Garnett to the Celtics

Well, it has been reported that the Minnesota Timberwolves have finally traded KG to the Celtics for a boatload of players, many of which I think are very promising players. Al Jefferson was a stud in the second half of last year, Gerald Green will always be at least a promising player due to athleticism, Sebastian Telfair, whom I do not like at all, Ryan Gomes, decent role player, Theo Ratliff, an expiring contract, and two first round picks.

As good as getting Garnett is, trades must factor in the contracts of players. In this case, Garnett costs a BOATLOAD of money. I look at players like that and think, if he were a free agent, would I sign him for that much money? I hesitated when I answered that because I wasn't sure if I would. If I'm the Celtics and I have to give up half of my team, I'm not sure I want to do this, even if the guy I'm getting is "one of the 25 best player's ever" (according to Bill Simmons).

Now to critique ESPN's Bill Simmons' and John Hollinger's articles on the trade. Simmons LOVES the trade. He thinks this trade will mean championships. The Celtics will have THREE players. I think these players COULD work well though because Garnett is the kind of superstar who doesn't really need to score and who doesn't take over at the end of games. That's where Pierce and Ray Allen come in. However, the rest of the team is a little lacking. I'm not saying I don't think the players are good, but I give the Celtics a 2-3 year window here to win and the role players need more time than that. Rajon Rondo (2nd year), Tony Allen (injury), Perkins, Glen Davis (rookie), Leon Powe (2nd year), and Gabe Pruitt (rookie). Most of those guys need time and Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett aren't getting any younger.

In Hollinger's article, he predicts that the Celtics will win 46 games. He uses his stupid projected PER ratings and some other numbers that no one quite understands. I'm all for numbers, but Hollinger is an idiot (and not in just this article). If the Celtics only win 46 games in the EAST, then either someone is injured, or their released everyone else for money reasons and put in random people off the street.

I think trading for KG will make Boston immediately better and will easily make them a playoff team, but it will be sacrificing long-term for short-term, a short-term which will not result in a championship.

Rashard Lewis 6 year deal and sign-and-trade

So we got a sign and trade out of Rashard, which netted us a 2nd round pick and a trade exemption believed to be around $9 million. It was either the trade exemption, or a bunch of junk with expiring contracts, instead we opted for the trade exemption. The sign and trade was easy for us to do, sure Orlando, you can have him for a 6th year and pay him 6 million more per yer, if you give us a 2nd round pick. I was hoping we could squeeze a JJ Redick or a 1st round pick out of them, but oh well. Anyways, so we have cap room this year, whether we spend it on anything remains to be seen. I doubt it, which is good, because there's nothing to spend money on this year. Unfortunately, if we don't spend, we will have a bad season, with low expenses, which seems like a prime candidate for a team moving out.

Ichiro signs extension, Adam Jones called up

According to ESPN, USSMariner, and ProspectInsider, Ichiro signed a deal believed to be for 5 years and around $100 million. This is a great deal, since he is a top 3 player this year along with Magglio and A-Rod (He's the best defensive player at the 2nd most important position). This is good because if Ichiro left, I dont' know that I'd root for the Mariners whole-heartedly over the next few years, and I'm glad we finally kept a superstar while he is still in his prime.

Another big move is Adam Jones finally getting called up. Vidro has a good batting average, but his slugging is so bad, that he is no longer a serviceable DH. Unfortunately we are going to put him in right, Guillen in left, and DH Raul. Jones would be a perfect LF in Safeco, and Guillen is a good RF, slow, but at least he has a cannon. As USSMariner has said, putting Jones in LF instead of Ibanez makes saves us 15 runs (conservative estimate) defensively, which is the equivalent of trading Batista for Santana. So despite the fact that the Mariners exceeded our wildest expectations, expect us to get even better in the second half.

Sonics hire PJ Carlesimo

So, in a series of bad moves, the Sonics hire PJ Carlesimo. I understand Presti's young, so all he's ever known is the Spurs, but the Sonics are not going to be the Spurs. We lack the Tim Duncan to pull it off. If we had Oden, sure, we'd have a force inside with solid inside moves, and a quiet but quirky demeanor to pull it off. Instead we have a Kobe-like assassin. Carlesimo is a great assistant coach, he's not a #1 man. This may be the case with Casey too, but at least Casey knows the players. He's also hasn't coach enough, so you don't know if he's a bad coach. Carlesimo is a proven bad coach. Not only does Carlesimo not know how to handle his players (see Sprewell, Isaiah Rider, etc.) but he's never been a good coach, never taking his team very far. His best team was the 97 blazers that won 49 games, that won 59 games 3 years later after he left and was consistently winning 50 games before he came. It also says something that after his best year with Portland, he left to take a GS team that won 19 games with him that year that won 30 games the year before. The guy hasn't coach since 1999 for a reason.

Also of note is that Durant and Green both signed with the Sonics. The Summer League team is the highlight of the last week so far. We get Zabian Dowdell as an undrafted free agent, whom many including myself wanted in the 2nd round, Julius Hodge, a good defensive payer who can whoot, Gelabale, Sene, Green, Petro, Durant, and a bunch of roster fillers. Most games shoud be televised, so it'll be fun to watch Green and Durant build chemistry.

Lastly, the Rashard deal might be a sign and trade if Rashard wants to get an extra year to his deal. This would be good but Orlando doesn't really have anyone we'd want. But if we do lose Rashard, instead of 4 million in cap room, we get a trade exception for about 10 million.

Rashard Lewis to sign with the Magic

ESPN reports that on July 11th Rashard Lewis will sign a max deal with Orlando.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2924228

To this I say screw you Sam Presti. Because you traded away Ray Allen, you pissed off Lewis and we got nothing out of him. It's not like Baseball where we get a compensatory pick. For him it was either sign and trade with the Sonics, or sign with the Magic, and he liked what he saw in Orlando. The good thing we get out of this? Cap space. We can either make a run at Chauncey Billups or Gerald Wallace (don't really need another SF), or we can sign someone moderately priced, and go ater some of the mega free agents next year (Antwaan Jamison, Gilbert Arenas, and possibly KG, Tim Duncan, Iverson, Jermaine O'Neal, Elton Brand, Shawn Marion, Ron Artest).
I didn't buy Sam Presti's lies about three do everything SF's playing at the same time, and I don't think Rashard did either. I was hoping after the draft that Presti could spin something positive out of the Ray Allen trade, but so far, it's looking even worse.

Hargrove resigns despite M's Success

Hargrove had a press conference today before the game announcing he would resign as manager after the game. The M's went on to win in the bottom of the 9th for their 8th in a row to get them to 12 over.
I was never a big fan of Hargrove, but now that were winning, I'm fine with him. His bullpen management has been a total turnaround from last year, and he's using Broussard correctly finally. He still misuses young people, such as not using O'Flaherty in tighter situations, and using Morrow in tight situations, and I wonder what he'd do if we called up Adam Jones. However he is doing a good enough job otherwise. He even put Vidro into the bottom third of the lineup for a while.
Anyways, something tells me something bigger is going on. Several have speculated that he was "let go" to resign Ichiro, and others have speculated that his wife or family member has some sort of illness. Whatever the case is, I hope this doesn't disturb the team chemistry, and I wish the team well.