Frank Hughes

[Francis Hsu <francis@ai.mit.edu>]

Has anyone read the article by Frank Hughes on the trades, while slamming
some of the GMs involved?  Good stuff.

http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/hughes/1338618.html

excerpts below

The Suns' move to ship two of their top four scorers to Boston for a
bag of baked beans made sense only if they were going to couple that
with another deal -- which several sources said was supposed to be the
case, ironically, for Golden State's Marc Jackson.

But the fact that the Suns traded away Jason Kidd to make this team
more exciting and appealing for the fans, then took on the contract of
Bo Outlaw to make a push for the playoffs, then a few weeks later
decided that, OK, Outlaw was not such a good idea and this team is not
even going to make it to the playoffs, then to give up altogether, is,
shall we say, suspect decision-making.

But not as suspect as St. Jean, who, I'm guessing, will be scouting
players somewhere in the lower panhandle of Asia Minor next season,
looking for the next great overseas jump shot.

He matched Houston's offer to Marc Jackson because he considered
Jackson an asset, messing up the chemistry of his locker room; then he
pulled out of a trade with Phoenix for Jackson that would have netted
him a first-round pick (an asset) because that pick was not lottery
protected; then he ended up with Dean Garrett (not an asset) and a
second-round pick (not an asset) in 2007 -- which is around the time
the NBA says it is expanding to Europe, a perfect time for St. Jean to
conclude his scouting trip in Asia Minor and apply for a job with the
Milan Catwalkers.

Compared to those two debacles, Kiki is Harvey Kissinger. 
[...]
I'm no math major, but here is what the Nuggets will have as they head
into the summer of 2003.

The only players they will have under contract is whomever the two
first-round picks turn out to be this year. James Posey, assuming they
pick up the option on that contract. And nobody else. Which means they
will have somewhere between $40 million and $50 million in cap space.

Here is the list of free agents that summer: Jason Kidd, Tim Duncan,
Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Jermaine O'Neal, Elden Campbell, Clifford
Robinson, Juwan Howard, Donyell Marshall, Brad Miller, Reggie Miller,
Alonzo Mourning, Chauncey Billups, Derrick Coleman, Dale Davis,
Antonio Daniels and David Robinson. And this list does not include
restricted free agents like Baron Davis, Andre Miller, Elton Brand and
Wally Szczerbiak.