Good morning STR,
I am so anxious about watching the Battle of the Memphis PGs that I can not sleep.  (Just Kidding. Studying for a Midterm).  But I came across a very interesting article that got me sidetracked a little bit. 

Our Good Friend Marc Stein Reports

Sources told ESPN.com that the Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings, in considering the feasibility of a Samuel Dalembert-for-Kenny Thomas swap, have discussed expanding that concept with Boston by trying to draw in the Celtics on a potential three-way deal that would land Andres Nocioni with the Celts.

I was very intrigued with the possibilities that this could have become, so I continued reading, and was very disappointed with the details:

But the full deal as it stands, if it eventually gets that far, would send Nocioni to Boston, Kenny Thomas, Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine to Philadelphia and Dalembert and J.R. Giddens to Sacramento.

The deal seems like it is being seriously considered by all sides as Stein explains

Sources further stressed over the past 48 hours that this should be classified as an ongoing conversation as the teams involved decide how much they like what’s on the table.

So the talks between New Orleans and Sacramento seems to have stopped, but the Kings continue to show us that they are pushing to improve the team NOW!  I like the message they are sending the fans, but do not necessarily like this deal, especially since Dalembert is making $12 million this year and $13 million next year.  Without an extra pick for us, which I doubt will happen , I stop this trade right now, because we can get ALOT more value for Kenny Thomas AND Nocioni. Stein breaks down the trade from our standpoint:

 The Kings have interest in securing another big man to join Spencer Hawes and the fast-developing Jason Thompson in their frontcourt rotation and have pondered the merits of gambling on Dalembert for some time. And trading for Philly’s out-of-favor center certainly makes more sense than a deal for New Orleans’ Emeka Okafor, who has four years and nearly $40 million left on his contract through the 2013-14 season. It’s believed that Sacramento, even if these three-way talks go no further, will continue to field offers for Nocioni, given the Kings’ desire to have cap space in the summer of 2011 and the promising early development of rookie Omri Casspi.

What do you guys think about the trade? 

How about the message that the team is sending us?

P.S. Go Kings!

P.P.S. Wish Me Luck on my Midterms Tomorrow!

P.P.P.S. Hope my format (as a New Member) is good enough for Pookey! ;)

(From the FanPosts. - TZ)

Much has been made of Jason Thompson's foul troubles. Last season, he finished with 314 personal fouls in 82 games, and the second-place fouler was not even close. Paul Millsap of Utah tallied 288 fouls.

Big men are much more likely to foul than smaller players, given the intensity of the game near the basket. This is nothing new. But being among the leaders in fouls committed does not necessarily reflect poorly on a player. Some previous season leaders in total fouls include Shawn Kemp, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, and Hakeem Olajuwon. Of course, leading the league in fouls doesn't instantly make you a superstar. Just ask Shawn Bradley, Danny Fortson, Jason Collins, Ervin Johnson, and Mikki Moore.

If you look at the league leaders in total fouls committed so far in 2009-10, JT's got the eighth highest total (Greg Oden leads the pack). In personal fouls per game, JT is second. So, who cares if JT has a bunch of fouls?

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Though this deal appears to be dead, I thought I’d take a quick look at Emeka Okafor’s stats and compare them to the guys he could take minutes from if the Kings did the deal that Amick said was in the works: Spencer Hawes, Kenny Thomas and John Brockman.

Spencer Hawes: $2.3 million, $3.0 million, $4.1 million.

* 29.6 minutes per game, 42% FGs, 86% FTs.

* Per 36 minutes: 2.4 OReb, 6.4 DReb, 8.8 TReb, 2.2 A, 2.7 TOs, 0.8 steals, 1.6 Bl, 3.8 PFs, 12.7 points.

Jon Brockman: $458,000, $932,000.

* 8.6 minutes per game, 62% FGs, 33% FTs.

* Per 36 Minutes: 7.2 OReb, 6.6 DReb, 13.8 TReb, 1.2 A, 1.2 TOs, 0.0 steals, 0.0 Bl, 7.8 PFs, 11.3 points.

Kenny Thomas: $8.8 million.

* 13.4 minutes per game, 43% FGs, 83% FTs.

* Per 36 Minutes: 5.4 OReb, 7.5 DReb, 12.9 TReb, 1.1 A, 2.7 TOs, 0.5 steals, 1.1 Bl, 3.2 PFs, 5.9 points.

Emeka Okafor: $10.8 million, $11.8 million, $12.8 million, $13.8 million, $14.8 million.

* 29.5 minutes per game, 51% FGs, 56% FTs.

* Per 36 Minutes: 3.6 OReb, 8.0 DReb, 11.6 TReb, 0.8 A, 2.1 TOs, 0.6 steals, 2.3 Bl, 3.8 PFs, 12.8 points.

Rankings

* Minutes per game: Hawes 29.6, Okafor 29.5, Thomas 13.4, Brockman 8.6.

* FG%: Brockman 62%, Okafor 51%, Thomas 43%, Hawes 42%.

* FT%: Hawes 86%, Thomas 83%, Okafor 56%, Brockman 33%.

Per 36 Minutes

* Offensive Rebounds: Brockman 7.2, Thomas 5.4, Okafor 3.6, Hawes 2.4.

* Defensive Rebounds: Okafor 8.0, Thomas 7.5, Brockman 6.6, Hawes 6.4.

* Total Rebounds: Brockman 13.8, Thomas 12.9, Okafor 11.6, Hawes 8.8.

