Nothin’ but Net: Making sense of the deadline
Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – From 2:30 p.m. ET Thursday until roughly 3:20, I couldn’t move.
I was absorbed by the late-breaking action of a trade deadline I branded Tuesday as a potential “snoozer.” Bathroom breaks were out of the question. The only body part that moved was my mouth, uttering several expletives that are unprintable in this portion of the Internet.
It was one of the wildest half hours in deadline history. While none of the top teams in the league – Golden State, Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, Memphis – made any moves, the second-tier playoff contenders loaded up for battle.
Oh, and point guards were more in demand than rock salt in the winter. Hope no young point guard buys real estate.
The only All-Star who moved was a 38-year-old averaging 6.8 points per night while playing 20.3 minutes. Yet, the 45 minutes swirling around the 3 p.m. deadline provided shocking trades.
While it’s idiotic to assess winners and losers not even 24 hours removed, I will anyway. Why not? What kind of idiot writes about how slow the deadline would be, then watches eight trades come down in the same time it takes to watch an old episode of “I Dream of Jeannie?”
WINNERS
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER – For the price of Kendrick Perkins, Reggie Jackson, some picks later this century, a rookie they’ll never play and a foreign project who will probably only see NBA basketball in the United States on the Internet, OKC acquired four more rotation players and possibly a long-term young center.
The Thunder got Enes Kanter and Steve Novak from the Utah Jazz and D.J. Augustin and Kyle Singler from the Detroit Pistons. Augustin replaces Jackson, Kanter fills in for Steven Adams while he gets healthy, and Novak and Singler are shooters, something Oklahoma City desperately needs. Plus, Kanter could beat out Adams as the center of the future if he signs in OKC this summer.
The picks and projects mean nothing to the Thunder. Perkins was beloved in that locker room and his loss will mean more there than on the court.
As for Jackson, based on his tweets and some quotes from Kevin Durant on Thursday, it was clear his presence in Oklahoma City was not welcome by anyone, including himself. Hadn’t seen a Reggie Jackson relationship this volatile since the more-famous one tried to kill the Queen in “Naked Gun.”
Now, Oklahoma City has the best roster from top to bottom in the NBA. Not only should they win the eighth seed no sweat, they could really do some damage in the postseason.
OKC is five games behind the San Antonio Spurs for the seventh seed. Expectations are the Spurs will move up the standings the second half. Can the Thunder make up the difference in 28 games? Doubtful, but they improved.
This was a decisive deadline victory. This is Julianne Moore at the Oscars.
MIAMI HEAT
For two future first-round picks, expendable parts and Norris Cole, the Heat acquired the Dragic brothers. Goran matters immensely. He was the NBA Most Improved Player last season and a third-team all-league guard.
Dragic, from here on, Goran is the only one we care about, was the misused point guard in Phoenix’s bloated backcourt. He stood around while Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas did their thing.
Dragic pulled a power play to get out Phoenix. I abhor that sort of thing. It’s mildly unprofessional. Then, he released a list of three teams he wanted to go to – the Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks.
If the Lakers and Knicks combine all of their assets, they still wouldn’t have enough to pry Dragic from the Suns. Miami stepped up, New Orleans got in the mix and Dragic became the third man in a new Big Three, a different Big Three.
Dwyane Wade never played with a great point guard. Having the ball out of his hands more could lessen the physical load.
The price was easy. The first-rounder in 2017 is top-seven protected. The one in 2021 is not, but who cares by then? Most of this Miami crew will be gone. The only player who hurt losing was Cole, who ended up with the Pelicans.
It was an easy deal for the Heat. It probably wouldn’t be enough to make up the 7 1/2-game difference between them and the sixth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, but Miami would instantly become a team the Hawks, Raptors or Cavaliers wanted no parts of in Round 1.
Then, the awful has occurred. Very, very early reports indicate Chris Bosh might have blood clots in his lungs and his season could be over. That’s a brutal loss for a often-criticized, yet very steady star.
That hurts the long-term plan for sure, but Thursday’s trade itself was a very nice piece of business by Pat Riley.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
Arron Afflalo is a really good player and Portland shed itself of dead weight to get him. He fits two major needs for the Blazers: wing help and depth. First-round picks are gold bars in the NBA, but the Blazers are looking at a 25th or worst this summer.
