Re: Smith, Vecsey on rumors. . .

[j.hironaka@unesco.org]

Hi Thomas:  I'd also cautiously favor this scenario (#5 and #12 picks for
Mercer), but I'm still not convinced Ron (or, more to the point, his imminent
contract extension) is worth two lottery picks -or the #1 overall- to the
MiseraBulls. Anyway, Chris Wallace sounds like he's not looking in that
direction (the draft).

Also, even if seniors Andre Miller or Jason Terry turn out to be steals at the
#5 pick (quite possible IMHO), we'd still have a virtually unmoveable 30
million dollar, 4 year commitment on Kenny Anderson. A guy with his salary,
non-winning record, and stats (11ppg + 6apg) would probably have to be packaged
with a young prospect (Mercer or Battie, I guess) if we seek to get back any
value in return. It seemed that every time Kenny's name came up this year in
the non-local media, it was always attached to phrases like "poor defender",
"too frail", "not well-conditioned" etc. Then again, maybe Portland's
billionaire owner might take Kenny back in exchange for one of his
high-salaried team "cancers". I think 8 million is darn close to the average
salary of the Portland bench. :-)


-------
Thomas Murphy wrote:

> The Sam Smith rumor certainly smacks of home-town bias. The Bulls give up
> the #1 in an admittedly weak draft and receive both Ron Mercer AND Tracy
> McGrady?!? Give me a break!
>
> Given the imbalance of that scenario (as well as Warwick's intelligent
> comments on the strong relationship between McGrady and ROY Vince Carter) I
> think a much more plausible scenario - no inside info here, just
> plausibility - would be Toronto swaps the #5 and #12 for the #1 which
> Chicago sends to Boston for Mercer.
>
> Why? Toronto gets Steve Francis, the Bulls get Mercer - who WOULD have been
> the #1 pick had he stayed in college but now has the additional value of 2
> years NBA experience, and the Celts - who actually get OLDER if they draft
> seniors - presumably draft either senior PG Andre Miller or senior PG Jason
> Terry at #5 and either the "nimble" 7-3 Radojevic or six-year senior PF/C
> (6-11, 245) Evan Eschmeyer at #12. Everyone's got an opinion on the PGs and
> you've heard about Radojevic's upside but Eschmeyer already has a pro body,
> is an extremely hard worker who is not shy about mixing it up, and is
> reportedly a very intelligent player. He would presumably start at PF. This
> would leave a log-jam at the PG spot but Chris Wallace has shown that he is
> adept at trading away otherwise useful players for second round picks,
> dryer lint, and old socks - who knows, maybe they can work a PG into the
> swap with Chicago? Still, you have to ask, would it be enough to vindicate
> the Pitino playoff pledge? I have my doubts on that score, but you have to
> look at how quickly Orlando was able to integrate two seniors into their
> rotation (with no practices in a 50 game season no less!). The trade would
> presumably fill our two most dire needs - a physical presence at PF and a
> defensive presence at PG - at the cost of a player that Pitino has
> presumably already deemed expendable. I guess I'd be excited about the
> trade simply because it would represent such a gamble from the Cs'
> perspective. I have to honestly say that I'm ambivalent about its value - I
> think that this would truly be one trade that would have to be evaluated in
> retrospect.