Sources: Cavaliers close to deal for Stoudemire

[blazzin311]

Found this, this morning for those interested. I'd have to think that if the Cavs got Stoudemire it for sure makes them the favorites to win the Eastern Conference.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4913305

Updated: February 14, 2010, 2:57 AM ET
Sources: Hickson, Ilgauskas to Suns

By Chris Broussard
ESPN The Magaazine
Archive
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns are closing in on a deal that would send All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire to Cleveland, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

Stoudemire

The Cavaliers would send Zydrunas Ilgauskas and J.J. Hickson to Phoenix in exchange for Stoudemire, one of the league's most dominant big man.

While Cleveland remains in talks with several other teams, the club, from management down to the players, has settled on Stoudemire as its first choice.

The ball is in Phoenix's court. The Suns are mulling whether the financial relief provided by Ilgauskas's $12 million contract and the young and talented Hickson are enough for them to part with Stoudemire.

Cleveland believes the addition of Stoudemire would all but seal LeBron James' re-signing with the team when he becomes a free agent this summer. The Cavaliers are also prepared to sign Stoudemire, who has one year and $17 million remaining on his contract, to a long-term contract extension once the season ends.

The Suns will likely waive Ilgauskas, which would allow him to be re-signed by Cleveland after 30 days.

Cleveland is also talking with Washington about acquiring Antawn Jamison, as well as Indiana about Troy Murphy. Meanwhile, Golden State is trying to entice the Cavs into taking Corey Maggette for Ilgauskas.

[Basileus777]

Originally Posted by billay

No Houston won.

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That remains to be seen. Kevin Martin is still an injury prone 2nd/3rd tier guard that is on a bad contract.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Basileus777

The Cavs performance since the trade is showing why the Jamison deal has its problems. Cleveland's defense has been downright terrible lately, and a large part of it is the fact that a Shaq/Jamison frontcourt is terrible on the defensive end. Combine that with an undersized backcourt and it becomes a legitimate question of whether Jamison is really making them a better team. He's taking minutes from Varejao at the 4, who happens to be Cleveland's only quality defender in the frontcourt.

I think losing Z hurt them quite a bit too, but they'll get him back. That's a lot of minutes to lose for a center, especially when your starter is past his prime. They'll get him back, probably--should be interesting to see how that goes.

[Mecca]

I think Dallas trade is the one that improved their team the most in relation to what everyone else did.

Caron Butler is better than Howard is and they got Heywood and Stevenson on top of that.

[Basileus777]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I think losing Z hurt them quite a bit too, but they'll get him back. That's a lot of minutes to lose for a center, especially when your starter is past his prime. They'll get him back, probably--should be interesting to see how that goes.

Losing Z hurts, but he only plays 15-20 minutes most games and isn't a great defender. But getting him back will be important because it will let them give more minutes to Varejao at the 4 instead of Hickson.

Originally Posted by Mecca

I think Dallas trade is the one that improved their team the most in relation to what everyone else did.

Caron Butler is better than Howard is and they got Heywood and Stevenson on top of that.

I don't think there is any doubt, especially with Dampier getting hurt. Haywood has had a huge impact on their defense, Butler is an upgrade over Howard, and even Stevenson has played some good defense.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by Basileus777

\

That remains to be seen. Kevin Martin is still an injury prone 2nd/3rd tier guard that is on a bad contract.

Martin is an underrated player and they swaped ppicks with the Knicks while not giving up much.