Anthony is Now a Knick
At the end of a hectic day, there is finally calm in the NBA. The trade deadline has passed and now it’s time to look at who benefits and who made the wrong decisions. When you run short on time, the mind can become desperate and make unreasonable decisions. For example, in school I was playing monopoly in one class, I had boardwalk and as the bell rang I desperately dealt a large sum of (monopoly) cash and two properties for Park Place. That didn’t turn out so well, but my friend who benefitted by monopolizing the orange properties went on to win the game. Yes, this is much smaller scale, but some of these trades may have similar effects. I’m not saying anyone who made a trade is going to win the NBA Championship, but some trades sure made teams look like they won’t win, not this year at least.
Let’s take a look at some of the notable teams and see which team wins, if both do, or even if neither team seems to benefit.
The Carmelo Trade
Winner: New York
Amidst the exchanging of 100 or so players, the Knicks came out on top. Now, don’t jump too far, this team isn’t going to win a title. Yes, Melo had an impressive debut as the Knicks beat the Bucks. But look closely, they won on 11 fourth quarter points from Melo over the Bucks, the Bucks, the horrible Milwaukee Bucks. Anyways, the real piece of the puzzle here is veteran Chauncey Billups, who quietly put up 21 points and 8 assists. This is a start, for a dismal franchise; they have pulled themselves off the bottom, but work still needs to be done. Continuing the overanalysis of one game (as everyone else is doing), Amar’e Stoudemire fouled out, and that’s called meshing?
As for the Nuggets, they lost their star, their face of the franchise, and their next best player… all for some guys and some picks that aside from the first rounder, likely won’t amount to much. The Nuggets staff all showed regret in the trade and that will likely be a prevalent theme in the future. They lost.
Don’t forget about the Timberwolves here, don’t think they won or lost, but they merely shuffled their deck of players and are trying out a new hand, nothing serious.
Deron Williams to the Nets
Winner: None
Why none? Well, the Nets just added a solid point guard, but in turn, gave up their solid point guard. Yes, Deron Williams is a star player, but the Nets. Well, at the very least this could be a start to Mikhail Prokhorov’s spending as the new owner. Regardless, the Nets are still the Nets and until they bring in several more Deron Williams, they will still be the Nets that we’ve come to know and love to play against.
The Jazz look to build a solid foundation here, but over the past year they have dealt their two best players (Boozer to the Bulls). The picks may turn to something, in years to come, but for now, the Jazz continue to fall. First Boozer, then Sloan, now Williams; who’s next? If one team had to be considered a winner, the Jazz come out slightly higher, but no winner here.
Baron Davis to Cleveland
Loser: Baron Davis
How unfortunate can the man get? He was in his hometown playing with arguably to most exciting player in the NBA, Blake Griffin, and now he’s headed to the worst team in the NBA. Granted the Clippers weren’t exactly playoff contenders, the Cavs are the worst team. The winner here is Mo Williams and Jamario Moon. Yes, neither is a star and neither will produce a noticable effect, but both get to play in Los Angeles with Griffin. For Williams, an incredibly overpaid player, good luck falls on him again as a result of this move. Regardless, both teams are still bad, I feel for Baron.
The Offloading of Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson
Winner: Oklahoma City
Why Boston, why? Yes, you have the Big 3 and a half, but Kendrick Perkins is the man who keeps a Dwight Howard quiet, he’s the man who marks up across from Andrew Bynum and now he’s gone. All the top teams who feared Boston exhaled in unison. KG will have his hands full under the rim now. Jeff Green is a fine young prospect, and Krstic has been to Boston before, but Perkins was their rock. Don’t forget little Nate, he’s a crowd favorite who was an excellent player coming from the bench; now both are gone. The Thunder will miss their two players, especially Green given his impressive work with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, but Perkins and Robinson will be welcomed with open arms. Boston may have forsaken their title hopes this year. That may be a bit harsh, but I don’t see any reason or rhyme to this move, especially given the age of their current stars.
Aaron Brooks for Goran Dragic
Winner: Houston
Goran Dragic was set to be the heir apparent to two-time MVP Steve Nash. Don’t get me wrong, Brooks is a fine player, but Dragic continued to impress as he watched Nash work his magic, came off the bench and did his best, usually fairly accurate, imitation of Nash. The Suns lost their possible future point guard.
