Most trades involving a proven superstar for a prospect and cap relief are one sided.  Today's New York/Orlando trade is no different, just not on the side you would expect.

It is not all Steve Francis' fault that his tenure in Orlando was disappointing.  The year before he arrived, the Magic were the worst team in the NBA.  To get "Franchise," Orlando sent their two best healthy players, including one of the top five players in the league, to Houston.  So, he came into a situation that was bad and technically getting worse.

That being said, Francis is one of the most overrated players in the NBA.  He's too short to play shooting guard full time, and makes no effort to run any offense that does not involve him taking the shot.  While I know my opinion is biased by my infatuation with "pass first" (also known as traditional) point guards like John Stockton, Steve Nash, T.J. Ford and Chris Paul, history has shown that "hybrid" point guards like Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and Gilbert Arenas have little success on a team level.  Coupled with the extravagant salaries the players in the latter category demand, I have a lot of trouble understanding why any team would have interest in turning their franchise over to such a player...particularly a franchise run by Isiah Thomas.

Thomas, you see, was a very successful point guard, on personal and team level.  By any standard, though, he was a traditional point guard that distributed to his teammates, and looked for his own offense only when the situation dictated.  Today, he acquired his third shoot-first point guard in two years as team president of the New York Knicks.  The first, is the most egregious of floor general ballhogs in the league, Stephon Marbury.  His second was a taller version of Marbury in Jamal Crawford.  Francis is a more athletic Marbury.  So in the position that most requires passing acumen, the Knicks now have three basketball vacuums.

For Orlando, pulling the trigger on the deal that sent Francis to New York for small forward Trevor Ariza and the expiring contract of "Penny" Hardaway was a no-brainer.  Francis refused to pass the ball to Dwight Howard, the team's franchise player of the future, and ate up a large portion of their salary cap.  The team, which is in full rebuilding mode, has now torn down the flawed team build of the past and now sits on a firm foundation.  In a deal last week, they acquired a more traditional point guard in Carlos Arroyo and twenty year old seven footer who was once drafted second overall in Darko Milicic.  Only one bad contract, Grant Hill, remains on the books and his deal is complete after next season.  That means the Magic will be under the cap this off season and should have tons of room to make a splash in the much stronger free agent class of 2007.

After this deal, the depth charts for the two teams looks something like:

New York

Not a true point guard on the roster.  Even the 5'9" Nate Robinson is a short shooting guard.  That give the team lots of flexibility in the back court since any one of their players, including Jalen Rose at the three, can bring the ball up the floor.  Since none of them really have any interest in passing, though, it is a stretch to say any of them can initiate the offense.

Orlando

With Howard, Milicic, Nelson, Ariza, and (to a lesser extent) Deshawn Stevenson to build around, the Magic have a high potential young nucleus to build around.  Their first round pick for this year is promised to Detroit, but they could reclaim that if they are among the worst five teams in the league.  If Hill remains injured, they should not win a whole lot of games for the rest of the season, meaning they could get one of the top picks in this draft.  Then in the off season they can play the free agent market and in 2007 they can look to sign a proven superstar to couple with Dwight Howard with all the cap room available.

It began with a wild idea I read in Chad Ford's ESPN column.  Four teams, eighteen players.  It blew my mind.  Being the nerd that I am, I entered it all into Excel to see how it would look on paper, ran some numbers, and became completely deflated. The numbers did not jive.  Not to be denied, I made some corrections and voila...I came up with the largest trade in NBA history.  Five teams, twenty-two players.

To see the trade breakdown, click on the links.  As promised, in those links, here is the analysis on why the trade should (or should not) happen.

 TEAM # 1:  New York Knicks

Players Received:  PG/SG - Steve Francis (ORL), PG - Sebastian Telfair (POR), PG - Keyon Dooling (ORL), SG - Charles Smith (POR), SF - Sergei Monia (POR), PF - Zach Randolph (POR), PF - Eddie Griffin (MIN), C - Theo Ratliff (POR), 2006 First Round Pick (MIN)

note:  Charles Smith is included specifically to make the trade work under the requirements of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.  He would be released by New York immediately upon completion of such a deal.  Also, Minnesota's First Round Pick may not be a necessary component to make this deal happen.

Players Given Away:  PG/SG - Stephon Marbury (MIN), PG/SG - Nate Robinson (POR), SG/PG - Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway (POR), SG/PG - Jamal Crawford (ORL), SF - Trevor Ariza (POR), PF - David Lee (POR)

Possible Depth Chart:  (not that anyone can read Larry Brown's mind)

Why the Knicks would make this trade:

If anyone treats their team like a fantasy sports roster, it is Isiah Thomas.  He knows that New York fans do not handle the status quo or rebuilding well, so a shake-up is the only solution to the Knicks' ineptness.  With money not being a problem, and salary cap relief nowhere in sight, the Knicks can take on all the additional expense this deal would bring them.  With all the typical business implications out of the way, this makes the team better from a talent standpoint.

Getting rid of Stephon Marbury, even if it is for Marbury-lite Steve Francis, is important to any plan that could make the Knicks respectable again.  Of course, in this deal, they accomplish that, keep their local flavor (Sebastian Telfair), upgrade the frontcourt with a potential all star (Zach Randolph), add a shotblocker (Theo Ratliff), and keep their most tradeable asset (Channing Frye).  If Minnesota threw in a first round pick, as Ford suggested, this would be the greatest deal in New York history.

Why the Knicks would not make this trade:

Telfair, Randolph, Francis, and Dooling are all talented, but their heads are really questionable.  That has never stopped Thomas in the past (see trading the future for Eddy Curry), so it probably would not be a major barrier.

