Decent read
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071218

A few things of interest:


BEST CONTRACTS
The 15 most cap-appealing NBA contracts that aren't rookie deals:

15. Jeff Foster: 2 years, $11.9m
14. Josh Howard: 4 years, $39.6m
13. Caron Butler: 4 years, $37.5m
12. David West: 4 years, $37.9m
11. Hedu Turkoglu: 3 years, $20.6m
10. James Posey: 2 years, $6.6m
9. Drew Gooden: 2 years, $13.5m
8. Kendrick Perkins: 4 years, $17m
7. Carlos Boozer: 3 years, $35.9m
6. Ron Artest: 2 years, $16.3m
5. Leandro Barbosa: 5 years, $33m
4. Grant Hill: 2 years, $3.8m
3. Marcus Camby: 3 years, $25.6-$35m
2. Manu Ginobili: 3 years, $29.8m
1. Steve Nash: 3 years, $39.7m

He compiled his list of "the 50 NBA players with the most trade value".

GROUND RULES
A quick recap of the rules:

1. Salaries matter. Over this season and the next three, would you rather pay David West $37.9 million or Andrei Kirilenko $63.3 million?

2. Age matters. Would you rather have Rasheed Wallace for the next four seasons or Al Horford for the next 12?

3. Pretend the league passed the following rule: For 24 hours, any player can be traded without cap ramifications. So if Team A tells Team B, "We'll trade you Player X for Player Y," would Team B make the deal or not?

4. Concentrate on degrees. For instance, neither San Antonio nor Orlando would make a Howard-Duncan trade. But at the very least, the Spurs would say, "Wow, Dwight Howard's available?" while the Magic would say, "There's no frickin' way we're trading Dwight Howard." That counts in the big scheme of things.

5. The list runs in reverse order (Nos. 50 to 1). So if Carmelo comes in at No. 14, players 1 through 13 are all players about whom the Nuggets would probably say, "We hate giving up 'Melo, but we definitely have to consider this deal." And they wouldn't trade him straight-up for any player listed between Nos. 13 and 50.


44. Tayshaun Prince
It's weird when anyone earning $39 million through 2011 can be deemed "cost effective," but when you're paying that sum to an unselfish, playoff-proven, A-plus defender and all-around good guy who shoots 40-plus percent from long range, that's good business. Especially when he's only 27.


38. Marcus Camby
37. Rasheed Wallace
Approaching their mid-30s, both possess higher than usual value because of their big-game experience, defensive prowess, basketball IQ, testicular fortitude and surprisingly appealing contracts. You can win with these guys and continue to win for the next three or four years; that's more appealing than Gasol, who has never won anything. Anyway, Sheed gets the paper-thin edge only because of the inspiring way he reinvented "Jingle Bells", joining the Christmas Song Pantheon along with Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas," Elvis' "Blue Christmas" and the David Bowie/Bing Crosby duet of "Little Drummer Boy."


27. Gilbert Arenas
26. Chauncey Billups
Here's where you have to love the "Trade Value" game: Who turns down a Billups-Arenas swap, Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld or Pistons GM Joe Dumars?

The answer? Both would turn it down even though it's a fairly logical trade for both teams. Detroit increases its ceiling as a team (right now, it's second round and out) and gets a blue-chip scorer and gate attraction to keep up with LeBron in the Central; Washington gets an unselfish winner who makes everyone else better and gives it stability for once. That's a nice trade. In the end, Joe Dumars would flinch well before Ernie Grunfeld did -- he'd worry about Gilbert's impending free agency, he'd worry about going over the luxury tax and wrecking his salary structure this summer, and he'd definitely worry about Gilbert's knee problems and the curious way the Wizards came together as a team as soon as Gilbert went away. Ernie would flinch only because of the age difference (four years) and the local ramifications of dealing the most popular Wizard/Bullet in 30 years. Either way, a fun argument.

In the end, Joe Dumars would flinch well before Ernie Grunfeld did -- he'd worry about Gilbert's impending free agency, he'd worry about going over the luxury tax and wrecking his salary structure this summer, and he'd definitely worry about Gilbert's knee problems and the curious way the Wizards came together as a team as soon as Gilbert went away.

Point 1: Joe is not worried about going over the luxury tax limit - he's just not going to do it. Problem solved. No worries.

Point 2: No way Joe takes Arenas specifically because I think it's pretty clear to any observers that Arenas violates the most important rule of group management. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446526568/bobsutton-20) That's something Dumars has talked about a lot in the past and I don't think he's going to go down that road.

Was coming here to post the link to the article.

Here were my thoughts:



17. Tony Parker 16. Manu Ginobili We're sticking them in such high circles partly out of respect (six rings combined) and partly because San Antonio's organization, to its never-ending credit, values chemistry and goodguymanship (I just made that word up) over everything else.


Here's the defining why-the-Spurs-win-and-keep-winning story: They gave away Luis Scola this summer not just for luxury tax reasons, but because they were afraid that Scola, a No. 1 scoring option for Argentina's national team as well as the Euro leagues, wouldn't be able to adjust to playing 20-25 minutes a game as a supporting guy on a great team. They didn't even want to take the chance that he'd mess them up. So they shipped him out. What's even more fascinating is the Spurs have won four titles (and counting) with a specific strategy that nobody else emulated until Boston voyaged down the same defense-character-chemistry path this season. And the Celtics are 20-2 right now. Hmmmm. "

WTF is he talking about? In a grand total of 0 ways are the Celtics like the Spurs. That's actually probably too high. Not in style of play. Not in player makeup. Not in history of team creation. Not in management ability. Not in fan base attitude. Not in salary structure. And since when is "sell the whole crew for 3 franchise players" the same as "build a team around defense-character-chemistry"? When the hell did Paul Peirce or Ray Allen become defensive monsters which the team is built around? Oh that's right, they aren't. Boston is a team made up of a power slasher who can create his own shot against anyone. A guy who can shoot the lights out from my office chair. And a guy who controls a game from the post like its a basketball spinning on his finger.

