Tom & I had several discussions to help him get under the cap. The sticking point in all of was Roof????? Now in this thread he basically offers to throw him in for nothing. Also Tom has stated several times how he has "helped" the Kings with trades and planning.
The deals between these two teams over the past season smack of serious self dealing. It is one thing to be friendly and to even visit in person with each other occasionally. However the amount of "help" that is reflected in this past series of deals seems excessive.
My two cents...devalued to about 1 1/4 cents.
Roof, Roof, Roof. I'm about the only one that values Roof. I traded him and got him back for nothing from the Sonics. Nobody gives a shit about Roof with this ratings.
But since my frontline consisted of Sampson, Strait and Magloire, plus ancient Doleac, i needed at least SOMEONE to play backup up front, let alone step in for an injured guy. Thats why i tried to hold onto Roof (who i believe is destined for greatness, i confess). I would not have gotten a big man from you in return, just a SF and SG, it would have cost $100 more with the trade exception, plus I would have had to take back a longer salary. Thats why I tried for any other solution first, doug.
In this deal here I used Roof as an example because he is one of 2 expirings i have. But knowing the Kings an their plans Roof (or hickcox) has ZERO value, would take valuable cap space, and is not necessary in the deal since only a pick moves.
And that "friendship" part get's stressed a little bit too much here. We're from neighbor countries, and share some basic principles of how the world should look like so it's a better place for everyone, but that's it. I'm almost as much friend with many GMs here (Spurs, Suns, Pacers, former Nuggets, Blazers, Derek come to mind immediately) and had more or less meaningful discussions with most of them. But I never got accused of using that "friendship" to my advantage. Cause i never would.
And the last I want anyone to believe is that Dirk became a Celtic on "friendship" alone. I tried to trade for Dirk (or TMac, even Marion) for many years, and made about 30 offers for any of these three, all declined. And saw all these guys go past their prime and become less valueable, as were their respective teams. In the end I got my stars and they led me to a 5th seed and 1st round exit and are 36 now. So I have gotten Dirk for less that I initially offered for a "star" 3 seasons ago, but i also didn't get the Dirk from 3 seasons ago.
