5 trades John Hollinger wants to see happen

[Outlaw]

ESPN

Anybody have ESPN Insider that can copy and paste it on here?

[Admin]

It's trade season, so let's make some already.

The league's deadline is Feb. 24, and although things are relatively quiet at the moment, in the next few weeks we should see a lot more activity. Right now there's a giant domino named Carmelo Anthony that everyone else is waiting to fall, but if the Nuggets don't make a deal soon other teams will begin moving on with their own plans. With Wednesday's leverage-killing statement by Anthony that he might sign an extension in Denver after all, that date may be close at hand.

With that in mind, it's time for me to present five blockbusters trades I'd like to see happen. Before we get into this, I must first state as strenuously as I can that these are NOT rumors; these are merely trades I'd like to see the teams make because I think they'd help. In each case, I've linked to the proposed deal in the trade machine; while the title Trade Machine Picasso has already been taken, I'd like to think I'm at least the Joan Miro of the thing.

Steve Nash to New York (The Trade)

It's gotta happen, right? The Knicks reunite Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Mike D'Antoni, and the Suns get to jump-start the inevitable rebuilding process with younger players and cap relief. And despite their insistence to the contrary, this is the right move for the Suns; whether they can bring themselves to do it is another question.

The deal I'm proposing sends Nash, Grant Hill and Josh Childress' toxic contract to New York for Landry Fields, Anthony Randolph, Wilson Chandler and the expiring contracts of Kelenna Azubuike and Eddy Curry.

New York gives up some youth in the process, but the Knicks will also immediately become the top free-agent target for any veteran shooter, meaning they'll be able to fill the holes relatively easily. New York could put Toney Douglas into the trade instead of Fields, but given how the Knicks would want to play Douglas might be the better fit.

Phoenix, meanwhile, would be under the cap next year even after re-signing restricted free agent Chandler (presuming the Suns cut Vince Carter) and would have a wild-card power forward prospect in Randolph. New York would also send money-hungry Suns owner Robert Sarver the maximum $3 million permitted in trades, which should help ease the box-office sting from trading the franchise's most popular player.

Kirk Hinrich to the Lakers (The Trade)

This one has been the apple of Lakers fans' eyes for some time, but it's extremely difficult to work a two-team trade between LA and Washington. The solution? Involve the Hornets by volunteering to take Marcus Banks into the Lakers' trade exception for Sasha Vujacic.

This deal saves the Hornets some dough, but the real benefit for them is that it strengthens a weak bench with an outside shooting threat in Shannon Brown and a combo forward in Matt Barnes. New Orleans would send the Wizards $3 million for the trouble of paying Derek Fisher, who presumably would be bought out and head right back to LA after the mandatory 30-day wait. For Washington, this deal is about straight savings -- Hinrich isn't in its future plans anyway.

O.J. Mayo to the Bulls (The Trade)

The Bulls have an obvious need for a young shooting guard who can spread the floor, and the Grizzlies have just the guy to do it. That's a start, but there are some theoretical issues with Mayo to Chicago -- his aversion to defense, for instance, or the fact that Memphis and Chicago don't line up well as trade partners.

But offensively, it's too tantalizing for the Bulls to pass up -- a Rose-Mayo-Deng-Boozer-Noah lineup is a scary proposition for the rest of the East. So I recruited New Jersey as a third party. The Nets offload Travis Outlaw's hideous contract and get back some flotsam from the Bulls (Keith Bogans and C.J. Watson) while also getting to roll the dice on Grizzlies draft bust Hasheem Thabeet. New Jersey would also send a protected first-round pick to Chicago as thanks for taking Outlaw off its hands, and $3 million of Mikhail Prokhorov's bankroll to Memphis.

For the Grizzlies? They walk out of the trade with a real bench by nabbing Kyle Korver from Chicago and Jordan Farmar from New Jersey. That's not quite fair value for Mayo, but they weren't going to be able to pay him anyway.

Richard Hamilton for Chris Kaman (The Trade)

This one seems too obvious not to pursue -- Detroit offloads an unhappy camper and saves $12.5 million on the last year of the contract and adds a big man who hails from Michigan, while the Clippers get a potent sixth man for their rotation in return for a player who has become marginalized by DeAndre Jordan's development. Several permutations of this deal work, especially if we involve a third team to take Jason Maxiell or Charlie Villanueva off the Pistons' hands, but I've linked to a two-team deal that I like the best.

