Reaction to all the trades at the 2011 Trade Deadline

As a widely-expected lockout looms next season, NBA teams were very active on the eve of this year’s trade deadline.  LeBron James and Chris Bosh’s departures from Cleveland and Toronto, respectively, have affected more than just the franchises they abandoned.  Their exits have instilled fear in every GM in the league that has a superstar player with a soon-to-be expiring contract.  Consequently, no team wants to end up like Cleveland or Toronto.  One further aftermath of the LBJ/Bosh departures is the fluid movement of big-name players that want to team up with fellow NBA juggernauts.  As a result, NBA teams are going to incredible lengths to make moves.  Seven trades happened at the deadline, while two blockbuster trades happened earlier this week.

Here's a list of this week’s trades for your convenience (thanks, Henry Abbott):

·         Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks.

·         Deron Williams to the Nets.

·         Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic to Boston for Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson.

·         Gerald Wallace to the Blazers for Joel Pryzbilla.

·         Kirk Hinrich to the Hawks for Mike Bibby.

·         Baron Davis to Cleveland for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon.

·         Aaron Brooks to the Suns for Goran Dragic.

·         Shane Battier to the Grizzlies for Hasheem Thabeet.

·         Carl Landry to the Hornets.

·         Troy Murphy to Golden State for Brandan Wright and Dan Gadzuric.

·         James Johnson to the Raptors.

·         Semih Erden and Luke Harangody to the Cavaliers for Boston’s 2^nd Round Pick.

With all due respect to Semih Erden and Luke Harangody, let’s go over the biggest trades:

New York Knicks get:  F Carmelo Anthony, G Chauncey Billups, F/C Shelden Williams, G Anthony Carter, F Renaldo Balkman, G/F Corey Brewer

Denver Nuggets get:  G/F Wilson Chandler, G Raymond Felton, F Danilo Gallinari, C Timofey Mozgov, Kosta Koufos, 2014 1^st Round Pick

Minnesota Timberwolves get:  F/C Anthony Randolph, C Eddy Curry

I already talked in length about this trade, particularly how it affects NY and Denver.  As for Minnesota, I don’t know what they’re doing besides making friends with teams looking to get rid of huge contracts.  I know they want to clear cap space for future free agents and trades, but let’s be real:  nobody wants to come to Minnesota.  Since KG left town, they were doomed for years of futility.  Hopefully they can get good draft picks in the coming years and become relevant again.  The only good team they put together was in 2003-04, when KG, Sam Cassell, and Latrell Sprewell formed the NBA’s highest scoring trio and gave the Western Conference a real scare in the 04 playoffs.  Then reality hit, and Sprewell turned down a $21 million contract because it was “beneath” him and he thought it wasn’t enough to feed his family.  I still can’t get over that.

New Jersey Nets get:  G Deron Williams

Utah Jazz get:  G Devin Harris, F Derrick Favors, 2 first round picks and Cash

D-Will apparently fell out of favor with the Jazz front office

Unlike the Melo-to-Knicks deal, this was really unexpected.  While NJ is glad to finally land an All-Star, this is one risky move for the Nets.  Russian billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov was clearly desperate to land a superstar after missing out on several big names (LBJ, Wade, Melo, etc.), essentially giving away promising future assets in the deal.  D-Will was noticeably saddened to suddenly be on a 17-40 team, and may very well be in trade talks by next year’s trade deadline.  I guess it was smart of New Jersey to see how things work out until then.  But if they end up keeping Deron through the 2011-12 only to see him leave the team, the Nets will be in an even bigger predicament before the team moves to Brooklyn.  There’s a lot of risk in giving up your future for a star player who might only be around for 1.5 years.

From Utah’s end, you have to wonder what made Utah give up on D-Will this early.  Even though it was clear he was not going to re-sign with the team, his contract isn’t up until next summer.  Clearly, he worn out his welcome with the Jazz front office, and was accused of being the main driver behind Jerry Sloan’s resignation.  The team was clearly struggling despite having a solid roster, and was on the verge of missing the playoffs. Now, they have some hope for the future with a very good point guard in Harris and promising young players.

