Another day, more Amare Stoudemire rumors. Once again, it is time to break through some of the rumors regarding Amare Stoudemire.

The day started out with the Miami Heat trading Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to Toronto for Jermaine O’neal, effectively taking Miami out of the Amare Stoudemire sweepstakes.

The most interesting set of rumors are two rumors from message board posters claiming to have inside information. One says that a trade of Stoudemire to the Bulls is a done deal and the other says a trade to the Cavs is a done deal.

It isn’t too hard to believe that a deal may be for sure being completed and that it’s to one of these two teams. Ric Bucher, on ESPN, stated that he thinks a deal will be completed and that the Bulls and Cavs are front runners. Will Purdue appeared on the radio today and said that Amare will be traded and that the Bulls, Cavs, and Kings are the front runners. This should be able to be narrowed down to the Bulls and Cavs as Amare would probably raise a stink if he was traded to the lowly Kings, who currently possess the worst record in the NBA.

It also isn’t hard to believe that a trade has already been completed, as there is a rumor out there that says that many believe that the Suns have a handshake deal in place, and are just waiting until after the Allstar break to announce it. This would support Frank Isola’s assertion that the Bulls and Suns have already agreed on an Amare trade.

The first of these rumors comes from Black Jesus of the RealGM forums, who states that the Bulls and Suns have agreed on a trade. Is he legitimate? No one knows, and no one may ever know. Here’s the problem with this guy, he refuses to give any transparency of his sources, even under the protection that the moderators offer. That’s a big red flag.

I could sit here on my blog and write an article about how the Bulls and Suns have agreed on a trade for Amare Stoudemire. There is a good chance that what I write in that article would end up being true. I could probably expand and even include the players, saying the trade would be Amare Stoudemire, Louis Amundson, and Matt Barnes for Drew Gooden, Tyrus Thomas, Cedric Simmons, and Thabo Sefolosha. There is a good chance I could be right.

The NBA is entirely predictable. Through immense observation and an understanding of the workings of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and salary cap, you can make some very accurate educated guesses of what will happen in the NBA. This Amare Stoudemire scenario could be seen from a mile away. In September, I made a post on the Sportstwo Forums about how the Phoenix Suns are the team to watch, because if they falter they are going to be in a position to lose Stoudemire in 2010, forcing them to trade him. I then hypothesized that Kerr would cut a sweetheart deal for his old team, gaining a package of Kirk Hinrich, Drew Gooden, and Joakim Noah or Thabo Sefolosha. The package might be off, but the idea of Amare to the Bulls was entirely foreseeable.

And this is why even if the Amare Stoudemire trade to the Bulls comes true, Black Jesus should be taken with a grain of salt. Just because he ends up being correct doesn’t mean he actually has any inside sources.

The second rumor, originating from Cavs message boards, says that Amare Stoudemire for Wally Szcerbiak and J.J. Hickson plus a first round pick is a done deal. Here is the main problem with this scenario, it does little more to help the Suns financially this year than the Bulls deal, and leaves the Suns with no good NBA prospects.

With the proposed Cavs deal, the Suns would have $14.329 million incoming. The proposed Bulls deal, including both Sefolosha and Simmons would have $14.522 million incoming, less than $200,000 more than the proposed Cavs deal. If the Bulls leave Sefolosha out of the deal, the Bulls save the Suns more money this year, and leave only Thomas’ contract on the Suns’ books past this season.

A mistake was made in reading this trade process that the bigger the expiring contract the better. This is true if the trade were expanded to have that team taking back the bad contracts of Jason Richardson or Shaquille O’neal. But if Amare Stoudemire is the only large piece the Suns are moving in the trade, using smaller contracts while invoking the 125% trade rule and minimum player trade exceptions to get the trade through would be the best in terms of saving Phoenix money.

The Cleveland trade seems unlikely to me. I don’t think Phoenix wants to be known as the team that handed the Cavaliers six straight NBA championships. The Cavaliers deal leaves nothing for the Suns to sell to their fans. At least with the Bulls variation, they can sell Tyrus Thomas as a high potential player.

The most telling sign that the Bulls are the favorites to land Stoudemire is the confidence that some beat writers are displaing in regards to the Bulls chances. On the Score this morning, Brian Hanley predicted that Amare Stoudemire would become a Bull and that Jermaine O’neal would become a member of the Miami Heat. A little later in the day, O’neal was traded to the Heat.

I would have to imagine that the Bulls are the front runners to get Amare Stoudemire still, but some Cleveland Cavaliers message boards are celebrating because they believe that they have already agreed to a trade for Amare Stoudemire. The Cavs simply shouldn’t have the pieces to acquire Stoudemire, especially for the rumored package.

I think it is entirely possible that the Cavaliers and Suns have agreed on a trade, for Shaquille O’neal that is. The assets that the Cavs have available to trade are more in line for a player of the caliber of Shaq, not Amare.

That package of Wally Sczerbiak and JJ Hickson just shouldn’t be enough to get Amare Stoudemire. If it is, something shady would have to be going on. That is just an insanely lopsided trade. Memphis at least got Marc Gasol in their trade. I just don’t see any way that the Cleveland rumors can end up being true. They just don’t make a lot of sense. But on the small chance that the Cleveland rumors do end up coming to fruition, all fans of the NBA best prepare to see Lebron and company raising the championship banner year after year. A Lebron James and Amare Stoudemire duo would be dominant and would win the championship annually. Good thing that pairing is unlikely, as per a Yahoo! Sports report, Steve Kerr is not enthusiastic about that package.

Similar Posts:

• Sun To Set On Amare Trade Talks Monday?
• Amare Stoudemire Update: Battle of Three Medium
• The Amare Stoudemire Report (Morning of February 11th, 2009)
• 80% Chance of Amare In Chicago
• Amare Stoudemire To Warriors Unlikely

Tags: Amare Stoudemire, Black Jesus, Cedric Simmons, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Drew Gooden, J.J. Hickson, Phoenix Suns, Thabo Sefolosha, Tyrus Thomas, Wally Sczerbiak

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 2:09 am and is filed under Commentary, Rumors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.