Post by Philadelphia 76ers on Aug 22, 2008 10:12:30 GMT -5
D-Wade saga finally over with rumored deal to New York?
ESPN.com
By Chad Ford
12:28 PM EST
As Dwayne Wade is in Beijing competing for Team USA, rumors continue to swirl in Hoosier State about possible deals that would ship out Wade. Over the past week, Pacers management have managed to come to a verbal agreement on two deals for DWade only for the league offices to shut it down. Early Saturday, Pacers management agreed on a deal that would send Wade to the Nuggets for the 2nd, 4th, 43rd picks in the NBA Legends 2008 rookie draft. Although this is a fairly deep draft, those players the Pacers would get with those picks are far from the player Wade is. Luckily for Pacers fan, the deal fell apart. A few days later, the Boston Celtics emerged as front runners for Wade, a few hours later it looked like Wade was heading to Beantown with teammate Mark Blount for Kevin Durant, Marco Bellnelli and D.J Strawberry, all players coming off their first seasons. It was also rumored the Pacers reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers that would've sent Wade to Lala land for LAC's 2008 1st rounder and young PG Mike Conley, the deal quickly fell apart however.
When we caught up with Dwayne before Team USA's semi-final game against Argentina, Wade had this to say:
Yikes, doesn't look like I'd want to be on the Pacers team when Dwade comes to town. To be honest, I don't really get the Pacers logic of trading Wade. They say they want to get rid of some cap room to re-sign Devin Harris. Trading the face of their franchise should have been the last resort. There were a lot of other options, they could have packaged Mike Dunleavy with Jeff Foster's 6 mil expiring contract to a team with cap for a pick. Even if they don't re-sign Harris, is it even worth giving up Wade? After this fiasco, I doubt Harris would want to come back to Indy anyways. He can get more money on the open market with teams like Portland, Miami licking their fingers to get a chance to sign him, Indy's backcourt seems pretty crowded with Rajon Rondo and newly acquired Raja Bell, Eric Gordon and Russell Westbrook. I think the Pacers handled this situation very poorly and this will definitely hurt the franchise.
Alright, enough about Indy, lets talk about this deal for the Knicks. This was a team that finished with the 5th worst record last season so the addition of a player of Wade's calibre will definitely help. Although they gave away their top 2 picks from the 2008 draft (Westbrook, Gordon) and their top two scorers, they acquire the superstar that they've been missing since....forever? With a lineup of Foster, Thornton, Green, Wade and Farmar, this team should be picking up more wins but I think they're still a few moves away from contending for the playoffs. They still need shooters to surround Wade with and they lack a inside scorer with Bynum gone. However, this team does have lots of athleticism in Wade, Green and Thornton, I've been knocking Indy pretty bad but I gotta tip my hat to them. This is a pretty solid trade although they should have never traded Wade to begin with. A backcourt of Rondo, Bell is gonna be very stingy defensively and then throwin Westbrook and this backcourt has potential to be the best perimeter defence.
Overall, this is a solid trade value wise for both parties, time will only tell how Wade will fair in the big light of New York.
ESPN.com
By Chad Ford
12:28 PM EST
As Dwayne Wade is in Beijing competing for Team USA, rumors continue to swirl in Hoosier State about possible deals that would ship out Wade. Over the past week, Pacers management have managed to come to a verbal agreement on two deals for DWade only for the league offices to shut it down. Early Saturday, Pacers management agreed on a deal that would send Wade to the Nuggets for the 2nd, 4th, 43rd picks in the NBA Legends 2008 rookie draft. Although this is a fairly deep draft, those players the Pacers would get with those picks are far from the player Wade is. Luckily for Pacers fan, the deal fell apart. A few days later, the Boston Celtics emerged as front runners for Wade, a few hours later it looked like Wade was heading to Beantown with teammate Mark Blount for Kevin Durant, Marco Bellnelli and D.J Strawberry, all players coming off their first seasons. It was also rumored the Pacers reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers that would've sent Wade to Lala land for LAC's 2008 1st rounder and young PG Mike Conley, the deal quickly fell apart however.
When we caught up with Dwayne before Team USA's semi-final game against Argentina, Wade had this to say:
"To be honest with you, I'm glad it's finally over. We can now move on and concentrate on winning a gold medal. I feel very insulted by the way I was treated by the Pacers management. This is personal."
Yikes, doesn't look like I'd want to be on the Pacers team when Dwade comes to town. To be honest, I don't really get the Pacers logic of trading Wade. They say they want to get rid of some cap room to re-sign Devin Harris. Trading the face of their franchise should have been the last resort. There were a lot of other options, they could have packaged Mike Dunleavy with Jeff Foster's 6 mil expiring contract to a team with cap for a pick. Even if they don't re-sign Harris, is it even worth giving up Wade? After this fiasco, I doubt Harris would want to come back to Indy anyways. He can get more money on the open market with teams like Portland, Miami licking their fingers to get a chance to sign him, Indy's backcourt seems pretty crowded with Rajon Rondo and newly acquired Raja Bell, Eric Gordon and Russell Westbrook. I think the Pacers handled this situation very poorly and this will definitely hurt the franchise.
Alright, enough about Indy, lets talk about this deal for the Knicks. This was a team that finished with the 5th worst record last season so the addition of a player of Wade's calibre will definitely help. Although they gave away their top 2 picks from the 2008 draft (Westbrook, Gordon) and their top two scorers, they acquire the superstar that they've been missing since....forever? With a lineup of Foster, Thornton, Green, Wade and Farmar, this team should be picking up more wins but I think they're still a few moves away from contending for the playoffs. They still need shooters to surround Wade with and they lack a inside scorer with Bynum gone. However, this team does have lots of athleticism in Wade, Green and Thornton, I've been knocking Indy pretty bad but I gotta tip my hat to them. This is a pretty solid trade although they should have never traded Wade to begin with. A backcourt of Rondo, Bell is gonna be very stingy defensively and then throwin Westbrook and this backcourt has potential to be the best perimeter defence.
Overall, this is a solid trade value wise for both parties, time will only tell how Wade will fair in the big light of New York.
