Knicks get- Roddy Beaubois, Ian Mahinmi and Marcus Cousin
Mavs get- Groan Tragic, Ronnie Turiaf, Josh Harrellson and Terrence Williams
Rockets get- Brendan Haywood and Toney Douglas
Knicks get- OJ Mayo and Josh Selby
Grizzled get- Landry Fields, Andy Rautins and cash
C- Cousin/Mahinmi/Jordan
F- Stoudemire/Martin(FA)
F- Anthony/Williams
G- Mayo/Beaubois
G- Billups/Shumpert/Selby
I like where you're going with this -- I brought up something similar in the "if you can trade one player" thread a few days ago. Over there, I was talking about putting together something with Houston for Dragic AND Cousin. Those would be my two targets (I view Dragic as a better talent than Beaubois, with more PG tendencies and more size to utilize when swinging over to SG, and Cousin as a better C prospect than Mahinmi, Brendan Haywood, or anyone else we're talking about here, including our own young Cs, Jordan & Harrellson --- although I do like Mahinmi's potential. Good call.). And you went one step further than I did, involving a 3rd team. Another good call.
If we could pull off each proposal exactly as you laid it out, I think every Knick fan would be very happy. I know I would. Thing is, both proposals feel a little light to me in terms of what we'd have to give up, esp. the 1st one dealing with Houston. Houston to me would (should) be looking for two things at this point: (1) replenishing or better yet, adding to the nice group of young/inexpensive tradeable assets they've suddenly accumulated and (2) legit star power to go along with Kevin Martin. We can't offer them #2 outright (we're at the point now where we have to fill in around our own stars and finally make a run at this thing), so the next best thing would be to help them restock their assets, probably going a tick or two higher in order to really entice them. That's why on the other thread I recommended including a pick, possibly multiple picks within the next couple of years, whenever we have them available. I understand we dealt away a lot of picks up to this point but what's the point of holding onto the few we might have left now?? You figure those picks would be lower-type picks anyway, now that we have Amar'e AND Melo in place--if they weren't, that would mean something really went horribly wrong... Also, you figure we will always have the opportunity to purchase/trade for similar picks to the one(s) we'd be giving up in this scenario, if it came down to it... Houston might consider guys like Dragic and Cousin tradeable assets at this point and not necessarily part of their immediate future; guys they could turn around and maybe use to get a star, maybe in a deal similar to the one we made with Denver for Anthony. I say offer to replenish with similar assets, going a tick or two higher using additional draft assets and cash to entice. That could get it done possibly, although including a 3rd team to the mix is a good call too and could also be an option.
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Quick question -- when you mentioned Dallas it made me think of Nick Calathes for a sec. Where is he right now? Anyone know? Greece still? The Mavericks acquired Calathes in a draft night trade a few years ago, sending a future second-round pick to the Timberwolves for his rights..Do they still have those rights? Big 6'5" PG/Florida standout that can really shoot it and move the ball. Just sayin'...If I couldn't put anything together with Houston for Dragic and/or Cousin, maybe I turn my attention to Dallas and see if I could strike a sensible deal with Cuban for a Mahinmi/Calathes package. Calathes is actually pretty similar to Goran Dragic when you think about style of play..