An NBA insider in New York is saying that in five years, the recent multiplayer trade between the Knicks and Suns will be known as the Lampe trade, not the Marbury trade.
So far, 18-year-old Maciej Lampe (MAH-chick LOMP-ay) has not made an NBA appearance. The Knicks put him on the injured list Oct. 27 with shin splints, and the Suns put him on the injured list Friday with back spasms to make room for the return of Amare Stoudemire and Zarko Cabarkapa.
Lampe, 6 feet 11 and 240 pounds, was regarded as a lottery pick before last year's draft, but fell to the first pick of the second round (No. 30) due to questions over his contract status in Europe.
"I really like him. He has a lot of talent," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "This kid is going to be really good. He just needs more age. As a coach, I know I can give him more years. We'll just have to wait awhile. But he has all the skills.
"He needs to get stronger (upper body) and get experience. He has some things that you can't teach, like a feel for the game and shooting ability. It's a lot easier to wait and let him mature than it is to reconstruct the game. He already has the game."
I Came accross this interesting article and it got me thinking, it's probably more wishful than anything else, but what if Lampe becomes the next Dirk Nowitzki? the deal wont be as silly as the media made it out to be if that will be the case.
Imagine the suns next year if everything falls into place. Here's a look at what could happen to the Suns.
Cap relief. The two biggest contracts on the Suns roster (Dice and googs) are expiring at the end of this season. Moochie moochie! $$$... they can sigh in relief now that they have some ball space to move around with in the offseason, they should be able to sign somebody decent, some say Kobe, but pfft, that's probably just too far-fetched. Still, they should pickup somebody decent.
Also Suns have a poor record, and doesn't look like improving too much. So we will have a lottery pick... What if we came away with 2nd overall pick? That's a very slim chance, but it could happen. I would say 5th pick looks good. Not to mention the first round pick we got from Knicks, could be anywhere from 8th to 21st really.
So with all this young talent, you would expect Suns to pick up a vet from the FA market to tutor them, a la Scot Williams.
Now what i just said there is all pretty certain, But the big "what if" here is Lampe.
He hasn't played an NBA game yet, it's a tough call, but lets say the maximum "what if".... What if he develops into an NBA superstar?
