04/24/24
October 24, 2007
Another Walker era ends.: The Heat trade Antoine Walker, Michael Doleac, Wayne Simien, and a First Round draft pick to the Timberwolves for Ricky Davis and Mark Blount.
posted by lilnemo to basketball at 04:31 PM - 9 comments
Getting Blount's contract off the books and getting a first-rounder in return is enough to make this Wolves' fan happy. I don't think Walker is any better fit for a rebuilding team than Davis is, but Walker isn't quite the clubhouse cancer that Davis is, from what I'm led to believe. (Apparently, Walker drives coaches crazy, but his teammates like him.) Now if they could just get rid of Jaric somehow, they'd really be in great shape. The other interesting thing about this trade to me is that the Wolves already had too many guys on their roster, and now they've added one more guy. So they will have to either make another deal, or cut some guys outright.
posted by TheQatarian at 05:49 PM on October 24, 2007
That first round pick hurts.
posted by tieguy at 05:54 PM on October 24, 2007
If I'm a Wolves fan, I'm hoping that Taylor lets McHale buy Walker out. The Wolves get cap space sooner, Walker gets his cash and the chance to catch on with a team in the playoff-hunt (just like Tim Thomas, Jalen Rose, etc have in seasons past). Everybody wins!
posted by lilnemo at 05:59 PM on October 24, 2007
I really don't understand why minny gets a first round pick in exchange for dumping a bloated contract a year AHEAD of schedule - this is a great deal for minnesota. I really hope Ricky Davis is worth it.
posted by chmurray at 06:56 PM on October 24, 2007
Guess Blount and Al Jefferson really can't play together.
posted by yerfatma at 09:35 PM on October 24, 2007
Yeah, but who can play with Blount? You've probably had the opportunity to hear more about him than I have, do you think his prima donna rep is deserved, or has he caught a bad break or two?
posted by The_Black_Hand at 06:23 AM on October 25, 2007
In Wolves-land, I can't say that I ever thought Blount was a "prima donna". He was good for about 10 points per game, but was soft on the boards. Sadly, he may have been the best center the Wolves ever had, which is an extremely sad statement. As for why the Wolves get a first-rounder, well, maybe we're just due for that after that awful Jaric for Cassell and a first-rounder deal with the Clippers.
posted by TheQatarian at 08:56 AM on October 25, 2007
I really don't understand why minny gets a first round pick in exchange for dumping a bloated contract a year AHEAD of schedule. McHale was that down on taking Walker. Sure he gets cap space a year ahead of schedule. But now he has a player making $17.75 Mill over 2 seasons that he has to justify paying for when he has roughly 4-5 players making a tenth as much on average, who are better, and younger. Pray that Walkers salary doesn't convince the Wolves to start him over any of the young guys (Brewer, Green, McCants, etc.).
posted by lilnemo at 11:22 AM on October 25, 2007
Miami gets marginally younger, and (apparently) lighter. Riles was so hot to ship Toine out of town he gave up a first rounder, ouch. The cap ramifications for both teams coming off this trade are intriguing. Miami does get weighed down with paying Blount roughly $22 Mill over the next 3 seasons, but that is slightly offset by Davis, Williams, Mourning, and various end of the bench fodder coming off the balance sheet after this season. Though forecasting who will "actually" be available during Free Agency '08 makes saving cap space pretty dicey. Ratliff's monster $11 Mill comes off the books by seasons end as does an additional $6 Mill between Doleac and Griffin. There is even the possibility that Juwan Howard opts out to the tune of $7.3 Mill off the ledger. However the Wolves have, in effect, given themselves an extra season to shake out a rotation from the various youngsters they've acquired over the past 2 seasons as most can still be had for the pittance of a team option or qualifying offer after this season. I would expect Al Jefferson to eat up some of the Ratliff savings for the Wolves to lock him up short to long term. It will be interesting to see how Minny's guard rotation shakes out with so many swingmen coming into their option year at the same time.