To quote Bette (fixed): Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

This is no time for a tired reporter to stretch out on the couch.

I tell ya, this never ends.

It’s like 9:45 last night, really slow, I’m a lump on the couch after a long baseball practice (the urchins couldn’t turn four double plays in a row during infield so I didn’t have to buy ‘em all ice cream), calls and e-mails had gone unreturned and I’m trying to figure out which old TV drama to watch.

Dang you, Marc Stein (I joke, Marc’s one of the really good ones out there and loves Canada so how can I diss him).

Anyway it just goes to show that things turn on a dime at any time these days and since the moratorium’s lifted tomorrow and the cap number likely comes out late tonight, think we’re in for much the same kind of day.

As long as the doofuses don’t do anything of substance between 6-8:30 when the Mighty Yankees are attempting to turn two and go 8-2 on the season, I’m ready to work.

Or maybe it’ll be uber-quiet and we can enjoy a post-game coaches meeting.

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I think this explains the pros of any Marion deal for the Raptors, whose intent is two-fold, maybe three.

They want to foster some goodwill with the guy and his agent (but not at any salary cost) if they can; and they might get a little nugget out of it.

Let’s say they do this: Ship Marion somewhere for a player, a future pick and some cash, flip that player to a third team for a pick and some money and then they’re all done.

What’s the end result: Toronto grabs up some cash and some picks (and I don’t imagine they’d be high ones), Shawn gets some extra loot and everyone’s happy.

And Bryan’s got a marker of sorts with the agent.

What I can’t see happening – and was told wouldn’t happen under any circumstances by a league person I trust late last night – is that Toronto would bring anyone back that costs them a dime.

Now, in a perfect world, Bryan’s able to include Marcus Banks in any kind of transaction which would present two options: They could, in that case, take back a player making Banks’ money ($4.5 million this season, $4.8 million next, as long as it’s salary-neutral) or, in the absolutely perfect storm of transaction creativity, they dump Banks or someone and use that money on Delfino or Parker.

Bryan pulls that one off and no one’s allowed to rip him for a couple of days at least, deal?

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So, what do the Mavs, for instance, get in any sign-and-trade? Why not just “get” a player for the mid-level exception or something?

Lots of people ask and, while I don’t pretend to be able to think like other GMs, I do have an idea.

They maybe get rid of an asset they don’t want or can’t use (hello, Jerry Stackhouse!) and replace him with a serviceable bit. Maybe they couldn’t “get” the player coming at that lower salary if there were other teams in the bidding. Maybe they just love to spend extra money.

Maybe a combination of those things.

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Speaking of the Argos, it was rather refreshing to spend 90 minutes or so sitting around the sunny climes of U of T Mississauga watching football practice; it would have even been nice if I had any clue what I was actually watching.

But nice to catch up with old friends like Adam Rita, who I used to write about eons ago, and it was like a hoops beat grunt reunion with Rogers H. of the Sun and Quag 2.0 in attendance.

And seeing how the nice little campus is about a two-minute drive from Casa Doug, I’m all for helping out with Boatman coverage.

Now, I have to figure out what’s transpiring on the field, there seem to be an awful lot of players.

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No.

Any Marion deal does not get Toronto the mid-level salary cap exception.

Put it out of your mind. Please.

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Speaking of the Mavs and free agents and the moratorium and all that jazz, it was somewhat surprising to read this direct quote from Mark Cuban in another fine piece by Eddie Sefko earlier this week:

“We are excited to have Jason Kidd back in a Mavs' uniform,” Cuban said. “He was a major contributor for us last year, and we expect more of the same next year.

“We also are excited to have him tutor (point guards) Roddy Beaubois and J.J. Barea. This is hopefully the first of several deals to come in the next couple weeks.”

Seeing how GMs and coaches and PR guys and trainers and everyone else connected with a team faces a substantial fine for talking about any free agent during the moratorium period, I’ve got to figure those few words are going to be costly.

