Davis And Blount Heading To Miami

[kingzzzfan4ever]

I guess Miami got their GF they've been looking for in the offseason.

http://www.miamiherald.com/592/story/282739.html

Heat sends Walker to T-Wolves for Davis
Posted on Wed, Oct. 24, 2007
BY MICHAEL WALLACE AND BARRY JACKSON
bjackson@MiamiHerald.com

The Heat will trade Antoine Walker Wednesday to the Minnesota Timberwolves for swingman Ricky Davis, two NBA league sources said.

In the deal, Heat reserve center Michael Doleac and reserve power forward Wayne Simien will be swapped for Minnesota center Mark Blount. The Heat will also send a conditional first round pick. The trade is awaiting league approval and an announcement is expected later Wednesday afternoon.

Walker's agent, Mark Bartelstein, said he was put on notice Wednesday morning that a deal would happen shortly. Davis also was informed.

Davis would give the Heat a proven scorer at small forward and potential opening-day starter and also would provide offense until shooting guard Dwyane Wade returns from off-season knee and shoulder surgeries, likely by late November or early December.

Davis, 28, has averaged 14.4 points in a nine-year career. He averaged 17.0 points, 4.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds and shot 46.5 percent from the field last season for Minnesota.

Davis was injured and played sparingly (just 70 minutes) in one season with the Heat (2000-01). Acquired by Miami in the Anthony Mason/Eddie Jones deal with Charlotte that previous summer, Davis was shipped off to Cleveland in October 2001 in a deal that brought Chris Gatling from Cleveland to Miami.

Walker, who has played two seasons for the Heat, irritated coach Pat Riley by reporting to training camp out of shape. He was held out of Tuesday's preseason game, with Riley not offering a reason. Walker averaged 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds and shot 39.7 percent from the field last season. Walker was also suspended four games for conditioning issues last season.

Davis has one season left on his contract for $6.8 million. Blount has three years and $21.9 million left on his contract.

Walker, 31, has two guaranteed years left on his deal, for $8.4 million in 2007-08 and $9.32 million in 2008-09. Either side can opt out of the last two years of his contract after that.

The two teams had been talking about a trade for more than a month and the Heat targeted Davis soon after the T-Wolves traded Kevin Garnett to Boston and initiated their rebuilding process.

 

[LPKingsFan]

So much for an Artest deal. But Davis' expiring could be appealing in a mid season Bibby trade at or around the deadline.

 

[cfechter]

Not a bad deal for either teams - Minnesota definitely gets the short end of the talent stick on this one, but Davis and Blount are not long-term solutions for them, especially if Blount and Jefferson don't get along as has been rumored. Minnesota gets rid of some salary and not much else other than the conditional first round pick. I think before giving either team a "grade" on this deal, I would have to know what the conditions on the pick are.

Without Dwayne Wade, the Heat look to be absolutely horrible. That pick could potentially be a top 10 pick, and if only top 3 protected, this could be a great deal for Minnesota.

this deal makes sense for the Heat in that you're getting one totally average-to-pretty decent player in Davis, and a much better back-up at center than Michael Doleac.

I agree with LPKingsfan, this probably throws any chance we had of trading Artest for Wright and a first out of the window.

 

[NoBonus]

The t-wolves have so many players, I expect members of this trade to get waived.

 

[Bricklayer]

For Miami its perfect -- the kick in the pants they've been needing, second/third scorer to go between Wade and Shaq, and even a legitimate C to fill in for all those times when their dinosaurs up front aren't healthy enough to go.

For Minny...well, guess they did what I was hoping we'd do, and used Twoine as a way to liquidate a bad long term deal for one of their crappy frontcourters (as Twoine's deal is over after next year). Simien and a conditional first isn't much on the youth front, and Davis is a bigger ender than Doleac. Don't like it as much for them -- right idea, but not very clean. Still, a couple of teams doing it the right way -- contender (well, wannabe) trading kids, picks, cap room to pick up vet talent, and rebuilding squad dumping vet talent for kids/picks/caproom.

Any chance we can trade Geoff for thta McHale guy?

 

[AriesMar27]

thats cool for the heat... i guess...

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

In a way, it's good for the Timberwolves, too; I think there's some kind of unwritten rule in the NBA that, if you have a talented young swingman, you need to get Ricky Davis away from him as quickly as possible (see Cavaliers, Cleveland).

 

[Arby's Roast Beef]

A while back, in the Charlie bell thread, I wrote how Pat Riley and his gang of Miami front office tried to leave their imprints on every talented free agent/trade bait. Let's just put this way, Pat Riley strikes again.

On paper, if I didn't realize the Timberwolves were trying to go all-out young and cut costs, I wouldn't know what the hell they were doing. Yes, Ricky Davis is boneheaded and is a general cancer on the court, but Antoine Walker is even worse on the court, and perhaps even off it. Not to mention Walker is on his downhill slope, as talented players who end up playing for Miami end up regressing (see Posey's lack of steals, J-Will's lack of assists, Antoine's lack of 20-5-5 in Boston, etc.).

On Miami's side, Davis is talented. Very talented; a potential 20-5-5-5 (the last 5 as in turnovers) player as a 1st option, but he's not in Miami and probably never going to be for the rest of his career. But still, he's only 28, as amazing as it is, and is a 9th year veteran, so there's still some untapped potential for contribution there; he's already better than James Posey and Eddie Jones combined, IMO. He and Wade, if utilized properly, can form a very nice slashing/scoring tandem. But again, Pat Riley always looks before he leaps, seemingly--looking at the blind numbers and the all-star type numbers Davis puts on prior teams, still sees his current contributions, salivates at the thought of him playing for Miami without a care for ego, chemistry, off the court behavior and some such. Let's see what sort of quagmire Pat Riley will have to deal with this year.

Mark Blount--clearly a throw in. He's improved his scoring abilities and shooting range (even has three point range), and he may get opportunities with Shaq's and Zo's inevitable season injuries. Will probably put up numbers without standing out, but he's better than Udonis Haslem--who was amazingly their leading scorer in preseason =]. That has to count for something, doesn't it?

 

[KingsFan93]

In a way, it's good for the Timberwolves, too; I think there's some kind of unwritten rule in the NBA that, if you have a talented young swingman, you need to get Ricky Davis away from him as quickly as possible (see Cavaliers, Cleveland).

Good one

What do you think would happen to Dwayne Wade then?