According to Chris Broussard, who’s a well-known Cavs source, the Cavs and Suns are “closing in” on an Amare deal. The ball is reportedly in Phoenix’s court, they would likely buy out Zydrunas, and the Warriors are trying to get the Cavs to take Corey Maggette. Not much more to say, other than if this goes through I’m calling Danny Ferry Daniel Plainview from now on. I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE, STEVE KERR.
The Cavs are basically just a money laundering front for Suns all stars, AND I LOVE IT.
When Z gets back in 30 days, barring injury, the Cavs have 13 bona-fide rotation players on the roster. Come playoff time, someone is gonna be to odd man out. And by someone, I mean 3 or 4 guys.
The good news about this is the Cavs can’t suffer a title-hopes-crippling injury. If a big man goes down, we still have as many frontcourt guys as we do now because Powe is coming back. Obviously guard injuries aren’s proving fatal either.
Also good news is this year we will WIN the last game of the regular season when we sit all our starters.
LOL. Well played.
OMG!!!!!!! Picture a all-star 4 man who can run the floor and finish everything around the basket but need to improve his rebounding, a underrated point that can shoot the lights out of any gym and can run any type of offense and the greatest basketball player the world has ever seen and they are all under 27yrs! Cleveland would win 6 titles in the next 8yrs!!!!!!
Corey Maggette? WTF.
the cavs don’t need amare right now if it means giving up jj for him. yeah amare is talented but he has those bad knee injuries that you really can’t trust. while injuries can always happen to anyone, jj is a safer bet on that side. hickson has potential and could be a future star next to lbj. if it happens i wont complain. but i think we’re good with what we have. when powe and mo get back, we’ll already be 13 deep. what more can we ask for? especially when playoffs come around and only 9 at the max will be in the rotation anyways probably 8.
What I can ask for is for this year, for the title run, trading JJ Hickson, who will possibly be as good as Amare is now someday and never as good as he was before injury, ESSENTIALLY STRAIGHT UP, for AMARE FREAKING STOUDAMIRE…
Remind me again how this is in any way a bad thing? Stop reading this, slap yourself. Splash some water on your eyes.
Now…clear your mind. Answer the following question in one second: Do you trade JJ Hickson for Amare Stoudamire straight up?
Of course you do.
Also, sorry if people don’t know who Amare Stoudamire is. I wouldn’t trade for him. Amare Stoudemire, on the other hand, that’s exciting.
Apparently you did not watch Stoudemire and Shaq play together last season. It did not work out so well. They both need to be in the paint to be successful. How is Lebron going to get to the rim when you have both Amare and Shaq clogging the faint???
David,
I think it’s not that we should be looking at it like that. I think it’s just a “what could we get if we didn’t *have* to give up JJ” situation.
Who knows what the trade talks are like, but for example if we could have given up one of our swing players (where we are already both deep *and* young) instead of JJ (Face it, Shaq and Z only have 1-2 “productive” years left) that is the much better scenario.
I don’t think anyone would really say that trading JJ for Stoudamire straight-up is a bad deal so long as we get Stoudamire resigned long-term, I think the problem is that JJ has shown that he can contribute in the league at 21. If he stays with the franchise, it makes the franchise better.
JUST GET IGUODALA! STOP MESSING AROUND WITH THESE INJURY PRONE, NO-DEFENSE, PRIMA DONNAS!
ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
(Tsunami has passed out)
“the Cavs can’t suffer a title-hopes-crippling injury”
… well, we can suffer *one* title-hopes-crippling injury.
Tsunami, I’d prefer Iguodala as well, but I’m not sure Philly wants to do that deal. And I’m pretty sure it would take Hickson to get him. The only reason they will give him up for Stoudemire is that they’re getting a big man in return. If they gave up Hickson and Z for Iguodala, they’d be left with just Shaq and Varejao (and maybe Powe) for a month until Z returns.
Ferry is leveraging Gilbert’s money, which is great, but this Gilbert deserves the credit.
