Welcome to the second edition of 'McCready Malarky.'  In this 'issue' we take a look at Mike Miller, his status with the Memphis Grizzlies, and possible trade scenarios.  Also, we'll take a look at Gilbert Arenas' controversial blogging remarks.

- Will Mike Miller mosey out of Memphis? -

It's become apparent that Gasol was traded in order for the team to achieve some salary cost certainty to make the team more attractive for a prospective buyer.  Now that Memphis fans have truly digested how terrible the Pau Gasol trade really was (sorry Javaris Crittenton fans) we can turn our attention to the other highly paid players of the Memphis Grizzlies and who is likely to be traded.  

Brian Cardinal is owed nearly 19 million over the next three years but is untradable due to his shaggy playing ability.  Darko Milicic is another trade possibility, but that is also unlikely due to the player's young age, potential, and large contract (21 million over the next three years).  After that, the only player making more than 4 million past 2009 is Mike Miller.

Miller should be a very attractive piece to add to any contending team.  The former Rookie-Of-The-Year has playmaking ability, can hit the boards (he's averaging a career high this year with 7 per game), is athletic, and most of all, has a dead-eye shot.  He's a valuable player who is owed roughly 9 million dollars for the next 3 years.  

None of these trades are fair value for a player like Mike Miller, but none of them are as bad a trade as Gasol.

Mike Miller to the Golden State Warriors for Mickael Pietrus, Matt Barnes, and Patrick O' Bryant

This trade is different in that Memphis actually gets a couple young players in this deal.  O'Bryant is a former lottery selection, but he's been a bust so far in Oakland.  However, he's still a big body who can block shots, and he still has potential.  Both Pietrus and Barnes would have to consent to this trade and would become unrestricted free agents at the end of the year.

- Miller to the Toronto Raptors for Rasho Nesterovic, Juan Dixon, one first round pick, and one second round pick

The Toronto Raptors' team philosophy is quite possibly the ideal system for Mike Miller as there are few teams that rely on the three point shot like the Raptors.  They currently employ Jamario Moon, Jason Kapono, and Carlos Delfino at the 3 spot.  All are decent players, but none have really stepped up and proven that they are impact players.  Miller would step in and become that player as his rebounding would be heavily appreciated, and his shooting ability is superior to all of those players with the exception of Kapono, who would most likely be moved if this trade were to go through.

This trade might actually be the likely one if Rasho did not have an additional year left on his contract after this one.

- Miller to the Orlando Magic for Pat Garrity, Keyon Dooling, Adonal Foyle, and a first round pick

Adding Mike Miller to the Magic would make an already big lineup absolutely gigantic.  Miller, Hedo Turkoglu, and Rashard Lewis would be a unique threesome of skilled forwards (with Miller most likely playing the guard) who boast great size and outstanding shooting range.  Add Dwight Howard to the mix, and this team's size is flat-out intimidating.

All of the contracts mentioned above expire at the end of the season and free up cap space for Memphis.

- Miller to the San Antonio Spurs for Brent Barry, Fransisco Elson, Ian Mahinmi, Tiago Splitter, and a first round pick

The loss of Elson would hurt the Spurs' frontcourt depth, but with Robert Horry typically playing bigger minutes in the playoffs, it shouldn't be much of a concern. Miller's addition to the team will take some pressure off the aging Bruce Bowen, and he could combine with Michael Finlay to provide a killer combination of wing players off the bench.  Popovich was also an assistant coach for Mike on Team USA so there would be some familiarity there.

Mahinmi is a 6-11 center prospect who the Spurs selected at the end of the first round of the 2005 draft.  He has terrorized the D-League this season, leading it in field goal percentage (.644).  While he shouldn't have much of an impact in the big league yet, he's still a good prospect with massive amounts of athleticism.  Splitter is a Brazilian born player currently plying his trade in the EuroLeague.  He's another center prospect with good potential.

This is probably the best deal listed here for Miller as Mahinmi and Splitter are legit big man prospects who could realistically pan out.

- Jose Calderon is better than Gilbert Arenas -

In his latest blog, Gilbert Arenas discusses the merits for which a player should be considered an All-Star.  Throughout, he laments the fact that he did not make the team years ago and releases his frustration by taking pot-shots at the Detroit Pistons, Larry Brown, and specifically Jose Calderon.  It seems that Gilbert is still upset over missing the All-Star team a couple of years ago...

Arenas had this to say about Detroit, "That year when Detroit had four All-Stars, since then Chauncey Billups and Hamilton have become three-time All-Stars, but at the time they were just a great team."

Arenas insinuates that the four Pistons selected were inferior to him, and he only missed the game because Detroit was dominating the East at the time.  He terms it 'the Larry Brown era' because Brown preached team-play over individual accomplishments like few others, and he assumes that Brown influenced the selection process.  

