DDT 7/10/2003

[Diesel]

JT(SNT) 7.2 mil/Hendu/Nazr to Cleveland

for

Ilguaskas/Ricky Davis & Mihm.

I think this trade works for all involved. It gives us some needed Size:

Theo/Ilgauskas

SAR/Mihm

Grob/Diaw/CC

Davis/Hansen

PG/Dickau

A PG is something we can pickup in FAcy. Weather it be Best or Daniels or K. Anderson. All we need is a player who can distribute the bal and preferably keep the offense uptempo.

When Ilgauskas hits the floor, we become more of a Halfcourt team. Ilguaskas was one of the better Cs in this league before injury hit.

[cyman3]

1)Would CLEVELAND want JT at 7.2 million?

2)Dont they want to try out the JAMES/WAGNER backcourt?

either way, JT could definitely play next to James.

[Jester]

ATLANTA, Jul. 09 - When Boris Diaw was growing up in France, his mother tried to steer him away from the idea of playing in the NBA.

"She didn't want me to lose my dream," he recalled. "She would say, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' but she didn't think it was possible for a Frenchman to play in the NBA."

Diaw couldn't help but smile Tuesday, his mother at his side as he tried on an Atlanta Hawks uniform. Diaw, the No. 21 overall pick, was among three French players taken in last month's draft.

His mother, Elizabeth Riffiod, was one of the best female players in French history, playing 13 years for the national team. She's even got a jersey in the Basketball Hall of Fame at Springfield, Mass.

But Riffiod wouldn't let her youngest son take up the sport until he was 10. She tried to interest him in other pursuits, including judo, rugby and soccer.

"When I was young, it was impossible for anyone from our country to play in the NBA," Riffiod said.

That began to change after the first U.S. "Dream Team" won gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Suddenly, kids throughout Europe dreamed of being the next Magic Johnson or Larry Bird.

Despite his genetic advantages, Diaw didn't stand out when he first took the court. But a growth spurt beginning at 15 -- he grew 8 inches in two years, according to his mother -- suddenly propelled him to the forefront of French basketball.

By age 19, Diaw felt confident enough in his abilities to enter his name in the NBA draft. He pulled out, however, because it seemed unlikely he would be picked.

After going through the same scenario in 2002 -- Diaw entered the draft as an early entry player, then withdrew -- he finally made the plunge this year at 21. Even though he averaged only 7.3 points a game for his French team, the Hawks felt his overall abilities were worthy of a first-round pick.

"It's not any one thing about him," general manager Billy Knight said. "I like everything about him. And he's young enough that there's still a big upside."

The 6-foot-8 Diaw wasn't even the first Frenchman taken in the draft -- that honor went to his Pau Orthez teammate, guard Michael Pietrus, picked at No. 11 by the Golden State Warriors. In the second round, French guard Paccelis Morlende went to the Philadelphia 76ers with the 50th selection.

"We have a very good generation of players," Diaw said, noting that everyone changed their outlook after Barcelona. "We just knew the players in the NBA. We did not even know who was playing in France."

Diaw modeled his game after Johnson's, becoming enamored with the idea of making dazzling passes to his teammates rather than handling the scoring himself.

He said that accounts for his rather ordinary scoring numbers for Pau Orthez, where he never averaged more than 7.7 points a game in three seasons.

"Magic Johnson was my favorite," Diaw said. "I wanted to be like him because he was not selfish. He just wanted his team to win. He created 'Showtime' with the pass.

"I try to do the same thing. I want to make my teammates happy. I think that's important."

Diaw, who helped Pau Orthez win two straight French championships, dismissed skeptics who say he'll get knocked around in the NBA and won't score enough to be effective.

"They say that just because I look to my teammates," said Diaw, who is definitely on the slender side at 203 pounds. "I am not soft when I play defense. ... Sometimes I am a shooter, but when I see a teammate open under the basket I pass it him. Why take a jumpshot at the start of a play when you can go around and find a better setup?"

Diaw wanted to honor his mother by wearing 13, the number she had during her playing days, but it already was taken by Glenn Robinson. The rookie took No. 32 instead.

At a news conference on the Philips Arena practice court, Diaw was joined by Travis Hansen, a second-round pick from Brigham Young.

"We're not expecting them to be miracle workers," Knight said. "We do expect them to come in and contribute."

[Diesel]

I think JT puts cleveland in a position to win sooner than Later.

Imagine:

JT/James/Miles/PJ BROWN/Nazr or Diop.

While on paper that team doesn't look like a great team... I think that's easily a playoff team with Silas at the helm.