Wishful thinking about the CP3 / D12 / Deron situations

[Fafnir]

Is there a ESPN insider who can cut and John Hollingers trade scenarios for D-12 and CP3 ?

Sure give me a moment.

Not copying them all, here are some of the highlights:

Chris Paul, Emeka Okafor and Trevor Ariza to the Clippers for Eric Bledsoe, DeAndre Jordan, Chris Kaman and Minnesota's unprotected 2012 first-round pick.

This is the best deal on the board for the Hornets, allowing New Orleans to dump all their contracts, get a likely high lottery pick

Wow, that is a really good asset.

I had forgotten they owned Minny's pick. That should be a top 5 pick next summer.

That pick combined with Eric Gordon plus some nice young talent is a heck of a trade package.

Yeah the Clippers have the best trade offers of any team due to that pick's value.

[indeedproceed]

Clippers also are completely screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term.

[snively]

http://www.iamagm.com/news/2011/12/02/source.claims.pretty.strong.chance.nene.signs.nets

Excellent news. I hope that happens.

I want to see Nene leave the Denver Nuggets. That franchise is going nowhere. I'd love to see him spend the next few years on a team that could actually do some damage in the playoffs.

A Nene + Brook Lopez frontcourt in addition to Deron Williams is a very strong base to build around. It'd give the Nets a real chance at developing a Championship caliber nucleus.

Plus, it'd harm the Nets 2012 cap flexibility which would aid the C's 2012 FA hopes. Win-win-win.

I imagine the Nets' plan, if they sign Nene, would be to trade Lopez + picks for Howard and use Nene as a PF alongside Dwight.

That would be a very impressive front-court, with Deron Williams to create looks for them.  If DH doesn't end up on the Celtics, I'd love to see him playing on the Nets alongside Nene and D-Will.

That would be a pretty beefy frontcourt.  But I'm not seeing the appeal of the Nets trade assets.  I just can't imagine the Magic pulling the trigger on a Lopez for Howard swap after watching the two match-up a few times last year.  Howard dominated every facet of the match-ups, scaring Lopez out of the paint, roughing him up under the boards, forcing him into 17-foot fade-away airballs and then scoring on him at will at the other end.  I just don't see the Magic agreeing to that trade. 

[PosImpos]

Clippers also are completely screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term.

Yeah, it makes much more sense for them to try to trade for DH. 

[Fafnir]

Clippers also are completely screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term.

Yeah, it makes much more sense for them to try to trade for DH. 

The same logic that they're screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term applies to DH. Neither will trade a package like that for the two unless he committs to resigning with them.

[PosImpos]

http://www.iamagm.com/news/2011/12/02/source.claims.pretty.strong.chance.nene.signs.nets

Excellent news. I hope that happens.

I want to see Nene leave the Denver Nuggets. That franchise is going nowhere. I'd love to see him spend the next few years on a team that could actually do some damage in the playoffs.

A Nene + Brook Lopez frontcourt in addition to Deron Williams is a very strong base to build around. It'd give the Nets a real chance at developing a Championship caliber nucleus.

Plus, it'd harm the Nets 2012 cap flexibility which would aid the C's 2012 FA hopes. Win-win-win.

I imagine the Nets' plan, if they sign Nene, would be to trade Lopez + picks for Howard and use Nene as a PF alongside Dwight.

That would be a very impressive front-court, with Deron Williams to create looks for them.  If DH doesn't end up on the Celtics, I'd love to see him playing on the Nets alongside Nene and D-Will.

That would be a pretty beefy frontcourt.  But I'm not seeing the appeal of the Nets trade assets.  I just can't imagine the Magic pulling the trigger on a Lopez for Howard swap after watching the two match-up a few times last year.  Howard dominated every facet of the match-ups, scaring Lopez out of the paint, roughing him up under the boards, forcing him into 17-foot fade-away airballs and then scoring on him at will at the other end.  I just don't see the Magic agreeing to that trade. 

the package the nets can offer isn't as enticing as a potential clippers package, but i don't see another that would be better.  you could argue the lakers can offer bynum + odom, but bynum is injury prone and odom is on the wrong side of 30.

[indeedproceed]

Clippers also are completely screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term.

Yeah, it makes much more sense for them to try to trade for DH. 

The same logic that they're screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term applies to DH. Neither will trade a package like that for the two unless he committs to resigning with them.

Which under the current CBA is just highly unlikely, right? Everyone in the 2012 FA class including DH, DW, and CP3 are better off waiting for their current deal to expire and signing a Bird-Rights max deal, right?

[PosImpos]

Clippers also are completely screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term.

Yeah, it makes much more sense for them to try to trade for DH.  

