# 1 " Alright... I just got off the phone with my guy who is leaving TWC after working 28 of the last 48 hrs We had a long conversation and much of it was very vague, because either he couldn’t tell me, or he’s not really sure.
So, here’s what I know:
- The Calderon trade is not dead. There is still a possibility he will be a Charlotte Bobcat, but relations are very strained between Charlotte and Toronto. He doesn’t know for sure, but he suspects that Toronto was going to use Chandler to pull the exact same trade with Dallas tomorrow using some of their trade exception to get Dampier, Carroll and Najera. They wanted to cut more cap space and the Bobcats got wind of it, killing the trade and beating them to the punch- Toronto are not happy about this. Again, this is his personal speculation.
- There is a greater trade in the works, but today’s deal gives them more options. The Bobcats needed some of Toronto’s trade exception to pull the deal off, now they figure they can force the issue with Toronto as they have all the pieces the Raptor’s wanted, or work the deal independent of anything with Toronto due to Dampier’s deal.
- Going through the Raptors is not 100% neccesary for this deal to take place, but he no longer has any clue who this deal involves. He said that ‘the number crunchers are in Charlotte and the decision makers are in Las Vegas’.
- The Bobcats have 60 days to cut or trade Dampier.
- MJ, Larry Brown and Rod Higgins are all working together on these roster moves, but MJ and LB seem to be the only one’s really signing off on anything, Higgins appears to be fetching deals.
- He told me he ‘honestly doesn’t know’ if Chris Paul is a target, but those were the water cooler grumblings at TWC today.
- Deals we’re seeing in the day are the product of meetings in Vegas during the night. We’ll keep seeing stuff throughout the day, but most of that will be smokescreens for what we see in the afternoon.
- If everything falls through with all of the trades then Dampier will be cut. He is the safety valve where the Bobcats can still wheel and deal but get close to the cap if the house of cards falls down.
- He reiterated that the team still want an elite PG and an elite C, but the chances of getting both appear slim.
- Everything is going well, and this Dampier trade was not a desperation move on Charlotte’s behalf. It was rushed through the league office to ensure the Bobcats had everything in place to resume negotiations tonight knowing exactly what pieces they have to trade.
Cat Scratch Reader's resident optimist.
I also blog the Panthers at Real Bits of Panthers
by James The Aussie on Jul 13, 2010 5:48 PM EDT "
# 2 " I just heard an absolutely INSANE trade rumor... absolutely, wildly, intensely INSANE From another friend in New York, doesn’t work for the Bobcats but has his finger on the pulse of the NBA.
I don’t want to say anything in case this doesn’t come true… so I will tell you this much:
This deal he heard about through an ‘unnamed league source’ would require us trading Gerald Wallace but I assume you, the payoff would make the Bobcats be relevant and in title contention.
He told me this deal would be ‘damn near impossible’ to happen, but he said that his source tells his it has been mentioned in Las Vegas, and was not shot down immediately. If this is step four, then I tell you I got goosebumps when I heard and will tell everyone later in the week if it doesn’t happen.
Cat Scratch Reader's resident optimist.
I also blog the Panthers at Real Bits of Panthers
by James The Aussie on Jul 13, 2010 7:04 PM EDT
