NBA Trade Deadline Winners/Losers Edition!
1) Winner: Cleveland. They are a much better team post-trade, adding Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak in the back court, and only having to give up Larry Hughes (who stinks and has a ridiculously large and long contract) and Drew Gooden (who is pretty good, but Joe Smith can split his minutes with Varejao.) LeBron has to be pleased that he has people on the team besides him that can actually score. And adding Ben Wallace can't hurt, especially since they still have Big Z, so Ben doesn't have to play all the minutes at center - they can play him a more manageable 20-25 minutes, and have him play defense against the other big people in the league. All in all, this should make Cleveland one of the definitive top teams in the East, just a bit below Boston and Detroit and maybe just ahead of Orlando.
2) Loser: Chicago. At about this time last year, the Bulls had many young pieces (Deng, Gordon, Hinrich, Tyrus Thomas), PJ Brown's expiring contract, and the Knicks' #1 pick (which turned out to be Noah.) They probably could have had KG, Gasol, Marion, Rashard Lewis, or some other talented player. What do they have to show for all that instead? A team that'll be lucky to win 35 games this year, many fewer tradeable assets since some of their young pieces have devalued (Deng, Gordon, Hinrich), and they now employ Larry freakin' Hughes. If Paxson isn't fired at the end of the season, then he and Isiah Thomas must have made the same Faustian bargain.
3) Winners: San Antonio and New Orleans. The Spurs didn't do anything crazy, but the Kurt Thomas trade was awesome for them. They didn't give up much (Francisco Elston and the aging/injured Brent Barry) and they get a super-solid guy that can play defense, rebound, score, and not cause any problems in the locker room. The Hornets got deeper and more talented (and a bit more crazy) adding Bonzi Wells and Mike James, with only having to give up Bobby Jackson (still has some game, but not like he did with the Kings back in the early part of this decade.) That sets them up nicely to make a run in the playoffs.
4) Losers: Seattle fans. Sure, the moves may be smart from a salary cap perspective. But the Sonics are probably (and unfortunately) leaving the city, so these moves will likely pay off for the people of Oklahoma City. For now, they have to try to get excited about the likes of Ira Newble, Francisco Elston, Donyell Marshall, and Adrian Griffin. That sound you just heard was the Sonics fanbase collectively trying to drown themselves in the Puget Sound.
5) Winners: NBA fans. You can trace this back to the summer, as the Celtics got better with KG and Allen, and as the Magic picked up Rashard Lewis. Follow it through to the Jazz getting Kyle Korver, the Lakers getting Gasol, the Suns getting Shaq, Dallas getting Kidd, the improvement of the Piston's bench, the improvement of the entire Toronto roster, the further emergence of Dwight Howard and Chris Paul, the Warriors still being the Warriors, and the trades mentioned above. What it all adds up to is that the league is in as good a shape as its been in a long time. There is going to be exciting basketball played from now through June, just about every night. What could be better than that?
Bonus Losers: Knicks fans. The NBA is awesome right now, and our team stinks (they just lost by 40(!) to the Sixers (!!!)) On top of that, they probably have the most hopeless situation of anyone. We don't get to share in the fun, and all we have to look forward to is the day when Isiah Thomas is finally fired. I feel like Isiah is holding us hostage, but there will be no Stockholm Syndrome here - the hate I feel in my heart for this situation is brutal and ugly and should not be aired publicly. All I should say is that in this dawning of a new glorious age of the NBA, we are being left in the shadows.
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6 comments:
Hey Knicks fans, don't worry. You guys get a new franchise in Brooklyn soon, that way you can pull for them and then maybe the Knicks will get smart and fire Zeke.
Even if (and when) they fire Isiah, how long do you think it will take to get any good?
Two, maybe three years to get out from under horrible contracts?
Add to that, who's going to take over? You're not going to give the reigns back to Larry Brown, to bring a college coach (Kelvin Sampson?) into this mess would be career suicide and although there are many smart people that would want the job, they would want it after the first guy after Isiah failed...
I would hire Filowitz to run the Knicks.
Wally Szszczkzerbiakzsz was washed up a year or two ago with the Celtics. But adding Wallace was huge for the Cavs.
You know Daniel, you are the second NBA expert (and Jew) to convince me that the Cavs improved themselves in this deal yet Ijust don't see it. Maybe they got less terrible by getting rid of the human turnover Larry Hughes but honestly Hughes problems where the Cavs fault all along, by trying to play him at PG when in reality he was a great defensive 2 guard.
If the Cavs would have ever ventured out and tried to get a PG with some scoring savvy then playing Hughes at the 2 and not having to worry about offense would be perfect, alas Danny Ferry could do no such thing. Instead he adds Sczerzrezbiak and Ben Wallace. Seriously, this makes them legit? I dont think it makes them anymore legit, in order to win they still need a superhuman effort from LeBron, which he is clearly capable of.
As for the other trades yes the Spurs made the perfect move, but then again don't they always? I love what the Hornets did. I think adding James and Wells is huge. It gives them a scoring punch off thebench in Wells and versatility with Mike James. I think you will see James and Paul play together in playoff games so that James can be the defensive stopper on the floor and allow Paul to concentrate on the offensive end of the floor.
Whats real interesting Dan is how much NBA talk there is and how great the league is right now, but how did we get back here? It is a a good topic we can do some research on. In the intial "post Jordan" era things were fledgling in the NBA. Too many young kids coming out, obvious behaior and off court issues were becoming plagues of the league. But Stern as he always did, somewhat quietly, but always intelligently made subtl changes that helped the league. Forming the Developmental League and allowing teams to place young drafted players there, after the fight in Detroit instituting a dress policy for team employees 7 players, cracking down on rouhg physical play with supesnions a heavier fines. Stern always seems to know what are the right buttons to push.
Wally can still hit open jumpers. He can't play any defense, though.
And Joe Smith was quietly playing extremely well this year for the Bulls. I actually think he's a bit of an upgrade right now over Gooden.
That said, I think the move makes them better, but not better than the top two teams in the East, and if they're better than Orlando, it's not by much.
Besides what Kris said, one of the other huge things that brought the NBA back was the rule change that didn't allow as much hand-checking by guards. Stern and co. did that back around 2003 or so. That has opened the offense up. People say if someone like Jordan could play with today's rules, he'd average 50 a game. More offense and a more free-flowing game = more watchable.
The other thing that happened is that there has been an influx of likeable superstars (a point Simmons made in his New Orleans column.)
The superstars of the immediate post-Jordan era were guys like Iverson (who I love, but was not a universally "likeable" guy, for many reasons not the least of which have to do with race) and Duncan (nice guy, but he has the personality of the chocolate cruller I'm eating right now).
Now, you've got LeBron, Wade, Carmelo, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Gilbert Arenas, Brandon Roy - how do you not love these guys? And Greg Oden, if he can stay healthy, has the chance to be another personable superstar (he's legitimately funny.)
This has brought the NBA back to a place where they should get a new generation of passionate fans, fans that will carry the sport through the next 30 years.
Hasn't Kelvin Sampson committed career suicide already?
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