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.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

There is a rumor that LeBron has a $50 million option in his Nike contract if he signs w/ a team in NY or LA.

Not likely, but it's an interesting theory.

More importantly, if I'm LeBron, I'm going to the Clippers, not the Knicks.

Let's see:

Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin

or

Nothing.

But it's the Clippers, he'd blow out his knee or something..

Not to mention Baron Davis is extremely injury prone, and Griffin managed to miss his entire rookie year.

[Basileus777]

It sucks being a Nets fan, but if we win the lotto (25% chance) and get Wall, we'll have a pretty nice core of young players to put around a star.

[Mecca]

The Nets are in a better position than a lot of teams are...the NBA is weird like that.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Basileus777

Not really. The Bulls can only sign one max free agent, but they actually have talent on their roster. The Knicks only have Douglas, Chandler, Curry, and Gallinari under contract.

The best case scenario would leave the Knicks with this roster:

Douglas
Chandler
LeBron
Gallinari
Bosh/Curry

+ vet minimum and no draft picks

New York or not, why should any superstar want to leave a better team and take less money to play with that crap?

"That crap" makes the NBA finals, especially if Chandler or Gallinari can be dealt for a guard. Chandler is a good player, Gallinari is also solid and extremely underrated.

Bosh at the 4, Chandler at the 3 and LeBron as a hybrid 2 is as strong a nucleus as any team in the league. Bring those 3 in and suddenly guys are willing to take the mid-level to play for you that would ordinarily look to the Lakers, Spurs, etc...

The NBA is rarely about depth, it's about stars and a strong role player or two.

I'd be excited if I were a Knicks fan.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

There is a rumor that LeBron has a $50 million option in his Nike contract if he signs w/ a team in NY or LA.

Not likely, but it's an interesting theory.

More importantly, if I'm LeBron, I'm going to the Clippers, not the Knicks.

Let's see:

Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin

or

Nothing.

You forgot Donald Sterling.

No way I'd play for that man. If I'm LeBron, I'm going to NY.

[Basileus777]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

"That crap" makes the NBA finals, especially if Chandler or Gallinari can be dealt for a guard. Chandler is a good player, Gallinari is also solid and extremely underrated.

Bosh at the 4, Chandler at the 3 and LeBron as a hybrid 2 is as strong a nucleus as any team in the league. Bring those 3 in and suddenly guys are willing to take the mid-level to play for you that would ordinarily look to the Lakers, Spurs, etc...

The NBA is rarely about depth, it's about stars and a strong role player or two.

I'd be excited if I were a Knicks fan.

The Knicks can't use the MLE until 2011. It would take a few years to fill out that roster, that team isn't capable of winning a title next year. Finding a pg, a legit center, defensive role-players and shooters, ie basically building an entire roster can't be done with just vet minimum players. That roster has 2, maybe 3 starters on a championship team.

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

There is a rumor that LeBron has a $50 million option in his Nike contract if he signs w/ a team in NY or LA.

Not likely, but it's an interesting theory.

More importantly, if I'm LeBron, I'm going to the Clippers, not the Knicks.

Let's see:

Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin

or

Nothing.

He's essentially sharing a city with the Lakers if he went to the Clippers.

With the Knicks, he's the biggest star in the city. He's bigger than Jeter. Bigger than any Giant or Jet.

He's playing in the most scorer friendly offense in the NBA.

The Clippers have nice talent, but they never, ever get over the hump. Baron can break down at any point. Gordon is a nice complimentary piece.

If I'm Lebron, I'm talking to Bosh and convincing him to join in New York.

[The Bad Guy]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

"That crap" makes the NBA finals, especially if Chandler or Gallinari can be dealt for a guard. Chandler is a good player, Gallinari is also solid and extremely underrated.

Bosh at the 4, Chandler at the 3 and LeBron as a hybrid 2 is as strong a nucleus as any team in the league. Bring those 3 in and suddenly guys are willing to take the mid-level to play for you that would ordinarily look to the Lakers, Spurs, etc...

The NBA is rarely about depth, it's about stars and a strong role player or two.

I'd be excited if I were a Knicks fan.

I agree. However, I'm dealing Wilson Chandler far before I'm dealing Danillo. I think the pure shooter on the wing meshes well with Lebron's game.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Basileus777

The Knicks can't use the MLE until 2011. It would take a few years to fill out that roster, that team isn't capable of winning a title next year. Finding a pg, a legit center, defensive role-players and shooters, ie basically building an entire roster can't be done with just vet minimum players. That roster has 2, maybe 3 starters on a championship team.

It's setup for a 6-8 year run as the most dominant team in the league. Even if you had to wait until 2011, it's some patience I'd be willing to exhibit.

Besides, how can you argue that the Knicks as you posted aren't better than the Cavs were before Jamison? The Cavs had nobody even close to as good as Bosh; he's Varajeo squared. Chandler/Gallinari are easily as good as Williams/Gibson and have much MUCH more upside. And there are always guys like Camby around that would come over cheap.

That team would absolutely contend.

[Psyko Tek]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

He's essentially sharing a city with the Lakers if he went to the Clippers.

With the Knicks, he's the biggest star in the city. He's bigger than Jeter. Bigger than any Giant or Jet.

He's playing in the most scorer friendly offense in the NBA.

The Clippers have nice talent, but they never, ever get over the hump. Baron can break down at any point. Gordon is a nice complimentary piece.

If I'm Lebron, I'm talking to Bosh and convincing him to join in New York.

the question is do you want the bucks or the rings?

D'angello is not gonna win championships, man can he add stats and excitement

I don't see his brand of ball winning,
but damn it is fun to watch

[kcxiv]

Some nice trades overall.

Tonight is going to be some good games. Cavs Vs Nuggets and Lakers vs Celtics on TNT. lol

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Psyko Tek

the question is do you want the bucks or the rings?

D'angello is not gonna win championships, man can he add stats and excitement

I don't see his brand of ball winning,
but damn it is fun to watch

D'antoni?

And I disagree, he could win a title with the right personnel.

James is a perfect fit for his type of game, as is Bosh. Dwight Howard would be a better fit for D'antoni than any player in the league, IMO. Unfortunately there aren't a lot of selfless, athletic, gigantic, superhero-level athletes to be found out there.

[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.

[Mecca]

Dallas is the team that won with it's trade.

[Titty Meat]

No Houston won.