Hittin' the Links: Scavenging the Trade Market

With good reason, the talks around DBB have centered around the upcoming lottery, draft, and the free agency/trade season.  Roster discussions will continue to dominate this blog, no doubt, until the 2010-2011 season tips off next fall.  Essentially, if there's an improvement Dumars could/should make, chances are that this fine community has already digested it entirely and recycled it through (a rainbow defecating unicorn)

But what may have been overlooked in all the hypothetical trade ideas, or not stressed enough, is Vincent Goodwill's theory that trade avenues may potentially open up when new coaches start filling the different vacancies that exist (New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles Clippers), or could exist, around the league: 

The landscape of the league is changing before our eyes, and no one could accuse Dumars of standing pat, so it's not inconceivable to think he'll look to the teams in flux to remake his roster for next season.

When a new coach arrives, he usually possesses a certain amount of autonomy when it comes to personnel. With patience in regard to circumstances at an all-time low (see Vinny Del Negro), coaches see the clock ticking as soon as they sign their contracts, and the need to bring in their type of player -- or more importantly ship out undesirables -- as imminent. Thus, good players will be available, but does Dumars see them fitting into his vision?

Now, I've always assumed GMs brought in certain coaches, nine times out of ten, because the last coach couldn't make it work with the roster he was given.  Off-hand, I can't really think of any blockbuster trades occurring once a new head coach took over, just so he could have his type of player in the system (but that's where you all come in to enlighten me).  Goodwill suggests maybe such a trade could be in the making if Atlanta parts ways with Mike Woodson: 

Keep a close eye on Atlanta. Coach Mike Woodson has not received a contract extension and a listless performance against Orlando doesn't help his case. Guard Joe Johnson is a free agent and his recent comments about the flimsy fan support doesn't indicate Atlanta is his first choice. If he leaves, for Chicago or New York, could Al Horford and Josh Smith be ready to jump ship?

Hmmm... Goodwill finishes by giving examples of how teams, including the Pistons, have poached incompetent ones for quality players in recent years.  I have zero objections to this strategy, as it has obviously already worked once for Dumars.  Also, for those of us who were rooting for Atlanta, it'd be pretty nice consolation prize if their utter collapse helped the Pistons land a couple of their disgruntled stars.  Don't mind if we do.

Anyway, I'll let you take it from here. (And for what it's worth, the ESPN trade machine allows a Rip for Josh Smith trade, straight up, but won't let me tinker around with Al Horford.  Do your worst). 

And more links after the jump.

• The NBA approved the sale of the Nets to Russian Mikhail Prokhorov.   
• 29 players pulled out of the NBA draft, completely unrelated to bulging discs.
• I feel like a lot of you would be very proud of the New York Daily News for this. 
• Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski was pretty hard on LeBron last night.  And then he wrote this pep talk column.  Don't listen to him, LeBron.
• Stuckey rarely dunks. 
• Maybe the Pistons should do business with the Nuggets again. Or maybe they shouldn't?
• In the same article that I linked before the jump, Kuester has a quotable on that CV scuffle with old-man Howard from this past season: "That was Piston basketball. That was my vision of what this team would be all about."  Yeah, ours too.