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I was just throwing Dalembert out there as an example. I think that there are other potential trade candidates that we may not be thinking of. Definately have to consider the salary structure and how it impacts the entire team. I am not advocating for sammy d, but a true center would make a big impact. Esp along with a Milsap signing.

Wow. The Pacers are twice as interested it seems.

Per Rotoworld-
Magic GM Otis Smith said on Wednesday that Orlando is prepared to pay a stiff luxury tax to keep restricted free agent Marcin Gortat.
"The owner said we can go into tax so that changes things," Smith said. "At this point, we're matching everything that comes back to us on him." The Rockets are doing everything they can to attract Gortat, and the Thunder, Pacers, Knicks and Pacers are also interested.

I thought they were going to try to start gasol at the pf.
Does this mean that they spent the #2 pick on a backup?
Maybe we could trade collison and watson for gasol straight up.

What does everyone think of that?

I'm just shaking my head at Memphis right now. The trade alone makes this an unbelievable move.

Remember when we were all talking about what it would take to pull the #1 pick away from the Clippers, and the general consensus was that you'd have to take on the bad contracts of either Davis or Randolph, and we all chuckled at the thoughts of someone actually doing that? And now Memphis went ahead and took Randolph anyway, and it wasn't even part of a deal swapping the #1 and #2 picks.

Unbelievable.

i don't disagree with you ... because i don't know how good he really is ... nor how consistently good he can be ...
but i do think he's good .. & that he can be a 2nd tier center ...

when you consider that guys like dalembert make $11M ... or dampier ... or jermaine oneal ... or eddy curry ... i think gortat can be better than all of them at at least half the price!...

i dont think pulling the trigger on a guy for 6M is that bad ... i can almost assure he would contribute more for 6M than collison & earl watson do for that money ...

& thunder should have 2 picks in the lottery next year - which they can use to replace guys & keep the salary low a little while longer ...

its not a big risk in my opinion

Gortat is over-valued after his role in the playoffs.

according to truehoop: Gortat's agent mentioned wanting a full mid-level exception. That amounts to around $30 million over five years.

if he can be had for that, i think its a good move

I remember when DeAngelo and Sheldin Williams were at Midwest City and everybody thought they would both just jump straight to the pros.

He could play man, but he always seemed to run into trouble off of the court. It will be interesting to see what happens with him.

oh yeah, detroit is dumb ... ben gordon is good, but he adds as much to a team as he detracts ... i guess he can at least come off the bench as to not upset rip hamilton! ... this was their big play when they let chauncey go for cap space? ... to end up going from chauncey to AI to gordon & villanueva ... thats crazy!

memphis - wow ... like, i really felt like they could be competition with the thunder as far as up & coming western teams if the proverbial ball bounced the right way for them ... but the ball just bounced to zach & they may never see it again.
zach is like a bigger, better ben gordon - he's gonna hurt you about as much as he helps you ...
he obliterated the thunder last season tho 22& 13 with the clippers, 29 & 19 with the knicks

really, finally this time ...

our pre-draft debate was ranking the prospects, comparisons to players, prediction of rookie #s .. typical stuff you all probably did with your bball junkie friends ...

long story short, the general comparison was thabeet to dalembert ... same build, length, fairly close athletically, both foreign-born ... again, typical stuff ..

i would say it was pretty much split down the middle about whether sammy was better than thabeet or vice versa ... with some saying it would be no problem for thabeet to see sammys ability, production & stats ..

i know the majority (all!) of you think thabeet is in the sene petro class - so, once again, you do the math

finally, i dont know what this means .. but ..

sam dalembert elbowed (or pushed) dwight howard (can't really recall) .... dwight turned, delivered an elbow to his head ... was suspended for game 6 of this year's first round ... must-win game for philly at home ... (they proved they could play with the magic by winning 2 games, both on the road & home - & nearly taking a 3-1 lead if nt for turkeyglue's game winning 3 pointer in game 4) ...

sammy starts, plays 30 minutes, scores 8 points grabs 13 caroms ... gortat however has 11 points, 15 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, a +29 ... orlando wins by 25 points ..