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We don’t give nearly enough props, or ink, or whatever, to the WNBA. Heck, we don’t give any props, or ink, or whatever, to the WNBA.

So I will.

In particular, to personal fave Tammy Sutton-Brown, who I’ve been writing about for almost a decade, I think.

Check out this link, where it says the best basketball export in the history of Markham picks up Eastern Conference player of the week honours for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever.

Tammy’s one of the good ones, as a person and a player and it has to say something about her and her game that she’s still playing at such a high level.

Here’s a woman who plays in the WNBA and then heads overseas for another full season in the winter (Russia and a host of other countries as I recall) and still plays well.

When we talk about the best basketball ambassadors Canada’s ever had, we rightfully look at the men but if all the young women out there in readerland need a role model, there’s one playing in Indy.

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So, what else is going on?

Rasheed Wallace and maybe Grant Hill to Boston?

Celtic Youth Movement in full swing.

Plenty of good seats available at the AARP discount.

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The Canadas did their part in New Zealand while you were sleeping. The Under-19s beat Borat, it says here. Now, they have to deal with Manu II and Walter Hermann Jr. if they want any shot at a medal.

Games at like 9:30 eastern time tonight if anyone wants to follow it really closely.

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Comments

[Ray R]

"No. Any Marion deal does not get Toronto the mid-level salary cap exception. Put it out of your mind. Please."

Doug,

Can you put your thinking cap on for a second?

Perhaps Marion does not directly turn into MLE, but it be VERY influential to get us the MLE in directly... two simple steps.

STEP 1: Dallas / Toronto find a 3rd team to bite Stackhouse's contract... say Dallas pays OKC $3Mil to do it (therefore OKC makes $1 Mill just to participate, maybe even a second rounder). Dallas gets Marion, we get a Trade Exemption.

STEP 2: Use that Trade Exemption, and revisit Orlando regarding a S&T with Hedo, except in this scenario they are NOT required to take back a fat Marion contract, Delfino or Parker. They take back NOTHING because we have the exemption, and we probably pay them our $3Mil cash plus a second rounder to agree.

How do you NOT see that this is BC's strategy right now? This makes sense for all parties, is very doable, and allows us to keep our MLE and even Delfino and/or Parker.

[doug]

I was talking last night to a few buddies and we were talking about the Raptors signing of Hedo...one of my buddies was going on and on about the Raptors lack of defense..I mentioned to him that does he realize Marc Iavaroni was on arguably one of the the top 5 NBA teams of all team the 1982-83 Sixers.. they had 3 players that year on the NBA all-defensive team Maurice Cheeks, Malone and Bobby Jones(one of the most under-rated players of all time, something like a 8-time all defensive team player)..also if you look at that team look at their starters and then their bench, you see the importance of quality starters and just a so-so bench...but in regards to Iavaroni he is a defensive coach, with a system and a excellent addition to the team and not one to be over-looked...

[SY]

Hats off to BC if he can pull a sign-n-trade of Marion (just above the MLE) + Marcus Banks for Stackhouse and maybe Antoine Wright......Salary matches, we get a SG, goodwill to Marion, Dallas gets another allstar.....everyone wins.

-SY

[Paul]

Wow - it seems that an awful lot of the readers are more interested in the business of sports than the playing of sports. Hedo isn't even signed yet and we've stopped talking about the fact that (a) he was Orlando's go-to guy last year when they needed a scoring opportunity (something we routinely complained about the lack of last year); (b) he was the only player they routinely trusted to defend Bryant (who didn't score any more than he did against Boston in 2008); and (c) he's a big 3 who can create all sorts of scoring opportunities. This is fantastic!

So what can we call him? Big Turk? Turkish Delight?

[Alex H]

The only way I would criticize BC for a 3-way deal involving Marion is if the trade was with LA and Detroit and brought Kwame Morrison to town.

