Trade Rumor in Memphis

[phoostal]

Here is an article from the local beat writer for Memphis. Let's just say this, if Memphis is actually considering the deal he is reporting in the paper I would do it in a heartbeat. What is everyone else's thoughts?

By making deal, Grizzlies could earn some immediate dividends

By Ronald Tillery

tillery@gomemphis.com

May 30, 2003

What Stu Jackson taught us, if anything, while studying Inept GM 101, is that you never trade future first-round draft picks.

The unknown can come back and bite you like Memphis mosquitoes.

Somebody pass the rubbing alcohol, and also a soothing solution to the Grizzlies' bumpy and uncomfortable draft predicament.

2003 NBA draft

When: June 26

Where: Madison Square Garden, New York

Grizzlies' picks: No. 13, No. 27 in first round; none in second round

Here's a worthwhile idea: Trade the 13th pick.

Move it.

Have Charles Ewing's moving service load that baby on a truck. He is the official mover of the Grizzlies.

Just get it out of here.

Lucky 13, my foot.

Why?

Because the 13th pick is in front of the Grizzlies, and they know exactly what the last lottery selection is worth in this draft.

Dwyane Wade? Undersized and no immediate help.

Frenchman Mickael Pietrus? The guy supposedly is a Michael Jordan clone?

Please. Pietrus can't even spell Michael.

Oh, and then there's this 7-4, 300-pound center from Russia. Pavel Podkolzine is his name. I'm thinking Cezary Trybanski is more like his game.

Let's get real. Griz president Jerry West wants Carmelo Anthony. But moving up to No. 3 in the draft to get him is a daunting task. Plus, Denver makes for a bad trade partner. The Nuggets have enough of what the Griz can realistically offer: power forwards.

So what's left is simply to use the 13th pick as a sweetener for potential deals that could land the Grizzlies the serviceable, veteran brute they need.

Offering Shane Battier alone can't get it done.

Who is going to take Brevin Knight and his nearly $6 million salary without something extra?

Stromile Swift is the other logical trade bait. But he belongs on the unstable stock market. That's how much Swift's value fluctuates.

Trade the pick with these scenarios in mind:

Atlanta needs a true point guard and a better pick than No. 21 overall. The Griz could send Knight and the 13th pick to the Hawks in exchange for second-round picks and six-year veteran center Nazr Mohammed, who averaged 12 points, nine rebounds and a block in his best season (2000-01).

The Golden State Warriors could be good trade partners because they employ several big men. The 13th pick and Knight would make a deal involving Mike Dunleavy and either Erick Dampier or Adonal Foyle feasible. The Griz get a big man. The Warriors replace the soon-to-be-departed point guard Gilbert Arenas and make up for the mistake of taking Dunleavy.

New Orleans Hornets big man P.J. Brown makes sense for the Griz. How about a sign-and-trade deal for Brown in exchange for rights to the 13th pick and Knight (giving the Hornets a backup point guard)?

Sure, the Grizzlies need a superstar like yesterday.

That is the theme my colleague, Geoff Calkins, is emphasizing with those wishful words next to mine. "You find a superstar by swinging for the fences in the draft," he says.

Not at 13.

NBA superstars are either bought through free agency or born in the top five picks nowadays with prospects getting younger and younger.

Quality players have fallen to No. 13 in the past decade.

Richard Jefferson (2001), Corey Maggette (1999), Keon Clark (1998), Derek Anderson (1997), Kobe Bryant (1996), Corliss Williamson (1995), Jalen Rose (1994) and Dale Davis (1991) come to mind.

Bryant, though, is the only superstar among them, making the odds slim of finding the Pro's Pro that deep in the draft. The rest of those players are complementary types, which is what the Griz have plenty of if they are committed to building the team around Pau Gasol, Jason Williams and Mike Miller.

Trade the pick.

An example of what can happen by moving the 13th pick came in 1999 when the Seattle Sonics took Maggette.

Seattle chose Maggette for the Orlando Magic and also shipped them three players in the final year of their contracts for veteran forward Horace Grant.

The point is Seattle received immediate help up front and earned a playoff berth that season.

It's not ridiculous to believe the Griz could follow that route.

And that'll teach you, Calkins, and your boy, Stu, a thing or 13.

[TheDude]

sure sure, go ahead and do that trade memphis..i'd love it.

[DJ_Money]

Knight/13 for Nazr/21? I'm game.