From a Marc Stein TrueHoop Post:
*The Kings have interest in securing another big man to join Spencer Hawes and the fast-developing Jason Thompson in their frontcourt rotation and have pondered the merits of gambling on Dalembert for some time. And trading for Philly’s out-of-favor center certainly makes more sense than a deal for New Orleans’ Emeka Okafor, who has four years and nearly $40 million left on his contract through the 2013-14 season. It’s believed that Sacramento, even if these three-way talks go no further, will continue to field offers for Nocioni, given the Kings’ desire to have cap space in the summer of 2011 and the promising early development of rookie Omri Casspi.
The deal in question/rumor would be the Kings sending Andres Nocioni to Boston and Kenny Thomas back to Philly. The Celtics would also send Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine to Philadelphia and the Kings would secure J.R. Giddens and Samuel Dalembert.
If you’ve read any of my stuff on Talkhoops before then you can probably guess I’m not the biggest Samuel Dalembert fan. I’ve always described him as the worst good defender. He just finds ways to screw up on defense despite being a better than average defender. He is probably the all-time leader in goaltends because he can’t help himself. He just HAS to grab the ball or knock it away, no matter what the rules say!
Personally, I think this team is clicking right now and Nocioni is a big part of it. I’m intrigued by the prospect of grabbing Giddens to see what he has but at the same time, his career path has taken a turn from sure star to toiling on the bench of an NBA team for a reason: he has a bad attitude. You can get more for Nocioni than a dumb defender and a young guy who’s ego is bigger than his game. Not to mention, I’d want no part of paying Dalembert $13 million next season.
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