The 3 p.m., March 15 trade deadline has come and gone as fast as your brackets will be busted by this weekend’s end. Most cats around the league can now breathe easy, knowing they haven’t been dealt and can focus on the remaining part of the schedule. Others, however, must deal with the reality they were shipped out like yesterday’s garbage. Either way, this a time for them to regroup and stop commenting on every rumor that appears on blogs and Twitter.
Likewise, teams’ short-term and long-term fate shall be determined through their ability, or inability, to have gotten something done by the deadline. And picking up a bought-out free-agent in the coming days isn’t going to drastically change that. GMs had to come through in the clutch like Kobe. Some of these guys succeeded with their moves or non-moves, and some failed.
As we’ve covered the moves teams should make and which cats would be better off traded than staying put, there’s always winners and losers from the trade deadline activity. These next 10 players, hoopers and organizations are the ones who’ve won and lost the most at the conclusion of all the trade talk.
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THE WINNERS
5. The Milwaukee Bucks
Captain Jack didn’t know “What’s a Lockout?” in his mixtape. He apparently won’t know what the playoffs might taste like again as a Milwaukee Buck either.
The Bucks simply couldn’t bear his “mandatory” contract extension demands and inexistent relationship with Scott Skiles any longer, as The Journal Times detailed early in the season. He’s been delusional to believe he’s “underrated” (10.5 PPG, 36 percent from the field, 28 percent from deep, and 9.34 PER) and “underpaid” ($9 million plus this season and $10 million next) at 33 years old.
Jackson’s last three stops in Golden State, Charlotte and now Milwaukee have proven how much of a cancer he can be. No team in their right mind would tolerate his kind of unwarranted claims and lack of on-court production. Captain Jack can’t call all the shots, like when he was a part of Don Nelson‘s motley crew in the Bay. The Bucks hold the last playoff spot (19-24) while he’s been riding the pine. In these past 12 games, the Bucks have managed a .500 record and are currently on a three-game winning streak. So it was past the time for them to sing, “Hit the Road Jack.”
As for what the Bucks got in exchange for Jackson’s troubles, Monta Ellis and Ekpe Udoh certainly can fill immediate roles for them as they attempt to secure the 8th seed. While the backcourt of Brandon Jennings and Ellis is small, it’s instantly as dynamic as any in the league. Udoh is a nice pickup in this deal because he can play defensively at power forward right away and still hasn’t reached his ceiling quite yet. Both cats will be competitive from the outset and will give everything they got for Skiles.
Could the Bucks have waited until next year’s deadline to trade a healthy Andrew Bogut for a slightly better package? Possibly. But they got a pretty decent deal for a talented but oft-injured big that wasn’t going to play at all this season and got rid of Jackson’s baggage in the process. It’s hard to argue against their accomplished objectives from this trade.
4. Dwight Howard
The never-ending tale of superstars dictating their futures continues.
As our own Sean Sweeney referenced Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski’s recent report, the Orlando Magic are in no man’s land. There is virtually nothing they could’ve done by the deadline to sway Dwight Howard’s motive to land in Brooklyn on his terms, no less. Trading for Monta Ellis wouldn’t have helped their cause. And that deal came off the table early Tuesday morning when Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob expressed zero appeal to give the Magic a hand on their efforts to retain Howard, as CBS Sports’ Ken Berger reported. This deflating news surely left the Magic helpless and with their hands tied once the Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut trade transpired.
While Dwight’s media-handling lays somewhere between ‘Melo‘s situation last year and LeBron‘s “The Decision,” this soap opera will result in the same ending as the previous two: franchises having no choice but to concede to their superstars’ attraction to live in the big city. Why wouldn’t he be drawn to hoop with D-Will, record tracks with Hov, and revive the sports scene in Brooklyn? Unlike ‘Melo, Dwight was apparently smart enough to recognize the Nets would be too depleted if they traded for him now. Why not trade the same assets of Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks and others for a significant player that’ll help them out once he’s there instead? It didn’t make any sense for the Nets to have pushed a trade when they were confident and the favorites to attain Dwight over the summer.
“We’ve been talking, like I said, for a while. I told them I want to finish this season out and give our team, give our fans some for the future. But I feel they have to roll the dice. It might be tough, but I feel we’ve got a great opportunity. But they’ve got to roll with it,” Dwight said after the Magic’ overtime win versus the Heat earlier this week.
Dwight Howard has danced around this issue as “nicely” as his actual dancing skills. And, you know what? It doesn’t f@%^ing matter. NBA superstars control their own destiny better than any rapper on a given label. There is no denying this reality.
