The 2014 NBA trade deadline passed, six days ago, and once again it wasn't anything to go nuts about. It wasn't a snoozer like last year, but the range of transactions meaning went from ''cool'' to ''scraping drawer bottoms to save cap space''. Nonetheless, anything would've been better than last year's reenactment of Andy Warhol's SLEEP.
The CBA has ruined the trade deadline, at least for its duration. Its strict rules were meant to regulate the free agent market, but instead the market adapted and the trade market suffered. It became difficult to accept the contractual decisions of another GM and make them work on your team. Anyway, here are the highlights of the last trade deadline and their existential meaning. I won't go over every trade in this blog post, but if I don't mention, you shouldn't care about it.
Started from the bottom, now Evan Turner's here
Just like I predicted Evan Turner got traded, but I don't think anybody could anticipate his destination. In the most cutthroat trade deadline move in like, three years or so, THE LEGEND Larry Bird traded his washed up star Danny Granger for the talented, yet troublesome Philly slasher. It's the second wildcard the Pacers are taking aboard in a little bit over one month after Andrew Bynum. If anything, it betrayed the overbearingly competitive nature of Larry Bird and his powerful desire to beat Miami. The long mediocre Indiana Pacers bench now counts: Evan Turner, Andrew Bynum, C.J Watson, Luis Scola, Lavoy Allen and Chris Chopeland. If this experiment works, the Pacers will run 11 deep for the rest of the season.
Ernie Grunfeld's Jedi mind tricks
Who would've thought that the reputably bone-headed Grunfeld would ever lead the Washington Wizards to respectability? Even worse, who would've thought he had a sneaky transaction in him? Andre Miller has always been appreciated in Denver before clashing with his new coach Brian Shaw. He was basically kicked off the team, so Ernie wanted a back up point guard for superstar John Wall, so he dumped not one, but TWO problematic players for the crafty veteran. Ernie sent the disastrous Jan Vesely to Denver and the underwhelming Eric Maynor to Philadelpha. The Wizards used to have an 11 points differential with John Wall on or off the floor (104 - 93), but expect the split to dim, the Wizards to go in the playoffs and the future to look good. I never thought I'd say that.
The Bizarro Bobcats
In a bizarro universe, the Charlotte Bobcats just traded to make a playoff push. They sent Ramon Sessions and Jeff Adrien to Milwaukee for Gary Neal and Luke Ridnour, in an effort to shore up their perimeter shooting issues. The trade is as fair as it gets. I'm a big Ramon Sessions fan, I believe he is the best backup point guard in the league, so I don't know if I would've traded him though. Neal will land in an ideal situation in Charlotte where he'll be allowed to shoot away. I think the Bobcats get in the playoffs with this trade, but with Milwaukee's impending high lottery pick, they might've gotten the better in long term. I expect Sessions to play about 30 minutes a game with the Bucks and make everybody a little better.
The Cleveland Buyers Club
Don't lie, you expected this. If anybody would've bought on the Spencer Hawes bubble, it would've been Cleveland and they totally did. One year ago, everybody was making fun of Hawes. The 76ers landed the surprisingly gifted Michael Carter-Williams in the draft and suddenly, he transformed Hawes into an asset. I'm still now buyin on the Spencer Hawes hype.He's a competent stretch-5, but he has just landed in a mess and all that Cleveland will do for him is have him dunked on over and over and over again. Nobody's a winner in this trade. The Cavs will not make the playoffs.
Kent Bazemore and the concept of sneaky good rebuilding
I'm a Kent Bazemore fan. He's an explosive athlete, a positive-minded kid and a scrapper. He's the kind of kid that just needs minutes. You need to give him the ball and tell him to have fun. I didn't bat an eyelash when the Lakers traded Steve Blake to Golden State for Bazemore and MarShon Brooks. Blake was a good, smart player but they'll get over him. In the meantime, the Lakers have started Bazemore at point guard since then and got 17-17 and 23 points performances. MarShon Brooks also strikes me as a Mike d'Antoni kind of trigger happy kid. The Lakers will rise from their ashes, folks.
No comments:
Post a Comment