Who's in charge of the Bobcats' personnel decisions right now?

Dampier has the most valuable contract in the league right now. Getting it is what made this a fair trade. Chandler is obviously the most talented of the bunch, but Carrol and Najera can both fill roles on the team as 3 point specialist off the bench. Dampier’s contract will be shipped off for a PG and C. Possibly Dampier + Nazr for Gilbert Arenas + Andray Blatche.

We had a long conversation and much of it was very vague, because either he couldn’t tell me, or he’s not really sure.

So, here’s what I know:
- The Calderon trade is not dead. There is still a possibility he will be a Charlotte Bobcat, but relations are very strained between Charlotte and Toronto. He doesn’t know for sure, but he suspects that Toronto was going to use Chandler to pull the exact same trade with Dallas tomorrow using some of their trade exception to get Dampier, Carroll and Najera. They wanted to cut more cap space and the Bobcats got wind of it, killing the trade and beating them to the punch- Toronto are not happy about this. Again, this is his personal speculation.

- There is a greater trade in the works, but today’s deal gives them more options. The Bobcats needed some of Toronto’s trade exception to pull the deal off, now they figure they can force the issue with Toronto as they have all the pieces the Raptor’s wanted, or work the deal independent of anything with Toronto due to Dampier’s deal.

- Going through the Raptors is not 100% neccesary for this deal to take place, but he no longer has any clue who this deal involves. He said that ‘the number crunchers are in Charlotte and the decision makers are in Las Vegas’.

- The Bobcats have 60 days to cut or trade Dampier.

- MJ, Larry Brown and Rod Higgins are all working together on these roster moves, but MJ and LB seem to be the only one’s really signing off on anything, Higgins appears to be fetching deals.

- He told me he ‘honestly doesn’t know’ if Chris Paul is a target, but those were the water cooler grumblings at TWC today.

- Deals we’re seeing in the day are the product of meetings in Vegas during the night. We’ll keep seeing stuff throughout the day, but most of that will be smokescreens for what we see in the afternoon.

- If everything falls through with all of the trades then Dampier will be cut. He is the safety valve where the Bobcats can still wheel and deal but get close to the cap if the house of cards falls down.

- He reiterated that the team still want an elite PG and an elite C, but the chances of getting both appear slim.

- Everything is going well, and this Dampier trade was not a desperation move on Charlotte’s behalf. It was rushed through the league office to ensure the Bobcats had everything in place to resume negotiations tonight knowing exactly what pieces they have to trade.

Who would you guys rather have Kirk Heinrick or Calderon?

The Hornets are parted ways with general manager Jeff Bower, according to team sources.

It appears to have been a mutual decision.

For those following, Bower was the only man who said there was ‘no way’ they would trade Chris Paul. Perhaps he got word they’re trading him and decided to leave?

Blazers have been involved in trade talks with teams since the start of June and that has not stopped, even after Matthews offer.

Blazers are operating under the assumption that Matthews will be retained by Jazz. Portland has a Plan B in place if that happens.

Perhaps Greg Oden and Jerryd Bayless to Charlotte for Dampier and something?

That would allow Portland to reduce their payroll significantly

I have a 4 year old niece that’s not as fragile as him.

With Bower gone, all bets are off regarding Chris Paul. Earlier in the week, there was no chance of Paul getting dealt. Now? Not so sure.

Let’s put our conspiracy theory hats on, shall we?

What if the Bobcats found out Bower was going to be leaving? The only other teams that could offer a better trade package for Chris Paul are Portland (who now have their money tied up in an offer sheet) and Dallas (who no longer have Dampier’s deal, which gave them the edge).

The opportunity is there to make this happen with Dampier, Nazr and Hendo for Paul and Okafor… let’s see what happens

me thinks the Bobcats FO is very sneaky

Big things
You know the chemistry that was there with those 2…

does Gforce change #s or is CP3 CP? know what i mean

From another friend in New York, doesn’t work for the Bobcats but has his finger on the pulse of the NBA.

I don’t want to say anything in case this doesn’t come true… so I will tell you this much:

This deal he heard about through an ‘unnamed league source’ would require us trading Gerald Wallace but I assume you, the payoff would make the Bobcats be relevant and in title contention.

He told me this deal would be ‘damn near impossible’ to happen, but he said that his source tells his it has been mentioned in Las Vegas, and was not shot down immediately. If this is step four, then I tell you I got goosebumps when I heard and will tell everyone later in the week if it doesn’t happen.

probably just clearin up space for decision 2011 feat CP3
in the meantime just have another OK year.

It seems like the guessing game right now, and the only guys we got are guys that nobody mentioned.

Our contacts differ in only minor areas involve one small part of stage 3. He has a minor player and I have “cash or trade considerations”

I’ll be on much later tonight to answer any questions and by then I will hope we have some news on step 3

More elements of this deal are matching up between what I and ourday have heard. Stuff that happened in the past that lead up to this

i keep missing these info sessions.

James + Ourday = THE MEN.

I;m not going to be able to sleep

id die and pull a Cleveland.

but should it happen, the only three players i could possibly survive with are:
Kobe Bryant
Michael Jordan (from a time machine)
Shawn Kemp

and my brain is in Rosterbation overdrive and is near dethcon 3 level meltdown

But don’t use the Spongebob Soappie Sponges. You can’t replace them once their gone.

Diop for Kanye, so that he can interrupt people at the free-throw line

I’ll be back. I’m gonna eat and then either pray or sacrifice a goat. Maybe both.

Old Town???? (To all non UNCG people: awesome bar in the center of campus)

:)

This trade for Chandler netted:

Pluses: a valuable non-guaranteed 13 million contract and a dump of Ajinca
Minuses: a bad Matt Carroll contract.
Neutral: an OK PF with an OK contract

The Toronto trade would have netted:

Pluses: a less valuable 5 million expiring contract
Minuses: a D-league scrub with a small contract

I think we got a better deal from Dallas. This is probably why MJ pulled the Toronto deal. Again we can still trade Diaw for Calderon if we want him. We can also trade the non-guaranteed Dampier contract for a number of players around the NBA.

This was a good trade and only step one. Najera will be a good back-up for Tyrus. Remember last year when we had Diaw and no back-up. Diaw will still be traded. Dampier is fodder for a blockbuster trade. With these two, we will pick up a coveted Center and PG, and may even dump Nazr’s expiring contract in the process.

I go to work for 5 hours and come back to see a new post with over 300 comments? Holy balls! I miss an incredibly vague super rumor and I have to spend minutes just reading and digesting the rumors and jokes and awesomeness. Good work all around.

This comment that is, I just wrote it.

Rod Higgins spills the beans
[click on the link]

http://www.rufusonfire.com/2010/7/13/1568490/trade-speculation-overflow-page#comments

Is this the first non-game blog page that needed an overflow?

If we are really going to be losing many many future 1st round picks and G Wallace and this thing is just going to be the blockbuster trade of the century, I really don’t think that there are that many guys who fit this bill. Here’s a couple of guesses who would require this and make us instant contenders:

Dwight Howard
Chris Paul
Kobe Bryant
Kevin Durant
Deron Williams
Al Jefferson
Brandon Roy
Danny Granger
Dirk Nowitzki
Pau Gasol
Kevin Garnett

I mean who else in this league is that elite that would cost us that much and instantly make us a contender?? Who do ya’ll think this prospective trade includes??