Mickey Mouse and his entire kingdom can’t convince him that Orlando is the happiest place on Earth for much longer. Dwight would much rather honor the late Biggie: “spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way.”
3. Golden State Warriors
Within the past week, there were rumors about the possibility of Monta Ellis getting traded and the Milwaukee Bucks were open to listening to offers for their former first pick overall Andrew Bogut. Who would’ve thought, though, that these two players would end up in exchange for one another?
The Golden Warriors received Captain Jack (later swapped for Richard Jefferson and a first rounder) along with Bogut, while the Bucks got Ekpe Udoh, Kwame Brown and Ellis. The cluttered front office of the Warriors was able to come to a consensus and assemble a deal that’ll make them better for the future. In spite of Stephen Curry‘s recent ankle problems, there was no way that backcourt combo was ever going to work out, especially with Klay Thompson waiting in the wings. All of Silicon Valley’s new gadgets weren’t going to change Dwight Howard’s mind that E-40‘s Bay Area is a better home than Jay-Z’s Brooklyn. The Warriors still had to address their lack of size, regardless. Thus, they’re taking a risk that the talented Bogut can regain his health starting next season. In a league where great bigs are at a premium, the Warriors jumped on the worthwhile gamble to get Bogut.
The Rockets hesitation to pull the trigger on their own Bogut deal definitely opened the doors for the Warriors, and the former may regret it. After missed opportunities to acquire Nene, Marc Gasol and DeAndre Jordan this past summer, the Warriors made sure this chance wasn’t going to pass them by.
Just as importantly, too, is the last wrinkle. The Warriors brass realized their chances to claim the last playoff spot were slim. Although they are currently three games out for the eight seed (18-21), they would’ve had to outpace five total squads by season’s end to reach the playoffs. That task is very unrealistic. So why not “tank” the rest of the year and keep their first-round pick in the loaded upcoming draft? As ESPN’s Chad Ford tweeted on Tuesday, the Warriors have a top-seven protected lottery pick, but if it winds up at eight or worse it would be property of the Utah Jazz, which was sent to them as part of the D-Will package. With Bogut out indefinitely and Ellis out of the picture, the Dubs have every incentive to add one more young piece to the puzzle.
A core of Curry, Thompson, Bogut, and a nice lottery pick is a wise course of action by the deadline. There is definitely sunshine now in Golden State’s future.
2. Pau Gasol and the Los Angeles Lakers
Hollywood could have written a better script, but the potential movie ending to this year’s Lakers is far clearer now that Superman isn’t coming to L.A.
There’s always drama in La-La Land. They traded The Goods to The Big D for no reason but to save money. So why did anyone expected them to add on salary if it didn’t guarantee them the title this season? All the clamor by Lakers fans and media that they need to trade for a superstar, a point guard or depth should be white noise now. In a wide open Western Conference, shouldn’t the Lakers be favored to reach The Finals, anyways? According to the Las Vegas Hilton sports book, the Lakers were 5-1 favorites to win it all in early December, only second to the Heatles odds at 2-1. These projections aren’t that different after today: 11-2. And considering Nevada as a whole is going to bring in $90 million in bets for the opening weekend of March Madness, I wouldn’t be one to bet against whatever the likely odds are.
At any rate, I don’t need a Vegas bookie to tell me that the Lakers are far better with Pau Gasol than without him. What makes the Lakers great and separates them from the field isn’t Kobe – as difficult or blasphemous it may seem to say. The twin towers of Gasol and Andrew Bynum is a distinct advantage that no other team in the league can match up against. You know how many squads would kill just to get their hands on one of these cats, forget two? Their combined 14 feet of height, 15 feet of wingspan, and 535 pounds of muscle aren’t replicable metrics. The dynamic Gasol working seamlessly with Bynum and naturally co-existing with Kobe are traits you can’t teach. His talent on the block and personality are what makes him invaluable to the Lakers’ success.
If the Lakers weren’t willing to trade Gasol for Rajon Rondo, as the Los Angeles Times‘ Mike Bresnahan reported, then there wasn’t another trade for a point guard out there worth contemplating. Even acquiring the likes of Kyle Lowry and Luis Scola wouldn’t come close to possessing the same title threat the Lakers are with Gasol. Yes, they were desperate for a legitimate point guard to replace Derek Fisher, and picked up a great second option in Ramon Sessions without giving up much.
