Golden Keeps Making Moves...

Well, I had a busy weekend. How about you?

I started the weekend off with a 4 player deal with Bangkok - you remember it - Collison/Deng for Wright/Garcia. I was heavily criticized for making this deal by a few of the JBL owners. They claimed I was getting hosed in this trade. And maybe I did give up too much. But both Garcia and Wright played their final games for Bangkok today and both showed that they could add a lot to Golden moving forward. Wright's last hurrah was a 27 point, 5/6 from downtown effort while Garcia chipped in a 13 point game. We'll see how this deal works out, but when you're in 8th place, why not make a deal? What do I have to lose..

I made another salary cap deal this morning with Manhattan - proving that Bob does make trades and ultimately that he checks his email. I moved Nicolas Batum for Corey Brewer. I'll admit, Batum is the better player in the deal and should see lots of minutes as long as Roy remains out. Why did I go after Brewer? Well, a couple of reasons. The first is that I had to acquire salary and Brewer is $15 bucks. Secondly, Brewer has 60 steals for the season. Can he shoot? No. Does he do much else? No. But he is going to be starting now for Minny so we'll see how this necessary deal works out for me. Both Batum and Brewer are role players so this was more of a 'had to' trade than a 'want to' trade.

I also made a deal with the devil, er, I mean Idaho. I traded one of my favorites - Derrick Rose - to Idaho for Monta Ellis. Why did I do this deal? Well, again, salary was a factor. Also, Monta has more steals than Rose and I need steals desperately. I'm hoping that Monta's steals and 3pt shooting can be better than Rose moving forward. This was a stud for stud deal so both teams are winners here. I do have a side bet with Idaho this season and it certainly appears I will be losing the bet and paying his JBL entry fee next season. Does this move secure Idaho's spot in the money? Probably not, but he's right there...that's for sure.

I also brought in 2 new Free Agents for the upcoming week - Austin Daye and Kurt Thomas. Why them? Well, I drafted Daye at the start of the season and I still believe at some point Detroit is going to blow it up and let the young guys (Daye & Monroe) play. So, he plays 4 games and I hope he can provide a little spark to the Golden team. And Kurt Thomas was also brought in for his 4 game schedule. He's been blocking OK and grabbing a few rebounds so I figure I'd give him a go because my other Bigs only play 2 games this week.

I also have a tentative email accepted deal involving Serge Ibaka. I am close to acquiring a 3rd tier forward for the shot-blocker extraordinaire...I'm awaiting the other JBL owner to click accept after his email response said he liked the deal. I will be giving up a lot of blocks in the deal but I hope the guy I'm bringing in can help out Golden out in other categories. The other JBL team is looking for a potential keeper and Ibaka could be one at just $4 bucks. We'll see if the deal gets done in time for Week 12.

So, when it`s all said and done Golden will feature at least 6, and possibly 7, new starters for week 12. Big changes are needed if I`m going to even attempt to climb into the top tier of teams in the JBL. The next 4 weeks will shape the JBL standings and ultimately decide if I`m a buyer or a seller at the February 20th JBL keeper trade deadline. I`m looking forward to seeing how the new guys play. It will take a couple of days to remember who is on my team.

I have to admit, it was fun trying to piece together these deals and my `trade`screen on the JBL site had as many 7 offers for Ibaka and others at one point. I really think that come February`s trade deadline that the JBL will be very, very busy making deals.