Roadman's Blog

The NBA’s Winners and Wannabe’s at Trade Deadline

This year was one of the busiest years in recent memory in moving all-stars and wannabe all-stars around the league. It started with Pau Gasol going to the Lakers and ended with big Ben Wallace and Wally Szczerbiak heading the LBJ”s Cav’s. Here is my look at the trade deadline Winners and Wannabe’s.

Winners

1. LA Lakers- When I first heard this trade, I thought Jerry West was still the GM of the Grizzlies because it appeared he was giving LA preferential treatment for trading Gasol. There is a lot of upside of trading Gasol for Kwame Brown, Javarias Crittenton, Aaron Mckie, the draft rights to Gasol’s brother, Marc, and 1st round picks in 2008 and 2010. Gasol should help free up Kobe to roam and not be dependent to score over 40 pts per game with Odom, Gasol and Brynam (when he returns) spreading the triangle offense. I really believe this catapulted the Lakers to near the top of the western conference.


2. Cleveland Cavaliers- Lebron James certainly received his wish when the Cav’s pulled off a three team trade with the Bulls and the Supersonic’s. The Cav’s received Ben Wallace, Joe Smith and a second round draft choice in 2009 from the Bulls and Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West from the Supersonic’s. The Bulls received Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown from the Cav’s. The Seattle Supersonic’s received Donyell Marshall and Ira Newbie along with Bulls forward Adrain Griffin. The Cav’s have strengthened their positioning in the Eastern Conference playoffs by receiving some quality talent surrounding LBJ and unloading, at times, inconsistent talent to the Bulls and Supersonic’s. The knock on Hughes and Gooden is that they don’t show up to play every night. I don’t see how this improves the Bulls unless they dumped Wallace’s contract. Wallace is still a great presence in the middle and Smith is a solid mid-range shooter and a good rebounder. Szczerbiak can shoot it from everywhere and West is a good point guard who will distribute the ball. It appears the Cavs have closed the gap between the Pistons and the Celtics, but still have a ways to go to catch the front runners.


3. The New Orleans Hornets received from the Houston Rockets Bonzi Wells and Mike James for Bobby Jackson, Adam Huluska a 2008 second round draft choice. and the draft rights to Sergi Lishouk. The Memphis Grizzles received from the Hornets Marcus Vinicius, the draft rights to Malik Badiane and cash considerations. Wells and James solidify the Hornets bench offensively as they both can light it up. Jackson also helps the Rockets bench as Jackson plays good defensive and can hit the three. Huluska appears to be a project in the making.

4. The San Antonio Spurs acquired Kurt Thomas from the Seattle SuperSonics for Brent Barry, Fransisco Elson and a future first round draft choice. The Spurs really helped themselves for the stretch run acquiring Thomas to defend their title. Thomas is a terrific rebounder and can score as well.

5. The Seattle Supersonics for dumping lousy contracts and receiving a good amount of first round draft choices. The SuperSonics look loaded for bear in the future.

6. The New Jersey Nets traded veteran guard Jason Kidd, Malik Allen and Antoine Wright to the Dallas Mavericks for the younger Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Tenton Hassell, Maurice Ager, Keith Van Horn and two future first round draft choices with cash considerations. The key to this trade was Devin Harris; he’s quicker than Kidd and still has a learning curve that will only go up. Diop wasn’t a bad pick-up either, plus two first round draft choices in the future.

7. The Atlanta Hawks acquired veteran point guard Mike Bibby from the Sacramento Kings for Anthony Johnson, Tyron Lue, Sheldon Williams, Lorenzen Wright and a second round draft choice in 2008. The Hawks didn’t give up too much for Bibby, but if Williams ever blossoms, this trade could get better for the Kings.



Losers

1. The Dallas Mavericks main centerpiece in the trade above was Jason Kidd. Kidd is the type of impact player that could make the other players like Nowitski and Howard better players. However; Kidd is older and his shooting percentage is much lower than it has been in the past. I just don’t feel the acquisition of Kidd the Mavs over the hump with the Lakers and the Spurs.

2. The Phoenix Suns acquired Shaq for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. Will Shaq be able to run the up temp offense the Suns run? I just don’t see this as a good fit to the style the Suns play. Shaq is on the tail end of his career and has had many injuries in the latter part of his career. Also, I don’t feel the Heat came out ahead in trade. Marion has the option of free agency once the season is over and I don’t think the Heat will pay him $17 million/year to stay.