The more we look at the Ricky Davis/Antoine Walker trade, we have to wonder: What did Ricky do so wrong to make Minnesota want to dump him for ‘Toine — who might get bought out and never even play for them — and 1.5 big men? (The 0.5 is for the half season Wayne Simien will be healthy.) Why would the Wolves want to give up their best perimeter scorer and a serviceable center in that deal? Letting your youngsters (Foye, G-Money, Brewer, Gomes, etc.) learn the hard way is one thing, but don’t you at least want to try to win games? … We broke down the trade in detail soon after it went down, and the Fantasy Doctor mapped out the fantasy implications of the deal here … If ‘Toine does get bought out, where will he end up? Back on the Celtics? Back to Miami at a cheaper price tag? The Nuggets might need a shooter soon. And what about the Cavs? … With no Kevin Durant (ankle) or Greg Oden (you already know) available, Sonics/Blazers was just another preseason game. A game where LaMarcus Aldridge went off for 31 points and 13 boards, Brandon Roy dropped 22 points, and Delonte West looked funny with his shaved head … The Pistons will be missing their top pick for a while, as Rodney Stuckey broke his left hand last night against the Wizards. No word yet on how long he’ll be out, but we’re assuming it won’t be a short absence. As long as he can make it back sometime this year, though, Detroit shouldn’t be in too much trouble. Giving Stuckey and Arron Afflalo some minutes during the season will be good for Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton come playoff time … One thing we learned from Knicks/Sixers: If Andre Iguodala is having an off night, Philly’s offense is kind of a mess. You never want to end up in a situation where Andre Miller and Reggie Evans are your primary scoring options … Line of the night: Hilton Armstrong putting up 25 points and 14 boards and going to the line 20 times against the Hawks … We’ve been dropping snippets of Cass’ interviews with the adidas “Big Six” on the site over the past few days: if you’ve missed KG, Gilbert Arenas and T-Mac so far, check them out. We got up with the adidas guys over the summer when they were in Cali to shoot ads for the new Brotherhood campaign. As part of the campaign, adidas is going to give one high school hoop team a locker-room makeover to whoever has the best story that shows brotherhood within their squad. Enter the contest yourself at DimeMag.com … Prepare to shake your head and sigh. According to court records obtained by the Rocky Mountain News, J.R. Smith’s nightclub incident consisted of the following: J.R. pouring champagne on a girl, spitting on her and tearing her dress. Oh, and apparently J.R. told a police officer at the scene that he was too drunk to remember all that happened. You can shake your head and sigh now … We always kinda assumed that Ben Wallace was the de facto leader of the Bulls, but it’s Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng who have been named team captains. The Chicago Tribune reported that Deng, Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Chris Duhon were the ones who raised their hands when Scott Skiles asked who wanted to be captains, and Lu and Kirk won the team vote. Maybe Duhon can lead the way when it’s time to hit the clubs … Yesterday the Bounce crew gave out some limited edition NBA Street kicks. What’s up for grabs today? Go to the Bounce site and see for yourself … We’re out Captain Big Ben …
Current Issue
Featured video - Jerryd Bayless: Dime Video Gallery presented by Levi's 501®
Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.
Poll
Who would you rather have on your team?
Columns
- All Star
- Bounce
- College
- Dimepiece
- Fantasy Doctor
- High School
- Hit List
- NBA
- NBA Draft
- Olympics
- Pat's Sixers Blog
- Playground
- Smack
- Style - Kicks and Gear
- Video
Links
Dime Network
Partners
The Blog Roll
MITCHELL & NESS PROMO
October 25th, 2007 at 5:37 am
vince says:
i like duhon stepping up. for all the heat he gets from bulls fans, he’s a great player of the bench.
October 25th, 2007 at 6:19 am
sans says:
matbe Duhon should tutor JR on how to act in public. Everyone knows dude parties, but you never hear about shh like that.
October 25th, 2007 at 6:45 am
doc says:
minny traded ricky cause hes a fuckin gunner. And Denver might need a shooter but one who makes most of them.
October 25th, 2007 at 6:55 am
heavy d says:
I thought the trade was horrible for Minnesota from the moment I heard about it. Not for losing Ricky, but for gaining Walker. They should buy him out because he’ll stunt the development of the young guys. The only thing I can figure about the deal is that Minnesota is wanting to remove all doubt that they get to keep their pick in the draft.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Captain America says:
Deals ain’t done yet. So, stop with the win/loss b.s. till the dancing is over. Blount is a “serviceable” center. Yea, if you like a parameter center (a second shooting guard) on the floor who doesn’t fight for rebounds nor block shots. He has 3 years left of guaranteed $22M left on his contact.
