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playa2
Posts: 34922
Alba Posts: 15
Joined: 5/15/2003
Member: #407
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Marbury me at Wounded Knee
Posted by Casey Holdahl November 15, 2007 07:36AM
Categories: Speculation
We'll get to last night's beat down in a bit, but I wanted to start the day off with this idea from Martin Johnson at the New York Sun regarding places where the now ruined Stephon Marbury could be traded to. I think you know what's next.
Portland is another viable trading partner. Indicative of how much dead weight was on the Blazers roster, GM Kevin Pritchard has been wheeling and dealing since he got there, and there are still players he'd probably like to move. Portland could move center Raef LaFrentz, whose contract expires in '09, and swingman Darius Miles, whose deal runs until '10, for Marbury. This might do some good for both teams. Miles is a player who has played well in his first year with each of his new teams. Also coming off of microfracture knee surgery, the word on the grapevine is that the one-time knucklehead has finally matured during his recovery process. Reuniting him with Knicks swingman Quentin Richardson (his best friend from his early days in the league with the Los Angeles Clippers) might pay dividends. LaFrentz's contract will give the Knicks some cap relief earlier than acquiring Miller or one of the Kings forwards would. Meanwhile, this would give the Trail Blazers a dream scenario, a contending young team with scads of cap room to spend on a first tier free agent.
Well, that's certainly an idea (one which, I might add, my man Kyle here in the OregonLive.com offices sent me yesterday). ESPN's Trade Machine says it's cool. Basically (and let me know if I'm wrong here, you salary cap gurus) the benefit for the Blazers is getting rid of Darius Miles' contract a year earlier by pairing his $9 million a year with Raef's $12.7 million in exchange for Marbury's $22 million. The result of all this being the Blazers have an extra $9 million to spend on free agent or agents when the 2009-2001 season rolls around. They'd also pick up a roster spot for a guy like ... Joel Freeland!
Of course, the rub is that you have to take Stephon Marbury. I think the conventional wisdom here is that the Trail Blazers (re: Paul Allen) would simply buy-out the remaining years on Starbury's truly insane deal, but that's a whole lot of money, even for a guy like Allen. Marbury is supposedly set to make $20+ million this year and near $22 million next year, and it would be hard to imagine Marbury taking less, as his prospect for latching onto another team seem slim. And I could be wrong, but he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who's in it to win a championship by latching onto a title contender.
JAMES DOLAN on Isiah : He's a good friend of mine and of the organization and I will continue to solicit his views. He will always have strong ties to me and the team.
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