Twelve UConn alums are playing in the NBA this season. Two others, Emeka Okafor and Rip Hamilton, haven’t hit the court yet. Okafor is sidelined with a neck injury and Rip Hamilton is a free agent, presumably spending his time swimming in a giant pool full of money.
Continuing a tradition we began last year, we thought it would be interesting to delve into ESPN’s NBA Trade Machine and see if we could take all of those former Huskies and trade them onto our quasi-local teams.
We ran into a few small problems. Hamilton is obviously not tradable because he isn’t playing. Use your imagination and place on whatever team you like. Okafor also isn’t listed due to his injury. He is making a hefty $14.5 million this season — which presents its difficulties in trade scenarios — but his contract expires after the year, making him somewhat desirable. We’re leaving him out of this exercise, but think we could fit him onto either team with a little maneuvering.
Additionally, neither AJ Price nor Hilton Armstrong are able to be traded yet because they were late to sign with their respective teams. Price can be traded on December 30th. Armstrong must wait until March. NBA rules state that a free agent can’t be traded within 30 days of signing his contract.
Lastly, unlike last year, we’ve eliminated the Brooklyn Nets from this contest. While their games are shown locally in most of Connecticut on the YES Network, they are generally too shitty to get any UConn players this year.
Onward!
The number one priority here was to get Kemba Walker into Madison Square Garden. The number two priority was to rid the Knicks’ roster of any other former Big East players, as they don’t deserve that arena. The biggest victim is former Syracuse employee (we’re being honest here, right?) Carmelo Anthony. Also gone are Louisville’s Chris Smith and resident St. John’s madman World Ron Metta Arpeace. Making the trip north with Walker are Ben Gordon (who has his own claim to the Garden throne) and Jeff Adrien. Rudy Gay will continue his hot streak of getting traded. This time from Sacramento — hopefully his bags are still packed. And the dean of the group, veteran Caron Butler will leave his home in Milwaukee to join the new Knicks. Now if they could just find a coach who isn’t actually an ice sculpture, they’ll be all set.
Ray Allen will return to the home of his past glory in Boston. Since Kevin Garnett is rotting in Brooklyn and we’ve effectively replaced Danny Ainge in this scenario, all should go smoothly. Joining him are two sets of teammates. Future All-Star Andre Drummond and his sidekick, Charlie Villanueva, will leave the affluent confines of Detroit. Meanwhile, young gun Jeremy Lamb and his brodie (I don’t know either), Hasheem Thabeet, will arrive via Oklahoma City. The kicker in this trade is the Celtics will be atoning for a past mistake by sending Rajon Rondo to Detroit. In 2006, Boston took Rondo over UConn point guard Marcus Williams in the NBA Draft. Sure, Rondo turned out to be an All-Star caliber player while Williams struggled and eventually flamed out of the league. But you always take the UConn guy. Always.
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What are your thoughts? Who wins, new Knicks or new Celtics? Think any UConn players will actually get traded this season? Where will Rip Hamilton end up? Take it to the comments!