As for Ricky Davis, the dude walked off the floor during one game last year, was an a-hole in the locker room, and took all the shots. He also turned the ball over far too much.
For Minne this is addition by subtraction. Trading two headaches for one.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:55 am
Data says:
This sounds like the type of questionable management that KG was talking about. This is gonna be a bad year for Minnesota fans.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:56 am
sans says:
Well, this trade gets Craig Smith more space. Chris Richard might actually see the floor this season. They still have Juwan, right? I wonder where they’ll trade him to? Is Foye going to be their starting point? McCants, Green, Brewer, and Gomes have to be stoked.
Whose gonna win more games this season: Sonics or Wolves?
October 25th, 2007 at 7:59 am
sans says:
Maybe a better question is: Can they get anything for Jaric and Howard packaged together?
October 25th, 2007 at 8:03 am
bigdre says:
i hope the t-wolves buy-out toine and the cavs get to pick him up/
October 25th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Dre in O Town says:
Minni doesn’t need Ricky Buckets. They have a huge group of youngsters all with an itchy trigger finger. Are you guys saying that R. McCants, R. Foye, G. Green, R. Gomes, A. Jefferson and C. Brewer aren’t capable of making buckets. The thing they are going to need help with is defense, and that is why they will lose alot of games. They are rebuilding so why not get rid of Ricky. It works for Miami also. Shaq is breaking down by the minute, i don’t care how he trys to sugar coat it. D-Wade is still kinda funky after that surgery, so Ricky Buckets can pick up some slack with M. Blount in the mean by. one.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:38 am
João says:
Wow, Riley did it again !!! Now we have :
J-Will
Wade
Davis
Haslen
Shaq
with the bench :
Smush
Penny
Wright
Blount
Zo
Thats a very good team. Better than the team that won the chip 16 months ago without the need for a game 7. This team just need one thing, stay health. The better thing is, now we have 16M in salary with Davis and J-Will to make a move in case things dont go well. And no salary after Shaqs expire contract in 3 years, when we might sign Lebron. Oh, and by the way, we got rid of Walker, awesome ,,,
October 25th, 2007 at 8:42 am
E-ROC says:
How does Riley do it? How does he get opposing GMs to accept his terrible trade offers? Fat Boy will be bought out of his contract. Doleac might stick, but I doubt it. That first round pick could be valuable. The Heat definitely need to get younger and better. Trading that conditional first round pick won’t help. But they did come out as the victor in the trade because they get what they needed: scorer and a serviceable big man who’s slightly better than Doleac, not much of an upgrade, but an upgrade no less.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Ashlov says:
Minny fans, keep repeating that junk to yourselves, and eventually, you’ll believe it. I guess Minny fans also believe that global warming is real.
Ricky Davis is a good scorer, and he’ll flourish playing off of Wade. Blount doesn’t need to be a starting center, and more than likely, he’ll back up Haslem. He can shoot from the high post, and that’s fine, since Shaq and Zo will be posting up. So while you folks couldn’t make much use of him, I’m sure our Hall of Fame multi-championship coach will find a use for him.
Have fun grimacing every time A.W.ful jacks up threes with 22 seconds left on the clock, and Al Jefferson sporting a constipated >
October 25th, 2007 at 9:25 am
smity says:
lots of haters on this board today…davis haters, toine haters…how does ben gordon feel about the team after not being voted captain. They couldnt have 3 captains? your go to player (who wants to be captain) can’t be a (co)captain? the league is gonna be interesting this year. will miami even make the playoffs? you got a milwaukee team that won’t lose as much as they did last year (if they stay healthy) and you got a new york team that may be good enough to make it. bulls, orlando, detroit, cleveland, washington, new jersey, toronto,…
October 25th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Andy Buckets says:
I’m not too sold on this Heat squad. Shaq is getting old, D. Wade is going to be out for a while and J. Will is moving like he is 40 out there.
Penny hasn’t played in a minute and Smush is sometimes irratic. That looks like a recipe for diaster if you ask me.
They’ll make the playoffs but I don’t see them getting anything higher than a 6th seed. The east has gotten way better.
October 25th, 2007 at 9:59 am
smity says:
oh and i forgot to mention boston…
October 25th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Tom from Cleveland says:
The Cavs don’t need Walker. They already have Donyell Marshall, who is basically the same player.