[LeeZ]

Hey Doug, you didn't answer Ray R.'s post. Now, let me preface this by saying that when talk turns to cap, luxury tax, MLEs, trade exemptions, etc., my head starts to spin, I get this faraway look in my eyes and I usually find a nice bed to lie down on until the feeling passes. But to my completely ignorant brain, Ray's post sounded intriguing. Is he completely off base, or is what he suggested in the least bit doable?

Blogger's note: That's the two-pronged one, right? I have no idea if it's doable, no source has ever even remotely suggested anything like that to me and if I hear about something, I'll ask. But I am not going to run every possiblity dreamed up in the minds of readers past people I deal with. Don't have the time, nor the inclination to pester busy people when I have other, more legitimate matters I may want to discuss with them, like which other teams may be interested in Marion.
And you've called me a name once today, I'm not in the most benevolent of moods

[Rob]

To Ray R:
Your comment: "How do you NOT see that this is BC's strategy right now? This makes sense for all parties, is very doable, and allows us to keep our MLE and even Delfino and/or Parker."

What makes you think that Otis Smith is so eager to make another Eastern Conference team a contender? He knows Orlando is better than Toronto right now.... but if we add MLE + Delfino, he knows it makes us that much better. Why would a competing team want to create a stronger conference? For $3mm cash + a low 2nd rounder? No Otis is not even getting out of bed to answer the phone if BC calls with that deal.

[omar]

is it possible for the raptors to trade marcus banks for mo pete?

Blogger's note: It's possible they'd trade Marcus Banks for you and it's probably more likely than taking back Mo Pete who, bless his soul, makes about $3 million more on the rest of his deal than Banks does.
So, in my humble opinion, there's a greater chance of a meteor hitting my house

[Luka]

Where can i watch the summer leauge on T.V/Computer/anywhere?

Blogger's note: Maybe check NBA.com but as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, there is no television of either the Orlando or the Vegas league

[Josh F]

Hey Doug,

Despite your famed sarcastic remarks, your patience with all the MLE talk is quite impressive. I would have reverted to famed 4 letter words by this point.

Anyway, summer is upon us, there's the Tour de France on, why not enjoy either the weather or some other sports and just wait a couple of days to see how all this plays out?

I think you need to teach some of the question/comments writers a lesson and boycott this Internet thingy. Then again, I can only imagine the comments you'd get if you abandoned this thing for anything longer than 48 hours.

Thanks for the coverage, serenity now. Serenity now.

[BrianV]

Liam,
Adam Morrison????
Is he your cousin or something?
Please explain your affinity?
Do we need a practice pylon that badly?

[david]

Humphries is the most likely Raptor to be traded, so the question is who would be interested. I would guess that he would be a suitable back-up at PF for OKC behind Jeff Green.

So perhaps the dumping of Stackhouse on the cap space of Memphis or OKC might involve a bigger trade that could net the Raptors one of OKC's surplus, after drafting Harden, wing players. (Sefolosha, in particular, would meet the Raptor's need for some defence on the wing.)

[Del in O-town]

Hi Doug,

Does B.C keep a mathematics genius by him at all times at this time of year. Do organization actually have capologists?

Blogger's note: Yeah, most teams have at least one person on staff whose job it is it make sure of cap compliance

[SY]

I don't understand why CBSSports and ESPN kept on saying that in order for the deal to work, a third team would HAVE to be involved.

Stackhouse - 7.25 million
Wright - 2.1 million (or any other player w/ similar salary)

Comes to 9.35 million in total.

Banks - 4.46 million
Marion - 5.8 million

Comes to 10.26 million in total which is well within the 125% of 9.35 million.

Why wouldn't this work? Did I miss something?

This is like the best scenario for all, if we do get Wright (we get another SG) and also get rid of Banks' contract, Marion gets his contract and Dallas gets another all-star. Dallas would be an extremely dangerous team. Win Win Win!!!

