There is only one reason to trade him, if we had a younger player ready to replace him. There are a lot of guys here that will give you the “He’s not part of our future” crap. Well our future starts Wednesday, and the future doesn’t look good without John or at least another starter to replace him.

So, to answer your question, we need another starter to replace him. Which means we need to trade for a young prospect who can start at the SF or PG position. Or, we need to trade away bad contracts, so we can sign a FA next summer who can start for us. So, what we’d ask of Portland is to take Thomas off our hands to get Salmons. Or, include Bayless in the trade.

I know that’s not what you want to hear, but as bad as our situation may seem. We will not panic. What Petrie & the Maloofs have said consistently is, they want to trade for cap space, prospects , and will in no way increase their team salary. But there is no rush to fix everything this year.

We have $20M coming off the books this summer, with William, Douby, & Jacksons expiring contracts. And, SAR getting a medical exemption. Plus, a two million buy out of Moore’s contract. That puts us $10M under the salary cap. So, even if we sign all of our draft choices, we’ll still be $15M below this years team salary. If we only trade Brad for expiring then we have $17M to use on 09 FA’s and we’re still under the salary cap That could bring us a Lee, Sessions or Felton which makes us better this summer.

So, with the continued improvement of Hawes & JT, plus possibly getting the top pick in the draft (more than likely top 5), we will be a much better team next year. And, if Martin & Cisco can stay health, and Greene continues to improve, and we pick up a solid FA, we could be a much much better team. Then in 2010 if Miller & K9 are still around, they become even more valuable at next yrs trade deadline because of their expiring contracts and we roll into the biggest FA Market with more than $20M in expiring and roster of all 1st round draft choices, including 3 in the top 12 over the last 3 yrs. We can wait, so don’t expect a Fire Sale any time soon in Sac.

I think Portland is the team that needs to decide right now what Salmons is worth. You guys are a playoff team. But, your not a finals contender. You need to decide, what a starting SF who can backup at SG and who can defend Kobe, is worth to you. So, if Salmons can’t help you get by LA then don’t trade for him. If you think his scoring & defense might get you into the Final, I’d make a good offer now.