The same logic that they're screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term applies to DH. Neither will trade a package like that for the two unless he committs to resigning with them.

well, no team is going to get any guarantee of a player signing long term with them due to the new cba's limitations on extend and trades.  going to have to wait till the end of the season to resign with bird rights.  

the clippers might feel that it is too big a risk, which is why more ballsy and / or win-now teams like the nets, celtics, or lakers might have a better chance of getting cp3 or howard, but i wouldn't count the clippers out.

[bdm860]

Step 3:  The season is over.  Deron Williams quickly bolts for New York, worrying that CP3 will beat him there. 

I don’t know about this one. 

July 1st, 2012, the Knicks make calls to both Deron Williams and Chris Paul offering identical deals, and say whoever takes it first gets it?  I don’t think teams operate like that and I also don’t think either are in that much of a hurry to take less money that the Knicks can offer.  The teams both players are on can offer $100m, any team with enough cap room can offer $74m, and I think I read the Knicks could only offer something like $50-$55m (not sure about this last one though, but I know they won’t be able to offer the full $74m).  Deron could still end up on the Knicks, but I don’t think it will be because he beats Chris Paul there.

So, I know this is the 100th time we've all seen the same thing.  Is there any chance of Deron taking CP3's seat in New York?  And would Deron/CP3 and Howard choose Boston to play together, rather than NJ?

Here’s the thing, I don’t view Deron Williams as friendly and buddy-buddy with the other superstars as they are with each other.  He seems like kind of a loner and major introvert.  (Just my opinion).  So based on this, I don’t see Deron as willing to take less money to sign with other superstars (because I don’t see him as buddies with them). 

I could see Chris Paul being traded to the C’s and Dwight signing with the C’s.
I could see Dwight being traded to the Nets and both Dwight and Deron re-sign there.
I could see Chris Paul signing with Knicks no matter where he gets traded.
I can’t really see Deron signing with the Knicks if Chris Paul signs elsewhere, but it could happen, I just don’t think it’s very likely.  More likely Deron would go some place with cap space and a superstar (Clippers?).

No chance of a Deron and Dwight pairing in Boston though.  To get 2 superstars like that in the same free agent period I think they need to really be buddies.

[Roy H.]

http://www.iamagm.com/news/2011/12/02/source.claims.pretty.strong.chance.nene.signs.nets

Excellent news. I hope that happens.

I want to see Nene leave the Denver Nuggets. That franchise is going nowhere. I'd love to see him spend the next few years on a team that could actually do some damage in the playoffs.

A Nene + Brook Lopez frontcourt in addition to Deron Williams is a very strong base to build around. It'd give the Nets a real chance at developing a Championship caliber nucleus.

Plus, it'd harm the Nets 2012 cap flexibility which would aid the C's 2012 FA hopes. Win-win-win.

I imagine the Nets' plan, if they sign Nene, would be to trade Lopez + picks for Howard and use Nene as a PF alongside Dwight.

That would be a very impressive front-court, with Deron Williams to create looks for them.  If DH doesn't end up on the Celtics, I'd love to see him playing on the Nets alongside Nene and D-Will.

That would be a pretty beefy frontcourt.  But I'm not seeing the appeal of the Nets trade assets.  I just can't imagine the Magic pulling the trigger on a Lopez for Howard swap after watching the two match-up a few times last year.  Howard dominated every facet of the match-ups, scaring Lopez out of the paint, roughing him up under the boards, forcing him into 17-foot fade-away airballs and then scoring on him at will at the other end.  I just don't see the Magic agreeing to that trade. 

the package the nets can offer isn't as enticing as a potential clippers package, but i don't see another that would be better.  you could argue the lakers can offer bynum + odom, but bynum is injury prone and odom is on the wrong side of 30.

The trade package they can offer will be solid, but not as solid as the previous proposal to take back Turkuglu's salary.  They most likely won't be able to do that unless Orlando wants to accept some multi-year contracts (Petro, Farmar) back in return.

It does look like Orlando could potentially pull off signing Nene + trading for Howard, though.  It would require them to amnesty Travis Outlaw (a given), and would further necessitate Orlando taking back Petro / Farmar, or New Jersey cutting them under the stretch provision.  If those things happen, and Nene takes a sub-max deal (starting in the $10-$11 million range), they might be able to work it.

[snively]

Clippers also are completely screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term.

Did you really even need to add "if they can't sign CP3 long-term?"

It's amazing that the Clippers can still offer an amazing package for Paul so soon after trading the #1 pick in the draft for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon.  Why do they get so many chances to screw up?

[Who]

http://www.iamagm.com/news/2011/12/02/source.claims.pretty.strong.chance.nene.signs.nets

Excellent news. I hope that happens.