TEAM # 2:  Portland Trail Blazers

Players Received:

PG/SG - Nate Robinson (NY), SG/PG Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway (NY), SF/SG - Trenton Hassell (MIN), SF - Trevor Ariza (NY), PF - David Lee (NY), C - Tony Battie (ORL)

Players Given Away:

PG - Sebastian Telfair (NY), SG - Charles Smith (NY), SF - Viktor Khryapa (MIN), SF - Sergei Monia (NY), SF - Travis Outlaw (ORL), PF - Zach Randolph (NY), Theo Ratliff (NY)

Possible Depth Chart:

Why the Blazers would make this trade:

 From a business stanpoint, this would be a slam dunk for the Blazers front office.  Since the days of the "Jail" Blazers, the team has sacrificed team success for the goal of acquiring players with a better image and salary cap relief.  Then, last season, they completely went against that business plan by signing Zach Randolph (who had already brushed with the law and brawled with teammates on multiple occasions) long term to a max deal.  However, due to his "base year compensation" status, Randolph can be traded at his old salary to the Knicks to, in essence, clear a lot more salary cap space than they are actually trading away, and make the image makeover almost complete.

That makes "Penny" Hardaway the key to this deal, even though he may never actually suit up in the black and red.  His $16 million contract expires at the end of the season, and with the $24 million that Randolph and Ratliff would have made alone, this is huge cap relief.  As for the image, that leaves only one player with "Jail" Blazers ties--Ruben "I'm a good person, I ain't no rapist" Patterson.  Patterson is in the last year of his deal, with a player option for next season.  He has been very dissatisfied with his role on the team.  To keep him from exercising that option, they may keep him buried on the bench after making such a deal.  This cap space would allow them to re-sign Joel Pryzbilla and to make a move for more help through free agency.

From a talent standpoint, this deal would not leave the cupboard bare.  They would lose some proven talent, but the Knicks would be sending three promising players in Nate Robinson, David Lee, and Trevor Ariza.  Robinson had the added value of being a local star.  Also, without becoming immediately better, the team will get a better draft slot and a shot at another regional fave, Adam Morrison.

Why the Blazers would not make this deal:

This deal would sap them of their proven star power.  Darius Miles, who is not a leader, would be their only veteran.  Sebastian Telfair, as the team's point guard of the future, was the rationale for not drafting Chris Paul.  Trading him away the next season would be tough from a public relations standpoint.

TEAM # 3:  Orlando Magic

Players received:

PG/SG - Marko Jaric (MIN), SG/PG - Jamal Crawford (NY), SF - Travis Outlaw (POR), PF - Mark Madsen (MIN)

Players given away:

PG/SG - Steve Francis (NY), PG - Keyon Dooling, C - Tony Battie

Possible Depth Chart:

Why the Magic would make this deal:

Like New York, the Magic need to rid themselves of their ball hogging point guard.  Plus, Francis' contract is the biggest barrier to completing the team's rebuild.  So, this is a great addition by subtraction.  At the same time, Orlando would get a promising young shooting guard who can help at the point in Jamal Crawford.  Mark Madsen has a reasonable contract for a big man and he can tutor the young towers of Milicic and Howard both of whom would have a plethora of available minutes after Battie was moved.

Why the Magic would not make this deal:

It is hard to find a downside for Orlando in this scenario.  The one problem is the contract of Marko Jaric.  He is wildly overpaid for his abilities and has six more years left on his deal.  That could hurt the team's plans for making a big splash in the 2007 free agent market.

TEAM # 4:  Minnesota Timberwolves

Players received:

PG/SG - Stephon Marbury (NY), SF - Viktor Khryapa (POR), C - Steven Hunter (PHI)

Players given away:

PG/SG - Marko Jaric (ORL), SG - Richie Frahm (PHI), SG/SF - Trenton Hassell (POR), PF - Mark Madsen (ORL), C - Eddie Griffin (NY), 2006 First Round Pick

Possible Depth Chart:

Without the first round pick, this deal makes some sense, although much less than for every other team.  The good news is that this deal does get K.G. the superstar sidekick he has not had since...Stephon Marbury.  The team gets rid of the mistake they made with Marko Jaric's contract.  Madsen and Griffin are not part of the team's long term plans.

Why the Wolves would not make this trade:

This is where the trade unravels.  Marbury, even if he had not poisoned every team he has ever played for, wore his welcome out in Minneapolis back during his rookie contract.  He complained about Minnesota, the team, and forced his trade to New Jersey.  It is unlikely they would want to deal with him again.

To get him, they would have to ravage their frontcourt depth.  Khyapa is really a small forward, and he would have to be K.G.'s primary back up at the four.  Steven Hunter was traded to Oklahoma City earlier in the season, but had the trade rescinded supposedly because he had tendonitis in his knees.  Regadless, he is an injury risk and would be the only reserve center to Mark Blount.

Folding for this season would be a decent plan if it were to improve draft stock, but if the first round pick was necessitated, that would no longer make sense.

TEAM # 5:  Philadelphia 76ers

I'm not going to go through the whole process with Philly.  Their participation is unloading Steven Hunter for Richie Frahm and maybe some second rounders.  Frahm would be immediately released, and the Sixers would do it strictly to get the injury prone seven footer and his six year deal off of their books.

FINAL ANALYSIS:

This deal will never happen.  Minnesota would be crazy to play their part, and none of the team's benefitting from Kevin McHale's bad judgement would be Boston.  Plus, even if this deal were actually floated, the trade deadline is less than one week away, so all the details for something this massive could not be handled in time.  This is sad, because all four of these teams needs a major overhaul.

It was fun to think about, though.

I just read a trade suggestion from Chad Ford, and had to see it on paper.  After I saw it on paper, I thought I'd share it with my friends here in the blogosphere: