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Show Part 4 NBA Trades say in trades but they don't run the organizations. THE BEST part of the trades is that the players on the new club try to make you feel right at home from the start. "Trades come as a surprise but you have to tell yourself that the new player is there to help your team get better." added Mr. Poquette. He added that all new players he's been involved in-volved with have been shown the red carpet treatment from the players. The thing that makes trades bearable to the players is their know ledge that their contracts still have to be honored. A new club can renegotiate a contract but that player is guaranteed at least the same contract from the new team as he got with the old one he just left., OBVIOUSLY, BOTH parties par-ties want the trade to be of equal value and that's where future draft picks and cash comes into play. Take last year for example, when Utah traded McKinney to Denver for Carl Nicks. The Jazz also got a second round draft pick along with Nicks, this was their idea of equaling the trade. Other times the two clubs can't afford to give up draft choices so they simply offer straight money. The commissioner doesn't have the power to veto a trade per se, he can't just step in and say no. But last year he did step in and tell Cleveland that all their trades must be approved by his office before becoming final, since he felt all their wheeling and dealing was making a mockery of the league and his office. SO DON'T be afraid or surprised sur-prised if one day or one night someone walks up to you and says. "Smile, your favorite player has just been traded to Detroit." ONCE A player has been traded he has to report to that team. Any NBA contract stipulates sti-pulates that if traded they must report or face a fine. The club to which you are sent then pays for all the moving costs to the player and his family plus they will put the new player up in a hotel for one month to allow him time to find a place to live. When traded the new club ' also has to honor that player's contract. If Detroit traded for Darrell Griffith, then the Pistons Pis-tons would have to honor his salary of $300,000 for five years. Some trades are worked out where both sides would pay part of the salary. Say Adrian Dantley went to Philly and say he makes $6(K).(KK) per year for the next four years. It could be worded in the trade contract that Utah would pay half that salary for the remaining remain-ing time. This was the case with Pete Maravich and the Boston people. By DAVE WIGHAM Kdilnr's note: This is part four of the fivr part series dealing Kith life in the NBA. Today we deal with tralei. It can come anytime to anyone. any-one. No one in the league is safe from it. One night you could be playing against the Denver Nuggetts and the next night you could be playing for them. THIS MYSTERY is a thing called trades. If a club's management man-agement thinks a trade would help the club then they go ahead and make that move. Although some of the superstars super-stars are never traded, like Magic Johnson won't be for his salary, there is no one in the league that isn't trade bait. A few years ago certain players had written in their contract that they had to approve all trades involving them but as mentioned in another of this series those , contracts are no longer allowed by the league. If a club wants to send you to Cleveland, Cleve-land, a fate some players look to as worse than death itself, then you have to show up in that city and play. EVEN THE players involved, in-volved, along with their teammates, team-mates, have no idea of a trade. Some have been watching the 1 old television set and the announcer has just informed his audience that you hav e just been traded to Detroit. , The Jazz have especially been wheeling and dealing in ' this case. "We have had so many go through here that it's tough to keep track of all of them. Billy McKinney last year found out at a pi act ice i that he had been traded to Denver. De-nver. Prior to that he had no idea that they were even considering con-sidering trading him. none of us had," noted Ben Poquette. TO TAKE it one step further then. That would mean Dantley Dant-ley was playing for Philly with Utah paying $300,000 and Philly Phil-ly the other $3(X).(KK). Suppose then Dantley were traded to Kansas City, well K.C. would take over the Philly part of the contract but Utah would still have to pay their half for the number of years that Dantley would have been under contract con-tract with them. "The one thing the players have to remember, although some of them might have security, is that management is always talking to other teams in an effort to improve the club. If, in their opinion they can do this then they will, regardless re-gardless of the player. So in that essence you should never think of yourself as untrade-able." untrade-able." noted Ben. He went on to add that it would be nice if the players could have some |