Looks like Cuban's looking to pull off a 2 for 1 deal to clear up some roster space after re-signing James Singleton: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4472017

How's this scenario sound:

A re-signed David Lee starting around $7-7.5 mil. for Drew Gooden, Shawne Williams, Nathan Jawai and the rights to Nick Calathes.

Drew Gooden has an expiring contract at $4.5 million, Shawne Williams is a nice young piece with potential (has a very similar game to Wilson Chandler, all he needs is some PT to prove himself - would also give us a nice young SF in case LeBron doesn't come and also leaves us with a replacement in the event we ever wanted to move Chandler), Nate Jawai we could cut and Calathes would be a nice PG prospect to look forward to when he's done in Greece (if he couldn't be bought out sooner). Dallas gets to clear up quite a few roster spots and gets a good young, productive PF to either back up Dirk or play alongside him in certain situations. If there's an owner out there that's not afraid of pulling the trigger on something like this to make his team better, it's Mark Cuban. Only drawbacks -- we'd have to then cut a few players ourselves in order to trim down our own roster (Donnie would have to reconsider his position on waiving players) and then we'd have to re-evaluate Williams next year & think long & hard about whether or not he's worth keeping for at least his $3.4 mil. qualifying offer (but if he turns out to be a player, it'd probably be worth it to keep him around, esp. if LeBron stays in Cleveland). Other than those small concerns, I think this is a trade that works well for both teams. Thoughts?

[Edited by - finestrg on 09-14-2009 2:38 PM]

i'd want some consideration towards PG Rodrigue Beaubois.

Posted by martin:

i'd want some consideration towards PG Rodrigue Beaubois.

I was thinking about him too. I think they're gonna want to hold onto him though - their SG position is a little shaky with Matt Carroll, Greg Buckner etc... And for us, I think I'd rather get Calathes - I think Calathes is more of a truer PG and a big & skilled PG at that. If we wanted a player like Beaubois, we could just go out right now and offer a contract to Mike Taylor, Guillermo Diaz or some guy like that. Speaking of Diaz, where is this kid playing right now? Remember this kid for Miami? Talented. Could shoot, drive it and finish well. Similar player to Toney Douglas/Jack McClinton only a much, much better athlete. I remember he had a big-time vertical leap number that was off the charts, something like 45 inches or close to it. Is Diaz playing in Puerto Rico right now or somewhere else?

[Edited by - finestrg on 09-14-2009 2:33 PM]

Posted by Finestrg:

Looks like Cuban's looking to pull off a 2 for 1 deal to clear up some roster space after re-signing James Singleton: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4472017

How's this scenario sound:

A re-signed David Lee starting around $7-7.5 mil. for Drew Gooden, Shawne Williams, Nathan Jawai and the rights to Nick Calathes.

Drew Gooden has an expiring contract at $4.5 million, Shawne Williams is a nice young piece with potential (has a very similar game to Wilson Chandler, all he needs is some PT to prove himself - would also give us a nice young SF in case LeBron doesn't come and also leaves us with a replacement in the event we ever wanted to move Chandler), Nate Jawai we could cut and Calathes would be a nice PG prospect to look forward to when he's done in Greece (if he couldn't be bought out sooner). Dallas gets to clear up quite a few roster spots and gets a good young, productive PF to either back up Dirk or play alongside him in certain situations. If there's an owner out there that's not afraid of pulling the trigger on something like this to make his team better, it's Mark Cuban. Only drawbacks -- we'd have to then cut a few players ourselves in order to trim down our own roster (Donnie would have to reconsider his position on waiving players) and then we'd have to re-evaluate Williams next year & think long & hard about whether or not he's worth keeping for at least his $3.4 mil. qualifying offer (but if he turns out to be a player, it'd probably be worth it to keep him around, esp. if LeBron stays in Cleveland). Other than those small concerns, I think this is a trade that works well for both teams. Thoughts?

[Edited by - finestrg on 09-14-2009 2:38 PM]

David Lee for a pile of dung. Ahh No. If we wanted to get high value assets for David Lee it wouldve happened in the 2008 draft. Right now I am interested in letting David Lee go for 18 points 13 rebounds with 3 assists and helping us win some games. I'm not interested in castoffs or pick 28 in the draft. Perhaps if we sign Lee to a contract that waives his right to void a trade and he really does well--perhaps his value will re-emerge [iF we dont settle on keeping him] I think we have continuity with Lee and he remains a truly under appreciated undervalued player.