OKC Thunder get:  C Kendrick Perkins, G Nate Robinson

Boston Celtics get:  F Jeff Green, F/C Nenad Krstic

I am completely baffled by this trade.  Either there’s some monetary reason for this, or something behind the scenes happened that prompted Danny Ainge to pull this off.  I just can’t figure out why he would do this at this stage of the season.  There's no possible basketball-related reason for this, which makes me think either Rasheed Wallace might come back and/or Ainge thinks Perk is leaving after this season (the latter being more likely).  With Perk, the Celtics had the size to go against any bigs they would encounter in the playoffs.  Don’t forget last year’s NBA Finals, where they arguably would have won the championship if he was healthy for Game 7 against the Lakers.  Now, suddenly they think they can win without him altogether?  I’m skeptical.   

If all their remaining bigs – Shaq, Jermaine O’Neal, Krstic – are healthy, they should still be favorites to win the title.  But look at those names I just listed – that is a BIG “IF.”  What made the Celtics so tough for teams like Orlando is their ability to guard dominant bigs one-on-one.  Now, if Shaq goes down and they were to play Orlando in the Eastern Conference Semis this year, who guards Dwight one-on-one?   They shut down last year’s lethal Magic team by NOT double-teaming Dwight, and thus staying home on the shooters.  No other team, other than the Lakers, could have contained their deadly outside shooting game.  Luckily for them, the Magic don’t look so hot these days.  With Atlanta and New York getting better this week (I’ll get into those trades later), Orlando may not even get home court advantage in the first round.  Still, they may face the Lakers in the Finals.  Without Perkins, I’m not so sure they can beat them - unless Shaq gets 10 years younger. 

Let’s get away from Perkins for a second:  the loss of Nate Robinson should not be overlooked, either.  Nate made the Celtics backcourt very tough to deal with.  Having him back up Rajon Rondo has been extremely effective; when teams backed off of Rondo and dared him to shoot, Doc Rivers brought Nate in the game to be a scorer.  Having both pass-first and shoot-first point guards gave Boston a variety of options as far as how they ran their offense, confusing most defensive units in the league.  Now who backs up Rondo?  I don’t like this trade at all for Boston.

Without Perk in the middle, guys like Dwight would have a much easier time against Boston

From OKC’s end, this is a great trade.  Jeff Green is a decent player, but is very inconsistent.  With great upside coming out of Georgetown, he and Kevin Durant were supposed to take the reins of the franchise.  But with Westbrook emerging as the clear 2^nd-fiddle behind KD (and perhaps the real leader of the team), Green became expendable.  Perk will give a great boost to the Thunder defense, which has slipped considerably since last season (their suffocating D really gave the Lakers fits before going out in a very close six-game series).  The team desperately needed a big, physical presence in the middle.  Now they got one, and they have no real gaping holes heading into the playoffs.

So – great trade for the Thunder, and a real head-scratcher for Boston.

Portland Trailblazers get:  G/F Gerald Wallace

Charlotte Bobcats get:  C Joel Pryzbilla, F Dante Cunningham, 2 1^st round picks

Wallace's versatility and athleticism will fit in nicely with Portland

What a great trade for Portland.  With Brandon Roy’s health issues, the team needed help to finish the season strong.  Currently a 7^th seed, the Blazers should be a tough out for whoever they match up with in the playoffs.  All-Star snub LaMarcus Aldridge has been a beast of late, and Wallace should compliment him nicely.  His talents have been a little forgotten in Charlotte, but he still is a tremendous high-flying athlete that plays terrific defense, and he rebounds well for his position.  Since he doesn’t need the ball to be effective, I see him fitting in fairly seamlessly in Nate McMillan’s schemes.  If Brandon Roy can somehow get healthy by the playoffs, their starting lineup will be comprised of this:  Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, Gerald Wallace, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Marcus Camby.  I don’t care who they play; that is a scary lineup for anybody to go against.  Of course, it’s the Blazers, and health is always an issue.  I won’t put money on them to get past the 1^st round, but if they’re healthy then I really wouldn’t be surprised if they upset anybody in the playoffs.

