find a home for AI

[the_Bird]

I think that would make Cleveland a worse team. Iverson costs you a lot defensively and his self-absorbed offensive play will hurt them on the other end. He can't play next to scorers. He'll waste a bunch of key possessions that will cost them a playoff series.

AI may not be much of a defender, but he can't be any worse than Wally.  Arguably the best player Cleveland would be losing in the second deal (including Nene) would be Joe Smith, who's replacable.  Cleveland's got to do *something*, if the AI experiment's a failure, well, they've given up nothing of consequence and can either let him walk, trade him at the deadline, or do a sign-and-trade next summer.  The only downside risk to the deal that I see is having to absorb Nene's contract, which was stupid from the moment he signed it but in the grand scheme of things pales in comparision to Cleveland's more pressing needs.

[zerophase]

ai on clev would indeed work. gives him and lebron the best chance they've ever had. people underestimate ai in too many ways, saying he's a ball hog and bad on defense... well i can't say too much about his defense, but he's assist numbers look pretty [dang] good.

[Chris]

The Chicago trade Chris mentioned is a good one for both teams but I don't think Paxson will add someone as old as Iverson. He'll look to build a long lasting team around Rose and the rest of the youth.

What it does is gives them the possibility of being well under the cap next year (assuming they resign just one of Deng and Gordon to a big extension).

So they can make a run at the top of the East this year, and then next year, they can try to reload, with their young guys gaining another year of experience.

Yes it's a very good trade for Chicago but I don't think Paxson would do it. He's got a one-track mind and I have a huge amount of trouble believing he'd consider it.

Good point.  I still think Paxson is the most overrated GM in the league, and may actually be one of the 3-4 worst GMs.