Arenas is a friggin' tool. I wouldn't want him.

^rep points for that one, Fool

wait...

Was coming here to post the link to the article.

Here were my thoughts:



WTF is he talking about? In a grand total of 0 ways are the Celtics like the Spurs. That's actually probably too high. Not in style of play. Not in player makeup. Not in history of team creation. Not in management ability. Not in fan base attitude. Not in salary structure. And since when is "sell the whole crew for 3 franchise players" the same as "build a team around defense-character-chemistry"? When the hell did Paul Peirce or Ray Allen become defensive monsters which the team is built around? Oh that's right, they aren't. Boston is a team made up of a power slasher who can create his own shot against anyone. A guy who can shoot the lights out from my office chair. And a guy who controls a game from the post like its a basketball spinning on his finger.

Normally I can follow where Bill is headed, but this was a good call-out.

He's straining to try make the Celtics seem as great as the Spurs, whose greatness really cant be questioned with so many titles.

Tay's only 27??????????!!!!!

http://www.abilenespeedway.com/images/winners_photos/jan27_number27.jpg

And since when is "sell the whole crew for 3 franchise players" the same as "build a team around defense-character-chemistry"?
Since Flip coached KG, Sam-I-Am, and Latrine Peewell.

Oh, you wanted chemistry. :)


When the hell did Paul Peirce or Ray Allen become defensive monsters which the team is built around? Oh that's right, they aren't.
To be fair, Pierce isn't a bad defender.

i dont know how bs thinks the pistons are out in the second round. first off, who beats them? second off, they are a nightmare matchup for the celtics. the pistons are the last team the C's want to see in the playoffs (in the east).

of course, conspiracy theorists will point out stern would have a little extra incentive to have KG play duncan in the finals. and i wouldnt argue against it, that would probably be the best finals matchup in years.

Best since Hakeem-Shaq easily.

I am curious also who he thinks is gonna beat the Pistons in the 2nd round since its very unlikely the pistons/celtics would meet in the semis. Its Conf finals or nothing. Does he expect Chicago? Cleveland (a possibility considering they give us trouble the past two years)? I hope not Orlando, a team which hasn't even shown they can hang with us.

Anything Bill Simmons says should be taken with a grain of salt, WHO THE FUCK IS GOING TO BEAT US IN THE 2ND ROUND LMFAO!!!



Orlando- yeah right, they've already hit a wall, and we've beaten them 9 straight times

Cleveland- is going to be the 4 seed, and will play BOS in the 2nd Rd (assuming BOS finishes 1st...which is more than likely)

Chicago- please...


unless Utah somehow moves to the Eastern Conference by April, I can't possibly see how we're a "2nd round exit" team...

LOL@Pistons fans dismissing Chicago

LOL@Pistons fans dismissing Chicago

When Bulls fans start taking their team seriously (http://www.topix.net/content/trb/2007/12/giving-em-a-hand-2), I'll reconsider.

why do the bulls deserve to be taken as anything other than a league-wide joke?

Because they own the Pistons.

in the regular season anyway.

....and that means what?

The team that owned us during the season last year and nearly got swept by us in the playoffs, owns us again this season, and they look like a lottery team.

Who cares? They're still very dismissable.

Their record may be a joke, their head coach may be a joke, the contract they gave Ben might be a joke, but anyone that thinks that the Pistons have their number is no less of a joke, IMO.

again: they aren't even a playoff team, so it's meaningless.

I believe Seattle was a lottery team in 2001, and they humiliated the LA Lakers four times that year. LA won the championship, nobody gave a shit about Seattle.

They'll be in the playoffs.

right along with Miami, New York and the tooth fairy....

BTW if the playoffs started after today the Pistons would play the Magic or the Pacers in the 2nd round. So, uh yeah, Simmons can be quiet.

Kstat, we all know that you are a homer, and that is fine, but come on.

The Bulls are 1.5 games out of playoff position, only a boob would dismiss them from making up that ground at the quarter point of the season.

They way they've played this year, it's a lot more foolish to state that they will be in the playoffs than to state they'll be out.

In case you didn't notice, the Bulls are only getting worse, not better. There are 10-11 teams in the east playing way above their level of play.

BTW if the playoffs started after today the Pistons would play the Magic or the Pacers in the 2nd round. So, uh yeah, Simmons can be quiet.

honestly, the pacers are playing well right now, especially Tinsley despite him getting shot at or whatever. Dunleavys finally fitting in with jermaine and granger at the forward spots. The only thing that can possibly fuk them over are injuries to tinsley and jermaine

The odd part of it is they're better without O'Neal.

Tay's only 27??????????!!!!!

http://www.abilenespeedway.com/images/winners_photos/jan27_number27.jpg
My favorite part about this is that it says Winner's Circle in the background. Tay is 27 AND he's in the winner's circle. Perfectly fitting.

(note, if anyone has already said anything I say in my next couple posts in this column, its because I'm just now reading this thread and posting what I think as I go.)

Also, if we got Arenas I'd immediately start hoping for him to get injured again. I don't want him on this team. Period. End of story. Fuck him and his selfish game.

How odd is it really that they're better without O'Neal? I mean, the guy gives them less than full effort whenever he's on the court. He's good but if he actually worked his ass off like he did earlier in his career, they'd be a much better team.

And what are the chances of us pulling Chicago in the first round? I mean, how likely is them getting the 7th seed?