Trade Talk

"Girl I'd trade it all, money, cars and everything
All, even give up my street dream
All, anything to have you on my team"
--Trade It All, Fabolous

In the latest chapter of what has been a crazy NBA off-season, Antoine Walker got shipped out to Atlanta yesterday, along with Tony Delk for Jason Terry and Alan Henderson. 'Toine almost qualifies as a journeyman now, poor guy, and Delk definitely fits that bill--Charlotte, Golden State, Sacramento, Phoenix, Boston, Dallas and now Atlanta. Jim Jackson, watch out.
I'm sure Mark Cuban's not done tinkering with this squad, as he's already dealt Antawn Jamison this off-season (for Christian Laettner, Jerry Stackhouse and a No. 1--turned out to be Devin Harris) and was active last year at this time as well. He's the NBA equivalent of Dan Snyder, needing to mess with his roster all the time, never content with the array iff All-Stars he's assembled.
Looking at the Mavs roster at this very moment (and I'm sure it will change again before the season starts), they have actually assembled a pretty good combination of veteran stars and young talent. Marquis Daniels and Josh Howard were both impressive as rookies last year and now Harris, 7-5 Russian Pavel Podkolzin, guard Luis Flores and 7-footer Didier Ilunga-Mbenga infuse some more youthful exuberance into the mix. Though Steve Nash is gone, Dirk and Finley return, as do Shawn Bradley and Eduardo Najera. There's a lot of depth here, probably more than any team in the league.
Another Western Conference squad that will obviously look quite different come training camp is my beloved Lakers, entering the post-Shaq era. It was weird watching the Olympic team's Italian debacle the other day, realizing that Lamar Odom is a Laker. I kind of liked the feeling though. He hasn't played tremendously in those exhibitions, but I love his game and I think (hope) he'll mesh well with Kobe. Read a rumor today that might catapult the Show to the top of the league once again: Jason Kidd might be headed to La-La Land. Yup.
Since his Nets traded K-Mart, Kidd's been requesting a trade, and he won't go just anywhere; he told Rod Thorn that he'd only go to one of the top Western Conference teams. One thing that does is re-stir the Tony Parker-for-Kidd talk that dominated last off-season and sent the little Frenchy into a funk (from which he recovered just in time to go back into another funk when the Lakers came back and won that second-round series).
If he went to L.A., it would be in exchange for Rick Fox and Gary Payton (expiring contracts) and either Caron Butler or Kareem Rush (young talent), which would be a small price to pay if Kidd's healthy. I can't even fathom how sick that backcourt would be--Kobe and J-Kidd? There would have to be laws against this kind of combination. If Mailman returns (and at this point, that's a big if), the lineup would be as follows:
G Kidd
G Kobe
F Odom
F Malone
C Divac
With Brian Grant, Butler or Rush, Luuuuuuke and the rookie Vujacic providing solid bench support. I'm thinking it might not be so hard to fall in love with the Lakers all over again.
Sure, Detroit will be back and will be favored to win the East again, but who in the West could compete with this squad?
Team San Antonio Sacramento Minnesota Denver Houston
Point Parker Bibby Cassell Miller Big ?? (Mark Jackson)
2-Guard Barry Christie Hassell Voshon T-Mac
3-Forward Bowen Peja Spree 'Melo Jim Jackson
4-Forward Duncan C-Webb KG K-Mart Juwon
Center Rasho Miller Ervin/Kandi Camby Yao
There are some pretty good lineups here (though obviously no backcourts that compare), but depth will be a big thing, and none of these squads have near the bench help the Lakers would. Hope it works.
Good week. Saw "The Terminal" last night--for free--and was definitely entertained. Tom Hanks does not make bad movies, I don't think. Thought to write about for tomorrow: his best and worst. Plus all those things I've been meaning to blog. Too many to think about now. Out.