BigCrumbs Credits Me, SportsCenter's My Wish Series, and Kevn Garnett to the Lakers (WTFBBQ???)

- I've already earned $5.94 from using BigCrumbs.com! I'm rich!

(I talked about BigCrumbs.com in a blog entry last Monday.)

Now let's see if I actually get paid.

- SportsCenter started their My Wish series yesterday! For those of you that don't know what this is, ESPN has teamed up with the Make-A-Wish foundation to grant five kids their sports-related dreams, and each night (Sunday-Thursday), SportsCenter will devote a few minutes to each story.

This is the second year of the My Wish series, and some of the stories last year were absolute tear-jerkers.

(Yes, I will admit that I shed a tear or two; stories that reflect on the human spirit always get to me, especially when they involve children.)

- I was going to start talking about the poker tournament that I played in on Saturday, but I couldn't resist this little tidbit of news this afternoon: Kevin Garnett could be moved to the Lakers in a four-way deal?!?

Chad Ford of ESPN offered this trade scenario (ESPN Insider subscription required):

The Wolves send Kevin Garnett and Marko Jaric to the Lakers.

The Lakers send Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum to the Pacers and the No. 19 pick [and Kwame Brown] to the Wolves.

The Pacers send Jermaine O'Neal to the Celtics.

The Celtics send the No. 5 pick, Theo Ratliff, Gerald Green and Sebastian Telfair to Minnesota.

Ford touched on the potential impact of these deals for each team involved; I'll expand on his thoughts below.

Lakers: Kobe gets his superstar that he needs to contend for a championship, at the expense of their salary cap (unless KG or Kobe opt-out of their contracts early). Plus, they have to swallow Marko Jaric's horrible contract, lose Kwame's expiring deal, and give up on Andrew "Big Project" Bynum.

Assuming they re-sign Walton, does a Jaric/Kobe/Walton/KG/??? starting lineup (with a Farmar/Vujacic/Evans/Turiaf/Mihm?/Cook or Head bench) contend for a championship? Probably not. Would they be better than last year? Absolutely. And no, Laker fan, just because Chauncey Billups is now a free agent, don't expect him to come to the Lakers. How would they get him? Sign-and-trade? For what? Mid-level exception? Not a chance.

Pacers: The Pacers get the two players they wanted in a Jermaine O'Neal deal--Odom and Bynum--but they don't get the #19th pick that they also wanted from LA. I still think this is a pretty good deal for Indiana, because Odom's deal expires one year earlier than O'Neal's. They didn't really expect the Lakers to give up Odom, Bynum, Kwame AND the #19th pick for Jermaine O'Neal and the rights to badly overpay Troy Murphy, did they?

Celtics: So what if Boston doesn't get KG? They are still getting a big, AND they don't have to part with Al Jefferson (the centerpiece of any KG-to-Boston deal)! In the (L)Eastern Conference, I'd go to war with Pierce, O'Neal, and Jefferson, even at the expense of the #5 pick and Theo Ratliff's expiring contract. The only problem with this deal is, re-signing Jefferson after next season puts the Celtics close to luxury tax territory.

Wolves: Minnesota will get tons of cap space in this deal: Kwame's $9 million deal and Ratliff's $11 million deal come off the books next year. Also, Ricky Davis and Eddie Griffin come off the books; that's almost another $10 million. They also get three top-20 picks: #5, #7, and #19, which they could use to draft two top prospects from the Noah-Green-Horford--if he were to still be on the board at #5, Minnesota would take him in a half-second--Yi-Brewer group, and a guard (Pruitt? Crittenton?). Conley could fall to them at #5, but it looks like Minnesota wants Randy Foye at the point. Yes, the Wolves would be in super-rebuilding mode, with Gerald Green, Randy Foye, and their three picks probably seeing major minutes.

Ford says that this deal may not appeal to Minnesota. I don't see why it wouldn't. Two draft picks, one intriguing player--Gerald Green--and tons of cap relief after next season has to be a better offer than anything the Knicks can offer, right? As long as Phoenix doesn't chime in with a package revolving around Amare Stoudemire...

If I had to pick a winner in this deal, I'd pick the Lakers. Indiana gets Odom and Bynum, but their team probably won't contend for a title unless the entire team overachieves next year to a great degree. Boston could be stuck in cap hell for a while, with Pierce and O'Neal's deals and the pending pay raise to Al Jefferson. Minnesota gets tons of young talent and cap space, but cap space doesn't do you any good unless you can use the cap space efficiently. And who knows how many of those draft picks will pan out? The Lakers, on the other hand, get a super-duperstar to pair with Kobe. And I don't want to hear how KG's on the downside of his career. He's only 31, for crying out loud! If I had to pick a loser in this deal, yes, it would be Minnesota for the reasons mentioned above.

EDIT: So much for this trade rumor. Apparently the Los Angeles Times has reported that the deal will be a two team deal, between only LA and Minnesota. More on this tomorrow.

Next time: I'll begin talking about the poker tourney, unless something else comes up.