* Assists: Hawes 2.2, Brockman 1.2, Thomas 1.1, Okafor 0.8.

* Turnovers: Brockman 1.2, Okafor 2.1, Thomas 2.7, Hawes 2.7.

* Steals: Hawes 0.8, Okafor 0.6, Thomas 0.5, Brockman 0.0.

* Blocks: Okafor 2.3, Hawes 1.6, Thomas 1.1, Brockman 0.0.

* Fouls: Thomas 3.2, Okafor 3.8, Hawes 3.8, Brockman 7.8.

* Points: Okafor 12.8, Hawes 12.7, Brockman 11.3, Thomas 5.9.

So you get so-so scoring, probably another team block per game, pretty decent shooting on the limited shots he does take, terrible free throw shooting, very few assists, and rebounding which is actually less than the average of two of the guys he’d replace. And he’d be the highest paid player on your roster for the next five years.

No, thanks. But, hey, if you’re determined to blow it up and want to get rid of David West, let’s talk.

Ok so it has already started, rumors of possible trades and will continue until the deadline. I have a feeling we will be hot with trade talk until the deadline or until a couple trades go down. So the question is this what things would you like or hope to see? Who do you consider untouchable? Who would you like to see dumped? Who's in the middle? Why? Possible trades and what the can do for us.

Let me start with my views on the current roster.

Don't want to see traded at all: Evans, JT, Omri, Greene

For a very quality player or Included in a deal that gets a top 5 pick: Martin, Garcia.

For the right deal:  Hawes (though i'd like to keep him i think he can turn out to be a fine player in the league the right skill set to a talented 3 man front court rotation but we still need one more to complete that.)

Everyone else pretty much fair game

And players id like to see gone by the deadline: K9, Nocioni. (k9 is a valuable trade asset letting him come off the books at the end of the year probably wont be as valuable since we wont land a free agent so use the trade chip while we have it. And Nocioni probably best to keep him till closer to the deadline when we have Kmart / Cisco back but id like to see him gone hopefully for something decent though probably not much.

Possible trades that sound good? Ill add some later after playing with trade machine, what about you guys?

Trade Machine

What a great week for us.  I don't think anyone could have predicted how good we've been playing, especially without Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia.  We end the week at 5-4 and in 6th place in the West.  So lets take a look at what happened.

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This is my first time bringing up a new subject, so be easy :). But because of all the tadre talk involving the Hornets I was asking myself the question, "Since it seems most people are against a trade for the Hornet's center because of his expensive contract, who would be someone I would want at center, over Spence, that does not come with all the money attatched?"

My answer was Roy Hibbert.

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I was looking at the trade machine, for the Omeka trade.

Kevin Martin, Kenny Thomas and Sergio Rodriguez for Chris Paul and Omeka Okafor,

Chris Paul isn't happy with New Orleans System, and with the firing of Scott,

and this way, New Orleans would be way under the financial debt, and the kings would be a playoff team, look at the starting five

1. Chris Paul - Beno Udrih

2. Tyreke Evans- Francisco Garcia/Ime Udoka

3. Nocioni- Omri Caspi/Donte Greene

4.Jason Thompson-Donte Greene/Jon BrockMan

5.Spencer Hawes/Omeka Okafor/Sean May

and by the end of year, Sean May would be gone, and Udoka might be gone, saving us a couple of millions, and we could move Tyreke to his natural position of shooting Guard, and who wouldn't want to play with Chris Paul.

I've been noticing a lot of people with questions about the salary cap, I was hoping to clear up some questions with a FAQ with the help of the always fabulous Larry Coon Salary Cap FAQ. (I would suggest book marking this if you don't have it bookmarked already. I know a lot of people at StR already do, but there seem to be new people coming around every day.)

I always suggest using ShamSports as your salary source simply because Sham has contacts in the NBA office and verifies some tricky detail's that need to be fact checked whenever you're talking salaries. If you use the ESPN or Real GM trade checker, that's fine. It won't hurt you in the process of figuring out whether a trade works. (I don't usually use it, but sometimes when I'm tired and don't feel like calculating monetary stuff I will use it. Especially when a player is BYC. Anywayz...) If you use hoopshype or hoopsworld to verify salary info I understand, but don't expect me to read it. I won't tell you to not use it in August or something; I'll just roll my eyes and move on. I don't have the time to fight with people about those little details. Let's rock this joint after the jump.....

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Man I am impressed with the turnaround.  I just didn't see it coming.

But how is it that losing a guy average about 30 points a game makes you a better team?  Could it be the other guys actually get to touch the rock a litte and contribute at the offensive end?  The Defense and Rebounding also look a lot better now too.  Is it just me that is starting to think he is overrated?

When will caspri (sp.) replace Nocioni in the starting line-up.

I know...I know...I shouldn't even bring up the Lakers in this forum, let alone in the the headline but I do have a gripe to vent and my wife is unwilling to understand, let alone listen.  As I am watching the Lakers game (er...the Suns game) on tv tonight I can't help but think, man....the Lakers are playing at home again.  Again, I know...I know...every team plays the same amount of home and away games, but their schedule seems a bit absurd.  Of their first 21 games only 4 are on the road!!! Talk about an incredible head start to begin the season!  I always hold the belief that the first month of the season is critical to setting a tone for the remainder of the season.  Therefore, I consider the Lakers schedule an unfair advantage on their behalf.  I guess the real reason why it stings so much is the fact that the Kings have started, what seems like, every season in memory on a road trip.  Does anyone else find this a little hard to swallow??