ATL / MIN / GS ...the sequel

[sturt]

Three-way, but non-simultaneous, thus making it more complicated, but more workable/advantageous.

The end result of this trade delivers Kevin Garnett to Golden State...

For the price of Brandan Wright, ZaZa Pachulia, Patrick O'Bryant and 6 expiring contracts to MIN that will free up $17.7 million for the big 07-08 free agent season, and among those a possible keeper in Mickael Pietrus (3.4 mil)... all going to Kevin McHale's rebuilding project.

In addition to KG, Golden State also ends up with former Stanford Cardinal Josh Childress.

In Atlanta's column, this trade delivers Monta Ellis to team with Speedy and LawIV, Mark Blount to start at C, and that mysterious "proven low-post scorer" that's been hinted about for the last couple of days... fan fave Al Harrington returns to NiqueTown. The greatest cost to the Hawks boils down to giving up Childress for Trenton Hassell.

And somewhat surprisingly, this one goes down in stages such that there may not even be a need for GS to use their newly awarded $10 million exception, depending on how close to $57 million the exception for 07-08 is set.

Details below:

***TRADE #1***

GS to ATL: Harrington

ATL to GS: Pachulia, Lue, Wright

Trade works because 125% of Harrington's 8.4 mil is exactly 10.5 mil, ie, the total of the three ATL players

***TRADE #2***

MIN to GS: Garnett

GS to MIN: Pachulia, Lue, L. Wright (all originally from ATL)... PLUS B. Wright, Pietrus, Jasikevicius, O'Bryant

Exact match--$22 mil in salary for $22 mil in salary.

***TRADE #3***

MIN to ATL: Blount, Hassell

ATL to MIN: Childress, A. Johnson

Trickiest part of the trade, salary cap-wise since this inches ATL to 55.1, conceivably too much (though not likely).

***TRADE #4***

ATL to GS: Stoudamire

GS to ATL: Ellis

Leaves ATL at $55.0 mil for total 07-08 salary

***TRADE #5***

GS to MIN: Stoudamire

MIN to GS: Childress

Leaves GS at $56.8 mil for total 07-08 salary... MIN at 61.8 mil for total 07-08 salary, and a few assets that are tradeable during the balance of the off-season, ostenisbly for draft picks since they'll have 18 players total under contract.

=================================

Good guys end up with this roster (likely starters in red; new players to the roster in bold):

PG: Claxton

PG/SG: LawIV, Ellis

SG: Johnson, Hassell

SF: MWilliams

SF/PF: Harrington

PF: Smith

PF/C: Horford, SWilliams, Jones

C: Blount

===========================================

WHY ATL DOES THIS: Gives Hawks the proven second scoring option in Big Al to pair w/ JJ, places Sixth Man award winner Monta Ellis in the backcourt rotation, and replaces ZaZa with a legitimate full-time center, Blount.

Note... Not saying it will, but were this to go down in some shape/form, part of the reason for the delay would be that Al Harrington could not be traded back to ATL within the same contract year... thus, this would necessarily have to wait until July 1.

WHY GS DOES THIS: Acquire Garnett for, chiefly, the pieces that are reported to have been discussed... plus, as a bonus, it renders a hometown favorite in JChill.

WHY MIN DOES THIS: Draft is over, and the next best thing that McHale can bargain for is Brandan Wright, plus all of the young prospects and/or expiring contracts he can muster... this trade provides a windfall of both of those assets... puts him in a prime position to acquire a few more draft picks and/or to clear his payroll for a major piece next summer--when several major pieces are expected to be available.

[pimp]

Bringing Harrington back would be dumb,

He has no value to us at all.

[Sothron]

I can honestly say that I am not sorry at all to see Harrington off this team. He showed true class to go through that nightmare of a season before he was finally traded but I do not think he would ever be a good fit on this team.

[DrReality]

Ditto!

[DrReality]

Ditto!

[TheDude]

we got Law for Harrington and i'm fine for it to stay that way.

[Nicholasp27]

NO

WAY

al harrington is gone for a reason and we

do

not

want

him

back

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Stoudamire for Ellis? What are you smoking?

Stoudmire for Chilress? What? It's ok to be homerism but man...

[sturt]

For your edificaiton, it's not at simple as that, Smith... rather, it's a three-way trade but I was attempting to frame it in a sequential way so that it would be more appealing to GS, in that their newly received $10 mil exception wouldn't have to be used.

Given time to review it, I'm retooling it myself... but not b/c I have an Al Harrington phobia as some do... I always appreciated what Al brought to the team and how he handled himself especially with how long and frustrating last summer was, and maybe most saliently, he's been applauded pretty stoutly for what he's done in GS. He would, in fact, fill the bill as that low-post scoring option that Woody hinted at last week.

No... my bad in this one is that I failed to realize just how old Mark Blount is (32, and I had him about 3-5 years younger off the top of my pointy head)... so, I had to re-think that whole idea--it's just not consistent with what we're doing to add someone like that when Magloire is better and younger and costs only money, not talent.

I'm almost ready with it, but still tinkering...

[sturt]

As a preface, it seems highly unlikely you're going to see much significant player movement until the 07-08 cap is set in the next 10 days.

Preface number two, and having specifically to do with this deal, as I'd indicated, I recognized the Blount part of the deal to be particularly weak, and further realized that obtaining Jamal Magloire would be a better step in that direction. So, this deal presumes Magloire being signed to a deal as a prerequisite to this occurring... that would place an adequate under-30 center on the roster, capable of starting or coming off the bench, depending mostly on whether Horford stakes an early claim to the 5 or not.

Now, here's the new and improved version of the big deal...

To GS: Garnett, Lue

Resulting 07-08 Payroll = 56.9 mil, which likely will be slightly above the salary cap, however the trade works because they are within (exactly) the 125% threshold for the trade.

(GS needs a back-up PG out of the deal... have their pick of Lue or AJohnson actually.)

To ATL: Harrington, Ellis, Hassell

Resulting 07-08 Payroll = 51.7 mil +/- "Magloire effect"

(Hassell isn't totally necessary to the trade, but occurred to me his perimeter defense and 6-5 frame is something we could choose to add... he's available mostly b/c he has 3 years left on his 4.3 mil per year contract, and isn't young enough for the MIN youth movement to embrace him... but this is where the Magloire acquisition may have an impact, since it likely would be too expensive to accomodate gaining Hassell... included him nonetheless for the sake of argument.)

To MIN: Pachulia, L. Wright, A. Johnson, S. Stoudamire, O'Bryant, B. Wright, and Jasikevicius, and possibly Pietrus (RFA)

Resulting 07-08 Payroll = 61.6 mil + Pietrus' salary if obtained, which represents a substantial decrease in MIN's cap status.

(For notes on why MIN does this deal, see the original post... Pietrus would be involved at MIN's option... he could be signed by GS at a salary mutually agreeable to him and MIN, and included in the trade, or not)

=======================================

Thus, Hawks end up with this roster... (Projected Nov 1 starters in red, new acquisitions in bold)

PG: Claxton

PG/SG: LawIV, Ellis

SG: Hassell

SG/SF: Johnson, Childress

SF: MWilliams

SF/PF: Harrington, Smith

PF: Horford, SWilliams, Jones

C: Magloire