[Edited by - BRIGGS on 09-14-2009 3:21 PM]

Briggs, nice job

Perhaps if Josh Howard were part of the deal (i.e. Hughes, Lee etc. for Howard, spare parts).

Posted by BRIGGS:

Posted by Finestrg:

Looks like Cuban's looking to pull off a 2 for 1 deal to clear up some roster space after re-signing James Singleton: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4472017

How's this scenario sound:

A re-signed David Lee starting around $7-7.5 mil. for Drew Gooden, Shawne Williams, Nathan Jawai and the rights to Nick Calathes.

Drew Gooden has an expiring contract at $4.5 million, Shawne Williams is a nice young piece with potential (has a very similar game to Wilson Chandler, all he needs is some PT to prove himself - would also give us a nice young SF in case LeBron doesn't come and also leaves us with a replacement in the event we ever wanted to move Chandler), Nate Jawai we could cut and Calathes would be a nice PG prospect to look forward to when he's done in Greece (if he couldn't be bought out sooner). Dallas gets to clear up quite a few roster spots and gets a good young, productive PF to either back up Dirk or play alongside him in certain situations. If there's an owner out there that's not afraid of pulling the trigger on something like this to make his team better, it's Mark Cuban. Only drawbacks -- we'd have to then cut a few players ourselves in order to trim down our own roster (Donnie would have to reconsider his position on waiving players) and then we'd have to re-evaluate Williams next year & think long & hard about whether or not he's worth keeping for at least his $3.4 mil. qualifying offer (but if he turns out to be a player, it'd probably be worth it to keep him around, esp. if LeBron stays in Cleveland). Other than those small concerns, I think this is a trade that works well for both teams. Thoughts?

[Edited by - finestrg on 09-14-2009 2:38 PM]

David Lee for a pile of dung. Ahh No. If we wanted to get high value assets for David Lee it wouldve happened in the 2008 draft. Right now I am interested in letting David Lee go for 18 points 13 rebounds with 3 assists and helping us win some games. I'm not interested in castoffs or pick 28 in the draft. Perhaps if we sign Lee to a contract that waives his right to void a trade and he really does well--perhaps his value will re-emerge [iF we dont settle on keeping him] I think we have continuity with Lee and he remains a truly under appreciated undervalued player.

[Edited by - BRIGGS on 09-14-2009 3:21 PM]

A pile of dung? Are you kidding me? A nice young SF with Wilson Chandler-type ability (Williams will never see the light of day in Dallas), the rights to a young, skilled 6'5" PG prospect with excellent upside in Calathes, plus a nice stopgap PF in Drew Gooden - I think Gooden's still pretty effective with his Kurt Thomas-like skills & an expiring contract (remember not too long ago they were said to be looking for a veteran presence, thus the Mark Madsen rumor? Well I think Gooden fullfills that need and he's 100X the player Madsen is). Wow. This is a glass half full move for me, not half empty. I got news for ya my man, there's absolutely no market out there for David Lee. Zero. No interest whatsoever and right now, we're over a barrel with him. Nate too. You don't need a crystal ball to say we're potentially running a big risk of eventually losing him for nothing after yet another disappointing season overall as a team. This latest news outta Dallas could lead to a good opportunity for us if we explore it (and even then I don't see a perfect match, they supposedly love Singleton and just resigned him, although with Cuban you never know plus Singleton's more of a SF, he and Lee are different players - I'd offer Cuban Nate Robinson as well to see what he said..). It's not like we're ever getting Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and the Lakers' next 10 draft picks for Lee, no matter what numbers he puts up. His stats last year were nice but essentially hollow when you think about it. To determine this guy's true worth all you need to do is look at the win column to really see what time it is. I'm not trying to bash him, I love Lee, but tell me I'm off base. You wanna see Lee go for 18/13/3 and win some games huh? In case you forgot, he basically gave us that last year and we won 30 games. And this year we're coming back with a very similar team.. I say it's time to move on if a good opportunity ever presents itself - start by opening up some time for Jordan Hill right off the bat. Hill's gonna play some btw, you can bank on it - I doubt they drafted this kid 8th overall only to send him to the D-League. Thus there won't be enough PT for Lee to even go for 18/13 type production anyway. Plus who knows how they're gonna play this with Lee this year - if they do want him back the following year, they may not even elect to give him the PT & allow him to go for numbers like that. If they keep his numbers managable, they could keep his future cost manageable as well in theory. I'm not saying I'd do that, but who knows how they approach using him now... It doesn't matter, we're basically talking about hollow stats anyway. Lee's a good player, but no game-changer. The proof is in the pudding - we're a 30-win team with this guy putting up inflated numbers. If we manage to win more than that with this group, it won't be because David Lee put up 18 & 13 - of course he'll be a factor, but in order to win anywhere close to 40 games, it'll have to be because the rookies contributed, Darko finally comes into his own, Curry manages to contribute something, Duhon doesn't flame out like he did last year...

