Some Non-Carmelo Trade Ideas

For all of Billups hard work he still ultimately is a combo guard… SG skills in a PG body. You’d need some size coming off the bench; but CP3 & Billups together would generate a lot of offense.

I think Ty would have to be, and should be traded if you got CP3. Ty is speed, will prove himself to be a starting PG, but he’s small. Ben Gordon is small but he’s a pure shooter so you can be creative with him. Ty is a PG or nothing and I can’t see him long term being a backup PG unless he flames out as a starter.

If you’re looking for a Big with limited basketball skills and can’t stay healthy + an undersized SG who has to control the ball, take a lot of shots and not make his team mates better… then I’d say Biedrins is a fit for KMart and Ellis is a fit for AI.

one where we get Marc Gasol in a while. I know, trade A.C. and Butch for Marc Gasol. Completely fair and balanced (in the fox news sense) trade.

Give me a few, I’ll get creative.

1. Cleveland – JR Smith, cash + 2011 first for Anderson Varejao.

Post-apocalypse Cleveland is screwed. Unless Dan Gilbert really is as stupid as he sounds in his incoherent ravings to Lebron and is serious about winning a title before Miami, he’ll realize the smartest thing to do is to explode the team as soon as possible. That means moving Varejao, Jamison, Gibson, and possibly Mo Williams as soon as possible. Varejao isn’t a sexy basketball player but he plays good defense, rebounds, hustles, and knows his limitations as an offensive player (ie. putbacks). He can also pose as a legit center moving Nene to PF. His contract is pretty tough to swallow at 5/$42M but he’s 28 so we’ll be getting the remaining of his good years without too much drop-off at the end. The problem is he’s basically a less athletic but more solid version of Bird which makes him a little redundant.

2. Portland – Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez for JR Smith, Lawson, 2011 and 2013 firsts

This just comes down to whether or not Portland is willing to cut bait with Oden and try recoup as many assets as possible now while he still has some trade value. Another injury this year and not only is his trade value near zero, he’s also a FA following the year. His injury history is well documented but when he does play, there’s no question he’s a difference-maker, especially on the defensive end. His per-minute numbers are incredible, but of course that’s dependent on if he can stay in the game and out of foul trouble. Portland would still have Camby and Pryzbilla manning the center position and it’s possible the lure of Lawson might be enough for Portland (along with acquiring what could be some pretty choice 1sts if we go in the tank). Fernandez is included in the deal for salary purposes if Portland really believes he’s never coming back. Otherwise they could just add Pendergraph and Cunningham to the deal. Regardless, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of value the new GM there puts on Oden.

3. Portland – Billups and 2011 first for Miller, Bayless, and Babbitt

Basically we’re taking a step back going from Billups to Miller but we get younger and more depth with Bayless and Babbitt. Portland is getting into that mode where they want to compete for championships and not just acquire young assets so upgrading to Billups while acquiring a future asset makes sense at the cost of Bayless and Babbitt. One upside of this trade is with the acquisition of Bayless (if you believe in him), it’s then possible we can move Lawson to someone else while acquiring a useful piece. It’s also possible to combine deals 2 & 3 to form a Billups/JR/Lawson, 2011, 2013 firsts for Miller, Oden, Bayless, and Babbit deal.

4. Sacramento Kings – JR Smith, Ty Lawson and 2011 second for Carl Landry, Beno Udrih, Hassan Whiteside

Landry gives the Nuggets to the ability to field a very intriguing small-ball team with Nene/Landry/Melo/Afflalo/Billups and he’s cheaply signed for the next two years. We also get the mother of all scratch tickets in Hassan Whiteside. Sacramento gets Lawson who’s speed meshes well with Evans and allows Evans to play 2 guard at times during the game, lessening his workload. The Kings also get to shed themselves of Udrih’s contract giving them something insane like $30-35M in cap space next year. This would allow them to throw a ton of money at Horford next summer assuming he doesn’t re-up with ATL (he’s a restricted FA so they would have the right to match but they already owe a ton of money in future years). A Kings combo of Lawson/Evans/Horford/McCousins for the next decade? Yes please if I’m a Kings fan.

4A. K-Mart, Lawson, 2011 first for Landry, Thompson, Udrih, and Garcia

Basically same thing as previous trade but we sub K-Mart instead of JR and add in Thompson and Garcia. Thompson is intriguing as a big man but he’s been up and down. Garcia is a shooter but that’s about it. Sacramento gets even further under the next year by shedding Garcia’s iffy contract.
  
5. Charlotte Bobcats – JR, Lawson, 2011 first for Stephen Jackson and DJ Augustin

We get Capt. Jack and a backup point guard who may or may not be a capable starter in the league. I don’t think the Bobcats are sold on him and might be willing to trade PG/SG combos with us with the added first-rounder. Charlotte also gains a lot more flexibility in the future by shedding Jackson’s contract and the fact he’s not exactly young anymore. I just feel like JR Smith is the type of guy who would absolutely fall in line and play up to his ability with Michael Jordan staring him down on a daily basis (when he’s not golfing). MJ is still an absolutely dominant, alpha-dog personality and if he can’t get JR straight and playing his best basketball, nobody can.

I’m usually pretty subjective in my trades and feel value-wise all of these deals are possible from that standpoint. There’s obviously a lot of variables, many that are unpredictable or just unknown to fans, to account for when proposing trade ideas (direction of team, owner’s financial situation, how the team actually performs early in the season) but I don’t think anybody from either side of these trades would just hang up the phone if offered these deals. Then again, I might be completely wrong.