Addressing the Jason Kidd Trade Rumors...

by Jason Jones



Speaking of the trade talks, I would love to see Kidd in Cleveland as much as Lebron would, but what could the Cavs possibly give for him? The only hope is that Kidd's team will be looking to set up for the Brooklyn Nets days. The move to Brooklyn is expected to happen between the '09-'10 and '10-'11 season. Larry Hughes' contract expires at the end of the '09-'10 season. Others expiring in that season are Ilgauskus, Varejao and Sasha. As for expiring contracts before that, it's Snow, Gooden, Marshall and D. Jones. Earlier expiring contracts that are a lot less likely to be moved are Newble, D. Brown, S. Brown, Dw. Jones and D. Gibson. Clearly, if New Jersey or any other team for that matter wants Ira Newble, Dwayne Jones, Damon Jones, Eric Snow, and Donyell Marshall, they can have with little to no hesitation. No one in their right mind would give away Jason Kidd for any collection of what we are willing to lose. I would be willing to move more than most.

Off Limits List...

1. Lebron-14.75x3 yrs

2. Boobie-.687x1 yr

Kidd and Lebron Can't Do It Themselves List...

1. Ilgauskus-10.6x3 yrs

2. Andy-5.6x3 yrs

3. Sasha-4.6x3 yrs

4. Drew-6.75x2 yrs

Upside, Rather Not Deal Them List...

1. Shannon-1x1 yr

2. Cedric-2.4x4 yrs

3. Devin B-1.1x1 yr

Too Expensive, Not Worth The Headache List...

1. Larry-12.8x3 yrs

2. Donyell-5.7x2 yrs

3. Eric S-7x2 yrs

4. Damon J-4.25x2 yrs

5. Ira-3.4x1 yr

Throw Away Players List...

1. Dwayne J-.770x1 yr

2. D.Nicols-$90,000x1 yr

The interesting angle is to move one or two of the players from list 2, and any number of players from the remaining lists with the exception of list 3 literally. It is not a deal breaker to take any of them (Shannon Brown, Devin Brown and Cedric Simmons), I would just like to see how they would perform with 2 of the best passers at their respective positions.

The need that is most important to address in any contemporary trade discussion is coming within the 25% of contract dollars. If Jason Kidd is the only player traded from New Jersey, that number is somewhere between 14–15 million dollars on the low side.

Anything that can be proposed…it will be perceived that we would be trying trade a collection of garbage (or cap-friendly players, i.e. players coming off the books soon) for an elite and eventual Hall of Famer.

For instance, Larry Hughes and Donyell Marshall = 18.5 mil compared to 19.7 from Jason Kidd -- that's crappy for New Jersey. Z, Eric Snow, and Damon Jones = 21.25 to Kidd’s 19.7, still a crappy deal for New Jersey. Unless, you look at it like I think New Jersey has to, for them to make some cap moves to help them make a punch toward the Brooklyn move. The biggest issue they have now is to deal with the financial impact of said move. Ticket, merchandise sales are down big due to the fact that Jersey fans know their team will not be their team for long. Any move they make is not one to win today, but to build to the Brooklyn days. Even though I do not necessarily believe that Kidd WILL come to Cleveland, don’t be surprised if he is traded to a team for expiring contracts. Case in point, the Lakers WERE the biggest candidate for Kidd. After this season to date, there is no way in HELL they will trade Bynum. There will always be teams like Dallas and Phoenix that will be in the mix because they have great depth of talent. I just don’t see it happening. Recently there has been rumors of a 3-way deal. All of those things aside, look at the free agent class in ’09-’10 and ’10-’11.

Top 20 Free Agent Rankings ’09-‘10

1. Jason Kidd
2. Allen Iverson
3. Elton Brand
4. Shawn Marion
5. Mike Bibby
6. Baron Davis
7. Ron Artest
8. Josh Smith
9. Andre Iguodala
10. Stephon Marbury
11. Corey Maggette
12. Ben Gordon
13. Lamar Odom
14. Luol Deng
15. Emeka Okafor
16. Devin Harris
17. Steve Francis
18. Rasheed Wallace
19. Chris Wilcox
20. Chucky Atkins

Top 20 Free Agent Rankings ’10-‘11

1. Steve Nash
2. Chris Paul
3. Tracy McGrady
4. Carlos Boozer
5. Ray Allen
6. Jermaine O’Neal
7. Joe Johnson
8. Richard Hamilton
9. Deron Williams
10. Manu Ginobli
11. Marcus Camby
12. Shaquille O’Neal
13. Ben Wallace
14. Al Harrington
15. Stephen Jackson
16. Brad Miller
17. Bruce Bowen
18. Mehmet Okur
19. Cuttino Mobley
20. Andrew Bogut

