khandor’s sports blog

According to Doug Smith, the Toronto/Charlotte component of the 3-team trade initially reported to involve the Raptors, Bobats and Suns has officially been terminated by Michael Jordan:

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Charlotte end of Raptors deal dead

The part of a complex Raptors deal that would have sent Jose Calderon and Reggie Evans to Charlotte is dead, killed by Bobcats owner Michael Jordan according to league sources.

The teams had signed off on the transaction that would have shipped Boris Diaw and Tyson Chandler to Toronto early Monday afternoon – with Chandler being told he was to become a Raptor – before it died later in the day

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The key question then becomes:

Why was it not sufficient for Toronto and Charlotte to simply complete a straight forward 1-for-1 trade involving Boris Diaw [SF/PF] in exchange for Jose Calderon [PG] … which, in a sense, fulfills a positional need for each team, and appears to be doable, from a salary cap perspective … if the other part of the original 3-team transaction is still scheduled to proceed as is [i.e. Turkoglu to Phoenix, in exchange for Barbosa and Jones to Toronto]?

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Could it possibly be the case that the original trade proposal agreed to by Charlotte and Toronto did, in fact, look like this:

To Toronto: Boris Diaw + Tyson Chandler

To Charlotte: Jose Calderon + TPE from Miami

[i.e. requiring the Raptors to send their TPE obtained from Miami to Charlotte in exchange for Tyson Chandler, in a straight forward 2-for-2 transaction]

… and that as Monday’s talks progressed, it was actually Bryan Colangelo who attempted to substitute in some combination of Reggie Evans, Dwayne Jones and/or Marcus Banks, in favour of the TPE part of the equation?

… which is ultimately what caused Michael Jordan to raise objections, since it would, in turn, prevent Charlotte from completing Part IV of their preferred player personnel plans for this summer:

i. Re-signing Tyrus Thomas, as a RFA;
ii. Not re-singing Raymond Felton;
iii. Acquiring a new PG to replace Felton [i.e. by trading Diaw for Calderon]; and,
iv. Acquiring a legitimate interior front-court scorer [i.e. by trading their acquired TPE, from Toronto, to Minnesota for Al Jefferson];

in order to alleviate some of their offensive woes from last season, and speculated about for some time by keen observers of the Bobcats.

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Hmmm …

Going forward in Charlotte, it could well be the case that Michael Jordan, v.7 [i.e. as "the" owner of the Bobcats] may not be so easy to push around, as was Michael Jordan, v.5 [i.e. as the "quasi-GM" of the sad-sack Washington Wizards] and Michael Jordan, v.6 [i.e. as a "minority share" owner with the franchise once controlled by Robert Johnson].

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Update:

According to Adrian Wojnarowski [10 minutes ago], Charlotte has now agreed to trade Tyson Chandler [C] and Alex Ajinca [C] to Dallas, in exchange for Erik Dampier [C], Matt Carroll [G] and Eduardo Najera [G/F].

According to Rick Bonnell [Inside The NBA], the hang-up in the proposed trade between Charlotte and Toronto isn’t a case of cold feet on the part of the NBA’s most notorious ’stone-cold assassin’ but, rather, a case of unrealistic financial expectations on the part of the former two-time recipient of the league’s EOTY Award:

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So, if this trade ever happens …

– The problem, I’m told, is Toronto general manager Bryan Colangelo’s financial expectations. I don’t know if that literally means cash or whether he’s demanding another team take a bad contract off his payroll.  But at the end of the day, Colangelo wants to make this work. It’s now so public, it would be hard to stuff the genie back in the bottle. Chandler and Evans already consider themselves exes with their former teams.

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Could it be that the proposed trade which Michael Jordan and Bryan Colangelo had originally agreed to was in fact not what has been reported to-date:

To Phoenix
- Hedo Turkoglu [from Toronto]

To Toronto
- Boris Diaw [from Charlotte] and Tyson Chandler [from Charlotte]

To Charlotte
- Jose Calderon [from Toronto], Dwayne Jones [from Phoenix, via Toronto] and Reggie Evans [from Toronto]

but, instead, this one:

To Phoenix
- Hedo Turkoglu [from Toronto]

To Toronto
- Boris Diaw [from Charlotte] and Tyson Chandler [from Charlotte]

To Charlotte
- Jose Calderon [from Toronto], Dwayne Jones [from Phoenix, via Toronto], Reggie Evans [from Toronto] and Marcus Banks [from Toronto]

which involves an additional player with a perceived to be ‘bad contract’ for the Raptors? … and, the distinct possibility that the Bobcats principal owner has, thus far, refused to take this on, given the viable alternative[s] at his disposal [i.e. one of which is outlined above].

While there should be no doubt that Adrian Wojnarowski is a credible writer/reporter/journalist for Yahoo! Sports, i.e. Jordan holding up Raptors trade … given his body of work to-date … so, too, is it the case that Rick Bonnell fits into a similar category for the Charlotte Observer … given a similar examination … and that sometimes two highly respected people can, in fact, simply see the exact same events in two very different ways with neither party really being described accurately as an out-right liar.

Indeed, it will be very interesting to see how this whole situation is eventually resolved and which of these two respective parties - i.e. Bryan Colangelo or Michael Jordan - is more inclined to accede to the demands of the other.

