Jeff: Bring Back Marbury

Is there another state in the union that always has more drama surrounding their pro sports teams than Minnesota? It may be cold here, but it's certainly never dull. We'll save Daunte-gate for next week, as the team has until early March to decide what to do with him (I said it on this site in mid January and I'll say it again- keeping him for the 2006 season is the smartest thing to do). The NBA trade deadline is next Thursday, giving teams now less than a week to revamp rosters for a playoff run- or a run at Adam Morrison in the draft lottery. Rumblings continue today in the Strib that the T-Pups are still looking to deal, and Stephon Marbury's name keeps popping up. At this point in time, I think getting Starbury is a move the Wolves HAVE to make. Allow me to explain... (salaries are, of course, courtesy of hoopshype)

Kevin Garnett's contract runs out in the summer of 2009, giving him 3 more seasons in Minnesota after this one (assuming he chooses to stay that long, of course). Thanks to your plucky VP of basketball operations, the Wolves are essentially capped out through the remainder of his deal. The salary cap will hover around $60 million a year through 2009. Garnett makes $18 mill this year, and each year through '09, his contract goes up $2 mill, meaning he'll make on average about $23 mill through the end of his deal, or a little more than a third of the team's cap. Got that so far? Added to that are four guys whose contracts run at least as long as Garnett's, and who, by themselves, are completely untradeable: C Mark Blount (4 MORE YEARS after this, with a salary now of $6 million, and will finish close to $8 mill per year), G Troy Hudson (also 4 more yrs, starting at $5.5 now and finishing at $6.5 per year), G Marko Jaric (signed through 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! $5 mill per now, and $7.5 by '11. And by the way, the Jaric deal McHale made was the 2nd worst in the history of Minnesota sports behind only the Herschel Deal. Just so you know), and G Trent Hassell (who makes a reasonable $4.35 mill per year, but he gets that EVERY year through 2010).

On average that's about $20 mill a season on the low end, and as high as $24 mill per year by 2009. Combined with Garnett's $20-$24 mill per season, even my math tells you that's close to $50 mill of your cap with those 5 guys right there. Add to that Dick Davis' $6.5 per season through '08, Mark Madsen stealing $2.5 mill per year through like 2065, and Rashad McCants and your bench guys, and there's your entire salary cap tied up every year through the end of Garnett's deal. Congratulations, Wolves fans: you're screwed!

And not to kick you while you're down, but because of the Jaric trade and Celtics deal, you'll only have 2 of your 4 first round picks. The team, as currently constructed, is not a championship contender. Instead the Wolves are a borderline playoff team, who, when they actually do get to use those draft picks, will probably be picking somewhere in the teens. So you can't add much through the draft, and you can't add the alpha-dog Garnett needs to run with through free agency because you simply don't have the cap room. What do you do?

You roll the dice and deal Jaric, Hassell, and hopefully Blount or Hudson for Marbury. Steph and KG are on record, multiple times might I add, that they wish Steph wouldn't have left and that they'd get another shot together. Could this go down in flames? Absolutely. But it's either take the big gamble, or you're completely starting over. I'd like to say there's better options, but when Kevin McHale is running your team, this is as close to "good" options are you're going to get. If anybody else has a better idea, I'm listening.