SHOREWOOD, Minn. — Last winter, the Shorewood Show stayed silent at the trade deadline, and the trust paid off as a young group of unproven role players aided Steph Curry, Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge in their third consecutive title run. This year, Shorewood has no such luxury. At least, according to GM Alex Smith. "We had to make a move," he said. "Title No. 4 is not coming here unless we add a couple guns." The 2016-2017 season has been an arms race unlike any COMO has ever seen. Five teams are at least 40-25 or better, and two more have winning records. Top-ranked St. Louis has a bulletproof eight-man rotation, with every player averaging 20 or more bones. Minnesnowta has MVP favorite Anthony Davis and six other players above 20. Newport Beach has three (three!) stars over the 30 mark. Shorewood has been no slouch this season, but Curry is a step behind his usual pace, and the departures of Gasol and Aldridge have hurt frontcourt depth. So, Smith swung a deal that — given the contenders' cap room and available players on the market — could very well be the final blockbuster of this season. Shorewood received Carmelo Anthony and Marc Gasol from Kansas City in exchange for its 2018 1st round pick (with conditions ... see bottom of page), pair of 2017 second-rounders, guard Tyler Johnson, post Jusuf Nurkic, former No. 8 overall pick Stanley Johnson and the rights to overseas player Cedi Osman. Now, GM Jack Nowland is in rebuilding mode less than 12 months after making a surprise run to the COMO Final Four. He has star point guard Damian Lillard, injury prone center Brook Lopez and not much else in terms of the product on the floor. "Obviously with the taste of success in 2016, this season has been a disappointment," Nowland said. "Our plan for 2018 is to get a better team around Dame to make a strong push for the postseason." The move signals the end of an era in Kansas City. Gasol was an original auction selection in October 2013, and has a prominent place in the Monarchs record book. Anthony, a free-agent acquisition this past offseason, was supposed to be the extra piece that pushed KC above .500 this year. Fans are already planning a small protest outside team offices in retaliation for Gasol's abrupt shipment. "He will not be an easy man to replace," Nowland said. "The Monarchs organization wants to thank Marc for his great service to the team and the Kansas City community. He was even willing to take a pay cut last offseason to stay here. We wish him nothing but the best in Shorewood." The new-look Show lineup will get its first action in St. Paul vs. Minnesnowta on Friday, then prep for a back-to-back against rival Chaska and floundering Colorado. THE DEAL
0 Comments
SUNNYVALE, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia -- The Sunnyvale Slayers burned it all down on Tuesday afternoon. General manager Matthew Quammen announced that his team had traded its star player, fired its coach and begun the process of officially changing its logo after a 26-34 start. The trade — Bledsoe and a 2018 second-rounder to Minnesnowta for lottery pick Jaylen Brown and an unprotected 2018 first-rounder — gave Quammen his fifth first-round pick in the next two drafts. Coach Pete Bell had the Slayers within 3 games of the final playoff spot, but he was told Tuesday morning that he was out of a job. Bell compiled a 49-87 record in one-and-a-half seasons with Sunnyvale. Arena owner Jim Lahey, who rose to fame as a featured subject on the transcendent Canadian documentary series "Trailer Park Boys," will assume head coaching duties until further notice. "You know whats at work here?" Lahey told Nova Scotia's Chronicle Herald. "It's s*** tectonics. When two s*** plates strike and come together under incredible pressure, what happens? "S*** tectonics." In a memo to the league office, Quammen wrote: "We look forward to unleashing an uncontrollable s*** storm that will extinguish the s*** flames in the league and engulf our enemies in our s*** waves." The team website removed the league-approved Sunnyvale logo and simply replaced it with a photo of Lahey. Bledsoe returns to St. Paul Minnesnowta appears to have solved a point guard problem that previously threatened to derail its championship run. The Chill have won 13 of their past 14 with Derrick Rose running the offense, but the veteran guard is nowhere near the same player he was at the turn of the decade. Bledsoe, who spent two-plus seasons with the Chill before 'Snowta traded him and a first-round pick to Nova Scotia last year, joins a scary lineup that includes MVP favorite Anthony Davis. At 42-18, Minnesnowta is 2 games back of the No. 1 seed. "It was tough departing with some key future assets, but Coach Reynolds and I believe that with 'Brow, (Gordon) Hayward, Rudy (Gobert), Dwight (Howard) and Al (Horford), we're never going to have a better chance at a title. We had to pull the trigger before someone else did." |
Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|