LOSERS
MILWAUKEE BUCKS
I’m definitely in the minority here, but my explanation is simple: I like Brandon Knight more both now, and long-term, than I do Michael Carter- Williams.
MCW has a definite skill set and studying at the foot of Jason Kidd will be beneficial. Will Kidd teach him to shoot? No. Carter-Williams won NBA Rookie of the Year with no other legitimate candidates in the field. He’s a bad shooter and both turnover- and injury-prone.
Carter-Williams is also incredibly crafty around the basket, both at finishing and drawing fouls. His length is a huge weapon on defense, and his effort and leadership are strong for someone with such little experience.
Knight was a fringe All-Star candidate. If Carmelo Anthony didn’t play, Knight would have. I believe the Bucks believe there is more future potential in MCW than Knight, but I don’t know that.
Knight didn’t agree to an extension with the Bucks in the offseason. If he left and Milwaukee got nothing in return, it’s a disaster. But, if Knight would have returned, and, as a restricted free agent, Milwaukee could match offers, he can be a better player long-term.
DETROIT PISTONS
Again, I’m probably in the minority on something, but I don’t see Jackson as a franchise point guard. Granted, the sample size has been small and he’s been very effective in that role when Russell Westbrook has been down.
If the Pistons sign him in the offseason, does he go back to the bench in a super-sub role he had with OKC? Brandan Jennings and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are Detroit’s backcourt. Does that change in favor of Jackson?
It doesn’t sound like Jackson wants to be a substitute any longer. It sounds like his unhappiness with that role in Oklahoma City caused him to be hated. Does that happen in Motown? Kyle Singler and D.J. Augustin were legitimate rotation guys for a thin Pistons team.
Don’t get me started on giving up another rotation guy in Jonas Jerebko for Tayshaun Prince. Everyone on the planet Earth knew he’d get bought out unless someone took him at the deadline. That’s not to say Prince would’ve returned to Detroit on his own if he had been bought out, but if there was ever a trade that said “second-round pick and throw-in contract,” it was a potential Prince deal.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
This is tricky because the idea of Kevin Garnett back is fun. It’ll bump attendance and KG’s work ethic is unmatched. That’ll help the Timber-puppies.
However, the T-wolves gave up a first-round pick to get Thaddeus Young, then flipped the 26-year-old essentially for an assistant coach. I get that Minnesota is going nowhere, but for what they gave up for Young, this is no tangible return on its investment.
DENVER NUGGETS
Getting a first-rounder for Afflalo is fine, but they got no other useful pieces. Plus, that first-rounder is probably going to be in the late 20s.
(I will fight until the very end saying Thomas Robinson can play in the NBA.)
The JaVale McGee trade seemed like a puzzler. They essentially gave him and a top-18 protected first-rounder from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Philadelphia 76ers to shed his $12 million next season. That’s a pretty steep price to pay to shed what could be useful money. McGee is goofy, but he can help. This stunk of a second-round inclusion as opposed to a first.
THUMBS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE
PHOENIX SUNS
Dragic put them in a bad spot and Ryan McDonough made applesauce out the situation. Two first-rounders is a nice haul for someone as disgruntled as Dragic was.
Problem is that Phoenix made Dragic disgruntled with its personnel decisions. Thomas was a great signing in terms of money and years, but that made three strong point guards. Dragic became a de facto wing player out there and that not only diminished his value on the court, but made him unhappy.
The Suns made the best of it.
I like Knight a lot and, while he’s still a point guard, he can play better off the ball than Dragic could. That cost them Tyler Ennis (I think he can still play), Miles Plumlee (a semi-talented grunt, but the lesser-talented of the brothers who have adverbs for last names), and the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round pick this year. That was a gold chip, no matter it was protected through the top five (it’s top three-protected next year).
And finally, I don’t get the rush to trade Thomas if Dragic was leaving. They took on Marcus Thornton, which means nothing in the big picture. They got a Cleveland-protected pick in 2016, which will probably be late in the first round anyway.
That trade was maybe one too many.
BOSTON CELTICS
Thomas for Thornton and one of their glut of first-rounders is a good deal for Boston. It won’t necessarily help the development of Marcus Smart as a point guard, but in the meantime, Thomas will help this team score. He’ll set guys up, score on pick-and-rolls and is nice trade bait down the line.
However, adding a guy with three years left on his deal, albeit cap-friendly years, seems to set back Boston’s total rebuilding plans some.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
Norris Cole is a steal for the Pelicans to take over while Jrue Holiday is injured. All it cost was John Salmons, who played as frequently as my dry cleaner. I will say this, Cole isn’t a guy who moves the needle strongly for a team in a playoff fight in the brutal Western Conference, but a very low-risk proposition.
BROOKLYN NETS
Young for Garnett is larceny. That’s an easy win, but the fact they couldn’t do anything else hurt.
It seemed all day like the Oklahoma City Thunder were close for Brook Lopez. It didn’t happen, so Brooklyn, in perhaps its best chance to do so, shed no meaningful salary. It’s going to be so hard for Billy King to move Lopez, Deron Williams or Joe Johnson. Of course, it’s primarily his fault the Nets are in the situation they are in, so remorse is misplaced.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
They belong in a class of their own.
Analyzing the deals from Thursday on their own gives the Sixers an easy victory. The McGee deal was easy because they needed salary to reach the cap floor. Sam Hinkie got a first-rounder out of that, too. That’s no-brainer territory.
The K.J. McDaniels trade wasn’t great. He’s a freak athlete and plus-defender already, but his contract made this inevitable. McDaniels bet on himself by only taking a one-year deal. He’ll be a restricted free agent in the summer.
Isaiah Canaan and a second-rounder isn’t much, but McDaniels regressed as the season unfolded. McDaniels shoots 29 percent from 3-point range. It’s a shame they had to give up on him because of that contract, but more on that in a bit because I think it ties into a problem the Sixers are facing.
The Carter-Williams trade is polarizing. On one hand, we have the reigning rookie of the year, taken 11th overall in the 2013 draft. He’s long and disruptive defensively, gets to the rim and the foul line, and he bought into this putrid situation with every fiber of his being.
On the other hand, we have a point guard who can’t shoot at all. Carter- Williams turns it over a ton, although I believe some of his turnovers were the result of putting everything on himself. There was no other scorer EVER on the floor with him.
Weighing it all out, to get as prized an asset as that Lakers pick, I say moving MCW was the right decision. We don’t know what the draft will bring, or when the pick will come, but I’d bet good money it’s top 10 in 2016 (L.A. will probably keep it this year).
Here’s where the waters become murky. The Sixers’ fan base is already tired of this process. The very legitimate question facing Hinkie is, when does this thing transition from rebuild to results? That can’t be answered and it’s fair to ask.
Once again, I’ll try to calm the masses, although it’s getting harder for me as well. Hinkie’s plan has been to aim for greatness, not improvement. If he wanted the Sixers improved, he’d have drafted Dante Exum and Doug McDermott in June. Instead, he took the injured Joel Embiid and the geographically- challenged Dario Saric (he also got a first-rounder with Saric).
Will the plan work? Big question, which is unanswerable at this stage. But Hinkie is swinging hard at it. Derek Bodner, who works for many Philadelphia media outlets, said it best a while back – Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel are complimentary parts. The cornerstones are Embiid, this year’s pick on their own, next year’s and that Lakers’ pick.
The MCW trade didn’t hit the reset button too hard. It’s been 18 months of this rebuild and if you thought this, IF IT WORKS, would take less than four seasons, you’re out of touch.
But what the McDaniels’ contract and some tweets from Embiid on Thursday showed is that the players might be getting antsy with the plan. McDaniels might be the first player to actively seek nothing to do with this long rebuild. If that’s the case, Hinkie has to work hard to assure some Sixers they are worthy of staying. Hinkie acknowledged on Friday he talked to some Philly players after the deals.
It’s getting close to that time when Hinkie needs to put a product on the floor. If you want to see the long-term picture, Thursday was another good day for Hinkie and the Sixers.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
– Nothing basketball-related. The last two days have been longer than my junior year of college.
– Movie moment – My Oscar picks are: Patricia Arquette for Supporting Actress; J.K. Simmons for Supporting Actor; Julianne Moore for Lead Actress; Eddie Redmayne for Lead Actor; Richard Linklater for Best Director; and “Birdman” for Best Picture.
– TV moment – All about Oscars and the trade deadline this week.
Categorized in: NBA