The endgame of the Lakers is simple: win the ‘ship or bust. Nothing else matters besides helping Kobe tie M.J.‘s six rings. Their present revolves around getting to the playoffs healthy with momentum. Once it’s the postseason, they can impose their size and slow-tempo on any opponent. Gasol is a big reason why the Lakers lead the league in points in the paint efficiency difference (plus-9.6), via HoopStats.com. Besides, every single cat will be exhausted after playing 66 games in 120 days. Experience and size translates into long playoff runs in the NBA. The Lakers have both with Gasol.
Deron Williams wasn’t coming to the Lakers for Gasol. Any cat other than him wasn’t worth the Lakers’ troubles. Los Angeles is too cool and accustomed to winning, they ain’t about retooling or rebuilding.
1. San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs always have a way of quietly sneaking up on people. They did it again at the trade deadline.
If there ever was one team where Captain Jack’s behavior would be checked and his hooping skills maximized, it would in the place where he won a ring, San Antonio.
The Spurs patiently awaited the rush of moves around the league before they decided to pounce on Stephen Jackson and bring him back. They gladly traded Richard Jefferson and his inconsistencies for a guy they know will embrace their culture.
Jefferson never quite fit in with the Spurs. His best scoring season with them was 2009-10 when he averaged 12.3 points per game, his lowest output since his rookie year. He somehow managed to progressively get worse each season since then. This year he fell to a career-worst 9.2 points per game. The Jefferson experiment clearly didn’t pan out.
Going back to Jackson’s 2002-03 Spurs campaign, he dropped 11.8 points per game on 44 percent shooting. These numbers can easily be duplicated or better on this year’s team, since they need scoring threats around The Big Fundamental like never before. What makes Jackson instantly better than Jefferson is his willingness to score and create his own shot. The Spurs will make sure to bring out the best in him, when most other teams would let him just be a cancer.
The potential of this Captain Jack reunion is explosive. The Spurs needed some attitude and toughness to elevate their core’s chances to sustain their level of play come playoff time. Now nobody wants to face the Spurs.
With a bold trade like this and their past success with him, there’s no reason not to give the Spurs the benefit of the doubt, yet again.
THE LOSERS
5. Minnesota Timberwolves
The proposed three-team trade between them, the Lakers and Blazers didn’t fall through. This trade was supposed to net them a clutch, scoring guard in Jamal Crawford to help them reach the playoffs. They woke up yesterday morning and their dream turned into a nightmare.
While it may not be their complete fault this trade didn’t occur, it is David Kahn‘s fault he didn’t manage to acquire another shooting guard instead. You always need options in case the initial plan can’t happen. In a trade market that feverously opened up in the waning minutes, it’s hard to believe Kahn couldn’t catch one team off guard.
If the Clippers could traded Brian Cook, of all people, and a second-round pick for Nick Young, the Timberwolves could’ve easily completed something similar.
Once that three-teamer vanished, the Lakers pursued different alternatives. The Rockets were making trades to strengthen their playoff chances. The T’Wolves still had assets in Michael Beasley and Derrick Williams to have swung for a pretty decent shooting guard. And that’s all they would’ve needed to do, despite not having Ricky Rubio under the fold.
Standing only a game and half from the last playoff spot, Kahn may have botched this golden opportunity to show K-Love how serious he is in making this squad a serious contender.
4. Boston Celtics
The hardest thing for any fading contender to determine is when it’s time to rebuild. The San Antonio Spurs have refused in past seasons to deal any of their big three and gradually build through the draft. This model has worked for them so far, but it isn’t the blueprint for every team. The key underlying factor that both the Spurs and Celtics share is that their markets aren’t places where free agents flock to. The Spurs have acknowledged this reality in spite of their continued success. The Celtics have not.
Danny Ainge misread the market, couldn’t create one, and maintained the false hope that the C’s can contend this season. He couldn’t outplay his hand any worse. After dealing Kendrick Perkins last year, he continued to have cold feet towards blowing up the team. There were numerous rumors circulating about his activity, but none prevailed. It doesn’t matter how many calls you make, if you can’t sell your product and get the job done. How are Celtics fans going to react this summer when there wasn’t a strategic plan in place to sustain their viability going forward?
According to ESPN Boston’s Chris Forsberg, Doc Rivers and Ainge have “stressed the need to be disciplined, with a goal of not erasing the cap space they’re set to free up this offseason.”
However, the Celtics’ expected boatload of cap space doesn’t guarantee anything. The core they materialized through their own draft picks (The Truth, Perkins, and Rajon Rondo) and major trades (The Big Ticket and Jesus Shuttlesworth) didn’t voluntarily choose to come to Beantown. So why didn’t Ainge follow the same course that got them to be successful to begin with? Rondo, The Truth and Rivers as a coach are quality building blocks, but not even offering a Harvard education on top of that is going to legitimately convince cats that Boston is the place to be.
