Traded talent could make up quite a team
http://cbs.sportsline.com/nba/story/7566130
Aug. 10, 2004
By Mike Kahn
SportsLine.com Executive Editor
Tell Mike your opinion!


After commissioner David Stern called last year's offseason "The Summer of Woe," we can only presume that these past few months deserve the moniker "The Summer of Change."


PHOTOS: « PREV | NEXT »

Kenyon Martin slams his way to the Denver Nuggets. (Getty Images)
How else can you describe an offseason when it is possible to put together a team made up of traded players that is considerably better than the team that is representing the United States in Greece at the Olympic Games?

Not sure that's true?

Take a gander at this group: Shaquille O'Neal at center, with Kenyon Martin and (Olympian) Lamar Odom at forward. Add Tracy McGrady and Steve Francis in the backcourt and that's a starting lineup that will win a lot of games for you.

And don't assume the talent level drops from there when you get to the bench. On the contrary, you've got All-Stars too, with Antoine Walker and Antawn Jamison at forward and Brian Grant at center. Gary Payton and Stephen Jackson serve quite well as the second-team backcourt, thank you.

Even the third team would be considered solid by any measure, with Al Harrington, Caron Butler and Tony Battie up front, girded by the backcourt of Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse.

And that's not to mention those that have been deemed worthy of honorable mention.

Says one general manager, "I can't ever remember so many talented players being moved in the same summer. Some of it has to do with contracts. Some of it just has to do with timing. It's part of the change in the league. You can't be successful by just building through the draft anymore. The teams that experience the most success are the ones who go out on a limb with trades and free agents."

Clearly the limb is beginning to bow. Never before have so many big names dotted the landscape of transition. For some bizarre reasons, more big names are also demanding to be moved and with the size of the contracts, no owner is going to continue to pay enormous sums of money to an unhappy player that is clearly underachieving.

So there are deals.

In McGrady's case, he told the Orlando Magic he would leave next summer as a free agent if they didn't trade him. So rather than wait, general manager John Weisbrod found the deal that best suited him. It didn't make Francis happy that he finally made the playoffs in Houston, then a few months later he was dealt. But he'll adjust ... or not. And maybe he'll end up wanting out too.

Sometimes we see that contradictory phrase addition by subtraction, when by merely dealing a player for draft picks, money or an expiring contract a roster becomes more flexible on the floor and under the salary cap. That frequently leaves the players who remain just plain happier and more productive once the poisonous player has been moved out of the locker room.


Then there are the Lakers, with owner Jerry Buss deciding midway through the season he was not going to concede to O'Neal's demands for a new contract beginning at $27 million. And when it became painfully obvious late in the season that O'Neal and Kobe Bryant couldn't co-exist, GM Mitch Kupchak set out to find the best package available for the great center -- and the one caveat had to be he would go to the Eastern Conference.

Advertisement


That leaves us with our eyes on Sacramento, where Peja Stojakovic is the latest All-Star to scream he wants out. Will the Kings buckle to his demands and move him to the highest bidder, or just let things simmer down and hope he can find his way through Chris Webber's verbal and physical inconsistencies?

We're guessing the latter.

Then again, who really believed the Lakers would deal Shaq?

Nobody I know.


First team
F Kenyon Martin (Denver from New Jersey)
F Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers from Miami)
C Shaquille O'Neal (Miami from Lakers)
G Tracy McGrady (Houston from Orlando)
G Steve Francis (Orlando from Houston)


Second team
F Antoine Walker (Atlanta from Dallas)
F Antawn Jamison (Washington from Dallas)
C Brian Grant (Lakers from Miami)
G Stephen Jackson (Atlanta from Indiana)
G Gary Payton (Boston from Lakers)


Third team
F Al Harrington (Atlanta from Indiana)
F Caron Butler (Lakers from Miami)
C Tony Battie (Orlando from Cleveland)
G Jerry Stackhouse (Dallas from Washington)
G Jason Terry (Dallas from Atlanta)

Honorable mention: Jamal Crawford, Juwan Howard, Drew Gooden, Kerry Kittles, Cuttino Mobley, Eric Snow, Dale Davis, Nick Van Exel, Tony Delk, Christian Laettner, Kelvin Cato.