Here's the current David Lee situation in a nut shell --- as I understand it, even if he re-ups for the year above the qualifying offer he still keeps his right to veto any trade (would like someone to confirm this - I think I read that we needed to commit a 2nd year in order to have complete control with his rights). That basically makes him untradeable during the year as he will surely shoot down any trade that comes up - why would he go and up-root himself around the all-star break to go to a destination he didn't choose himself, even for half a season? He won't. This kid and his agent have shown that they'll play hardball and won't consent to anything unless it suits their needs. Remember, we had that draft day trade in place with Memphis for their pick a couple of years ago that Lee shot down when he threw it out there that he would never re-sign to play in Memphis. I know winning is important this year (Utah does have our pick - who wants to just hand over a lottery pick to them - I agree with that wholeheartedly, I've been saying that since last year) and I guess there still might be a shot to keep him after a max. FA if the cap doesn't shrink all the way down to the worse-case $50 mil., but just considering all the information -- the history with Lee, knowing Lee's stats haven't translated into wins, knowing we now have that position covered for the future with Jordan Hill (a better talent than Lee anyway IMO) and now knowing Lee probably isn't all that thrilled with management and the organization as he once was, I'd look to move him for anything that made some sense for us and I think this Dallas hypothetical actually make some sense. If not, I'd still look to trade him to Portland for Outlaw and Blake if that's still a possibility, even with no pick or no Rudy/Bayless (although I'd fight like heck to get that pick). Even that makes some sense for us. I'd love to get my hands on Travis Outlaw for a few reasons - (1) he's young and a good player with even more upside to work with - armed with 30-35 mins. and a green light to shoot & score this guy could be a borderline all-star, (2) like Shawne Williams, he'd be a nice piece to move forward with at the 3 spot to go along with Gallinari in the event LeBron never comes & (3) he'd allow us to dangle Chandler out there and I think we could get a nice haul for Chandler in a trade, maybe even the rights to Ricky Rubio. Plus Blake's still fairly useful and could be another stopgap option at the point in the event we had to wait a year or two for a guy like Rubio, Calathes or some other PG we have our eye on a little down the road either in the draft or free agency (suppose at the end of the season, we still need a PG and Duhon gets a better offer or wants to leave, maybe Blake could be convinced to stick around and play for D'Antoni for a year or two - we could do a lot worse). If this Portland thing really was the best trade scenario out there for Lee, I really might consider it. Bottom line is I'm much more concerned with building a complete team rather than getting David Lee his numbers. I just don't want to see us left without a chair when the music stops - I'd much rather get something for Lee than just have him play out the season, put up hollow stats where the team doesn't prosper in the win column & then just move on w/o any compensation at all, which looks more and more likely when you consider all the factors at work here...

[Edited by - finestrg on 09-14-2009 7:57 PM]

Posted by EnySpree:


drew gooden got to Dallas as a free agent this offseason. I don't think he can even be traded right now. Not sure.

Actually I think you might be right here Eny. I just looked up the rule - I think the earliest a FA can be traded is either 3 months after signing or by Dec. 15th, which ever comes later. Oh well, I think it would've been a nice trade for both clubs..

