By: Chad Ruter
With the occasional big name changing teams via the trade during the summer months and the NBA draft, teams don’t often make trades because it’s a long a tedious process. Not only do you have to find talented players on another team that you want, and find talented players (or the overvalued ones) on your team to part with, you also have to match salaries when it comes to NBA trades. With that in mind…following the trade of Pau Gasol to the Lakers for a some pieces of paper and a few worthless late-round draft picks, it sent in motion a flurry of movement that has made the best teams better, and the worst teams at the same level they were. If you’re an NBA fan, you have to love the wheeling and dealing that has gone on. So let’s rank all the trades in the last three weeks in the order of who came out smelling like roses.
1. LAKERS RECEIVE: Pau Gasol & a 2010 Second Round Pick. GRIZZLIES RECEIVE: Kwame Brown (’s expiring contract), Aaron McKie (who was coaching in Philadelphia but signed a contract with the Lakers so the salaries would match), Javaris Crittenton, draft rights to Mark Gasol (Pau’s younger brother) & First-Round Picks in 2008 & 2010.
-Kobe isn’t going anywhere ladies and gentlemen. In Gasol, the Lake Show acquired a 27-year-old 7′0” center that averaged 19 pts and 9 reb on an awful team. He came to Los Angeles and instantly clicked with Kobe. He is the low-post scorer #24 has been missing since The Big Aristotle (Shaq) was traded a few years ago. And when Andrew Bynum comes back, the Lakers could put the tallest starting five on the floor with no guy playing a position they can’t handle. Imagine a starting five with Bynum playing center, Gasol at the four, Lamar Odom (who can play 3 positions) at the three, Kobe at the two, and Derek Fischer running the point. That team is phenomenal! Possibly the most dynamic in the league. They will never have problems scoring, and Gasol, Bynum, Odom, and Kobe are all above-average defenders at their position (Kobe being an all-NBA defender). This deal started a mind-boggling domino effect across the league.
2. JAZZ RECEIVE: Kyle Korver. 76ERS RECEIVE: Gordan Giricek & a future protected First-Round Pick.
-This trade flew well under the radar, but the Jazz are 19-3 after this trade was made! 19 and friggin 3! Before that trade, they were on a 3-11 stretch! The reason: the Jazz didn’t have a kickout guy to stand on the elbow extended while Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer run the screen-and-roll. Jeff Hornacek thrived in that role for years, and Korver will now do the same. He can just sit out there and bury open jumpers. Mehmet Okur also could do that, but he’s also dang near 7-feet tall, and they need him down floating in the post too. Giricek wasn’t doing much for the Jazz this year, and that first-round pick is going to be so low that it is meaningless to the Jazz. Korver has been a God-send to the Mormons, and this team is dan-ger-ous. Watch out!
3. CAVALIERS RECEIVE: Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak & Chicago’s 2009 Second-Round Pick. BULLS RECEIVE: Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown & Cedric Simmons. SONICS RECEIVE: Adrian Griffin, Donyell Marshall & Ira Newble.
-A lot of people are questioning this trade from all angles. As a Bulls fan, I don’t know that this trade does anything for them. And I know that for the Sonics, they just dropped a bomb of a contract on the Cavaliers and have plenty of cap-space for the future. But in my mind, the Cavaliers got almost exactly what they needed to get to the Finals. With the additions of Ben Wallace and Joe Smith, they have a front line rotation that pairs a big-man scorer with a big-man defender for all 48 minutes. Big-Z and Ben Wallace can start (with a regressing Ben Wallace playing better with a guy across from him that can score), while Anderson Varejao and Joe Smith can be the defender/rebounder and the scorer respectively coming off the bench. Not only that, but LeBron James get’s a knockdown shooter in Wally Szczerbiak, and a useful backup PG in Delonte West. You think Cavaliers coach Mike Brown asked LeBron if it was ok to do this deal? I’d say the answer is about 95% yes. For the Bulls, this trade sheds the Wallace baggage and salary, but they take on an awful contract in Hughes, and it doesn’t make them better now. I think the Bulls made the trade just so they can say they pulled the trigger and tried. Talk about bad timing. Kudos to the Cavs for taking a risk, and giving LeBron some pieces to work with.