In this age of NBA basketball, there is a perceived blueprint to success. The idea is one of two approaches. 1. One or two elite players + a group of role players, or 2. 5-7 solid basketball players playing under the team-first aspect. The San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons subscribe to the latter of the two. It seems, at least for this season, that the Trailblazers may also be filed under this category. Some other teams that have success under the first idea, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets and so on. If the Nets want to look to be a real contender once they move to Brooklyn, either pathway will suffice. All it takes is setting themselves up to be under the cap enough to get 2 of the top prospects or 5 of the lesser prospects. Kidd’s contract expires within these parameters. By moving him for a group of lesser players allows them to be even more than 19 million less when it does expire. We may be talking 2-5 less, but still less. If the salary cap does not increase (which it will), that number would be 53 million. Assuming it does, the number could be higher.

Based on contracts that extend past the 2010 season, this is what they would look like.

V. Carter-17.3

R. Jefferson-15.0

S. Williams-2.5

M. Willimas-3.0

J. Boone-2.9

It is possible to see that the remaining 12 players would not be on the roster in ’10. Naturally, they could not go without filling in the roster along the way. Assume that, if they are smart, the majority of the remainder of the roster would be filled out by players that average 1.18 mil (as they do now, minus Jason Kidd). That is an additional 16 mil. That equals 56.7 million total. As the team makes offseason acquisitions, they should make moves that lessen that number. Take players like Jason Collins and Jamaal Magloire, who make 10 mil combined and pick up guys in the 1-2 mil range. If they do that enough times along the way, they could potentially be 10-15 mil under the cap when it's all said and done. Then, by keeping Carter and Jefferson and adding players like Deron Williams, Elton Brand, and Marcus Camby, the team would be an instant contender.

Here’s to hoping theory does not translate perfectly. The point is, let’s hope the Nets front office thinks this way now and doesn’t have it come to fruition. Make the move to trade Kidd for lesser pieces parts whose contracts come off the books at the right time and are unable to make the kind of moves that would make them contenders.

On another tangent, these are also names fans of the Cavaliers, Heat, and Raptors can look forward to. Lebron, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh all signed contract extensions that end in 2009-2010 with player options for 2010-2011 season. Imagine if even one joins another. Replace Larry Hughes with Dwayne Wade. Replace Shaq with Chris Bosh. I am not claiming that this was their respective motivations, but the potential is there. Take the Cavaliers as they stand now. Before the 2009 season starts, 24.7 million will come off the books (Snow, Gooden, Marshall, Damon Jones). Before the 2010 season, 38.8 million (Hughes, Ilgauskas, Varejao, Pavlovic, Simmons). We can do this all day. Point is, if a team is willing to not literally pursue short-term winning for the sake of the future, a dynastic team can be created. For the new Brooklyn Nets:

PG-Deron Williams

SG-Vince Carter

SF-Richard Jefferson

PF-Elton Brand

C-Marcus Camby

Or Maybe…(what if they traded Carter in a similar fashion)

PG-Chris Paul

SG- Richard Hamilton

SF-Richard Jefferson

PF-Carlos Boozer

C-Brad Miller

The only way the Nets trade Jason Kidd for what can be considered a bag of garbage, is to do the aforementioned plan. Otherwise, let it go. This idea began as a Cavalier-centric thought. To bring it back around, the only way it happens is if they believe that they could get Varejao, Hughes, and Pavlovic, whose contracts all add up to almost 24 million. That’s the other end of the 25% spectrum. That means they trade 19 million for 24 million, all of which comes off the books at the same time. Yeah, they take on more contract money now, but eventually lose more contract money. THAT IS THE ONLY WAY. The NBA is not a nice gated community. The Nets are not going to trade Kidd to the Cavaliers because they are good neighbors and it’s the nice thing to do. It has to work for both sides. If that weren't the case, the Cavaliers could lose Larry Hughes (a guy can dream), as well as the big hairy crybaby Andy V and Sasha. What that tells me is the team would look something like this…

PG-Jason Kidd

SG-Daniel “Boobie” Gibson

SF-Lebron James

PF-Drew Gooden

C-Zydrunas Ilgauskas

To all of the Cavalier fans, “can you live with that”? Not much in the way of a bench, is that the answer? I don’t know that it is, at least not immediately. With the need to address the bench, maybe in 2-3 years, maybe. And here’s the beauty of it all. If that all happened and they were able to address the depth over the next 2-3 years, that is one year away from the end of Lebron James’ current contract. Just some food for thought.