sent perpetual shooters Randy Foye and Mike Miller to Washington for Etan Thomas, Oleksiy Pecherov and Darius Songaila along with the fifth overall pick.

I wouldn't expect the T'Wolves to hold on to Songaila or Pecherov, but they may opt to keep Thomas. And as far as getting the fifth overall pick, expect them to try to package that with their 28th pick to move to the two spot to assure themselves Ricky Rubio.

I like the move for Minnesota and meanwhile in Washington we have three guys now who will do nothing but shoot. Miller, Foye and Gilbert Arenas ... that combination should fail badly but will be entertaining to watch at least. Well at least the part where they scream at each other for the ball.

So now that those two deals are done, the rumor mill is churning and you can expect the following to happen on Draft night or shortly there after:

1. Cleveland begins their crusade: It's no secret GM Danny Ferry needs to make a move to keep the King happy and in Cleveland. It's all or nothing for the Cavs this year. A championship puts pressure on LeBron James to stay, but failing again would pretty much show him the door. The two most talked about names are Vince Carter and Shaquille O'Neal. Either would be nice additions to the roster, but I think Ferry is going for broke.

He wants to establish the Ming Dynasty. If Ferry could swing a deal for Yao Ming, you might as well hand the Cavaliers the championship. Sasha Pavlovic and Ben Wallace's expiring contracts won't be enough to bring the big man in though. They will need to offer a draft pick and a promising young player at least. Will it be done? Probably not. Could it be done? Yes. If it fails, expect to see Vince Carter running the floor with James next season.

2. Just Kidding New York: Recent rumors have surfaced indicating the Knicks could be interested in Jason Kidd. I think not. With the Phoenix Suns ready to blow up their team and start all over again, I would expect Mike D' Antoni to make a big push bring in Steve Nash. The Knicks have also expressed interest in Marcin Gortat, while still trying to save cap room for the summer of 2010.

I think they will be careful spending their money this summer, and signing Kidd is not being smart. Speaking of not being smart with their money, the Knicks are talking about swapping one expiring contract for another with the Memphis Grizzlies. Apparently they like what they see in Darko Milicic and are willing to part ways with Quentin Richardson to get him. I mean ... well, they're the Knicks.

3. Is Gar Forman John Paxson: The answer is yes if he fails to trade Kirk Hinrich yet again. There is plenty of interest from multiple teams in Hinirch, and while he is a good player, he has worn out his welcome in Chicago. The backcourt tandem of Hinirch/Gordon didn't work and I don't think it works well with Rose either. If Portland wants him, which apparently, they sort of do, then pull the trigger. Trading for any player on that team would be a pretty good move as they are very deep. They could possibly convince the Blazers to part way with promising young guard, Jerryd Bayless.

4. Is the Celtics' front office smoking: That question will be answered if they trade Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen for Amar'e Stoudemire. For some reason unknown to man, they feel Rondo is a dispensable piece of their puzzle, despite not having any other point guard on the squad. I understand Allen is supposed to make loads of money next season and it would be nice cap relief to let him go, but come on. Stoudemire will not help the Celtics very much and they would have a real hard time replacing Rondo.

A very sick, gross feeling tells me the Celtics are going to make a trade happen on draft night.

Those are the big stories going into tomorrow night's draft, but be sure to follow TBDS all day tomorrow as I will have blog updates about the big stories and a direct twitter feed of all the night's action.

Have a good NBA Draft Night Eve


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