As for Charlotte – well, they are just another seller in today’s NBA market.  MJ’s tenure as owner isn’t going to draw any more positive reviews in the near future.  Much like the other small market teams of the league, they need to get lucky in the draft to make any noise.

Atlanta Hawks get:  G Kirk Hinrich, F/C Hilton Armstrong

Washington Wizards get:  G Mike Bibby, G Jordan Crawford, G/F Maurice Evans, 1^st Round Pick

This was clearly a reactionary move by the Hawks after seeing New York – a team on their heels in the playoff standings – land Carmelo Anthony.  Bibby has clearly lost a step, both offensively and defensively.  He’s also been somewhat of a no-show in Atlanta’s playoff appearances the past few seasons.  In Hinrich, they get a younger but very solid point guard, and an overall improvement at the position on both ends of the court.  He is a very underrated defensive player.  When he was in Chicago, then-coach Scott Skiles got fired in part because he consistently benched Derrick Rose in favor of Hinrich for defensive purposes.  In addition to Hinrich, Armstrong will provide some size and depth on the thin Hawks bench. 

I’m not really sure why the Wizards even got Hinrich in the first place last summer, knowing they were drafting Wall.  But Bibby gives them veteran experience – something they sorely lack and part of the reason why they are basically win-less on the road.  In trading Hinrich, they acquired a long-term prospect in Jordan Crawford and they have yet another 1^st round pick this year to boot.

Cleveland Cavaliers get: G Baron Davis, 1^st Round Pick

Los Angeles Clippers get:  G Mo Williams, F Jamario Moon

Poor Baron Davis.  First, he ditched a fairly good Golden State Warriors team to sign with his hometown Clippers in hopes to play with Elton Brand.  Then, Brand screws him over by signing with Philly.  After a few Clipper-like seasons at the bottom of the standings, Blake Griffin gets drafted.  Then, Griffin busts his kneecap and sits out an entire season.  This year, Davis struggled early on with injuries and was out of shape.  Owner Donald Sterling even expressed frustration with Baron not being in playing shape.  But after all that, Davis got healthy and the Clippers finally appeared to be coming together as a group.  Davis got to throw one jaw-dropping alley-oop pass to Griffin after another.  Griffin even had Davis assist him in his final dunk of this year’s Slam Dunk contest. 

Baron's days of posterizing opponents is sadly over

Now?  He got traded to the NBA’s worst team.   Tough break.  I think he’ll suddenly have a myriad of season-ending “injuries” and get bought out this summer.  It’s too bad, because Baron is one of my favorite players to watch when he’s engaged.  The last time we saw him at his best was when he spearheaded the demolition of the 2008 1^st seeded Dallas Mavericks in the greatest playoff upset in NBA history.   Only sometimes showing flashes of his unbelievable skill set, he may be one of the NBA’s biggest underachievers.  If injuries and motivation weren’t an issue, he would be a perennial All-NBA selection.  As depressing as it is to say this, it’s hard to see that version of Davis ever showing up again.

Cleveland made this trade primarily for the draft pick.  The Clippers, still hoping to make a playoff push, acquired Williams and Moon to help make it happen.  It’s hard to see how, mostly because Mo gets injured seemingly as often as Davis does.  But maybe playing on an exciting team (yes, playing with Blake Griffin automatically makes you a de facto exciting team, regardless of your team record) will rejuvenate him.  I can’t see it happening, though. 

Every year, you see at least one lose-lose trade for both teams involved.  This was it.

One reported trade – O.J. Mayo to the Pacers for Josh McRoberts and a 1^st round pick – fell through right at the deadline.  With Mayo already having had a rocky season so far, this does not bode well for Mayo or Memphis as a team.  Plus, with Shane Battier coming in, Mayo’s minutes are a lock to diminish significantly.   Things have already been interesting in Memphis after Mayo got suspended for 10 games violating the NBA’s drug policy and got in a fight with teammate Tony Allen.  Think he’ll be a distraction now that he’s staying put?  It remains to be seen whether they can squeeze into the playoffs with a disgruntled Mayo in the Grizzlies locker room. 

So who benefited the most from this year’s trade deadline? 

Winners:  Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers

Losers:  Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers

TBD:  Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets