A Sunday Question for Charles Barkley, and One for the Readers

If the Lakers give up Bynum its because they have serious concerns over his knee… so why would Toronto want that? If his knee isn’t a concern its a decent deal for T.O. but then I doubt the Lakers make the trade.

As far as I see it this Bynum discussion is just blowing smoke.

From LA’s point of view:
1) Bynum is a high risk high reward
2) Bosh is a (much) lower risk, and almost an as high reward

From the Raps point of view
1) #4 is gone
2) Bynum can be a high risk but he is also a high reward but it is better than nothing and he expires in two years (emaning after one year he is an expiring, hence an asset)
3) Possibly he will come together with Vujacic (another expiring)

I can see why LA would do it. I cannot see why the Raps would no want to do it

I don’t think Paxson will make that mistake again or he will find himself without a job. Besides, that was then when Chicago thought Hinrich and Deng were both better than they are (hence their contracts), now I think they know they could afford to lose one in a package with Noah if it meant getting Bosh and Lebron/Wade.

pau can rebound and play good defense and he can also play center

He does it also now and he logs most of the minutes

When did Taj Gibson and James Johnson become talents worth fussing about? Remember how Courtney Lee was seen as a decent talent playing for Orlando last year and was traded for Vince and well….(crickets). If it’s going to be Chicago, it’s Noah in the package or no deal. Why devote any resources to older players (Gibson is like one year younger than Bosh) whose upside is 6th and 7th men on a 2nd round playoff team? Sounds like we’re pining for the slightly better Williams brothers this time around (see Babcock, Rob). From what we’ve been able to obtain, Bosh is okay with either Chicago or LA, so you ask for the talent you want not the talent you have to settle for. As mentioned above and as I’ve mentioned before, Chicago would be foolish to refuse sending Noah over if it meant foregoing a Bosh/ LeBron coupling.
I guess the more interesting question would be, if it came down to Noah or Bynum as key pieces in packages being sent back, which would the Raptors take?

I think there are some slight differences, as in you don’t have to wait 2 or so months to trade a guy after signing him to deal him if you S&T. But it’s generally like any other trade and the 15% matching would still be there.

Yes sign and trades follow the standard NBA rules for a transaction. That is why some of us are pushing (in blog) the Raptors to trade with a team over the cap as opposed to under it. If a team is over the cap they will have to move a salary or three out in order to accomadate Bosh which if negotiated correctly (read Toronto has a lot more power here) could net Toronto a decent return. If the team is under the cap, that team could give up nothing more than the absolute trade minimum of a 2nd round pick (and if they wanted to be really dirty they could put enough conditions on it that we would never see it a la Solomon deal a few years ago with Sac town. They can do this because they can sign Bosh outright if the cost is too steep for them in trade and they can tell Toronto to shove it and we get nothing other than the pleasure of not having to pay the best PF in the game to play for us anymore.
As to your specific question about Bynam, yes, Toronto would probably have to take another salary to make it work. If Toronto was to deal with the Lakers they might find a third team to add into the mix which could expand what Toronto gets back and the third team getting either cap relief in the near future, either Vujacic or Morrison, or a couple of players that can help that team, Walton and Brown perhaps. I doubt LA will pursue a trade for Bosh because they cannot afford Bosh at this stage. They would have to move out at least two players and maybe more in order to make that deal work and their bench is already woefully thin as is and considering that LA has $57.5 million dollars invested in only 3 players in 2013, I do not think they want to field a team of 4 for $75 + million at that stage, especially when they do not know what the new CBA will be like.