You might be wondering about the Cavs logo? I just found this one cooler than the new oneThe NBA Trade Deadline is closing up fast and everyone seems to be either beefing their teams up for the coming playoffs or trimming down for the coming off-season-extravaganza for draft picks or cap space. So here's a pretentious analyst trying to give his thoughts about the trades that has gone so far. Don't worry, some of my thoughts came from other peoples thoughts too, reworded and rephrased probably to make it seem like my own. So trust that they're still professionally analyzed by the professionals.
... Of course I'll quote them...
Caron Butler to Dallas
The trading spree kicked off right after the All-Star weekend when we saw Dallas made some calls to bring 2 time All-star Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood (Stevenson is part of this deal, but wouldn't it be easier if we just involved those who are significant?) to the Mavericks for Drew Gooden, Josh Howard and a couple more guys who won't pass significance... ok maybe James Singleton would do.
This trade gave Dallas the big man they needed (but chose to start Dampier anyway) and another prolific scorer that Jason Kidd can dish to. Adding these players to their already beefed up roster (still lost to OKC on day 1) will really add more points on the Dallas score board. I somehow remember the Don Nelson era where Dallas pretty much gave so many points but scored more. That team had big names on each position during that time, off the top of my head they had Nash, Jamison, Dirk, LaFrentz, 'Toine Walker (yeah they were significant back then) and many many more.
But even with this bulked up starting 5, I don't see how they can rise up on the Western Conference pedestal against proven bigs like Denver and the Lakers. But lets see as the 2nd half of the season progresses. I might have my foot up my mouth by the end of it.
Camby to the Blazers
A few days after, Marcus Camby was once again involved in a surprise trade that he didn't know of until the last minute with Portland. Camby was sent to Portland for Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake. The Clippers had to make space to give their budding Jordan guy some playing time and helped the Blazers solve their big man problem after losing Pryz-zilla and Benjamin Oden (together known as Joreg Pryzboden as Bill Simmons brilliantly named in his book The Book of Basketball) for the season.
Given my conspiracy theory that Juwan Howard had something to do with the injuries, I won't be surprised that they'll lose Marcus Camby to some freak injury as well. I still believe that Juwan Howard is that desperate to gain some playing time thus sending good ol' Joreg to the infirmary. This happened in Houston too when Yao Ming and Dikembe fell during the stretch of the post season.
Juwan Howard is still lurking among Portland's locker room so... I'll probably be careful with Marcus Camby.
Kidding aside, this trade will help the Blazers big time. They're really in need of some defensive anchor/vet to help out their talented young core of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. Maybe you could also add Bayless there.
Antawn Jamison to the Cavs
Washington is seriously dumping their clogged up payroll and Cleveland is in desperate need to do something to "fix" something that ain't broke. After sending off Caron Butler to the Mavs, they also shipped the 2nd big of their big 3, Jamison to the Cavs. This trade also involved the Clippers who're suddenly being tagged as geniuses after seeing Al Thornton and Sebastian Telfair out their roster to clear up some cap space.
So to simplify this one out this is how the trade broke down.
The Washington Wizards sends Antawn Jamison to Cleveland and newly acquired Drew Gooden to the Clippers. They'll receive Big Z, and the draft rights of some European guy from Cleveland and Al Thornton from the Clippers.
The Los Angeles Clippers also gave out Sebastian Telfair to the Cavaliers.
The Cavs won 13 out of 14 games before heading into the all-star break. They're on the top of the NBA standings with a 43-11 record and they're desperately looking for an upgrade they didn't need.
What they're doing is sending LeBron James a message that they'll take care of him and his hometown team since LBJ is going to have an interesting off season when we see his contract end with the Cavs.
The addition of Jamison surely gave the Cavs a big lift to bag the 2010 NBA crown. Their only threat in the league are Kobe's LA Lakers who they managed to beat twice during the regular season. But we all know what Mamba can do during the post season. This is an interesting playoff year for the NBA and we'll surely see the matchup between the games biggest titans.
Kobe vs LeBron.
