NBA Daily Dribbles: Troy Murphy—The Most Expensive Man in the World

Countdown to NBA Trade Deadline: 15 Days

What I’m Reading

• The Cavs are still shopping around for the power forward that will help bring them a championship. Troy Murphy might just be a little too expensive.

• Kirk Hinrich’s name has been thrown around in several trade rumors lately, but the upstart Bulls might not be ready to ship him out just yet.

• Should Kevin Garnett be playing? In the meantime, at least Ray Allen ain’t goin nowhere.

• Expect New Jersey to trade any draft pick other than the top one, because, to the Nets, second place is first loser. First loser is so much worse than 29th loser, right? Speaking of Jersey losers...

• As much as I enjoy watching Larry Hughes waste away on my brother’s fantasy team’s bench, I have to feel bad for the guy who is also wasting away on the end of the Knicks' bench, beard and all.

What I Think About It

• The Cavs have been after Murphy for a while now. I think they expected it was going to be a straight-shot deal, no issues. But the Pacers have reportedly asked for forward J.J. Hickson, center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and multiple draft picks in return. He’s putting up decent complementary numbers this season, nearly averaging a double-double with low fouls, but that's a steep price.

It’s tough to judge, because those “multiple draft picks” could mean all sorts of different things. One would have to believe that they aren’t two second round picks in 2014 and 2015. They were probably first-rounders and probably much sooner than that.

The Pacers are trying to rebuild, so naturally they’re trying to dump Murphy’s contract, pick up an expiring contract to make room for some free agents, and find their future core players with the Cavs’ draft picks, even though most likely wouldn’t be very high picks anyway.

But I can’t blame the Cavs for not wanting to give this much up. They might focus their efforts on Antawn Jamison now, but that is looking like more and more of a longshot.

• Shocking fact of the day: Since Vinny Del Negro inserted the seventh-year guard into the starting lineup on Dec. 26, the Bulls are 13-4 in games Hinrich has played.

Other teams (Lakers, Celtics) have been trying to pry Captain Kirk from the mighty grip of the Midway, but as Chicago climbs back up the standings, they’re going to be less inclined to talk about potential deals involving the former Kansas standout.

The Bulls are in the process of looking to eliminate a contract before the deadline so they can participate in the carnival game to be that is this summer’s free agent frenzy, so unfortunately it might ultimately come down to swinging a deal that involves Hinrich. But right now, the team is .500 at 23-23, is 7-3 in its last 10, and will be making the playoffs, so we’ll see how they handle the situation over the next two weeks.

• The argument that KG should still be sitting and resting his fragile, yet medically cleared knee has its valid points, but it is also frayed. It’d be great to see him well-rested for the final stretch run and playoffs, but at what expense?

This team proved that it couldn’t win consistently without him. Would a tailspin over the next three months be worth it if the C’s finished below the third seed? I wouldn’t think so. The path to the Finals is already looking increasingly hard, and with Paul Pierce’s mysterious foot injury, is a lineup of Allen, Kendrick Perkins, and Rajon Rondo going to win ballgames? No.

In other news, reassuring a city that doesn’t seem bent on seeing Ray-Ray go-go, GM Danny Ainge put trade rumors involving Allen to rest, at least for now. “There’s no question we need to play better, but we’re not going to panic.”

Not yet.

But what if things are still shaky a week before the deadline, then three days, then three hours? Won’t Ainge feel at least a bit pressured to pull something off to shore up his team? It may not come to that, but the fans won’t accept this team if things don’t turn around and nothing is done to improve.

• Very interesting potential decision by the Nets. If this is something that they are seriously considering, it’s surprising to hear. The worst they can do in the draft (barring an unforeseen 20-game win streak) is to have the fourth overall pick.

While some may feel that, after John Wall, the draft class is weak, I don’t buy into that thinking. The class is going to be full of grinding talent, especially in the top 10.

The Nets might trade the pick to Minnesota for Ricky Rubio if Wall won’t be heading east? Well, unless they get some sort of confirmation of an early buyout from Rubio’s Spanish team (which Minnesota has yet to), then they would just be inheriting the Timberwolves’ problem.

• Even if he isn’t traded, Larry Hughes is likely done in New York. It’s a shame. Hughes, who had a very solid start to the 2009-10 season, hasn’t scored 10 points since Dec. 7, mainly due to decreased minutes. He hasn’t even managed to make it to the floor since Jan 22.

Once again, this is Mike D’Antoni being himself and allowing the players that he thinks will contribute in the future to see playing time. This doesn’t bode well for Larry because D’Antoni doesn’t see Hughes as part of the Knicks future.

But I don’t see how that should eliminate him from the Knicks’ present.

They’re still in heavy contention for a playoff spot, so why throw away the season by manning a rotation of only guys that will be here beyond this season? Shouldn’t he be putting the best lineup out there? You know, to win some games? I just don’t get this.

'Til Thursday…

PD

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