Windhorst was just on ESPN 850 (espncleveland.com, just after 11:15). He said it’s likely the deal goes down, but had real concerns about getting Amare. Mostly he doubts Amare would be willing to accept a smaller role, since he’s stated publicly that he’s looking for a max contract after this season. But he also says Lebron has been involved in the discussion and has been talking with Stoudemire, and seems to think he can make it work. He made some good points, especially that it could be tough to justify giving Stoudemire a max contract after this season, given his injury history and decline. Also, he thinks the Cavs have given Phoenix a deadline of tomorrow, so they can move on to other deals if it’s not going to happen.
amare for jj = championship… any further ?’s
Yo can I go to Cleveland too? I wanna ball with LeBron….
Per Bob Finnan @ the News Herald- “The key to the whole thing is LeBron James. If he thinks it can work, then do it. He’s the swizzle stick that stirs the drink.”
Amen.
LeBron wouldn’t be in favor of this deal going down if he wasn’t 100% sure it would work out. He knows Amare, they have been talking, and he apparently is certain that everything will work out in the end. I will worry about resigning Amare after the Championship parade
Amare and Shaq actually did well together offensively last year. In fact, their issue together was on the defensive end. This deal amounts to Hickson (who will never match Amare at his peak) for an all star in Amare. Frankly this deal is a triple for the Cavs; it would be a homerun if Amare commits to defense.
Damnnnnn. This sucks. There’s no way I’ll win a championship in the next 5 years. I might as well retire now.
I just read http://valleyofthesuns.com/2010/02/13/amare-stoudemire-to-cleveland-makes-no-sense/
This would be a great deal for the Cavs, but I see this happening through a 3 (or more) team trade; does anyone have any ideas on who the other teams might be ?
“the Cavs can’t suffer a title-hopes-crippling injury”
… well, we can suffer *one* title-hopes-crippling injury.
If James goes down, life as we know it will cease to exist. Simple as that.
Stop trying to jinxx LeBron
Jean-Christian, shut your dirty mouth! That cannot possibly happen. I mean, we’re not cursed like the Clippers are! Jk, jk.
As I’m finding myself doing more and more, I agree with Tsunami. If we get anybody, I would prefer Iggy. To use a comparison, I’ve heard you should never go into a relationship with the hope of “fixing” somebody. We should take the same advice about Amare. We can turn him into a team player and a good defender…. Right… Or, if we make a deal, get a guy that is already a great teammate and lockdown defender.
I agree with what ESPN is saying now, that this is probably a tactic to get the Wizards to lower their asking price for Jamison. Although I think Stoudemire would be a much better choice than Jamison. Sure, he can help us now, but what about the future? Stoudemire may be injury prone, but so is Jamison. At least Amar’e is younger. Plus, Jamison’s numbers have dropped since the middle of January. Perhaps its just the law of averages, but do we really need another player who is averaging around 10-12 points a game?
OOps, my bad, just notice the link John put up earlier.
Can I just say if I were Steve Nash I would be out fron demanding a trade at this point. If Amare gets dealt, when the team is solidly in the playoffs, for a guy who has 3 more years to go b4 we know what he will be then Steve Nash should and probably will be really pissed. The guy has this year and maybe next year left at this level and it will be sad to see it wasted in Phoenix who is in rebuilding mode. Trade. Steve.Nash.Now.
Oh, and think about Steve Nash on the Hawks…YIKES!!!
If the phoenix trade amounts to LEBRON signing a new contract ——NO BRAINER!!!!!
Honestly, I’ve given this a whole lot of thought, and this really does work a lot better than an Iggy trade in addition to being more likely. If the Cavs can be top-5 in defensive efficiency playing JJ, they’ll be just fine with anyone. Mike Brown knows defense.
So Cleveland should be going for a guy who makes their offense improve as much as possible, and honestly, any cavs fan who isn’t drooling about an LBJ/Amar’e pick-and-anything needs to watch STAT more. The guy is a PnR mevyn and is one of the best deep-2 shooting big men in the game. Amar’e fills the stretch 4 void everyone’s been overhyping and then some, and can’t offer much less than JJ on defense in the absolute worst-case scenario. The only negative is the effect it’ll have on Andy’s minutes, but I feel like this’ll eat into Shaq and Z’s minutes more once Z gets back.
Iggy, on the other hand, is just redundant. He’ll make a great defense slightly better, and could actually have a bad impact on the offense since him being on the floor with LBJ and Anderjao (The Cavs two best players) provides absolutely no spacing. Add Shaq to that equation and it becomes an offensive disaster. Not to mention, the Sixers want the Cavs to take Brand (Useless) or Dalembert (Slightly less useless) too, and that puts the Cavs about a gazillion over the cap for the next 4 years.
Oh, and I’m surprised nobody’s given Jamison’s defense much thought when it’s barely better than Amare’s.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yf4t54b
I like the existing team, I always say “just leave well enough alone” although, having stoudemire here will defintely have a huge impact on increasing a.) our odds for championship contention b.) the odds of Lebron re-signing. I think Hickson is a huge part of our team and I hate to see him go, and we’ll see Z back around the moutain in 30 days or so but all in all, being from cleveland, I need to see my team win a championship at any cost, I think it’s a good deal…go for it Ferry!
Everyone does realize this is the Cavs’ Pau Gasol trade right? Here are two scenarios:
1. Team A trades below average center and high potential prospect (among other things) for unhappy big man. Said big man has voiced his displeasure, is coming off a major injury, and is a dynamite offensive player. Some still question big man’s toughness and defensive abilities, but many dismiss questions because he is joining best player in the world.
2. Team B trades average center (who they will get back) and high potential prospect for unhappy big man. Said big man has voiced his displeasure, is coming off a major injury, and is a dynamite offensive player. Some still question big man’s toughness and defensive abilities, but consensus says that shouldn’t be an issue because he is joining best player in the world. As a bonus, said big man happens to be one of the best PnR players in NBA history and is joining another one of the best PnR players in NBA history.
(Look familiar? They should.)
The elephant in the room is Amare’s contract situation, but I don’t see any reason he would pass up a chance to play out the rest of his career with LeBron.
That is more than an elephant in the room, it is something that has to be addressed before the trade.
And just remember, that Pau Gasol situation has ended up working out really well, FOR BOTH TEAMS. Memphis really put those picks to good use and Marc Gasol looks like a stud.
I love the trade still…but there is no possible way of knowing whether or not Hickson will be as good if not better than Amare, so lets stop acting like we are so he won’t. Personally, I think Hickson could be every bit the player Carlos Boozer is (he needs more time, obviously Boozer was in college for 3 seasons) only even more athletic.
Rich, no disrespect, but anybody could be projected to be anybody with enough athleticism. We can project J.J. to be Amare or Boozer or whoever, but projects can hold teams back in the meantime, and I don’t want J.J. holding us down in the playoffs. The thing about Amare and Boozer is that they were special almost immediately. J.J. shows us one or two things a game that we like, a couple of things we’d like to forget, but Amar’e in second year from HIGH SCHOOL was killin it. I mean, I’ve come around on J.J. in a big way, but you gotta give up something to get something, and honestly, we’re not getting that much.
Last thing, I hope they don’t go with Jamison. Amare is better and younger. Amare’s TS% is 8% higher than Tawn’s and even if you credit that to the Nash PnR, think about LeBron’s PnR being almost as good. Nash is obviously the better passer (best in the league), but LeBron is a bigger scoring threat, so the PnR will destroy for Amare even if it’s in a different manner.
I don’t really think it’s the cavs choice in who they go with. The Suns could easily just not take a trade at all. I mean, if they’ve stated they want a trade that improves the team, and everyone here seems to be in agreement JJ is not and will not be better than Amare, then why would they take the deal? You have to think about it objectively and not just from a one-sided view in which we try to reason everything into focus with how want it to turn out. Realistically, this deal still probably won’t go down because it’s a huge downgrade for Phoenix, and I’m guessing Steve Nash is telling Kerr that if he does this he will be demanding a trade come summer time.
From what Windhorst has said, it basically comes down to a simple choice for the Suns. If they want the most financial relief, then they go with the Cavs’ offer. If they actually want to get something back, then they will need Philly to throw in Iggy. Miami is the dark horse if they can get another team involved.
Well Rich what we see might not be what Kerr sees. J.J. seems pretty coveted. I think they see him throw down on Wade or something raw and athletic, see he’s 21 and start dreaming up his potential. I do think it’s a bad trade for the Suns but Kerr and Porter might see J.J. as a coveted young prospect, who knows? And if it’s a 3 teamer, the Suns might be able to land J.J. from us and another “stud” from the 3rd team. The “advanced talks” and LeBron signing off on it, as well as speaking with Amare seems to pretty promising. They already screwed Nash over with the Shaq philosophy, why not screw him over again and knock him out of the playoffs?
