Can Danny?

If there's going to be a deal made this offseason, pretty much everyone's first choice would be... OK, Brian Scalabrine, but Raef would come in a close second. Now, if a trade for the Hornets two picks isn't available and the draft board seems to be holding steady with none of the top six prospect falling to us, we'd have to take a look at whether the #7 pick would be our best chance to dump the unhappy and only passingly productive Raef Lafrentz. They looks over some deals that Danny might consider:

Raef, #7 for Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Luke Jackson, #25
A deal I don't like at all. I'm not a fan of Z or his new contract (around 10 million per for the next four years). Luke Jackson has done nothing and we fall back in the draft for minimal improvement. But last time we had the #7 pick, we dealt it for Vitaly Potapenko straight up so at least Danny could say that he didn't repeat a past mistake, he made a signifcantly better mistake.

Raef, #7 for Kenyon Martin
K-Mart's handling of Antoine in the playoffs is the reason many people wanted 'Toine gone. It's only fitting that he would come to Boston in a deal for the man that replaced Antoine... who most people want gone. Regardless, this isn't a great deal. K-Mart is a talent but does better in the open floor which isn't the C's forte. He's also overpaid and injury prone but then again so was Raef when we got him, so who knows?

Raef, #7, Tony Allen for Troy Murphy, Derek Fisher, and Zarko Cabarkapa
I don't like this trade because Troy is vastly overpaid. That being said, this is a sort of win now trade that I wouldn't be stunned to see Danny make. The major downside is cap space, which Danny has stated that he doesn't care about. To even things out, I'm sure he'd try to get a future lotto protected draft pick from Golden St. I tried to even the deal up a bit but the best I could come up with was a deal that the Warriors would never do: Raef, #7, Scalabrine for Troy Murphy, Derek Fisher, Mickeal Pietrus.

Raef and Dickau for Juwan Howard and a sign-and-trade of David Wesley
My first thought was Raef, Tony Allen for Stromile Swift, Rafer Alston, Dikembe Mutombo but I immediately had second thoughts. The Rockets clear out a couple of mistakes and get a shorter contract and a defensive minded 2-guard that they can fit in with Luther Head and T-Mac. Raef shares time at the four with Juwan. Houston could angle for the #7 pick but Allen would be all that I would give up. I like the thought of Dikembe coming in to tutor Perkins but I'm not so hot on either Rafer or Stromile. Replace Tony with Veal and the #7 and get a 2007 Rockets pick in return? If it's unprotected I might be willing to roll the dice; if not, Rafer and Swift have too many questions. Still, a Houston deal makes sense. Raef gives the Rox a decent backup in the post and can knock down the three when Yao and T-Mac dish it out. Dickau gives them a solid third string point guard. I like Juwan as a mentor more than Raef and he's a bit more servicable. Not sure if our old numbers boy would be down for the deal (maybe he'd push for Veal instead of Dan) but it's not a terrible offer. This is pretty much a step sideways.

Raef, #7 for Austin Croshere, Sarunas Jasikevicius, and #17
This is pretty likely the best salary dump we have a shot at. Sarunas didn't exactly wow anyone in Indiana so they'd likely be willing to deal him . Raef could be more useful than Austin, who has an expiring deal, since the Pacers could lose Scot Pollard this offseason. At #17, Danny could add Sergio Rodriguez, Thabo Sefolosha, Saer Sene or whatever American falls. Bird might not be interested but if he falls for someone in the draft, he could be willing to move down and get a more useful white guy with better hair.

Raef, #7, Tony Allen for Jamaal Magloire and Mo Williams
While talent-wise this doesn't look so bad, the problem is that both Mo and Magloire are free agents after the season. Giving up the #7 and Allen for two guys who might be gone after one year doesn't make a whole heap of sense. Then again, Mo is about on par with most of the PG's in the draft so it would essentially be Tony Allen for a salary dump of Raef. It's a tough call. O'Bryant/Carney and Allen for Magloire and Mo? The Bucks have the #39 pick which could help us out. While Milwaukee could get better value for these two (like Charlie Villenueva), this deal fills the most holes for them. In the end, my questions about Magloire have me nixing this deal.

Raef, Dickau, #7 for Jamal Crawford, Malik Rose and #20
Depends on your opinion of Jamal. I think he grew a decent amount with Larry Brown this year and might be turning the corner. Not sure if working with Doc would help or hurt his progress but still... Anyway, if there's ever a place to make a deal, it's NY. While investigating a deal for Jalen or Mo Taylor's expiring deal could be interesting, I would stay away from Quentin Richardson and, of course, Jerome James. I think we could definitely work something out but you have to be sold on Jamal and his contract to pull the trigger on this one.

Raef, Wally Szczerbiak, Tony Allen, #7 for Chris Webber, Kyle Korver, #13
Tony Allen could be the perfect complement to AI with his defense and ability to handle some PG duties. And a backcourt of him and the AI's would be very nice. TA would likely come off the pine with Wally starting and feeding off of Iverson's drives. I really don't think Philly would ever do this but it's an interesting deal. Webber's contract is off the books earlier than Raef's and it seems like Danny is most interested in guys who are pegged for the #13 range. In two years, you could have Rondo, Green, Pierce with Korver off the pine. Cap space galore to sign a big man before resigning the young guys (or use the cap space to deal for a big man). It's one to chew on.

Raef, Dwayne Jones, #7 for Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, and #31
One of the more talked about options, this clears space a year earlier (Ratliff's deal is shorter) and gives us a speedy young PG. Since I'm not sold on Telfair, I added in the Dwayne Jones for the Portland second round pick. I really don't what to think about Bassy so this is a tough one. I can't fault anyone for being interested but Bassy's attitude definitely gives me pause when considering this trade. I could see his value in his own mind being a lot higher than it is when he's due to resign. If the Nets move to Brooklyn, it could be hard to keep him in Beantown.

Raef, Tony Allen, #7 for Mehmet Okur, Gordon Giricek, and #14
Raef, Al Jefferson for Carlos Boozer was an initial thought but Boozer is injury prone and overpaid. I think Big Al could put up Carlos' numbers for a lot less money. If you don't believe in Big Al, this deal might make sense but right now it's A) giving up on Jefferson too soon and b) not going to make us that much better for the money that's being paid. Dealing the pick and/or Tony Allen doesn't make sense either because why keep Al if you're just going to bury him behind Boozer? Although the Jazz could raise revenue by making a Simple Life type reality series with Tony Allen living in Utah. I think there's a good chance Carlos is on the Celtics by opening game but I wouldn't be very happy about it. Raef, Tony, #7 for Mehmet Okur and Gordon Giricek. Mehmet only makes around 8.5 million a year which is pretty damn good for 18 and 9 a game. The Jazz replace him with O'Bryant or Simmons, and we grab a PG with the #14. This is a viable option although how you judge Tony Allen makes-or-breaks it.

Raef, Tony Allen, #7 for Antawn Jamison, #18
Would Washington do it? Would we want to give up that much for Jamison? I wouldn't. It's an option but not one that I would pursue.

So what say I? Of course, Tony's legal issues make all of this more complicated but I can see a provision being worked out to rejigger the deal is TA ends up in the clink. While I'm still hoping for someone to fall or for the Hornets deal to work out, right now, the Indy, Portland and Utah deals interest me the most.