4. SUNS RECEIVE: Shaquille O’Neal. HEAT RECEIVE: Marcus Banks & Shawn Marion.
-In his first year as GM of the Suns, legendary player/announcer Steve Kerr pulled the trigger on a trade to bring Shaq back to the West. He did give up Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks, but Marion was going to opt-out of his contract at years end, and Banks was the third-string PG. In return, they got the most dominant center in the last 20 years, albeit, well past his prime. The reason why this may work is because following the Gasol trade, if you want to be competitive out West, you need not just one, but two quality big men. This gives the Suns the offensive big man (Amare Stoudamire) and the defensive enforcer (Shaq…sortof) that you need to win the Western Conference. Although Shaq doesn’t fit the run-and-gun, seven seconds or less offense that Mike D’Antoni implented in Phoenix nearly five years ago, he gives them a different dynamic. He can be a guy they go to when a team slows them to a half-court pace. For the Heat, they shed the gargantuan $20 million per season owed to Shaq for two more years, and got a possibly expiring contract in Marion, and a PG that is young and could easily put Jason Williams on the bench next year. The Suns are pushing all their chips in, and you can’t hardly blame them.
5. SPURS RECEIVE: Kurt Thomas. SONICS RECEIVE: Brent Barry, Francisco Elson & a 2009 First-Round Pick.
-Another quiet trade that addresses the new need in the Western Conference – two above-average/great tall guys. Ever since the retirement of “The Admiral” David Robinson, Tim Duncan has had a no-namer standing next to him in the front-court. This trade brings an old, yet still productive Thomas (7.5 pts 8.8 reb) to the Spurs to compliment Duncan, and in return the Spurs gave up a big man that was worthless, and the sharp-shooting Brent Barry. The loss of Barry will hurt the Spurs more than they think, but the acquisition of Thomas was a must to compete in the paint. The Sonics, again, are collecting draft picks and cap-room for the future. Man, doesn’t it seem like they are taking after Portland in the “How to build a franchise” mode?
6. MAVERICKS RECEIVE: Jason Kidd, Antoine Wright & Malik Allen. NETS RECEIVE: Devean Harris, Maurice Ager, Desagana Diop, (the previous retired) Keith Van Horn, Trenton Hassell, First-Round Picks in 2008 & 2010, and $3 million cash.
-We saw three different versions of this deal, and in the end, the Mavericks had to kick in nearly $11 million dollars to Van Horn and the luxury tax to get it done. Statistically, this trade doesn’t seem to benefit the Mavericks at all. The Nets shed a huge contract, get younger, and get a statistically better PG in Devean Harris, but the Mavericks get an on-the-court leader they’ve lacked since Steve Nash left. Dirk Nowitzki can’t lead a team, but Jason Kidd can. He gives them “The Pair” that the team clearly lacked when they were shockingly upset in the first round of the 2007 Playoffs. Similarly to the Suns, Mark Cuban realized that the window to win a title is closing, and Devean Harris really wasn’t the guy that was going to lead them to a championship. Another good move for both teams, despite its long-term implications to the Mavs.
7. HORNETS RECEIVE: Mike James & Bonzi Wells. ROCKETS RECEIVE: Bobby Jackson & Adam Haluska. GRIZZLIES RECEIVE: Draft rights to a pair of Rockets no-namers.
-The deal is pretty basic. The Rockets are going to get shuffled out of contention because they don’t have solid players around Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, but this deal signals to the fans that they tried. For the Hornets, they strengthen their back-court shooting depth a little bit. They didn’t need the low-post help in the starting lineup because they already have David West and Tyson Chandler (it pains me to say it, but Chandler is a Top-10 center in the NBA). Good move for the Hornets to get a bit deeper.
8. HAWKS RECEIVE: Mike Bibby. KINGS RECEIVE: Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Lorenzen Wright & Shelden Williams.
-To put it simply, the Kings get three expiring contracts and a decent forward in Williams, and the Hawks finally get a point guard while not breaking up their core talent. I’m won’t spend anymore time on this trade because neither team has a winning record….and I require that for a full breakdown.
After the dust settles…my NBA Finals prediction is Cavaliers and Lakers, to provide us a series and a Superstar matchup that will be remembered for generations. Boston fans…can you say O-ver-a-ted!
