2011 NBA Draft Warm-up/Trade Discussion Thread

So, things have definitely become more interesting around here the last couple of days. With trade rumors involving Tony Parker, George Hill, and Richard Jefferson(as an addendum to one of the other two) swirling nearly constantly for the last 36 hours, it's still not clear what the Spurs' front office is up to. I like to think it's all part of a master plan, whereby they make out like bandits yet again.

The one thing that all the rumors have had in common was the Spurs' apparent desire to obtain a lottery pick in tonight's draft. So what are they after? Let's explore.

The most talked-about rumor has been a trade that goes something like this.

Spurs get:

Omri Casspi
#7 draft pick
Francisco Garcia(maybe)

Kings get:

Tony Parker
Richard Jefferson(maybe)
#29 draft pick(maybe)

Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty has written some stories explaining why he thinks this deal would be good for the Kings, and I don't disagree. The Kings have the league's lowest team salary, and could absorb both Parker and Jefferson's contracts, while sending very little salary back. But unless the Spurs are thinking of moving up even further in the draft to nab someone(Derrick Williams, anyone?), it doesn't seem anywhere near beneficial to them. Nevertheless, Sacramento may have shot down the trade because they didn't want to take on Tony's contract - that's right, the Kings turned down that terrible trade, not the Spurs.

There was also a rumor of Tony-to-Toronto, but that one wouldn't be as simple, since the Raptors are over the cap, and would need to match the salaries of any player(s) headed their way.

It's also been noted by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress that the Spurs have been shopping Hill to the teams picking 10-12.

Besides the Spurs, there are other teams rumored to be attempting trades on draft day. Minnesota has been rumored to trade the #2 pick to pretty much every other team in the league, Orlando is allegedly going to land Josh Smith, and the Lakers are rumored to be trying to get into the draft lottery as well.

If anything big goes down today, you can be sure we'll tell you about it here. In the meantime, use this thread as a hub for discussing the rumors and/or who you think the Spurs should pick. It's going to be a crazy day in the NBA.

The draft airs at 6PM Spurs time on ESPN.