Trade Stuff

Looks like Ferry has been talking to the Wizards:

One is Washington Wizards forward Antawn Jamison. A veteran who can play both inside and out with high character and a willingness to come off the bench (he is a former Sixth Man of the Year), he represents the top of the class. According to a league executive, the Cavs recently made pitches for both Jamison and Wizards' forward Caron Butler.

The Wizards have made it known they do not want to pay the luxury tax next season and Jamison is at the start of a four-year, $50 million contract. However, Washington has numerous options to reduce payroll over the next year besides moving one of their stars. This would be a trade with their biggest enemy, which is why it still seems to be a long shot.

I'm hesitant to add Jamison, for age and salary reasons. But he would fit in extremely well. As for Butler... dear God, if Ferry can pry him away then I will send the man flowers every day for the next year. Butler would be perfect next to Bron-Bron.

Now, Windy also throw out this little nugget:

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the Wizards are considering trading their first-round draft pick this year to help with the problem.

Adding Jamison's salary (and Etan Thomas/Darius Songaila) and the Wizards pick would be ridiculous. Getting a top ten pick would be amazing.

However, ESPN doesn't think a DC-Cleveland connection will happen:

The Wizards, sources said, quickly rebuffed Cleveland's offer of Wally Szczerbiak's $13.8 million expiring contract for former All-Star forward Antawn Jamison.

One source with knowledge of the Wizards' thinking said Tuesday that team president Ernie Grunfeld is determined to continue resisting interest in Jamison and Caron Butler because the club has renewed hope that injured starters Gilbert Arenas and Brendan Haywood will play in a small handful of games before the season ends, affording the Wiz an opportunity to evaluate the full team they hoped to field this season.

With Arenas and Haywood both having missed the entire season so far, Washington has cratered to a nightmare record of 12-42.

I'm not entirely surprised by this (as the Cavs are just offering cap relief), but at the same time, how long can the Wizards run with this same core? I mean, three straight first round exits and a terrible record this year. They look completely lost, so let's hope they do something stupid (like giving Cleveland Caron Butler or a first round pick).

Both ESPN and Windhorst think Ferry is targeting Marcus Camby (which shouldn't be a surprise):

The Cavs, meanwhile, are expected to shift their focus from Jamison to making a final pitch (or three) for Clippers center Marcus Camby, after being convinced in this week's talks that the Wizards are not interested in parting with the 32-year-old in spite of their luxury-tax concerns.

The Clippers have been saying for weeks that Camby and rookie guard Eric Gordon are their only untouchables in trade talks, but history says Clippers owner Donald Sterling is bound to be tempted by the opportunity to remove Camby's $9.7 million from next season's payroll if presented with Szczerbiak's contract on deadline day ... unless L.A. can move Chris Kaman's longer contract first.

and:

Another player on the radar is Marcus Camby, the Los Angeles Clippers' defensive center who has two years left on his contract. The Clippers are often in cost-cutting mode and have other strong big men. Coach and GM Mike Dunleavy has constantly told media members and other teams that Camby isn't on the market.

On Tuesday, though, a Western Conference general manager said every Clipper -- with the exception of rookie Eric Gordon -- was available, even as other general managers said Dunleavy's stance had not changed.

I'd love the Camby-man. He's a short term solution, but he'd plug a lot of holes (mainly, the fouth big man/veteran hole) and he won't mess up any 2010 scenarios. I just think that the Clips will demand Hickson, which Ferry will (rightfully) balk at.

For those of you who wanted Brad Miller (anyone? Bueller?), he's (thankfully) off the market:

The Chicago Bulls and Sacramento Kings have reached tentative agreement on a trade sending Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden and Cedric Simmons to the Kings for Brad Miller and John Salmons, ESPN.com.

One source said the Bulls players were pulled off the team bus Wednesday afternoon and were told they had been traded.

The deal also involved a third team. The Bulls agreed to send Michael Ruffin to Portland, and the Trail Blazers would ship Ike Diogu to the Kings, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard.

What the fuck are the Bulls doing? Do they even have a plan? I love how they were in talks for Stoudemire and ended up with Brad freaking Miller. Salmons is decent, but he's paid too much ($10 mil over the next two years- which isn't terrible, but not great). The Cavs were in talks for Miller, but the Kings insisted on Hickson. HA!

At this point, I have no idea what will happen. Stoudemire being traded looks less and less likely (though if Sarver really wants to cut salary, with the Bulls trading Gooden....), Camby is on the Clippers (so who knows) and it looks like Washington is going to stand pat.

Though, despite the bleak news, I guess we should hold out hope:

"The Cavs are definitely being super aggressive," one Eastern Conference executive said. "They see this economic frenzy out there with so many teams trying to get off money and lower their payrolls like New Orleans did [by trading Tyson Chandler] and they want to capitalize. If they can spend now to help them keep LeBron later, they're going to do it."

So there ya go.

FYI- the deadline is 3pm on Thursday (though I'd wait til 5 to make sure).