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any idea malice?

New Orleans trades Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor to Washington for Rashard Lewis and the #46 pick.

From what I gathered from the comments at Bullets Forever, the Wiz are attempting to put a more competitive product on the floor to try to keep fans happy, John Wall in town and try to build a better culture.

One commenter put it this way: Instead of adding players in FA in the upcoming offseason and next, they've added Ariza and Okafor. Essentially, those two are the FA acquisitions for the next two years.

I'm not sure Ariza and Okafor were the best ways to go about it, but I can definitely see what the Wiz are trying to achieve. Helps remove some doubt from whether Blatche will get amnestied or not now, too... can't see why they wouldn't.

It's an awful move.  Taking on an additional $30 million in salary to put Okafor/Ariza.

And whilst it's a good move for NOLA, I'll hesitate to make any proclamations other than "good move".  Capspace is HIGHLY overrated.  Tho' I do agree it probably means they have the wherewithal to sign Gordon now.

Also happens to be right around when Wall will be considering FA - perhaps a plan is get better in the short term to keep Wall (and fans) happy and then making a trade when better pieces become available to take the team closer to contender status. If teams dump good but overpaid players to the extent some are predicting, it might end up being a solid plan... plenty of talent to be had if you're willing to overpay for it. And I'm guessing if Leonsis is willing to spend $30 mill on this trade, he's willing to burn cash.

I'm probably wrong. But if this is their plan then they're pretty well ahead of the curve... GSW is the only other team I can think of off the top of my head that took on seemingly unnecessary salary. Any others?

I'm not saying Grunfeld's a genius - but if I can come up with a plan like that, and if I have an owner behind me willing to burn cash (which Leonsis apparently is) then you've at least got to consider it a possibility.

Maybe every GM in the league has had a similar idea, but lacks a willing owner?

I think the key thing is Okafor and Ariza won't be your Eddy Curry, Raef LaFrentz expiring contracts - they'll still bring something to the table. So a team that trades for them in a couple years won't be getting pure cap relief - they'll be getting at least some help, too.

I think it's an interesting possibility. Maybe not likely - and given the likelihood of failed franchises continuing to fail, your scenario is probably a lot closer to reality - but I like to maintain the notion that some GMs know what they're doing.

malice wrote:

Indy Star reports that it's rumored that Larry Bird is going to step down as president...

Am I the only one surprised by this? I had the impression he was going to be around for the long haul.

Isn't he leaving for health reasons?

Bird should know better than to pull the same excuse for retiring twice.

pguard9 wrote:

A question: who would you take, the Celtics' Big 3 in their prime or the Miami Big 3 in their prime?

That's extremely close. KG in his prime was the best player in the NBA. I would probably go Boston by a hair just because I don't think Chris Bosh deserves the right to be part of a big anything and Pierce,KG and Ray in their primes could all ball.

Far more overlap in the Big 3 of Miami.

So the Lamar Odom trade is complete.
Clips get Odom, Jazz get Mo Williams, Mavs get a trade exception, cash, and Tadija Dragicevic, and Rockets get Furkan Aldemir.

pguard9 wrote:

KG reportedly will be back with the Celtics next season.
Miami is making a run at Ray, and he seems to want to play for them, too.

Yeah KG.  Feel like Ray going to the Heat is a slap in the face to the Celtics organization.  I understand it's purely business, but the Big 3 have formed such a strong bond over the past 5 years.