FanPost

Vision of things to come...


It’s been about 24 hours since the NBA draft came to an end. Amazing what that amount of time can do for your perspective. Heated reactions dissolve and rational ideas emerge. Frightening changes can miraculously be seen instead as areas of opportunity. Hell, you pretty much go through the “stages of grief” at hyperspeed – go to bed in denial and anger, wake up to acceptance. I don’t know if it’s our subconscious mind balancing things for us, or something more mystical, but I always seem to wake up with a better perspective on things than I had the previous day.


So, as I lay in bed last night, contemplating if my next Facebook status update should pay homage to great thinkers like Abe Lincoln ("Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to draft Jonny Flynn and Wes Johnson and remove all doubt") or Ace Ventura ("David Kahn should die of gonorrhea and rot in hell"), I was pretty much in a bad place. The good news is that I woke up today with a vision of what David Kahn is trying to do. The not-so-good news is that I can’t exactly say I’m on board with it, should it come to pass that is…

If there was one thing that stood out to me with the Wolves’ draft last night, it was math…CAP Math. Say what you will about David Kahn, and his ability as a GM and a NBA talent evaluator. God knows I have, and his track record deserves it. He gets all aflutter over a firm handshake, nice body, and kind words; i.e. Jonny Flynn, Ryan Hollins, and (for now) Wes Johnson. And he clearly does not yet have a handle on the league-wide value of the assets he works so hard to accrue. But there is one thing he is not - a bad accountant. Every move last night was made towards freeing up space on THIS YEAR’s cap. As pissed as I am about wasting Gomes’ contract, it would have been worthless in the market for a serious sign-and-trade, as the voidable benefit basically expires the moment the free agents become available on JULY 1st. It needed to be moved for another flippable asset. That asset is now either Martell Webster or…pause for dramatic effect…Corey Brewer.

Yes, as unlikely as it sounds after last year, we now have to deal with the fact that we have WAY TOO MANY athletic swing guys to work into our rotation. Between Brewer, Johnson, Webster, and Hayward we now have the market cornered on 23-25 year old, long, athletic, 3-point shooting Swings. Why would Kahn create such a logjam at this position in ONE DAY? My theory is not hard to deduce, as anything with Kahn comes down to a simple solution:

WE ARE ACQUIRING AMARE STOUDEMIRE IN A SIGN-N-TRADE - Here are the "Mutley Facts"

· Amare is opting out

· Amare is a selfish prick looking for MAX money and will sign with ANYBODY that gives it to him

· No one else in the NBA is dumb enough to give Amare max money, except David Kahn, because of his fit with Rubio

· The amount of money it would take to do a sign and trade for Amare pretty much exactly equals the contract of Big Al plus either Brewer or Webster

· The Suns would love getting Al and Brewer or Webster for someone that’s gone anyway

· Rubio and Amare are pretty much made to play together

· Amare is a selfish douche that will suck in his first year with us because he got paid, then get magically better when Rubio gets here after the lockout

Have I missed anything? Here is your starting lineup for 2010:

PG – Sessions, Flynn (get Jonny ready for his eventual backup role to Rubio)

SG – Webster, Ellington

SF – Johnson, Hayward

PF – Love, Stoudemire

C – Stoudemire, Darko, Pek

The eventual post-lockout year after that :

PG – Rubio, Flynn

SG – Webster, Ellington

SF – Johnson, Hayward

PF – Love, Stoudemire

C – Stoudemire, Darko, Pek

What is the Canis Hoopus opinion of this? I’ve watched Stoudemire since he came into the league, and he is an incredible offensive player. I know Nash has made him, but he has developed into a great face-up jump shooter, plus he’s learned to use his quickness on the block. Pair him with Rubio, and the offensive game is all good. Defensively and rebounding-wise, he is an absolute travesty. I would NEVER give him the MAX, but I think that ship has sailed. This is the vision of our GM…what say you?