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PS. Contrary to what many so-called NBA ‘experts/observers’ realize, success/failure in the cutthroat world of pro sports is determined to a large extent by the ability of one participant to productively assert their/his ‘collective will’ over that of an opponent, in a head-to-head matchup.

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Update:

From a Raptors perspective, it can be highly informative to also read a solid blog - and the related comments - associated with another team which Toronto is thought to be in the process of doing business with, or, quite possibly, not.

If the Raptors are, in fact, presented with the opportunity to end this week with the following player roster:

PG: Jack, Belinelli and Banks
OG: Weems and Barbosa
SF: DeRozan and Kleiza
PF: Diaw, Johnson, Davis, Evans and Dorsey
C: Chandler, Alabi and Jones;

while being able to preserve the full ‘TPE’ which they just received from Miami …

as suggested in this blog entry 

… then, they should jump at it immediately, as:

i. A legitimate way out of their current mess with a 1-dimensional player like Andrea Bargnani [C] at the core of their team:

and,

ii. Yet another feasible opportunity to gradually build a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference which could eventually be able to win a league championship in the not-too-distant future.

Bryan Colangelo is a resourceful and hard-working GM. He just needs to be pointed in the right drection by the people working around him.

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PS. That’s the sort of roster which just might allow the Raptors to obtain a player like Harrison Barnes [i.e. Exhibit 1 & 2] through the 2011 NBA Draft.

Update:

PPS. Just to clarify the specific trade proposal outlined here, for the benefit of those who still might be confused by it … and, to distinguish it from what’s been proposed by other ’sources’ in the on-line hoops community … this is what it would actually look like, according to the ESPN NBA Trade Machine. And, you know what? Michael Jordan might then actually decide to go through with it, rather than getting cold feet at the last minute.

A. GAME TIME!

… with the NBA Playoffs set to tip tomorrow afternoon.

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Enjoy the ride!

At the conclusion of an 82 game schedule …

there are now 10 teams left with a legitimate opportunity to win this year’s league championship … none of which are the Mavericks [W2], Suns [W3], Nuggets [W4], Celtics [E4], Bucks [E6] or Bulls [E8], according to the recent history of the NBA.

Related:

What it takes to win the NBA Championship

With a little more than 1 week left in the regular season schedule …

there are 10 teams with a legitimate opportunity to win this year’s league championship … none of which are the Mavericks, Nuggets, Suns, Celtics, Bucks, Raptors or Bulls.

Related:

What it takes to win the NBA Championship

According to Tim Povtak, a senior writer at NBA Fanhouse …

Aging Theo Ratliff Has Sparked Bobcats’ Playoff Rise

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However …

If you take a closer look at the individual Game Logs for 3 specific players on the Bobcats’ current roster [shown below]:

Theo Ratliff’s Game Log This Season For Charlotte, since Feb 19

Tyrus Thomas’ Game Log This Season For Charlotte, since Feb 19

Tyson Chandler’s Game Logs This Season for Charlotte, since Feb 19 

you should be able to see clearly that the team’s recently improved performance has actually coincided with the return to good health of Tyson Chandler [i.e. Charlotte's Back-up Center] and the gradual integration of Tyrus Thomas [i.e. Charlotte's Back-up Power Forward] into their primary rotation, as much as [or, perhaps, even more than] the role and production of Theo Ratliff, as their Starting Center.

When a team like Charlotte finally turns the corner and morphs into a legitimate playoff contender it is rarely the case that there is only 1 player responsible for this actual transformation.

The simple fact is …

Charlotte has been engaged in the process of a long term build-up over the course of the past 2 years, given the additions of:

Larry Brown, Head Coach

DJ Augustin, PG [acquired via the Draft]
Alexis Ajinca, C [acquired via the Draft]
Boris Diaw, PF-SF [acquired via trade]
DeSagana Diop, C [acquired via trade]
Gerald Henderson, OG [acquired via the Draft]
Derrick Brown, PF-SF [acquired via the Draft]
Tyson Chandler, C [acquired via trade]
Stephen Graham, SF-OG [acquired as an UFA]
Stephen Jackson, OG-SF [acquired via trade]
Tyrus Thomas, PF-SF [acquired via trade]
Theo Ratliff, C [acquired via trade]
Larry Hughes, G-F [acquired as an UFA]

and,

Michael Jordan, Principal Owner,

in conjunction with the decision to retain the services of:

Gerald Wallace, SF-PF
Raymon Felton, PG
Nazr Mohammed, C

… and, the single individual most responsible for their success today is their once much-maligned General Manager, Rod Higgins.

Related:

Kudos to the Bobcats for resurrecting their once morbid franchise 

5 Men On A Single String … Kudos to Larry Brown

As was indicated yesterday, in this space, just might be the case today, if the Raptors were to make a series of mistakes in judgment against a much-improved group of Sacramento Kings [22-43] last night …

This is what the current standings look like in the Eastern Conference:

following Toronto’s loss and the wins by Charlotte [at Philadelphia] and Miami [vs the LA Clippers].

If the rest of the regular season schedule should, in fact, play out in a way that approximates the following results for each of these 5 contending teams: