In NBA news... Just my opinion

NBA trade deadline was yesterday and some teams made some moves.

Highest profile was the deal between the Wizards, Cavaliers and Clippers:
Cavs get: Antawn Jamison, Sebastian Telfair
Wizards get: Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Al Thornton, Brian Skinner, Cleveland's first-round pick in 2010
Clippers get: Drew Gooden

Sebastian Telfair was a throw-in and will fester on the bench and not return next season. Zydrunas will geta 30-day vacation, bought out by the Wizards and go right back to the Cavaliers, the rest of them were throw-ins to ease the blow of their having to deal with the Gilbert Arenas situation.
Drew Gooden gets another sticker for his suitcase, 9 teams in 9 years... Next year will be 10 when Blake Griffin returns.
This is the one that kinda worries me as a Lakers fan for our chances of a repeat. It furthers the exodus of anything from Washington, and I am quite sure that even Washingtonians don't care. It strengthens the Cavs, though, giving LeBron a new sidekick who can actually play at both ends of the court well -- even though his passing leaves something to be desired -- is mature and won't be in the way.



The first deal of the exchange, though, was:
Wizards Get: Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quentin Ross
Mavericks get: Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson.

Mavericks adding some size in Haywood in their attempts to better match up with the Lakers in the west. With it, they got some mid-range scoring in Butler and a real scorer in Stevenson.
Drew Gooden got traded, then traded again as described above, I chuckled.
The Wizards are aiming themselves for the draft lottery, but apparently someone told them that won't mean much once the first 2-3 picks are gone.



The next would be the VERY active Knicks, with 2 moves:

1)
Knicks get: Tracy McGrady, Sergio Rodriguez
Kings get: Carl Landry, Larry Hughes, Joey Dorsey
Rockets get: Kevin Martin, Jordan Hill, Hilton Armstrong, Jared Jeffries, draft considerations from Knicks in 2011 and 2012

and 2)
Celtics get: Nate Robinson, Marcus Landry
Knicks get: Eddie House, J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker

then 3)
Timberwolves get: Darko Milicic
Knicks get: Brian Cardinal

Make no mistakes, Tracy McGrady wants to be in an offensive system where he has license to shoot as much as fucking possible without the annoyance of having to play defense. That is what got him this huge-assed contract he is in the last year of and that is what would get him another one. Lad McGrady, though, is soft and injury prone, has the back of a 80 year old man and the knees of a 65 year old woman. I give him 5 years left in the league and they will not be with the Knicks.
The Kings were doing what they could to get SOMETHING in return for Kevin Martin, arguably the best player on their team... A player in beast(ish) mode on a bad team is doing so as his resume/CV to get himself onto a team that is not shitty and making good money doing so.
With the exception of Jordan Hill -- who famously dunked on LeBron James last summer -- the rest of the players in this deal were mainly throw-ins.

The other deal for the Knicks is what even sparked this blog. My buddy Joe, a Celtics fan in New Hampshire asked why trade Eddie House for Nate Robinson.
House: 31 years old, can't create his own shot, limited mobility, couldn't defend his own fucking lunch and at 6'1" -- point guard size -- can't run an offense... All he brings is jumpshooting ability.
Robinson: 25, very much creates his own shots, very mobile and COULD be good to run the second unit with some scoring, if not for his shitty decision making and general immaturity. Boston brought him on for his expiring contract more than anything, they have enough immature people on the team in Rasheed Wallace and Rajon Rondo already. If he works out for them, though, he will be that shot of youth they need, as ALL of their "stars;" KG, P², Allen and Wallace, are getting a bit long in the tooth.

Darko gets yet another NBA team in his rear view... Big things for the dude drafted between LeBron and Carmello, no? His career was ruined in Detroit and that will be his albatross. Maybe he can do well on a bad team and make it somewhat good in the league.
Maybe he should have played in Europe and beasted.
One or the other.
Since I don't know who Brian Cardinal is, I am betting he is a goner.

I see what the Knicks are doing, here... Getting rid of of people they would need to serve fatty contracts to in exchange for expiring contracts or damaged goods players entering their final years on their current.
It will all be for naught, though, if they don't get a fucking coach in the building. Bringing in ANY all star-caliber players to the Knicks at current with D'Antoni coaching as he does is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.




Next, is...

Blazers get: Marcus Camby
Clippers get: Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw

With the aforementioned Gooden and looming return of Griffin, the Clippers won't "need" Camby, an offensive liability and a reactive defender. In exchange for his "I won defensive player of the year twice" salary, they get some guys who can handle the ball and shoot well. Just don't expect much defense out of them.



After that, is:
Bobcats get: Tyrus Thomas
Bulls get: Flip Murray, Acie Law, protected first-round pick

and another bulls deal:
Bucks get: John Salmons
Bulls get: Hakim Warrick, Joe Alexander

Tyrus Thomas will be eaten the fuck alive by Larry Brown, simple as that. Immature people NEVER thrive under Brown. IF this works as designed, Gerald Wallace can move back to the 3 and make the next step into the league elite, though.
On the whole, this just goes to show how shittily run an organization Chicago really is, as they got basically nothing in this deal.

Bucks get a cheap sendup of Michael Redd in Salmons.
I hate to see a Syracuse alum go to the Bulls in Hakim Warrick... I will reserve judgment on that until the inevitability of his playing out his contract and breaking the fuck out.




It seems that the teams at the top of the league did only what was necessary to maintain or slightly improve their positions. The Lakers, Nuggets and Magic understandably made no moves.
In so much, Cleveland came off the best in terms of improving their position. LeBron was GOING to repeat as MVP, and I am not reversing field on that. The addition of Shaquille was not the difference maker and it would have been evident down the stretch run. There is only upside to that move in my opinion, and I honestly worry about our chances of taking them in the finals.
Boston, however, made a move that makes them about the same as they were, trading for youth and/or an expiring contract. I hope to God they take it to the Cavaliers in the playoffs either beating or terribly weakening them.
The bad teams dealing seemed to be doing so to get cheap help or expiring contracts, not to win games. The looming free agency class coming July 1 is what drove a lot of these deals, becase damned if the draft will turn up much this year.
I am of the opinion, though, that none of these trades will change how this all plays out... David Stern and Nike will get their wish, a Kobe/LeBron finals and at this point, I will not claim a winner. Just know that I AM a lifelong Lakers fan and let that inform you who I WANT to win it.

Comments

rakeback said…
Every move the Knicks make prior to Free Agency is intended to attract Lebron James and other top players. Tracy has been injury-plagued, and this move will probably not improve the team much in the short-term.

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