-SY

Blogger's note: The only way Toronto can be convinced to help Shawn in this deal is if they take back no additional salary; I would presume the last thing Dallas is even remotely interested in is Marcus Banks
Plus the fact the only interest in Stackhouse is because only $2 million of that salary is guaranteed

[Tony]

Doug, just heard NBA.com is taping the Vegas Summer League. I'm wondering if the page is referring to last years games. Wondering if you could use your contacts to possibly find out. Thanks Buddy. Here's the link it's on the right side of page.
http://www.nba.com/summerleague2009/

Blogger's note: I'll check when I get a chance

[SY]

But Doug, even if we do take back salary, we get rid of Banks' contract.

Stackhouse - 2 million (waive)
Wright - 2.1

Comes to 4.1 which is less than 4.46 of Banks contract (so really, we don't add any additional salary).

As for Dallas, this really improves their roster. They are really trading Stackhouse for Shawn (I don't think Dallas can get another player as the same caliber as Shawn w/ Stackhouse's expiring contract).

-SY

[TMF]

I don't think enough is made of how much Marcus Banks screws everything up. Damn you, Marcus Banks.

Blogger's note: The only place Marcus Banks has been mentioned is here and I now greatly regret suggesting if Bryan could move his deal it'd be a home run. We -- me and you -- have no idea whatsoever that he's even remotely of interest to any team out there. To suggest that he "screws everything up" is a huge leap of faith.
And it's why I should always refrain from even mentioning fantasy scenarios

[John J]

As far as Ray R's query -- I think I understand the problem in his logic:

In Step 1, he's basically describing a 3-team sign-and-trade (Marion to Dal; Cap Exception to TO; Stackhouse to OKC). Except the way he laid it out with Toronto getting the Trade Exception from OKC would require two separate trades.

First Toronto would have to sign-and-trade Shawn Marion to OKC to create the cap exception. OKC would then have to deal Marion to Dallas for the Stackhouse, the cash, the pick, etc.

If you read Question 80 of Larry Coon's Salary Cap FAQ -- pay (http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q80):
"For sign-and-trade transactions, the initial trade which completes the transaction is obviously allowed, even though it occurs right after the player is signed. What's not clear is whether the player's new team can subsequently trade him prior to three months or December 15. While a literal reading of the CBA might suggest that such players cannot be subsequently traded, the league actually considers this situation to be undefined, and won't resolve the matter until a team actually tries to make such a trade."

So essentially, you're into a grey area of the CBA. The League may allow it, the league may not allow it.

[John Jordan]

As far as Ray R's query -- I think I understand the problem in his logic:

In Step 1, he's basically describing a 3-team sign-and-trade (Marion to Dal; Cap Exception to TO; Stackhouse to OKC). Except the way he laid it out with Toronto getting the Trade Exception from OKC would require two separate trades.

First Toronto would have to sign-and-trade Shawn Marion to OKC to create the cap exception. OKC would then have to deal Marion to Dallas for the Stackhouse, the cash, the pick, etc.

If you read Question 80 of Larry Coon's Salary Cap FAQ -- pay (http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.htm#Q80):
"For sign-and-trade transactions, the initial trade which completes the transaction is obviously allowed, even though it occurs right after the player is signed. What's not clear is whether the player's new team can subsequently trade him prior to three months or December 15. While a literal reading of the CBA might suggest that such players cannot be subsequently traded, the league actually considers this situation to be undefined, and won't resolve the matter until a team actually tries to make such a trade."

The December 15 part refers to the fact that when a team signs a free agent, they are not allowed to trade him until either 3 months has passed after he signed or after December 15th -- whichever comes later.

So essentially, you're into a grey area of the CBA. The League may allow it, the league may not allow it. And thus why it's no sure thing.

(Doug -- ignore the first one, it posted itself too soon).

[Darko]

Kelsie re: Bosh max player ?

Here's my 2 cents (bit late but...)
First of, I do not hate Chris, he seems to be very nice guy and all, and one can only cheer for someone like CB4.
Second, I am not in the camp : it's only basketball and these guys should not be paid milions... Of course they should , god knows they produce enough revenue for the League and team owners.
Main reason I don't think he is a max player is his D, which I think is bellow average. Unlike our friend Tim W (who says that he is average and above average), I guess we don't get those chanels here in TO(damn Rogers) which show Chris being good defender. What we get from Rogers is all kind of people being able to score on Chris with relative ease. From Zaza to Yi and anybody in between, bigger or smaller, faster or slower.
Another reason which ties into this, is that he is soft, lets people push him around (during play) and punk him after it.
Remember Garnet and Danny Granger getting in his face, or worse one Solomon Jones taking liberties, or our own (now) Reggie Evans.... I know it's bad trade off to get ejected with Salomon Jones, but he has to stand up for himself at some point, or this will continue. Take a ejection or two and couple of games suspensions and that will stop.
As for his scoring, while you are right about bigs vs. small guys creating or taking shots at the end, max players do NOT get blocked by Joakim Noah's of this world.
Last, to tie up 30 % of our cap on CB4 alone would be mistake.
All that said, will he get Max deal, 99 % yes. I just wouldn't give him one.
As for trading him I agree that GS deal looks way short. Naturally If I am trading him all that stuff above, I never said it. I would have traded him (before Turk signing) to Detroit for Tay, Maxiel and pick or Houston for say Artest, Scola and ...
Without going deep into it my max players would be : Kobe, Lebron, Wade, Garnet, Yao, Dwight, TMac (when healthy and acctualy comes to play), Deron Williams is getting there
more so than Chris Paul (never liked the guys who bounce and pound that ball till no end). Maybe missed someone.

That was my 2 cents ( or 2 $ considering the lenght )

[Ray R]

Doug,

What am I "dreaming up" my friend? Both ESPN and CBS sports are reporting that third team with cap space needs to be involved to make this happen for Dallas, and that Toronto is willing to participate, but do not want to add $1 in salary. Therefore, according to the CBA, we will get a trade exemption.

So again, what am I dreaming up Doug? I am simply putting 2 & 2 together.... or, let me ask you this, if Dallas does find a willing 3rd team (like ESPN / CBS reports) what do YOU think BC will try and do with that exemption?

Blogger's note: Look, your guess could be entirely right. I don't know. And neither do you.
You're dead wrong in one aspect though, and I don't care where you get the information: The third team is necessary to satisify TORONTO's needs, not Dallas's. That I know to be fact.
This is the end of it at my end

[aditya]

charlie v should be fined too for saying he's going to detroit

Blogger's note: Players and their agents are allowed to discuss their intentions and their decisions to enter into verbal agreements; he did nothing wrong

[Bearvon]

www.orlandomagic.com

Streaming Orlando summer league that is kinda funny.

And if anyone is interested in the commentators and/or hedos sense of humor, they should
look for the Dante and Galante interview with hedo.

Great stuff and another reason why Turk is great.

[Ray R]

John J,

It wouldn;t have to be 2 seperate trades, it would be one 3 way deal in which Marion goes straight to Dallas, Stack + $3Mill goes to OKC/Mem/whoever, and then we will get the TE.

Dallas gets Marion.

OKC/Mem/Whoever gets $1 million dollars ($2mil to buy out Stack) for participating.

And we get a TE.

While it's stated EXACTLY like this, it is pretty much what ESPN / CBS has indicated... as for what we do with the TE, I will let Dougy check his sources and find out what BC has planned... because, apparently, I am dreaming. :)

[TMF]

Re: Banks screws everything up
Well, my main point was just that if Marcus Banks didn't suck so much, and was actually able to contribute something to the team other than cap fodder in a potential trade, we probably wouldn't even be having these discussions. His refusal to play in the summer league isn't sitting very well with me, either.