I’m feeling like the bad Sheriff Cobb played by Brian Dennehy in my favorite Western, “Silverado.” His guys keep being eliminated. At one point, seeing two more of his men down, he despairs with a playful shake of the head, “I’m runnin’ out of deputies.”
And I’m running out of trades for the Bulls — big guys or otherwise — after two of my favorite targets of the last three years have been moved, Kevin Garnett to the Celtics and Pau Gasol to the Lakers.
(If Minnesota or Memphis gets the No. 1 draft pick, the assumption will be the NBA simply arranged the deals to prop up their big markets and rivalries. Hey, I wish they were that smart.)
So Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal is supposed to go next — and for next to nothing, assuming he comes back from a knee injury. Then goes Jason Kidd, though I seriously doubt the Bulls will get him. And when he is traded, it’s clear the Nets won’t get much, not after what Memphis and Minnesota received for Gasol and Garnett.
There’s an old saying, compliments of baseball’s innovative Branch Rickey, that it is better to trade a player a year too soon than a year too late. Yet every team, led by good and not so good executives, seems to make the same mistake: falling in love with its talent, waiting a year too long.
The Bulls are being criticized for it now. It’s the classic second guess. How would they have looked trading Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich after last season, when they went further in the playoffs than the team had in a decade?
So what to do now? Still try a major move? After all, it looks like only Boston is a major issue in the East, with the Bulls already 3-0 against Detroit.
Or do you stay patient, see where it takes you and then make your move after the season?
The market for Kidd is thin now that the point guard, with his history of disrupting teams, is telling ESPN it’s time to move on. So much for paying him almost $20 million this season.
Dallas has been most mentioned, though owner Mark Cuban said a reporter was “a step away from a crack dealer” when suggesting the Mavericks trade Devin Harris. (How could he not be the perfect Cubs owner?) Dealing Harris really would be risky with Kidd turning 35 next month, though Kidd probably ends up there because Dallas’ window for a title is closing.
Denver, which is now sending feelers to the Clippers about Sam Cassell, seemingly has to move on a point guard with the league’s third-biggest payroll and paying the second-highest luxury tax. The Nuggets shouldn’t cut corners now, especially with Allen Iverson likely having just a few good years left.
In Cleveland, LeBron James expressed his team’s interest in Kidd, putting management on notice yet again. The Cavs apparently also have a standing offer for Sacramento’s Mike Bibby. It’s doubtful the Nets will trade Kidd within the East, though Memphis apparently forgot that rule about Gasol.
With the Grizzlies getting rookie point guard Javaris Crittenton in the Gasol deal, Kyle Lowry should draw a lot of interest. Lowry is a true point guard the Bulls liked a lot in the 2006 draft, but the Grizzlies consider Mike Conley their point of the future.
There will be plenty of speculation, and this latest comes from my colleague at the Newark Star-Ledger, Dave D’Alessandro, who offers a four-way deal: The Bulls get Kidd and David Harrison, the Nets get Hinrich and Darius Miles, the Pacers receive Jarrett Jack and Ben Wallace and the Trail Blazers get Jeff Foster and Jamaal Tinsley.
Hey, I thought I was the NBA’s general manager at large!
Hinrich’s name also has come up in speculation about the 76ers’ Andre Miller. I believe Philadelphia would do that deal. But should the Bulls be in the market for aging point guards like Miller, 32 next month, and Kidd? No.
Memphis now figures to have Mike Miller up for auction, though he’s just a taller version of the defensively challenged Ben Gordon. And though the Knicks won’t say as much, it’s clear Eddy Curry is being phased out of the lineup by the better play of Zach Randolph and David Lee.
The Bulls couldn’t be that desperate, right?
Bad as a cold latte
Monday night is the Bulls’ next stop, against the SuperSonics in Seattle. The Sonics are so bad nobody will mind much when they move to Oklahoma City.
With coach P.J. Carlesimo playing kids and turning the offense over to rookie Kevin Durant, it’s something of a meltdown. Veterans like Damien Wilkins — who had a 41-point game earlier this season but only recently returned to the rotation — Earl Watson, Chris Wilcox, Delonte West and Kurt Thomas are among those wondering openly about their roles.
Thomas would seem like a prime trade target of top teams, but the Sonics are cutting payroll and are loath to give up his expiring contract or get better players. Then they might win too much.
“It’s real frustrating to go from starting to not even really being in the rotation,” Wilkins said.
West, also with an expiring contract, said he still hasn’t unpacked from the Ray Allen trade.
“I still got a month-to-month efficiency here,” he said. “I haven’t necessarily been welcomed with open arms.”
Beware wrath of Warriors
The Bulls could be in for it Thursday night in the second game of a back-to-back at Golden State. The Warriors are fuming about being the team with the best record without an All-Star given the snub of Baron Davis, who is having a terrific season.
In the loaded Western Conference, perhaps the most questionable choice was New Orleans’ David West, who is good but not on the level of some players who didn’t make the cut.
Since coaches cannot vote for their own players, they sometimes vote more deserving players lower (say, fifth) and a less-deserving player higher. Thus, when the votes are counted and weighted, their guy might get in.
The NBA will eliminate votes if it’s for someone completely undeserving, so perhaps some coaches focused on West as deserving but unlikely to get enough votes. If too many coaches follow the same tactic, a guy like West garners enough votes to make his way — and bump someone else.
Meanwhile, in the game between teams with no All-Stars, the Bulls may get the first look at the Nellie and Chris Reunion Tour in which Chris Webber reunites with Don Nelson, whom Webber literally sent into the hospital.
“I think we’ve both matured nicely since that day,” Nelson said.
That day came after Webber’s first season when he was Rookie of the Year, openly fought with Nelson and then opted out of his contract, held out the next season and was traded for Tom Gugliotta.
Nelson was soon hospitalized, the Warriors franchise was just about dead, Webber had some run-ins with the police in Washington and that franchise also sunk. Webber, one of the most charming men in pro sports and in his prime an amazing talent, had a good run in Sacramento but then was traded to the 76ers.
With severe knee issues and little mobility anymore, Webber was picked up by the Pistons last season but not invited back. He was said to have berated coach Flip Saunders so badly over his playing time in the playoffs that even Rasheed Wallace was embarrassed.
Nelson is known for the big fireworks finale, so maybe Webber will be his lit fuse for his Warriors’ run — one more sprint and that’s it.
“I think you’re different in 15 years,” Webber said last week. “I’m just enjoying the moment. Hopefully I can be an asset.”
Yada, yada, yada
We all know the practice of trash talking these days makes old-timers wince. It’s part of the culture now, and Michael Jordan was one of the best at it. But it’s becoming more difficult in the NBA with the influx of international players. Toronto’s Jose Calderon reflected last week about hearing it from Gary Payton, one of the most notorious yappers.
“He was talking to me for the whole game,” Calderon said. “After one whistle I said, ‘Look, the only thing I can say in English is “I don’t understand what you are saying.”‘”
Garnett is one of the best at trash talking now, though Al Jefferson got him good last week when the Celtics narrowly beat the Timberwolves. As Garnett was taunting Jefferson all game about “11 All-Star Games.” Jefferson replied they were even in one category: championships.
Texas two-step?
The Mavericks are definitely trying to make a move. They are trying to acquire Clipper Darrell, a.k.a. Darrell Bailey. He’s a Clippers fan who dances to annoy opponents, though it doesn’t appear to be working that well this season. He’s the most popular attraction at Clippers games, reminiscent of the Bulls Superfan of the pre-Jordan era. It’s what happens around bad teams.
Cuban is trying to lure Darrell to be Maverick Darrell with a better offer. Said Bailey of the offer: “It’s tearing me up. I’m sleeping two hours a night, tossing and turning. You have to ask yourself when it comes to a person taking you to the next level, are you willing to change?”
OK, what about trading Kidd and the baseline fans who curse the players for …
All Jazzed up
Leaper Gerald Green, who went to Minnesota in the Garnett trade, is asking to be traded. … Former DePaul star Sammy Mejia is leaving Ft. Wayne of the Development League to play in Italy. … The Bulls close their trip Saturday in Utah when they run into a juggernaut. The Jazz has won 14 of its last 17 and has seemingly ended any notion it will deal Andrei Kirilenko, though the rangy Russian remains inconsistent. Utah’s run started about the time it acquired shooter Kyle Korver. … Tyson Chandler didn’t make the All-Star team, but he’s getting some raves. When the Hornets beat the Nuggets last week, George Karl said the Nuggets had tried to trade for Chandler. “This is a young Marcus [Camby] who can get 20 rebounds,” Karl said. “There’s about 90 percent of the big guys in the NBA who you could lock in a gym all night long and they couldn’t get 20 rebounds.” … That doesn’t include former Bull Brad Miller, whose 22 points and 20 rebounds for the Kings against the Bulls on Saturday was his second 20-20 game in the last three. He’d never done it in his career — or presumably in an empty gym.
A shooting Wizard
The latest shooting guru is Washington’s Dave Hopla, a 50-year-old who played at Chadron State and spent eight seasons playing internationally. The Wizards are crediting Hopla for the improvement of Brendan Haywood, a Ben Wallace-type free-throw shooter who’s now near 75 percent. Seven Wizards are shooting better at the line this season. Hopla often puts on shooting displays when he conducts basketball camps. He says he once made 1,234 free throws in a row and that his record for consecutive three-pointers is 78. … The Cavs organization’s fear of James seems to continue. A Seattle reporter said Cavs staffers tried to stop him from asking about James’ recent speeding incident, when he was ticketed for going over 100 m.p.h., saying he should write about how much James does for charity. … One free agent you are glad for is Washington’s Antawn Jamison, who was picked for the All-Star Game. He’s an all-league good guy and once was an object of derision for being traded for Vince Carter on draft day in 1998. A decade later, you’d rather have Jamison. “I’m a firm believer that the grass is not always greener on the other side,” Jamison said. “I think we’ve got something special here.”
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sasmith@tribune.com
