The latest rumor from ESPN.com says Among the most intriguing? League sources told Insider over the weekend that Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Sixers' Eric Snow and the Raptors' Alvin Williams are all being dangled right now.
Ilgauskas has teams licking their chops for one reason -- when he's healthy, he's one of the two or three best offensive centers in the league. The big question though, is how much longer he can stay off crutches. After missing two full seasons with foot injuries, Ilgauskas made a miraculous comeback midway through last season. Is there a team out there willing to take the risk?
He has been phenomenal for the Cavs through the first half, which is partly why Cleveland wants to trade him -- his value has never been higher. Cavs GM Jim Paxson is also concerned that the heavy minutes he logged under John Lucas's tutelage will eventually catch up with him. Add three young centers -- DeSagana Diop, Chris Mihm and Michael Stewart -- to the mix and you can understand the Cavs' motivation. They need their young bigs to get more playing time and would love to be out from under the remaining two years and $28 million of Ilgauskas's contract.
So, who is rumored to be interested? The Knicks could put together a package of Charlie Ward, Travis Knight and Othella Harrington that would put them in the picture. Ward only has $2 million worth of salary protection on his contract next season, Knight has just one more year left on his deal, and Harrington's salary won't do any major cap damage. The move would allow the Cavs to clear about $5 million in additional cap room for next summer and $11 million of cap space for the summer of 2004.
The Jazz could also be interested, possibly shipping Greg Ostertag, John Amaechi, Jason Collins and a No. 1 draft pick. And the Blazers, always willing to wheel and deal, have looked at moving soon-to-be free agents Scottie Pippen and Antonio Daniels to Cleveland for Ilguaskas, Tyrone Hill and Michael Stewart.
I think it would be folly for the Cavs to trade Z. They've waited for 2 years for him to get healthy, and now that he finally is, they want to trade him... It fits perfectly with Paxons theory though: when a player gets good, trade them.
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