Monday, February 18, 2008

Hot Topics

Sources from the Star Ledger report that the deal to send Kidd to Dallas is close to being final. Jason Kidd has been rumored to be headed to the Dallas Mavericks with Malik Allen. In return the New Jersey Nets would recieve Devin Harris, along with Trenton Hassell, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, two first round picks, and Keith Van Horn in a sign-and-trade agreement.

But, according to the Star Ledger:

Unless the Nets add another player to the deal such as Antoine Wright, they will
have 16 players on their roster, and will need the league's permission to lop
off Van Horn, who after two years of inactivity has no intention of playing.

League President of operations Joel Litvin and NBA Commissioner David Stern warned the teams that they would not get of easy when using a retired player in the deal. The Nets would not be allowed to just waive him and let him go back on the couch.

But then, Sports Illustrated reported that the deal will have to wait another day or so because Van Horn must pass a physical and report to the Nets. Thats if the teams want the league to approve it and the deal to go down. He was basically added to the deal "just" to make the numbers work. Sources say, that to include Van Horn in the deal, he must have some "prescence" honor his contract for the remainder of the season. After the long-awaited deal has been talked about for ages, it will have to wait yet again for Van Horn to agree to the stipulations. Many negotiations and two hold-ups later, both teams are anxiously waiting for the deal to be finalized. They must keep in mind that the trading deadline is Thursday the 21st at 3 pm.

There has also been reports of the Grizzlies putting former Magic guard-forward Mike Miller in numerous trade negotiations. One deal has him going to Indiana for guard Marquis Daniels and forward Ike Diogu. Im blown away by this prospective rumor, because Mike Miller's trade value far exceeds the abysmal talent the Grizzlies would be recieving.

Ron Artest's name has surfaced in connection with the Denver Nuggets. One report has him possibly heading to Denver for a first-round pick and guard-forward Linas Kleiza. Parting with such a young talent for a hard head like Ron Artest is risky. The Nuggets have the "Win-now-give-us-all-your-stars" attitude and they wont have the star power for very long. Ron can opt out of his current contract after this season. The deal makes sense for the Nuggets, mainly because they are under intense pressure to win now. The Nuggets can only keep Iverson and Anthony in Denver for a limited amount of time without winning anything, before they will want to look for a more successful team.

No comments: