He's Already Got One!

The Celtics have lost back to back... to the Wizards... without Giblert Arenas. As noted in this space earlier who would have predicted Caron Butler would be the gem of the Shaq trade three years later. The Lakers are so happy to have someone take the pressure off of Kobe whenit comes to having two players that have to be guarded. Oh yea, they traded him for Kwame Brown.That has to be a move that inspires confidence in Kobe. Will trade talk heat up again now that Bynum is out for two months? Kobe is high maintenance, and I don't see anyway to fix that problem. The Lakers will probably back into the playoffs, and lose badly like they have in recent years. Kobe will bitch like he has in recent years. Back to the point though. I don't want to revel in Boston's loss. Well maybe a little, but I want to talk about the Wiz winning without Gil. I have stated my affinity for Capt'n Crazy, and I really thought the Wiz were sunk without him. I have heard talk about coach of the year, and the usually brilliant CKE team on TNT threw out Doc Rivers. Please, Eddie Jordan and Nate McMillan are much more deserving. We have seen Doc coach teams out of games, the Celts are good now because Doc doesn't have to coach. Eddie Jordan has his team in playoff contention with their best player off the court. However, Tough Juice is pushing to take that title away from Gil. While Jamison is the other half of the leagues highest scoring forward tandem, I don't see him as a franchise guy.If he were a franchise guy the Warriors would have made the playoffs before last year. He can score, but where would Antwan be on your list of guys you want on the floor if you are betting on the game? He plays defense like collendar. If you don't know what that is, it's a lot easier to cook spaghetti with one. Point being I don't think Antwan would be on my top fifteen when it came to finishing a game out that I really had to have a team win. So what the hell am I rambling about? This rambling is coming down to the point that I don't know if I am so anxious to sign Gilbert as I was last summer. If he comes back this year and the Wiz make noise in the playoffs, say a conference finals appearance or a competitice series with the Celts with Gil then you keep him. If not you might look to complete the increasingly uncommon sign and trade deal. I think this is possible with Gil because he seems to want to do right by the Wiz and is opting out because he knows it is smart not because he doesn't like the team. The Wiz might feel like it is time to try another guy next to Caron and Jamison since they can score enough together to win. What if the Wiz had a killer guy in the post, or a proven superstar who was wanted to go somewhere else. If you could trade Arenas in a sign and trade you could get some interesting options. Say Kobe finally bitches his way out of LA. They could send him East for a marquee player and first rounder, and whatever contracts it takes to make it work? An interesting prospect even if it is unlikely. When it comes to trading for another high maintanence guard the Lakers won't be very keen because they've already got one. Oh yes, and he's very nice. I don't think Kobe is leaving the Lakers any more than Hillary Clinton is leaving Bill at this point. Or what about Tracy McGrady for Gil in a sign and trade? If I am Washington I don't do this unless the Rockets get out of the first round this year, but if they do that the Rockets aren't trading him. However, if the Wiz could get a solid post player and some a replacement guard like Chris Kaman and Corey Maggette from the Clips would they do it? I don't know that Donald Sterling does this, but if you could talk Donald into it don't you think that Gilbert would love hamming it up in LA. The guy is a born superstar. I know none of these trades are likely, but if you are the Wiz you have to be interested in what teams would give for Gil in a sign and trade, or even what they might give before the break if Gil talks to the other team about re-upping once he gets there like McGrady did with the Rockets before he got there.

Speaking of... If the Rockets don't get out of the first round, providing they make the playoffs this year I don't think McGrady stays. Yao isn't going, so all the jack asses on the Rockets website wasting their time asking decent writers like Fran Blinebury and Jonathan Feigen about getting rid of Yao need to stop. You don't give up a guy with a fanbase pushin a billion people. End of story. On top of that he is good and getting better. Guards and small forwards are easier to find than Centers who can control the game for extended stretches of a game. So what could the Rockets get for a superstar with more talent than all but maybe five other guys in the league? Well if that superstar is moody and oft injured that mitigates much of what you can get. If you start shopping McGrady you are going to have to sell for fifty cents on the dollar, but what if that dollar was an unprotected first rounder? If you get a high first rounder for McGrady and you know you can get a guy who is going to be a great scorer I think you might have to do it. Hakeem won his championships later in his career as a dominant post player. McGrady isn't old, but a mature Yao with good role players and a hungry young scorer is more likely to get deep in the playoffs in my mind. The Rockets have a tough road in the playoffs just by being in the West, so you have to wonder how well the Rockets are going to fair as this current roster is composed. I don't think the Rockets will or can make a trade to anywhere near equal value. I just wonder what a young hungry athletic scorer and role players who don't stay on the bench coudl do around a guy like Yao who is starting to become more of a leader. Maybe T-Mac can be to Yao what Clyde was to Hakeem but I don't see it now. So this has been a rambling post, much as title would have suggested since I stole from the some of the greatest comedic ramblers ever. The trade deadline is coming up and I wonder who will be available. Probably neither one of these guys. Quite likely because when it comes to two scorers without Championships most teams have already got one. The Captain signing off...