Tyson Chandler and the #2 pick for Shawn Marion.

I'd take that deal in a nanosecond.

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"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." ~ H.L. Mencken

Heard that along with many other rumors this week. Doesn’t make as much sense as some of the others that have popped up, though. Phoenix’s desire to trade Marion would likely be to restructure their cap, but Chandler’s salary is not far behind. Couple that with what you’d pay the #2 pick in the draft, and Phoenix saves no money whatsoever.

I saw someone post about it on white sox interactive.

I kind of prefer the speculation about Murphy, some other player and #9 for Chandler and #2.

I would make that Phoenix trade but I am no NBA bigfoot...especially with western conference teams.

The other player you reference, Dolphin, would be Mickael Pietrus. A tough guy to get a read on, he hasn’t seen a lot of minutes out there behind Jason Richardson & Mike Dunleavy. I certainly wouldn’t write him off, and he was rated fairly high as a prospect 3 years ago, but the price is a bit much for my liking. I would probably swap Tyson for Murphy (Tyson & the #16 at most), but I wouldn’t drop from 2 to 9 over an unproven Euro prospect like Pietrus.

Paxson shot down the Marion rumor for 3 reasons...
1) Losing Chandler
2) Losing the draft pick
3) Losing flexibility this summer, capwise - I thought Marion/Chandler were comparable....what am I missing here ?

#1 and #2 are bullshit. What, Phoenix is giving us Marion for free? Of course he's better than Chandler. Whether or not the 2nd pick is too much to throw in as well is open to debate.

#3 is partly true. Marion for Chandler wouldn't totally blow their cap space, but he makes about 3-4 million more than Tyson. Could affect their ability to sign 2 FAs, but wouldn't close the check book by any means.

I agree with you on points 1 and 2....I got the sense too that there is some reservation from Paxson, and probably other GM's, about how good Marion would be outside of the Phoenix system.

The only reservation is Pax talking at all. This time of year, he's not going to say a damn thing.

Outside of the Phoenix system, there are plenty of guys on that squad to question. Marion is not one of them. In fact, I think he may be a better fit elsewhere. He plays defense and rebounds, something the Suns aren't all that concerned about. The Matrix is legit.

Again, I'm with you. Marion is a freak athletically, and would continue to put up big numbers in Chicago.

Good point Nas.

In Nash's 1st season, Marion's FG % improved from .440 to .476 and then .525 this past season; Marion's rebounds jumped by 2 per game in Nash's 1st year, and then improved by .5 last season to 11.8, and his scoring stayed about the same in Nash's first season, but improved by about 2 points this past season.

I'll give some credit to Nash for opening up the offense, and setting up Marion for easier baskets, and Amare not being there this past season, but Marion is a great player who already was pretty damn good before Nash got there.

and Hinrich has a lot of Nash-like qualities, so if Marion did get sent here, I'm not worried in the least...he'd be fine

expecting Aldridge to plummet or falling in love with Foye?

Nevermind. I just read it and they’re speculating Thomas may fall if the Bulls don’t take him at 2. I think it’s crazy to count on anything this year. I can’t remember a draft with such uncertainty. It’s entertaining and frustrating in the same breath.

I like it too if Thomas and/or Aldridge are there. I guess it doesn't matter because Pax wouldn't pull the trigger until the Celtics were on the clock anyway. You'd need to find a backup PG (don't tell me Roy is your backup), but still, I'd give up Duhon if it meant we could land Roy and Aldridge/Thomas.

Most likely just another crazy draft week rumor. But the Bulls have the ammo to deal, so we'll see...

The thing is, I don't want to devote any of our cap space to signing a PG. I suppose you could use the mid-level exception on some mediocre veteran. But still, I'd like to see ALL of that cash going towards 2 top-notch free agents.

If that deal were made, you'd almost have to trade back into the early 20's to grab one of the rookie PGs. Jordan Farmar is very similar to Duhon. Kyle Lowry from 'Nova is a hard nosed kid that fits their style, too. I don't like Rondo and seriously doubt Skiles would want Rodriguez on his team. I'd be reluctant to bring in 3 rookies this year. But, if you traded Duhon, you might have to.

Maybe there's good reason they've been looking at Dee Brown. Assuming he goes somewhere in the top half of the 2nd round, perhaps they offer the Knicks 2nd round pick next year to acquire "the one-man fastbreak".

I love reading your back and forth draft banter. Very informative, and miles ahead of what's being passed of as draft talk on MVP today.

I have no desire to hear Jurko break down the draft. All he did was say the Bulls should take Bargnani. Isn't it pretty much common knowledge that he's going #1? Then he admits they won't get him at 2. I thought for a second that he had a clue. But no, he then proposes the Bulls trade up to 6 to take him there.

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"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." ~ H.L. Mencken