I think that article described the dynamic I mentioned, which is that they do various things to get an edge on players they want, not just to (in the abstract) raise the costs of others when they aren't really interested in the specific player/trade. That is my point---they have to want the player to invest much energy and that's the rational way to allocate time and energy.While I do believe most trade inquiries are sincere, and I don't see Ainge getting involved solely to drive the price up for another team, I do believe there was an article posted somewhere on these boards about all the misdirection that goes on behind the scenes. GM's aren't some chummy club where it's strictly "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". They are competitive folks by nature that are always trying to gain an edge. I agree Ainge isn't going to simply make phony offers for Davis just to jack the price up. However, Ainge isn't going to simply sit back and let the Lakers get Davis for Ball and a 2nd round pick (exaggeration alert) either without at least making an offer of his own.
If the end result is that the Lakers end up paying more for Davis than they had originally wanted, and Griffin had to cancel a dinner engagement, I don't think Ainge is going to lose any sleep over Pelinka's and Griffin's feelings.
No one has suggested they are chummy or scratch each other's back. No one is suggesting anyone is worried about someone else's dinner reservation---and if you think anyone did you need to do some serious re-reading of this thread.
I think teams do what is in their best interests, and the reality is that it typically is not a good use of time (or risk to a set of working relationships) to engage in phony trade talk just to try and possibly drive up the cost for someone else. If you can find an example where a team did that without true interest in the player, let me know---but I think you're going to fail at that save the rare example like the Celtics bidding up Knicks players to consume their cap space so that Celts could keep their own player who Knicks wanted---the second scenario I alluded to previously.
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