Spitballing #3: Wolves is C's Clothing
The Kevin Garnett rumors are flying and I, for one, am nervous. The current deals have us giving up the #5 and Al Jefferson (among others) for KG and a bad contract (say, Troy Hudson or Marko Jaric). While KG is great, the problem is that he could opt out of his contract next year which would leave the Celtics with a bad contract for their prized young talent and the highest pick they've had in decades. The risk was simply too high and seemed to nix the deal. But then old friend Chad Ford came up with a rumor that could help the C's quest for KG. Ford stated that the going rumor was that the Clippers might deal Corey Maggette and the #14 pick for Boris Diaw, the #24 and #29 picks. Now Diaw seemed to devolve a bit this year, gaining weight right after signing a 5 year, 45 million dollar contract. If the Clippers were considering that deal, wouldn't they find Wally (shorter deal) and young player and a better pick even more enticing? Combining this with the KG offer, I came up with:
The Clippers deal Maggette, Cassell, #14 for Wally, Scalabrine, West, and #7
The Wolves deal Garnett and #14 for Big Al, Maggette, Theo, and #5
The Celtics deal Wally, Theo, Scalabrine, Jefferson, West, #5 for Garnett, Cassell, #14
(Or you could have LA getting Telfair and Minny getting West. You could replace West with Gerald but I like that Green's rookie contract has an extra year on it.) - The Wolves get more than they ever could have imagined for Kevin Garnett. - The Clippers move up where they could grab a top prospect, perhaps replacing Cassell (and the injured Shaun Livingston) with Mike Conley Jr. They get a couple of heady players who would make Mike Dunleavy Sr. happy and they also add a young talent like West. - The Celtics add a top player in Kevin Garnett and move down in the draft but are still in range to get the left over top prosect be it Thaddeus Young, Julian Wright, or Al Thornton. Cassell mans the point while Rondo gets one more year to learn the position. The risk of KG leaving still remains but at least this deal clear out all of our bad contract so we could have cap space to make a run at a top free agent. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of dealing Big Al for Garnett (and would probably prefer getting younger and dealing Pierce for some younger talent) but if we are going to go for it now, this is the type of deal I would hope Ainge could work out.
The Clippers deal Maggette, Cassell, #14 for Wally, Scalabrine, West, and #7The Wolves deal Garnett and #14 for Big Al, Maggette, Theo, and #5
The Celtics deal Wally, Theo, Scalabrine, Jefferson, West, #5 for Garnett, Cassell, #14
(Or you could have LA getting Telfair and Minny getting West. You could replace West with Gerald but I like that Green's rookie contract has an extra year on it.) - The Wolves get more than they ever could have imagined for Kevin Garnett. - The Clippers move up where they could grab a top prospect, perhaps replacing Cassell (and the injured Shaun Livingston) with Mike Conley Jr. They get a couple of heady players who would make Mike Dunleavy Sr. happy and they also add a young talent like West. - The Celtics add a top player in Kevin Garnett and move down in the draft but are still in range to get the left over top prosect be it Thaddeus Young, Julian Wright, or Al Thornton. Cassell mans the point while Rondo gets one more year to learn the position. The risk of KG leaving still remains but at least this deal clear out all of our bad contract so we could have cap space to make a run at a top free agent. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of dealing Big Al for Garnett (and would probably prefer getting younger and dealing Pierce for some younger talent) but if we are going to go for it now, this is the type of deal I would hope Ainge could work out.