gortat - first player with 15 points & 4 steals in a playoff game since dirk in 2007 ... & courtney lee didnt play either .. gortat maybe has started 5 games in his life ... FTR- rashard, rafer & reddick had huge games ... & im not issuing blame to sammy .....

but, dalembert makes $11M+ ... you do the math

sammy d is athletic, but not very smart ... his basketball IQ is mediocre (at best) ... the worst part maybe that he sulks & complains & feels he should be a go-to guy on the team ...

he starts, avgs 6.4 & 8.5 & 1.8 blks ... but gets paid twice as much as nick collison .. this on a team with no real scorer besides iguodala, & a damn good point guard ..

he's madly inconsistent ... he will give you a 20+ rebound game, but then a week full of 7 rebound games ...

like thabeet, just started playing maybe in high school ...

i say plug byron into center for the 2M he makes or whatever & you could get the same production ...

but hey, what do i know ... i think thabeet will be adequate

take >>> yake

im in philadelphia ...
i was the one trying to convince some of you (and myself!) that thabeet won't be a bust ...
i don't really like the 76ers (hard to root for a team that traded moses malone, mo cheeks, charles barkley, & allen iverson) & not to mention, thisclose to the original mike jordan - dr. j ..

my friends were like you, not sold on thabeet ...

they are sixer fans ...

their general comparison was thabeet is sam dalembert ...

yake that for what its worth ..

my opinion: is proceed with extreme caution

combining ideas
1, trade watson+collison for dalembert
2, signmillsap at a reasonable prize

center: Dalembert, Krstic, Mullen
Forwards: Durant, Green, Millsap, 32 mins each
SG: Harden, Thabo
PG: RW, Livingston, Weaver

looks young and promising to me.

@ATR
I don't know anything about Dalembert's character, but he protects the basket. Solid rebounder and shot blocker by percentage. He's only 27 and he's played 82 games three years in a row. He is owed 23 million for this upcoming season and the next. I would do it in a heartbeat if his background stuff is cool. I mean, is he a cancer or trouble in the lockerroom??? He could definitely be a good mentor for Mullins if his personality is such.

A sixers fan on realgm likes the idea of nick collison and watson for sam dalembert. What about signing millsap, then trading for dalembert? Too much money out? Still too many guys for the frontcourt? Center-Dalembert, Krystic, Mullens: PF-Green, Millsap, DJ White.

Nah, the Griz blog was extremely active up to and after the draft. This news just shell shocked them. Anyway, this should be the killing blow once ZBo has time to decimate the roster. Where will the Griz go next? Vegas? Anaheim? Kansas City?

Mark! :
Griz blog is so stunned they haven’t commented in 4 hours.

That's because they don't have any fans left.

I'm trying to find a way to justify it -- I mean, Randolph is a 20-10 guy. They do have some space left over for pieces. They weren't likely to get a major talent next summer anyhow. They needed a power forward. Conley/Mayo/Gay/Randolph/Gasol is not a bad starting five. Right?

Yeah, that didn't work. In a fantasy league, it would be a great trade, though.

Does anyone else love the Grizz in a masochistic sort of way. They had all the chance in the world to be Portland or us. They picked up a quality swingman to build around. They had a bonafide All-Star big man that should have returned at least one budding star in return. They drafted what seemed to be very talented players in Conley and Mayo.

And now, they are a laughing stock. Their ultra-talented PG is terribly misused and looks less than mediocre for them. Their SG really puts the "shoot" in SG. Their franchise swingman is the same inconsistent talent they drafted. Their All-Star big man was shipped out for garbage. And now this.

It's like Wallace is a comic book supervillain. He gives the people just enough (high draft picks, supposed talents) so that they feel hope, only to dash those hopes immediately.

Does anyone honestly believe the Grizzlies have fans anymore, as opposed to a ragtag group of self-loathers looking for another way to punish themselves?

i do not know any words that can adequately display my shock. someone traded for zach randolph? really? on a team with oj mayo and rudy gay? has any offense with THREE black holes ever worked? if you get fleeced my mike dunleavy in a trade, how do you even live with yourself? did that trade occur between the 2 worst non-isaiah gms ever? my head is spinning. the pistons are idiots too, but i can't handle that right now.

