Rose for Mills and Jones doesn't work. The salaries don't match up. In fact, playing around on RealGM, I couldn't find a combination that made sense.
But, let's assume they came up with something. What are everyone's thoughts on Malik Rose? Personally, I love the guy. He's a warrior. He makes winning plays. Anyone who liked Eric Williams would love Malik Rose. He's an undersized power forward, but at least he's a power forward. He fills a need.
So what's the problem? Well, he has a huge five-year contract. He got one of those deals that made you take a second look when it was announced. He's a nice player. I'd love a guy like that, but only if he's making about half the money Rose is currently making. Rose is one of those guys who was overpaid by his team because he was so valuable to them, but probably wouldn't be as valuable to anyone else.
Would I do this trade? If it's Rose and San Antonio's first-rounder for Mills and Jones, I probably don't do it. You're taking on a bad, long-term contract and the only incentive would be a very late first-round pick - and every year you hear about teams trying to dump those picks so they don't have to pay the guaranteed contract. Do the Spurs own the rights to any promising foreign players? Do they own anyone else's first-rounder? Ray, do you know of anything? It would take something like that to prod me into making this trade. This is assuming, of course, that Ginobli is off limits.
These are the types of players we're talking about now. They all have bad contracts - Williamson, Rose, Jahidi White. The key is how much the other team is willing to pay to convince you to take the bad contract. If it's just a low first-rounder, that shouldn't be enough. Personally, I'm still hoping the Suns include either Vujanic (our answer at point guard) or Zarko (maybe the answer at power forward). Casey Jacobsen doesn't cut it.
The point is this: The return we get for the Mills contract shouldn't be based on the player with the big contract. It should depend on the sweetener.
Mark