(Gulp) Ray Allen Trade Ideas

[dlpin]

Tmac's contract and Oneals contract are also bigger than Allen's.

[ssspence]

Ray Allen vs other expiring contracts:

(1) If the team wants to win now, in the 2009/10 season, while also cutting their salary going forward ... then Ray Allen has a much larger trade value than other expiring contracts.

(2) If the team doesn't care about it's record in 2009/10, then Ray Allen has no more trade value than any other expiring contract.

Regarding #1: which team is a current title contender that also wants to dump good players to cut salary? I can't think of any, and even if there was one, I don't see any team which wants to win now parting with good players. A team that wants to win now will at most dump prospects and draft picks.

And even in that case, Shaq is still productive, Tmac is still productive.

(1) McGrady doesn't have trade value until he proves his health, and proves he can regain his previous level of performance. Shaq does though, absolutely, he's coming off a very good season. Jermaine O'Neal is a guy who has some trade value as a player, but a lot less than Ray would have.

(2) It's not solely contenders. It can be playoff teams in general, and also a team like NY who is trying to win now without effecting their 2010 money. Milwaukee is another type of team, a team who may want to cut their long term money (say Michael Redd), but are trying to be as competitive as possible at the same time.

That's four types of teams -- contenders, some playoff teams, 2010 orientated teams, and teams looking to cut costs while remaining competitive -- not just contenders.

(3) It is a limited market (both because of the teams, and the level of talent needed in return to make it worthwhile) and there may be nothing worthwhile there. There's no guarantee that there will be quality offers there. After Danny Ainge explores the trade market, there's a high likelihood that there's nothing there.

(4) Most of the Ray Allen trade ideas will be possibilities rather than certainties, teams which may consider it -- like the Josh Howard and Dallas or the Martin and Sacramento idea above -- I think there will be very few ones that you look at and say that will definitely be on the table.

And I think a type of team that you neglected to add is a team that has serious financial problems who might need to dump long term contracts due specifically to those financial concerns. Sacramento and Atlanta and maybe New Orleans fit that bill where because of ownership concerns, financial stability of the ownership or the possibility of ownership sale teams might want to dump as much long term contractual obligations as possible and get salary as low as possible.

That's where Ray becomes more important as an expiring $20 million and less so as a player. Only Shaq has a contract that is bigger that is expiring at the end of next year. Given that no one knows for sure just how bad off Sactown, New Orleans and Atlanta might be, my trade proposal is based primarily on the Maloofs having bigger fiscal problems than they are letting on.

The Sacramento Bee and a couple northern California newspapers have run articles that have been quoting sources as saying that the Maloofs are listening to offers to sell and/or move the team. California just voted down 4 propositions where tax payers were going to be taxed more to make way for more government spending. The Maloofs bill looking for public money to build a new arena has crashed and burned. They are in a tiny market and horrible building. And their production companies and Vegas in general, where they own a casino, is hurting.

They might need to make the franchise much more enticing to buy or move by getting out from under long term contracts and give themselves or some other ownership as much future financial flexibility as possible. Hence, my trade proposal.

This is a fair point, but that said, it's the only way SAC would ever consider trading Martin for Allen. Otherwise, it's totally insane to do so.

[nickagneta]

Tmac's contract and Oneals contract are also bigger than Allen's.

I think I admitted O'Neal's contract was larger but neglected to add TMac's. Thanks for correcting the oversight.

Though TMac gives you a bit more salary relief, for a one year deal I'd take Tony Allen and Ray Allen in a trade for $22 million in cap relief before I would ever venture to think about taking on the injury prone, non-defense playing, whining, has never won anything TMac.

[dlpin]

Tmac's contract and Oneals contract are also bigger than Allen's.

I think I admitted O'Neal's contract was larger but neglected to add TMac's. Thanks for correcting the oversight.

Though TMac gives you a bit more salary relief, for a one year deal I'd take Tony Allen and Ray Allen in a trade for $22 million in cap relief before I would ever venture to think about taking on the injury prone, non-defense playing, whining, has never won anything TMac.

I meant Jermaine Oneal.
So you shaq, Jermaine Oneal, and Tmac with larger expiring contracts.

[nickagneta]

Tmac's contract and Oneals contract are also bigger than Allen's.

I think I admitted O'Neal's contract was larger but neglected to add TMac's. Thanks for correcting the oversight.

Though TMac gives you a bit more salary relief, for a one year deal I'd take Tony Allen and Ray Allen in a trade for $22 million in cap relief before I would ever venture to think about taking on the injury prone, non-defense playing, whining, has never won anything TMac.

I meant Jermaine Oneal.
So you shaq, Jermaine Oneal, and Tmac with larger expiring contracts.

I still think Ray at 20 is more enticing than TMac at 22 or Jermaine at 23. Wow, I would want to keep those two guys as far away from my young players as humanly possible.

But that's just preference.