Lets invent a hypothetical.
Based on the rumors and such, the deal in question is:
Suns Get:
JJ Hickson
Big Z
Possible Draft pick (they can have it)
Cavs Get:
Amar’e Stoudemire
This works under the NBA’s cba. I think this is a fantastic deal for the cavs. Yes you’re trading a younger player for a veteran but Stoudemire is 27. He has had some injury history but its a gamble worth taking to put a perennial all star who is a “stretch 4″ but also much more at the same time. Amar’e defense has a bad rap because the suns system is designed that way as you all know. He has elite physical tools and his defense can only get better under mike brown. In other words: “I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE, I DRINK IT UP!”
Now then, Imagine this:
Sixers get:
Wally Sczekrhjrzwrwrbiak (signed to about $16 million expiring)
Anthony Parker
Leon Powe
2012 draft pick
Christian Eyenga
Cavs get:
Samuel Delembert
Andre Iguodala
According to some sixers fans / blogs the team is either going to keep him or aggressively seek cap relief for him, which our glorious cavaliers can provide, along with some intriguing youth at least. The sixers fans weren’t totally opposed to this trade (at least not violently like the suns fans looking at the amare deal) This could clear some of the log jam in the cavs rotation and give us a legitimate option to spell shaq while Z is on his sabbatical. Also some youth depth and insurance at the C position that we could definitely use given the age of Z and shaq.
More importantly, I think the cavs should start calling the sixers now, because if we send Z to the suns they will have the pieces they need to potentially deal for Iguodala (which they desperately want, but don’t have the expiring contract to acquire). Also, if we make a deal for iggy, the suns will lose their best option for dealing stoudemire and be more inclined to trade with us.
In other words, if Ferry plays his cards right he can tell Mike Brown:
Start getting fitted for rings, make sure you get at least 3 different fingers sized.
I feel so bad for Nash. The guy needs to be traded at the end of the season. Again, imagine that man on the Hawks…that team would be frightening.
Remember, the Ben Wallace deal wasn’t broken by Windy until less than 24 hours before the deadline that year. I’m still holding out hope for Iggy.
However, if trading for Stoudemire meant that Lebron stays in Cleveland for sure, BUT that the Cavs wouldn’t win a championship this year, wouldn’t most of us accept that? (Or, maybe not. I don’t know.)
I’m still drooling (as I have been for over a week) of inserting Iguodala and Stoudemire into our starting 5 at the real cost of hickson, Anthony Parker, Powe and draft picks.
Mo, Iggy, LeBron, Stoudemire, Shaq
Bench: Varejao, Ilgauskas, Delembert, Delonte, Jamario, Jawad
Nothing can stop that team except Steve Nash on the Hawks or the Unholy alliance of Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.
Good, my plan to get the Steve Nash to Hawks idea kicking is already working. I really wanna see that just for the entertainment value again.
John, what do you think of troy murphy? He’s basically a walking double double and I think just in terms of coordination and awareness he beats JJ. I just don’t want to be relying on JJ and then he turns back into the lackluster player he was a few weeks ago.
I always lol when I see someone compare JJ’s “potential” to Amare.
When Amare was 21, the same age as JJ, his stat line was 21 points, 9 boards, a block and a half and just over a steal a game…all in a bout 30 minutes per contest. JJ averages 7 points and 4 boards with <1 block and steal in about 20 minutes per game. Amare was 2nd team ALL-NBA the next year at the tender age of 22. Raise your hand if you honestly think Hickson will be an All-NBA player next year. Now with the other hand, slap yourself again.
Bottom line, JJ is a superb athlete, but he's a just a project who the Cavs have done a great job making look good. So far, he hasn't developed anything that leads me to think he's going to even be roation guy in this league. Weak post game, weak dribble drive game, weak jumpshot, weak defense. I can't comprehend how folks think JJ will magically develop into a stud overnight when he hasn't shown anything but an ability to cut to the basket when his man isn't looking. If Hickson were drafted by another team, I doubt most Cavs fans would even know he existed.
I do feel sorry for JJ in that the pressure and expectations will be very high wherever he ends up, because let's be honest…he's a LONG way from being ready to stand on his own as a star in this league. He's going to take a mauling in the PHX media, ala Kwame, and Hickson seems like a good kid who doesn't deserve that.