October 25th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Wolves Convert says:
I think the Davis/Walker works out well for both teams. the trade completes the transition the Wolves were looking to make once we decided dealing KG was the direction we were going.
Sure avis(he has no D) can score buckets but how does he really help this team in the direction they are headed. Who really cares about winning right now. His skills are better put to use on a team that actually has a chance of competing this year.
At the end of last season we had KG, a couple young guys with potential, and a random collection of vets that had never won and had bad attitudes. We were overpaying for losing and owed two picks.
Now he have a quality group of young guys that are a great core for the future. We have the opportunity to get under cap and we also trade 2 head aches for 1.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Seth says:
In both this posting and in the fantasy implications piece, Dime suggests that Walker would be eligible to return to the Heat if he agreed to a buy-out with the Timberwolves. I was under the impression that the league/most recent CBA prohibited this. Can anybody confirm?
October 25th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Celts Fan says:
I don’t think it does Seth, because GP got traded to the Hawks (ironically enough in an Antoine Walker deal) and refused to go, got bought out, and resigned w/ us, but that was a few years ago. Things may’ve changed.
Also, love the trade for both teams. Miami get’s a proven scorer who’ll take away some of the load from DWade and Shaq. Minnesota sheds 2 bad contracts for one that they’ll probably buy out, picks up a #1, and ensures they should be in the running for another really high pick to get this youth movement really geared up, all while getting the young guys a lot of PT. If I didn’t know better, I’d think Kevin McHale wasn’t involved!
Also, if ‘Toine gets bought out, anyone think he’ll sign w/ Boston? (assuming they cut it down to 14 players on the roster, like it’s being reported Doc and Danny want to do.) He’s still loved here (always gets a standing O when he plays here) is still great friends w/ Pierce, and would fill a huge void as a bench scorer.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
JC says:
Donyell is a little more accurate of a shooter than AW. AW’s a scorer-type while Donyell seems like a glue guy (or at least accepts his glue role).
Minny, to quote Nas is feeling like this is time to “destroy and rebuild it.” They’d lose with or without Ricky D. and Blount is exactly a monster, so why not just go full time with the babies and watch them grow?
October 25th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Gee says:
The buzz was the Pistons would part with Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Amir Johnson and/or a first round pick for Bryant, arguably the best player in the NBA.
detnews.com
Ok yall help me out. Wouldn’t the Lakers “arquably” come out on top if this trade was to happen??? Plus I just couldn’t see K.B. and Sheed getting along. Anybody got a thought on it?
October 25th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
mavid says:
LOL, the Hawks go 7-1 in the preseason and not a mention of it (oh, and it was mainly scrubs who were fouling Armstrong… Mario West did it a few times; Solomon Jones, etc.).
Al Horford was matched up on David West and did a very good job.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
João says:
I still think that the only issue with Miami is Health. If ( and thats a big “if” ) the 9 or 10 rotation players are all health, with Pat Riley and Chamionship experience, nobody can beat Miami in 7 game series.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
smity says:
i’ll just speak for my city only at this point by saying that chicago can beat miami in a seven game series…actually chicago can beat them in a four game series…like last year when they won four games in a row…and miami won no games…
what? no HOF watch today?
October 25th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
smity says:
um, never mind, maybe i should hit the refresh button sometimes…
October 25th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
João says:
Chicago its a very hard team to play , and presents a lot of problems for Miami, but with everybody health (and that was not the case last time, and was when Miami beat Chicago last year ) Miami can beat and will beat the Bulls. Unless the Bulls sign Kobe …
October 25th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Celts Fan says:
Miami is now a really good team that everyone has to contend with. They’ve definitely jumped into that upper echelon in the East again. Chicago definitely CAN beat Miami, but it’s not a “will” situation by any means. Every team should be afraid of Miami (assuming everyone’s healthy)
October 25th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
db says:
Davis can’t be your primary scoring option, because he’ll win you ten games and lose you twenty with his turnovers, 3-16 shooting nights, and numerous defensive lapses. As a third option in Miami behind two alpha dogs he can be held in line and be a productive force, but it’s just suicide for the Minny kids to have them at his mercy. Good trade by McHale (who I think is one of the worst GMs in the L).
October 26th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Seth says:
Celts Fan,
Thanks for the reply. My belief is that the rule was changed in the off-season following the Payton affair. Not a big deal but I am fairly certain that scenarios involving Walker’s return to the Heat this season are not just unlikely because of Riley’s assessment of Walker’s abilities but also because of the league rules.