Ultimately, the Celtics decided to be stubborn and keep the cats of their recent glory days. Most of these guys won’t be with them past this season. The longer a team postpones their rebuilding phase, the longer it is to ever get back on top.
3. LaMarcus Aldridge and the Portland Trail Blazers
Rip City might as well as be called R.I.P. City.
After the New York Knicks smacked them by 42 points in The Garden earlier this week, leaving Portland in a clueless mess. Shouldn’t a red flag been seen when their point guards shoot a combined 4-for-18 from the field with seven turnovers and a plus/minus of minus-42? And Linsanity had only six points (2-for-4 field goals), six dimes and six turnovers to counter.
The Blazers failed to land a marquee point guard to pair up with LaMarcus Aldridge for years to come. They were the number one squad that I argued must make a move at the trade deadline. Any team that has a beast like Aldridge must utilize all of their resources and creativity to build a legitimate contender around him. And well after the 3 p.m buzzer went off, their inability to snag a point guard wasn’t even the biggest issue this franchise has to resolve.
The fashion in which they dismantled this roster over a few hours is inexplicable and disappointing. The interesting part of their situation is that the two cats (Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford) who led a “mutiny” against Nate McMillan were salvaged as opposed to the coach. Management favored the players over a coach that’ll be the most-sought after head man in the offseason. Why? Ask Paul Allen.
What is clear, though, is these trades – specifically the potential of a bigger, impact trade – are another example of the Blazers long history of overvaluing their young cats for too long and then receiving cents for a dollar back.
In 2010, they traded Jerryd Bayless to the Hornets for a future first-round pick. However, the Blazers could’ve pushed harder in a blockbuster trade that would’ve landed them Chris Paul earlier that same year. Andre Miller, Joel Przybilla, Nicolas Batum, Bayless and a first-round pick should have been shipped to The Big Easy for CP3 and Emeka Okafor, as ESPN’s Chad Ford reported then. How and why this trade didn’t materialize is a mystery. The one trade that would’ve altered the Blazers franchise for good didn’t happen. The Brandon Roy and Greg Oden injuries wouldn’t have affected the organization to the same extent because CP and L.A. would have morphed into a duo greater than what CP has now with Earthquake Blake.
ESPN’s Chris Broussard reported the Celtics were offering Paul Pierce in a trade to the Blazers for unknown pieces. Why didn’t they make a counter proposal that would’ve brought back Rajon Rondo instead?
LaMarcus Aldridge is now a prisoner locked up inside the Jail Blazers, just because they can’t handle The Truth.
2. Orlando Magic
“Dwight’s indecision, desire not to be a villain has made this process a circus. THAT you can fault him for,” tweeted SI’s Chris Mannix.
“If Orlando doesn’t trade Dwight now, they’re the guy who thinks the stripper really likes them,” tweeted the National Post’s Bruce Arthur.
Both of these comments are valid and true, with the operative words being “circus” and “stripper.”
Orlando didn’t experience this level of hype and uncertainty when hosting All-Star Weekend just three weeks ago. Dwight Howard took the Orlando Magic and the city on a ride you can’t even find at Disney World. He made everyone look at their Twitter timeline every hour because he couldn’t make up his mind. The trade deadline couldn’t arrive fast enough for the Magic, but the PR disaster it left them isn’t something they can soon erase.
As the news broke that D12 was opting-in for one more year, the Magic exhaled and rejoiced that their superstar’s “loyalty” saw past the lucrative opportunities that were awaiting him this summer. Still, the mess the Magic allowed themselves to go through was completely unprofessional and excessive. Superman wanted no part in looking like Lex Luther, yet the Magic let him be their kryptonite. Yes, the Magic couldn’t control how Dwight was feeling and what he was thinking as the deadline approached. But the Magic could’ve and should’ve done a better job of handling the situation privately so it wouldn’t escalate to a trending topic.
One of the critical junctures during this saga was when the incentives agreed upon by D12 were revealed:
“The Magic have promised Howard that they will add a quality player before Thursday’s deadline and that Howard can decided the fate of both (Otis) Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy at the end of the season,” ESPN’s Ric Bucher said.
These astonishing revelations then impelled Van Gundy to express his thoughts during a pregame press conference: “If anybody thinks I care about that, I really don’t give a damn about getting fired. If they want to fire me to please somebody, fire me. I really don’t give a damn.”