I want to see Nene leave the Denver Nuggets. That franchise is going nowhere. I'd love to see him spend the next few years on a team that could actually do some damage in the playoffs.

A Nene + Brook Lopez frontcourt in addition to Deron Williams is a very strong base to build around. It'd give the Nets a real chance at developing a Championship caliber nucleus.

Plus, it'd harm the Nets 2012 cap flexibility which would aid the C's 2012 FA hopes. Win-win-win.

I imagine the Nets' plan, if they sign Nene, would be to trade Lopez + picks for Howard and use Nene as a PF alongside Dwight.

That would be a very impressive front-court, with Deron Williams to create looks for them.  If DH doesn't end up on the Celtics, I'd love to see him playing on the Nets alongside Nene and D-Will.

That would be a pretty beefy frontcourt.  But I'm not seeing the appeal of the Nets trade assets.  I just can't imagine the Magic pulling the trigger on a Lopez for Howard swap after watching the two match-up a few times last year.  Howard dominated every facet of the match-ups, scaring Lopez out of the paint, roughing him up under the boards, forcing him into 17-foot fade-away airballs and then scoring on him at will at the other end.  I just don't see the Magic agreeing to that trade. 

I don't like that offer either. Those picks would be fairly worthless. A Brook Lopez offer is easy to beat. It won't be a winning trade offer.

However, if it gets to free agency (where Boston would hope to nab Dwight Howard), and, Dwight Howard decided NJ/Brooklyn was his first choice and choose to force his way to the club ... I am sure the Magic would happily accept Brook Lopez in exchange.

So it would take them out of the immediate trade market but still keep them in as a major FA player despite the shrinkage to their cap space.

[PosImpos]

Step 3:  The season is over.  Deron Williams quickly bolts for New York, worrying that CP3 will beat him there.  

I don’t know about this one.  

July 1st, 2012, the Knicks make calls to both Deron Williams and Chris Paul offering identical deals, and say whoever takes it first gets it?  I don’t think teams operate like that and I also don’t think either are in that much of a hurry to take less money that the Knicks can offer.  The teams both players are on can offer $100m, any team with enough cap room can offer $74m, and I think I read the Knicks could only offer something like $50-$55m (not sure about this last one though, but I know they won’t be able to offer the full $74m).  Deron could still end up on the Knicks, but I don’t think it will be because he beats Chris Paul there.

So, I know this is the 100th time we've all seen the same thing.  Is there any chance of Deron taking CP3's seat in New York?  And would Deron/CP3 and Howard choose Boston to play together, rather than NJ?

Here’s the thing, I don’t view Deron Williams as friendly and buddy-buddy with the other superstars as they are with each other.  He seems like kind of a loner and major introvert.  (Just my opinion).  So based on this, I don’t see Deron as willing to take less money to sign with other superstars (because I don’t see him as buddies with them).  

I could see Chris Paul being traded to the C’s and Dwight signing with the C’s.
I could see Dwight being traded to the Nets and both Dwight and Deron re-sign there.
I could see Chris Paul signing with Knicks no matter where he gets traded.
I can’t really see Deron signing with the Knicks if Chris Paul signs elsewhere, but it could happen, I just don’t think it’s very likely.  More likely Deron would go some place with cap space and a superstar (Clippers?).

No chance of a Deron and Dwight pairing in Boston though.  To get 2 superstars like that in the same free agent period I think they need to really be buddies.

while like you i have no evidence to back it up, i share your intuition that deron is kind of a loner and an introvert.  that's part of why i think he's going to remain on the nets whether or not they get dwight howard, as long as they take clear affirmative steps to upgrade the roster around him (e.g. signing Nene).

unless he's traded to one of the LA teams, i really think dwight howard is most likely to choose the newly christened brooklyn nets next summer.  i think dwight will almost certainly get traded prior to the trade deadline this season though, so that means he'll be in LA or Brooklyn next year, in my opinion.  the celtics could be a dark horse for dwight only if they manage to acquire CP3 and maintain cap room.

[Fafnir]

Clippers also are completely screwed if they can't sign CP3 long-term.

Did you really even need to add "if they can't sign CP3 long-term?"

It's amazing that the Clippers can still offer an amazing package for Paul so soon after trading the #1 pick in the draft for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon.  Why do they get so many chances to screw up?

Because they are routinely terrible and in the lottery.

[Who]

I wonder how much Orlando would be willing to pay Brook Lopez. His contract demands could be the variable that screws this entire opportunity up for NJ.

Would they be happy to pay him a starting salary of $13mil per annum? A five year deal worth around $80 million? Because that will likely be the asking price for a talented young seven footer who will have scored around 20ppg with an inside-outside game for three straight years. He could even command a max contract on the open market.

It'll be very interesting to see how highly Orlando rates Brook Lopez.