This year (with Larry Brown out of the league) out of those four players, three made the Eastern squad and the other, Ben Wallace, would also make the team if he was still in Defensive Player-Of-The-Year form.  The comments don?t make much sense, but keep in mind they're coming from a guy who said that being on the cover of a videogame is a superior achievement to making an All-Star team.

Arenas saved most of his vitriol for Calderon, who responded to the attacks with a, quite frankly, immature response.

"Everyone has an opinion. You can write what you want. Whatever he says it's good for him. I have nothing personal.?

Calderon then went back to debating with Derrick Martin over which was thinner, his sideburns or Martin's mustache.

Seeing that Calderon wouldn't fight back, here's a counterargument against Arenas...

Gilbert debates that the difference between All-Star Antawn Jamison stepping up in his absence in Washington and Jose Calderon stepping up in TJ Ford's absence is that Jamison he's one of only five players to average 20 and 10.  Calderon is also a top 5 player in a stat, and I can see why Gilbert could overlook that as it is such an obscure statistic; assists with nearly nine per game.  Gilbert also points out that Calderon leads the league in assist-to-turnover ratio, arguing that it's a statistic in which only back-up point guards excel.  

"I understand Calderon has the best assist-turnover ratio in the league, but you know what?s funny? All back-up point guards have the best assist-turnover ratios. Screw it, Kevin Ollie should be an All-Star then! For like five or six years, Ollie was No. 1 in assist-turnover ratio!"

Well, I did some research and it turns out that Kevin Ollie did lead the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.  Once, in 2002, directly in front of three other 'backup' point guards (Jason Williams, Gary Payton, and John Stockton).  But stop picking on Ollie and compare Calderon to a more worthy opponent Gilbert Arenas.  

It's unfair to compare statistics from this year as Gilbert was injured, but let's take a look at the numbers from Gilbert's All-Star season last year and Calderon's this season...

Points Per Game: Gilbert Arenas 28.5, Jose Calderon 12.9

ADVANTAGE: Gilbert Arenas

Rebounds: Gilbert Arenas 4.6, Jose Calderon 3.1

ADVANTAGE: Gilbert Arenas

Assists Per Game: Jose Calderon 8.9, Gilbert Arenas 6.0

ADVANTAGE: Jose Calderon

Turnovers Per Game: Gilbert Arenas 3.2, Jose Calderon 1.6

ADVANTAGE: Jose Calderon

Field Goal Percentage: Jose Calderon 54.5, Gilbert Arenas 41.8

ADVANTAGE: Jose Calderon

Three Point Shooting Percentage: Jose Calderon 47.2, Gilbert Arenas 35.1

ADVANTAGE: Jose Calderon

Free-Throw Percentage: Jose Calderon 92.3, Gilbert Arenas 84.4

ADVANTAGE: Jose Calderon

There's no doubting that Arenas is a superior volume scorer than Calderon, but is he better at running a team?  Calderon?s scoring and ball distribution is much more efficient than Arenas could ever hope to be.  Some might argue that Gilbert needs to put up that many shots for his team to be successful and that Calderon is surrounded by superior talent and doesn't need to command the offense.  The retort to that is that Washington has two All-Stars (Jamison and Caron) this year while Toronto has one (Chris Bosh).

Gilbert also mentions one very interesting point: that one must look at the team surrounding the player to determine whether or not he should be an All-Star.  He suggests that maybe David West made the team because he plays with the amazing Chris Paul whose superior playmaking talents augment the numbers of his teammates.

Going with that line of thinking, shouldn't a player with worse numbers playing with inferior ball hogging talents make the All-Star team?  The answer is no.  And that's why Antawn Jamison made the squad this year but didn't last year.  During his All-Star campaign last year, Gilbert averaged more than twenty shots per game.  With Gilbert out of the lineup that opens twenty more shots to be taken more so by Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, allowing Butler to put up career numbers and Jamison to make the All-Star team for the first time since he was with Golden State.

Some might mention that Calderon is not a flashy player and that he's as boring as roasted oats for breakfast (simile courtesy of Charles Oakley) thus undeserving of an All-Star game that is strickly flash over substance.  

For positions 5, 4 and 3 I would agree, but am I the only one sick of seeing guards like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James jack up 25 shots a game in a duel for who'll win the All-Star game MVP?  I'd like to see a point guard actually give the ball up and allow others to shine; let everyone take a look at the different all-stars and not just 3 or 4 ball-hogs.  

Do I think Calderon was snubbed?  No, not really.  He's one of those guys on the fence who I really wouldn't get upset if he made the team or not.

Would I pick Jose Calderon on my team over Gilbert Arenas?  Yes, I would.

Questions?  Comments?  Probes?  Cheap herbal Viagra offers?  Email Matt McCready at mattmccready@gmail.com