HEAT's Shawn Marion Involved in Trade Rumors

The latest rumor involving Shawn Marion has his services along with Marcus Banks headed to Toronto for Jermaine O'Neal. If this trade happens, it would benefit both teams.

The HEAT are in need of some height in their frontcourt. Their tallest frontcourt player is Jamal Magloire and his defense isn't that great either. There is no defensive presence behind Joel Anthony who has done an admirable job as the HEAT's starting center. Shawn Marion wouldn't be missed by the HEAT because they have so much depth at that position. The HEAT have Dorell Wright, James Jones, and Yakhouba Diawara can fill the potentially vacated SF position. Can you imagine the line up of Chalmers, Wade, James Jones, Haslem, and O'Neal? You could do worse. Jermaine O'Neal gives Wade another pick-n-roll buddy, a low post presence, and a post defender. However, the rub in this trade is the health of Jermaine O'Neal. He has been injured this season with those bothersome knees. If the HEAT make this trade, I think it signals that Riley couldn't care less about this summer's free agent class as O'Neal has a player option for more than $20 million. There is no doubt he'll exercise that option. This trade is a win for the HEAT, if O'Neal's healthy.

The Toronto Raptors would be getting a high energy player who can score in a variety of ways, rebound and defend. Shawn Marion can't shoot the three pointer with any degree of regularity. The move would allow the Raptors keep Andrea Bargnani in the starting lineup and go up-tempo more often. Marion is a huge upgrade at SF as Bosh has had enough of the errors made during the game.

Another possible trade partner is the Dallas Mavericks. Josh Howard is on the block and has been on there for quite sometime now. His admission about drug use doesn't help either. Shawn Marion for Josh Howard and another player? This could benefit both teams. As I said earlier in the post, Pat Riley doesn't care about this summer's free agent class. Josh Howard would give Dwyane Wade a much needed sidekick for this season and next. Howard could use the change scenery. The HEAT would still be short in the frontcourt but more potent offensively. The attention that Wade gets could result in Howard returning to his All-Star level. For the Mavs, they'll have Jason Kidd's and Shawn Marion's contracts expiring after this season. That is $38,552,000 coming off the books between. That doesn't include other contracts that expiring after this season. I think Marion would blossom playing next to Jason Kidd for obvious reasons and the Mavs could re-sign him after the season. The trade works out both teams.

NBA News and Rumors

There aren't many rumors today or noteworthy news in the NBA.

The Nuggets made a move to get under the luxury-tax threshold. Cheikh Samb was traded to the Clippers for a conditional second round pick in 2015. Are the Clippers about to move one of their big man such as Chris Kaman or Marcus Camby? Probably not. The Clippers did cut a couple of players from their roster. Maybe the Celtics could use a big man such as Paul Davis.

The Miami HEAT have released Shaun Livingston. The Lakers could use the length of Shaun Livingston at their point guard spot. How about a lineup of Livingston, Vujacic, Ariza, Odom, and Mihm or Powell? There is a lot of height in that lineup. Phil jackson has wanted his point guards to be long and lanky. I doubt it'll happen, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

A Little Bit of NBA Trade Winds

There aren't many rumors floating around the NBA lately. Obviously, the holidays have executives and journalists distracted. However, Yahoo! Sports has an article up that was pretty much about how former high school phenom Brandon Jennings is handling playing in Europe. In that article, towards the bottom, there is a list of names that might be on the trading block. The names of players listed are the same ones that have been mentioned over the last couple of months with the Warriors pushing hard to trade Corey Maggette who nobody wants.

Here are the other names: Sam Dalembert, Raymond Felton, Adam Morrison, Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes and Brad Miller.

Does anyone want to take on Dalembert's contract? Nope. Even if that particular wanted Sam Dalembert, they won't be giving up anything worthwhile for the limitations of Dalembert and his contract.

Raymond Felton is an interesting case. He didn't really click well with the Larry Brown as the starting point guard, but blossomed as a two guard. The inquiring team would have to offer up something substantial, at least that is what Michael Jordan should be wanting. By the way, how is that Brandon Wright-Jason Richardson trade working out? Looks pretty good to me after acquiring Boris Diaw and Raja Bell for Jason Richardson. My apologies, Mr. Michael Jordan. Adam Morrison has been somewhat of a bust since being drafted. I'm hestitant to call him a bust because most teams find out what they have in a player in their third year in the league. His first year was ugly; second year was a wash because of injury. His third year is going ok. Check out his game log when he gets about 20 minutes a game. He plays really well. Does any team need some scoring off the bench? Dallas Mavericks? Maybe Phoenix or New Orleans? I doubt he gets moved though, unless some team is desperate.

Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes are two Bulls who are on the outs in Chicago. Hughes is complaining about playing time, while Drew Gooden is doing what he does best: rebounding and scoring the basketball at a good clip. The Bulls seem to want to package the two together in any deal. Ultimately, I think Gooden will be the only Bull traded during the season. A Hughes trade might happen during the summer as his contract expires after next season. The Hornets could use another productive big man. Chris Paul needs help really bad!

Another disgruntled player make the rounds in the trade rumors is Brad Miller. Does anyone need a good passing and rebounding big man with average defense? Maybe the Heat? They could use Brad Miller's height, but not his attitude. Miller pipe down and put up numbers so he can be an attractive trade bait.

The NBA trade rumors should heat up over the next couple of weeks as the trade deadline nears. By the way, that Allen Iverson trade seems to be working for both teams now. So much for that Chauncey Billups for MVP talk.