It's finally here, draft day, and with all the trades happening, it confirms that it is not a really strong draft class as teams figure, they can get a guy in the draft to replace what they have traded away and the new players coming in will either help their team or help with salary relief for next summer.
So my phone rings late, about 12:40 a.m. and it's a Western Conference coach who apologizes for the fact that he has been in the office all day and this is the first chance he has had to return the call. It's all good, after all, it is draft time which has everybody busier than a one legged man in a butt-kicking contest. He remarks that there are some crazy rumours out there and says he heard the Shaq to Cleveland trade has "legs".
Apparently 'Captain Canada' Steve Nash and "'Shaqtus' had a bit of a prickly relationship at times in the desert. Is it normal stuff between teammates? I guess so, but championship teams are close knit and that wasn't the case in Phoenix all season. It has been said that if the Suns want to return to where they were before what turned out to be a setback with the acquisition of O'Neal, he had to be moved to another team. The other player that has fallen out of favour is Amare Stoudemire but that in a sense is old news as the Suns have been trying to trade him for some time.
So is Phoenix in full rebuilding mode right now? Does that mean that Nash is available because he may not want to be part of a rebuilding squad at this stage in his career? Is there a possibility he lands in Toronto with the GM, Bryan Colangelo that made the bold move to get him to Phoenix and his former coach Jay Triano? Well your answers in these eyes are 1) yes they are rebuilding 2) probably not right now since Shaq was moved and they are trying to get back to the up-tempo style that made them successful. In that sense, the system only works if Nash at the wheel and 3) not at this time (see answer #2) and what about Jose Calderon who was handed the reins in Toronto at the start of last season? It would mean going from one point guard controversy to another.
He starts speculating and says if that happens, you can say goodbye to Bosh as a Raptor. We kind of get into it on the phone and I tell him my own feeling is that I really believe that it depends on what happens next season. There is no way Colangelo lets Bosh walk and is left holding the bag with nothing in it. But his argument is, nobody will trade for Bosh because they see the writing on the wall since the team that gets him will not be able to sign him. They know he is going to hook up with LeBron as Cleveland will have $20 million coming off the books when they take the tires off the 'big diesel' to allow them to sign Bosh. As he said "you don't think those two talk? Hey man, they are going to play together whether it's in Cleveland or New York." The Knicks attempt to clear cap room for the 2010 free agent class has been an on-going saga.
Don't you just love conspiracy theories?
The Minnesota Timberwolves give away, er, trade with the Washington Wizards is about a culture change more than anything else. But interesting that new GM, David Kahn, is doing this without the input of a coach. So let's say you are interested in the job, here is what your roster consists of right now. There are nine, count 'em nine front court players under contract, (Kevin Love, Al Jefferson, Brian Cardinal, Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila, Ryan Gomes, Mark Madsen, Craig Smith, and Oleksiy Pecherov with an option on Shelden Williams), three backcourt / wing players (Bobby Brown, Sebastian Telfair and Corey Brewer with an option on Rodney Carney), and four first round draft picks at 5,6, 18, and 28. Can you work with that?
Sources in New York and the chatter circulating says that Brandon Jennings stock is dropping quickly.
Check out the live chat from the media room with my broadcast partner Eric Smith and me starting around 7:00 p.m. tonight.