I really can't see us getting anything we want outta this whole David Lee situation. Now that he has to split time with 2 brand new frontcourt players (Darko & Hill), 1 guy who basically took the whole year off in Curry, Al Harrington and Jared Jeffries (Curry & Jeffries will have to play a little in order to be showcased, there's no way around that otherwise there's zero chance of them ever getting traded), there's no way he gets the same amount of PT he got last year so numbers like 16/12, 18/13 and a repeat of all those double-doubles are out of the question now I would think. Plus say we bring him back on a 1-year deal, he still has veto power over any trade. Then, to top it off, there's still a good chance that the cap will be too small for us to sign him after we sign a max. 2010 FA, which is our #1 goal. Really bad situation we're in here - it's almost pointless to bring him back when you think about it. Very bleak outlook.... I'm telling ya, if that deal with Portland is still on the table, I'd do it and look to bring in Outlaw & Blake. That's better than nothing. At least we'd get two useful players (Outlaw, in particular, is a real solid young player with good ability) & regain some leverage in the process - we could keep both guys then resign either one or both at the end of the year for reasonable money depending on what FAs decided to come or we could trade either guy during the year without any problems. If we go to war with Lee this year I don't see how we get anything out of it. Most likely he ends up nothing more than an unhappy lame duck that probably won't be playing as much as last year - he'd just be biding his time before he moved on as the Knicks receive zero compensation in the end. I mean this really couldn't have turned out worse...

[Edited by - finestrg on 09-15-2009 08:21 AM]

Posted by joec32033:

Honestly, I like think a trade like this is beneficial to both teams...

Incoming Players
Shawne Williams
6-9 PF from Memphis

Jose Barea
6-0 PG from Northeastern

Kris Humphries
6-9 PF from Minnesota


Outgoing Players
Jared Jeffries
6-11 SF from Indiana

Future 2nd Rounder

Barea is on the hook for roughly 1.9 mil(little less) in 2010. The other guys can be cut right away.

Saves us about $5 mil in 2010. Gives Dallas a nice win now role player in the role Jared excelled at in Wahington.

Cuban will not bite on Jeffries. I don't see any chance of that. He did bite on Dampier tho, but thats a completely different story . Jeffries is the opposite of anything Cuban looks for in a player.

Posted by Finestrg:

Posted by joec32033:

Honestly, I like think a trade like this is beneficial to both teams...

Incoming Players
Shawne Williams
6-9 PF from Memphis

Jose Barea
6-0 PG from Northeastern

Kris Humphries
6-9 PF from Minnesota


Outgoing Players
Jared Jeffries
6-11 SF from Indiana

Future 2nd Rounder

Barea is on the hook for roughly 1.9 mil(little less) in 2010. The other guys can be cut right away.

Saves us about $5 mil in 2010. Gives Dallas a nice win now role player in the role Jared excelled at in Wahington.

I think Kris Humphries is on the hook for a $3.2 mil. dollar player option for next year Joe. And he's sucks. hey, it'll still save us some money, I see where you were going. Too bad Humphries wasn't an expiring contract. Would've been perfect.

Humphries does have a player option for the amount you mentioned but my thinking is he gets the David Lee effect if he plays for . I don't think something like 7 and 5 or 6 is out of the question in this system. And those numbers from a hustle player from a hustle player is very easy to trade at the deadline for an expiring to trade to a contender, IMO. If not maybe we get lucky and he opts out thinking MLE with some inflated stats. Worst case we still save $2 mil-ish(with the JJB contract) and have a decent role player at a decent wage in this system.

Posted by BRIGGS:

If I did a S+T I would be looking for something like this--not necessarily in order


David Lee to Chicago for Jerome JamesTyrus Thomas and the Bulls 2010 #1 pick restricted to 5 and then nothing in 2011

David Lee to Sacremento for Jason Thompson Kenny thomas and a 2010 number 1 pick restricted to 5.

David Lee and Cutino Mobley to Utah for Carlos Boozer Matt Harping and Kosta Koufus

Either I get the trade I want or no trade. Im not trading him for crp. Id rather keep him and work it out otherwise.

now you got my attention.

I think we can get more for DLee during the season than Shawne Williams.