One semi-interesting consequence of this awful Griz trade is that David Lee is probably not going to be leaving NY...I don't think anybody's going to pay him more than 4 yr, $32 mil offer that the Knicks are reportedly offering.

FanPhil :
Its great to see Dove playing. i hope that he has improved offensively, because he was one of the most underrated defensive players when he was at OSU.
on another note, did Swift leave for Boston, or is that just for the summer?

Basically Swift has an unpaid summer tryout with the Celtics. He's no longer part of the Thunder.

Griz blog is so stunned they haven't commented in 4 hours.

they are loving over at the Clippersblog . . .

Its great to see Dove playing. i hope that he has improved offensively, because he was one of the most underrated defensive players when he was at OSU.

on another note, did Swift leave for Boston, or is that just for the summer?

it is truly one of the most unbelievable trades ever . . .

@Mark!
LMFAO.....my favorite post of the day!

@Alex
Well, he's a big talent upgrade that they got for nothing except cap space.

Just obviously way overpaid and a verifiable cancer. Heisley must be one of those girls that likes to date the bad boys convinced that she can change them with her gentle touch and tender heart.

love all the new avatars people - that's what I'm talking about!!

@Kyle
Dang it Kyle I was thinking about switching to Presti for gravatar......I like ur chosen pic.....kool bro.

Has anybody on the web offered a rational explanation for this Grizzlies' deal yet?

@J.G.
Completely agree. We have so many sophomores that they just want more time, which I think is great.

Uncle Jeff did this last year and it showed he was putting in the work in the offseason and carried it over to the real season. Hope Russ and crew really improve and can't wait to see the newbies!

@Daniel
When the majority of your team is comprised of individuals 22 and under, with 6 members of your expected 15 man roster being rookies and sophomores, then no, it's not worrisome at all.

This is what happens with a young team. In fact, I'm actually happy with it since that means I feel like I can watch the summer league with a purpose this year like last year.

Holy Crap! When you see Detroit and Memphis do what they did today, it makes you glad we have the GM that we do.

the Griz will stink - you cant win when your main three guys are scorers and ONLY scorers . . .

that's actually a good team for Thabeet - even if he could score he won't get the chance :)

Still, the Grizz might actually be pretty good next year, if they can get some depth at PG and SG.

Vega :
The Griz now have Z-Bo, Mayo, and Rudy Gay on their team. All three of them shoot the ball as soon as it is in their hands. Not good.

Boy aint that the truth. Conley will only make one pass per possession.

The Griz now have Z-Bo, Mayo, and Rudy Gay on their team. All three of them shoot the ball as soon as it is in their hands. Not good.

I feel so bad for the guys over on the Griz TrueHoop Network blog. Yikes.

Does it worry anybody that our Summer league team in Orlando contains about half of the REAL OKC roster? Usually the summer league is just for rookies and non-roster invitees. But we have actual players who could play big minutes next year on the summer league team. That's kinda frightening. I guess we truly are a young team.

Anyway, I can't wait for the games to start! I wonder if these games will be streamed live for free on nba.com like last year.

@Kev
And that's why the Grizz are the Grizz.

Absolutely pathetic.

cant believe that trade - they trade Gasol to dump payroll and later they get Zach . . . funny stuff . . .

Also, an interesting angle on the Gortat sweepstakes from the Oklahoman--Gortat and Thabo have the same agent, and apparently the agent is impressed with OKC. Maybe that gives us an edge?

The LA Times says the Clippers have traded Zach Randolph to the Grizz for Q-Rich. Wow.

Hey Memphis--there's a reason Zach has been on 3 different teams in 3 seasons. Jeez.

Keith McCloud I think was in Summer league with the Sonics a few years ago. None of those guys will have a chance I don't think, but you never know....

Marcus Dove!

I'm doing the "bird" hand motion.

He was a great defender, too bad he never progressed offensively.

@MartzMimic
Yeah, looks like they're going to give him every chance to earn minutes with the big club this year