A straight-up Kaman-for-Hamilton deal is somewhat unfair in favor of the Pistons. But not dramatically so, and we can build off that. Send Tayshaun Prince to the Clippers and dangle a future first-round pick, Randy Foye and $3 million to pay Foye in front of Detroit and things even out. Obviously the key to this deal would be having Prince, an LA native, agree to an extension with the Clippers before the trade. The Pistons' sale also shouldn't be an impediment to this particular trade, as Detroit would send out more dollars than it takes back.

If the Clippers pulled this off, they'd immediately become a force in the West. The frontcourt would be thin, but with Prince filling the 3 and Hamilton coming off the bench, their top eight would be as good as anyone's and they'd likely make a playoff run next season.

Carmelo Anthony to Houston in an 18-player, four-team deal (The Trade)

Look, all these two- and three-team deals are fun and all, but if Anthony is going to change teams it's probably gonna be big and complicated. This deal would be the biggest in league history, for instance, and there are actually offshoots of it that would get even bigger; Chauncey Billups, for instance, would be a logical next domino from Denver's side but I couldn't squeeze him into this one. Better yet, if this trade happened, there's a 26.3 percent chance that Marc Stein's BlackBerry would spontaneously combust.

The deal I'm proposing would improve all four teams. Houston, obviously, gets Melo and a free dice-roll on his willingness to stay. To help with that decision the trade imports former Nugget teammate Marcus Camby and sharpshooting guard Mo Williams from Cleveland. To help out the Nuggets, Houston takes on Al Harrington's contract and sends Chase Budinger, Patrick Patterson and Yao Ming's insured contract to Denver. The Rockets also send disgruntled guard Aaron Brooks and backup center Jordan Hill to Portland and move high-scoring guard Kevin Martin to Cleveland.

The Nuggets walk away with four solid young pieces (Budinger, Patterson, Rudy Fernandez and Elliot Williams) plus a ton of cap relief from dumping Harrington on Houston, Kenyon Martin on Cleveland and J.R. Smith and Chris Andersen on Portland; the deal actually puts Denver under the tax line.

Cleveland takes on money in the short term by adding Kenyon Martin and Joel Przybilla but in the long term cleans its books of Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison and starts rebuilding around native Ohioan Kevin Martin.

And the Blazers rebuild their frontcourt with Jordan Hill, Jamison and Andersen; Jamison would team with LaMarcus Aldridge in a smallball frontcourt. Portland has played its best this season with Aldridge at center anyway. Smith replaces Fernandez as a gunner off the bench and provides insurance if Brandon Roy can't play, Brooks becomes the sixth man energizer behind Andre Miller. The Blazers would also send Przybilla and Sean Marks to Cleveland to make the numbers work.

Obviously the big question with this deal is whether Houston would be willing to give up so many of its young assets without Anthony's name on an extension. But if the Rockets would, the deal looks a win for everyone else.

[niremetal]

The deal I'm proposing sends Nash, Grant Hill and Josh Childress' toxic contract to New York for Landry Fields, Anthony Randolph, Wilson Chandler and the expiring contracts of Kelenna Azubuike and Eddy Curry.

I'm just sayin' :rolleyes:

[Admin]

I'm just sayin' :rolleyes:

My thoughts exactly!!

[tremor]

Nash to Knicks doesn't make sense, Felton is a border line all-star, Fields is a stud and they're not in "win now" mode yet.

Mayo to Bulls - spot on.

[99PROBL3MS]

Nash to Knicks doesn't make sense, Felton is a border line all-star, Fields is a stud and they're not in "win now" mode yet.

Mayo to Bulls - spot on.

I would love to find a way to take Felton off their hands. They won't pay/need both he and Nash.

[sasuke]

Melo trade is so dumb. :lol6: @ Hollinger

[Joker]

All these trades are fail for one team.

Nash deal is fail for Phx and NYK

LAC, Wash, and Memp as well is fail.

The Melo deal is all around fail.

One team usually heavily wins. Nothing close to fair.