He doesn’t seem like he’s going to have a whole lot of top years left.

Seems like you’d have to commit 5-6 years to get him, and he’s got only a couple seasons left in the tank at a high level.

you could get Marion for Howard straight up. I’d like to add recalling Reyshawn Terry from Europe to that list as well.

the team would be in big trouble because I know nothing about Basketball.

That lineup gets you a 7/8 seed at best in the West, and could very easily miss the playoffs altogether.

I’d probably just blow it up. I don’t see a combination of moves you could make right now that would make this team a legit championship contender next year.

Trade: Howard and Stack to Milwaukee for Michael Redd.

It gets us a great shooter and scorer to take some of the pressure off of Dirk, and it gets them younger while providing some pretty significant cap relief.

Trade: Jason Terry and some salary filler to Utah for Andrie Kirilenko.

Utah (and presumably Sloan) has always had a thing for Terry, dating back to when they tried to sign him away from Atlanta. He’d fill the role Derek Fisher filled so well for them last year. They’d also clear some salary in the deal, and rid themselves of Link, who doesn’t fit at SF in their system and who doesn’t get along with their coach. It gets us a great defensive wing who can run the floor and block shots. Also it rids me of having to watch Jason Terry.

Sign: Use the mid-level to grab a veteran banger (Theo Ratliff, maybe? I don’t know who’s available) and a spot-up shooter/defender/Raja Bell-type wing player.

And I see now that Miles is free. I say get him, Dallas.

As close as everything is in the West, I don’t see a lot of possibilities for trading within the crop of teams that made the playoffs this year in the Western Conference. I think that teams like Utah are going to be really reluctant to move guys…even guys with horrid contracts like Kirilenko…to other Western Conference contenders.

The Mavs will bring some of the following guys in on minimum deals:

Kareem Rush
Quinton Ross
Lorenzen Wright
Brian Skinner

And some of these guys by other means:

Any of the Golden Staters (Barnes, O’Bryant, Pietrus)
Childress
Keyon Dooling
Pargo (if he declines his option)
Ricky Davis

Do they make runs at restricted guys like:
Deng
Ofakor
Monta Ellis
Shaun Livingston
Calderon

I doubt it, seeing as they couldn’t really offer that much and most of those guys have a good role with their teams. My earlier argument with Adam notwithstanding, there is, I suppose, the possibility of a S&T.

If we’re going to be jumpstarting this offense, I would target guys like Calderon, Ellis, and any of the unrestricted guys I mentioned.

Also, I like Randolph Morris.

You get to try to go up 2-0 on the Spurs with Bavetta presiding.

Hey guys, I wrote the aforementioned thing about Redd for Howard/Stack at BrewHoop (not my idea originally though).

Villanueva, Williams and Redd will all be very available this summer, especially now that Hammond/Skiles are in charge. The Bucks are going to be close to the luxury tax in 09/10 if they don’t shed salary which is part of the motivation for the Redd proposal. But I think Redd is more likely to stay than Villanueva or Williams just because his contract makes him so hard to move.

Bogut is probably the only untouchable, though I can’t see Sessions getting traded either. They will likely want to keep Yi Jianlian though there are some rumblings his agent may try to get him out of Milwaukee.

I would add that I’d consider a Cavs offer involving Varejao, expiring deals and future 1sts. We had about $8 million in cap space last offseason and didn’t find any use for it, and before that we used our 2005 space on the Simmons signing, so even if you could shed a bunch of salary I’d just be wary of thinking that it would get us anything of value.

the Mavs should be run by a troika of Miles, HurlerHurley, and Shark.

We can draft this year:

JR Giddens
Shan Foster
Sonny Weems
Bill Walker (If he falls)
DeVon Hardin

It’s not totally hopeless.