Hats off to Cleveland GM Danny Ferry on this one. Phoenix GM Steve 'the moron' Kerr should take notes on from this guy and Portland GM Kevin Pritchard.
Kevin Martin to the Rox
Tracy McGrady to the Knicks
After that messy 3-team trade here's another one that would eventually lead to another 3 team trade.
Yesterday's events kicked off with us seeing Kevin Martin shipped off to Houston for Tracy McGrady and Carl Landry.
This deal changed this morning to involve the NY Knicks. Here's how the deal broke down as narrated by Y! Sports
The Rockets will get Kevin Martin from Sacramento, Jared Jeffries and Jordan Hill from New York.
The Knicks will get Sacramento PG Sergio Rodriguez, who might start as PG for Mike D'antoni, after all he was drafted by the 'stashed coach for the Suns, and Tracy McGrady from the Rockets.
The Kings gets scrappy forward Carl Landry who might see improved minutes since the Kings needs some serious offensive post presence, Joey Dorsey and Knicks guard Larry Hughes.
This is a perfect example of a win-win-win situation. By unloading Jarred Jeffries and Larry Hughes, the Knicks certainly cleared up more space for the upcoming FAxtravaganza in the off-season. They also got a name that would help them look exciting for the rest of this season in TMac. Everyone in the fantasybasketball world are going gaga over their waiver wires right now because Mike D'Antoni and Tracy McGrady just makes alot of scoring sense. I just don't know how much sense that would make.
Houston on the other hand added another scrappy forward for their scrappy team in the form of Jarred Jeffries and the young Jordan Hill. They surely lose one of their center pieces, 6th man Carl Landry on the trade but gained a young Reggie Miller-esque type of player in Kevin Martin. In a team full of role players (Ariza, Battier, Scola, Hayes, and now Jeffries) I'm expecting Kevin Martin to really loosen up in this scrappy team and bring his fire power to boost the Rox for a brighter future when Yao Ming returns.
The Rox also acquires challenged big man Hilton Armstrong from the Kings.
The Kings got what they wanted in this trade. They got rid of Kevin Martin who seriously couldn't play alongside their young stud, Tyreke Evans. They got the Power Forward they always wanted Sean May to become in Carl Landry and as bonus, they also got someone to use off the bench in the form of Larry Hughes and to sweeten it up more, he has his expiring contract along with him. It won't do much this year, but with the young core of Tyreke Evans, Jason Thompson, Omri Casspi, and now Carl Landry, the Kings could eventually get out of the NBA's vaunted underworld. Not to mention they might also get some high picks on this coming NBA Draft.
for shultz and giggles... Kryptonate to the Celtics
Not much is happening here. I just wanted to comment on my ironic theory of how desperate (like the Cavs were) the Celtics are in defeating the Orlando Magic. They hired Kryptonate to counter Superman. And another theory... along with Nate they also got his 3rd slam dunk title as addition to their hardware this year. Which would be what the Celtics (Pierce) would be bragging about by the end of the season since they'll end up empty handed.
Celtics gave New York Eddie House, JR Giddens and high-flyer Bill Walker for Nate Robinson, and brawler Mardy Collins.
And a quick rundown of other trades that happened around the league...
Utah trades Ronnie Brewer to Memphis for a future 1st Round Pick
-- this leaves some playing room for rookie Wesley Matthews
Chicago trades John Salmons to Milwaukee in exchange for Hakim Warrick, and Joe Alexander
-- seriously give Vanilla Sky (Joe Alexander) some playing time
Chicago trades Tyrus Thomas to Charlotte for Acie Law and Flip Murray
-- Bobcats win!
San Antonio trades Theo Ratliff to Charlotte for cash
-- yawn.
New York trades Darko Milicic to Minesotta for Brian Cardinal
-- Detroits number 2 pick over Wade, Bosh, Melo, Kaman becomes a journey man.
Washington trades Dominic McGuire to Sacramento for a future 2nd rounder
-- Kings gets another warm body that can produce
Thats all folks! Lets see how these trades materialize during the remainder of the season.
*most trades arent finalized yet in Y! Sports but other sites already reported it to be as done deals
No comments:
Post a Comment