Monday, May 14, 2007

I had a Dream

This morning I had to wake up at 6:15 for an early meeting at work. As a result, of the change in my sleeping schedule, I remembered my dream. It involved a trade:

To the Heat
Mike Miller
Dahntay Jones

To the Grizzlies
Shaquille O'Neal

First the obvious:

  1. The salaries don't match up.
  2. The Heat would never trade a sports legend for someone with hair that bad, even if he's a University of Florida legend. Even if you throw in Dahntay Jones.
  3. The Grizzlies are better off without the aging superstar and his $60 million contract. (Still, the thought of Shaq next to Gasol is intriguing, and they'd be hard pressed to say no. Shaq has proved doubters wrong in the past and therefore deserves the benefit of the doubt.)
Now the less obvious, but more troubling:

Shaq would never agree to play in Memphis.

Shaq, and other veteran superstars don't want to play for the worst team in the league, even if it has a bright future, especially if the worst team calls Memphis its home. A Veteran superstar will only take a chance with a bad team (ie The Knicks) if it affords them the opportunity to play in a large market (ie New York).

A younger superstar may take a chance in Memphis if another team can't match the Grizzlies' offer. The chances that a more desirable market can't outbid the Grizzlies are slim.

A second tier (or lower) player would be happy to be overpaid in Memphis. The Grizzlies have a great group of these type of players most of whom aren't overpaid (yet).

So how do the Grizzlies obtain a superstar player when they're an undesirable market losing one of their biggest attractions in Jerry West?

There are three options:
  1. The Number 1 Draft Pick
  2. The Number 2 Draft Pick
  3. Trades
All three options are tough to pull off, but let's hope the Jerry West's last move is more Hubie Brown than Brian Cardinal.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah...and I had a nightmare we reaquired Big Jake, posted him up with The Stro Show and finished up '07/ '08 as the eighth seed in the west.

Anonymous said...

Sounds more like a nightmare to me!

Dave said...

How about this, you pick up Shaq and then sit him for the 1st half of the season so he has some prayer of not being injured during the playoffs?

Anonymous said...

Nice dream, but the Grizzle don't need Shaq. They need a point guard that can get the ball up the court and feed those thoroughbreds!! Pleeeeease ship Stoudemire and Swift off to LA for Sam Cassell and let him groom Terrence Kinsay for a year.

David Jones said...

Getting Shaq is a bad idea, though the Grizzlies do need a dominat big man who can also rebound (read: Greg Oden).

Trading for Cassell is an interesting idea. I think he's too old at this point. He is still great, but the Grizzlies need someone who'll be ready for the next 5 years.

How about Warrick and Stoudemire for Bibby?