How could the Magic have managed the situation so it wouldn’t escalate any further? By simply releasing a statement from the CEO Alex Martins: The only person(s) who have the final say on coaches and management is the Orlando Magic ownership.
These instances demonstrate the lack of trust, communication and accountability from the Magic’s behalf to appropriately defuse a high-magnitude circumstance. This is not even including how desperate they were to offer D12 the autonomy to make hiring decisions. C’mon, Kobe f@&^ing Bryant doesn’t have that kind of license with the Lakers. Phil Jackson, The Goods, and now Derek Fisher were let go before the word got back to him. That’s how much respect the Lakers have for Kobe’s input. At some point the voice and direction of a franchise should supersede the status of any great player.
Yes, the Magic bought themselves some time to try and fix their own personnel problems around Dwight Howard. But they didn’t save themselves from the perception that the circus took over the strip joint in town.
1. New Jersey Nets
“When the money goes, will the honeys stay?
When the grey skies replace the sunny days.
Hey, hey, hey.”
Jay-Z spit these lines in his “When the Money Goes” joint. Now it’s clearer than ever this joint will be the anthem he is bringing to his native Brooklyn. Opening night at the Barclays Center doesn’t seem like the spectacle it was once thought of. Brooklynites should look to spend their disposal income elsewhere this fall, and not on any Jigga Man album either.
The Nets aren’t likely to steal any headlines from the Knicks next season. Their lavished aspirations for a cultural renaissance in BK have vanished quicker than the Dodgers dipping to L.A. in 1957.
Dwight Howard’s eventual choice to stay another year in Orlando must have immediately reminded Hov of the aforementioned single. D12 just left them, so will Deron Williams bother to sign an extension in the offseason and stay… particularly, since a cast of “grey skies” have now “replaced the sunny days” Brooklyn was expected to have? The Nets future is as grim as its present. Mikhail Prokhorov‘s net worth of $13.2 billion and 57th rank on Forbes’ world billionaires list can’t even sway D-Will to commit long-term anymore.
The gamble of free agency is the moral behind this joint.
In Prokhorov’s initial 2010 press conference, he stated the following: “I am pretty sure I can convince the very best of the best that the Nets is the place they need to be.”
I’m sorry. Prokhorov hasn’t been seen at a Nets game for a while. He’s apparently far more concerned in his Russian political race versus Vladimir Putin than the race to get D12 to Brooklyn.
ESPN’s Marc Stein said it best: “Players want to see him in action and feel his presence. Why should a star player want to play for the Nets if he’s giving the impression that he doesn’t want to be there to watch or run them?”
The only thing Prokhorov has “convinced” cats to do is to speculate and dissuade against signing on to the Brooklyn Nets. Some owners can get away as behind-the-scenes people, and the public won’t notice or care. His franchise is unlike any other in the league, though. His involvement upon his anointment has garnered minimal, if any, impact. Prokhorov couldn’t expect that Jay-Z’s influence alone would persuade superstars like Dwight that Brooklyn is a unique platform. He hasn’t established the credibility necessary to just watch from afar and not have his fingertips on the blueprint.
As for Hov, he may very well act as a serious Nets stakeholder that partakes in the business nuances of the Barclays Center, as The Wall Street Journal detailed. But these responsibilities aren’t highlighted enough to draw the attention of cats to publicly state they want to play in Brooklyn. He told David Letterman about how he respected whatever decision his boy LeBron would make prior to free agency. Wasn’t their relationship a conflict of interest? Isn’t an owner supposed to be completely biased and confidently persuasive to attract free agents? Why wasn’t he capable, or willing, to bring Brooklyn the star they’ve longed for in King James? All of these questions remain unanswered. And the current ones regarding D12 should be linked to his inability to leverage his celebrity to draw superstars to the Nets. Cats don’t want to Watch the Throne; they want to sit on the throne.
D-Will is only with the Nets right now because the Utah Jazz were proactive at the deadline last year to snatch the majority of their assets. He will soon reconsider how viable this squad is for next year and going forward. Adding Crash Wallace with an injured Brook Lopez ain’t going to do it, especially when you basically gave up this summer’s lottery pick.
“LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Amar’e, ‘Melo, Boozer, and Dwight. That’s pretty brutal 0-fer for Prokhorov,” tweeted Hardwood Paroxysm’s Matt Moore. He just forgot to mention Jay-Z.
To conclude: “But there is no getting around it: This is a massive blow for New Jersey,” noted SI’s Zach Lowe. He just forgot to change the city to Brooklyn.
Who do you think won and lost at the trade deadline?
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