In the last trade machine, we sent Andre Iguodala to the Mavericks in exchange for Caron Butler, Dominique Jones, and Ian Mahinmi. In the comments, some people were unhappy with the package because of the limited potential of Jones and Mahinmi even with a mid-20's first round pick coming back. With Iguodala now back from his Achilles injury and Evan Turner stringing a few good games together, the market could once again be opened to deal Andre. Here's the next look.
With the Knicks' attempts at getting Carmelo Anthony stalling, Donnie Walsh could look for his talent elsewhere. They're sitting comfortably in the 6th seed at 22-17, only 3 games back of the Hawks and 3.5 from the Magic. If they can add talent and make a run, there's a good chance New York could have home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs.
Hit the jump for the dirty deets.
Philadelphia receives:Danilo Gallinari - 2 years, 7.5 million (w/ 2013 Qualifying Offer of $5.6 mil)
Eddy Curry - 1 year, 11.3 million
New York receives:
Andre Iguodala - 4 years, 54.6 million
Tony Battie - 1 year, 854K
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The Curry trade chip might be too valuable for New York to make a move for Iguodala, but if they want to push for this year it is certainly possible. Without Carmelo in the pool, the 2011 Free Agent class is fairly light, so this would be an opportunity for the Knicks to cash in on Curry's expiring for the next two years. Then they can decide what they want to do about Raymond Felton and the possible stealing of Chris Paul.
Gallinari was the 6th pick of the '08 draft and has flashed a ton of potential from the small forward position. His role is less than expected in his third year because of the additions of Felton and Amare Stoudemire, but injuries have contributed to that as well, allowing Landry Fields to play a ton. Danilo's missed the last six games with a sprained knee but is expected back sometime this week. He's actually got the highest WS/48 on the team with a 0.144. Tony Battie gives them another body in the middle to bump uglies with the bigs in the East.
The problem with the Knicks trading Gallo is that he's their best three-point shooter, and Mike D'Antoni digs that. The improved percentages of Felton, Fields and Wilson Chandler should mitigate the loss, but it would take a lot of pressure by Walsh to make D'Antoni OK the deal. The addition of Iguodala should help, giving Mike a wing player with more athleticism than any of his current wings. The combination of Felton, Iguodala, and Amare would be dirty in the open court. In an offense like this, it's designed to lessen the roles of individual players that aren't Amare, so Andre would be plenty effective as the 2nd or 3rd option. Fields would move to the bench if D'Antoni wants to stick with Ronny Turiaf as a starter, but his minutes wouldn't dip too much considering Gallo does average 34 per game anyway, and Andre would take those.
For the Sixers, we do get an expiring contract but it's not a complete salary dump because of how nicely Gallo would fit on the team. Slide him next to Turner at the three and you've got a shooter who can create for himself and really hit shots over anybody in the league. He's a long 6'10 and still just 22 with plenty of room to grow into a better all-around player. Giving Jrue Holiday another versatile option that can stretch the floor will be integral in building this team into a contender.
We'll see what the good gentlemen from Posting & Toasting have to say about losing their best t-shirt, but first -- your thoughts? Does not getting a draft pick sully the shine of an Andre trade?