Assessing The Trading Day

This is something to do with the NBA trade deadline which took place 3am Hong Kong time. I was then sleepless not because of the trade talks but because of the foghorns (see last blog entry). By midday in the office I learned that after an unorthodox quiet last few days before the D-line, there have been a barrage of transactions taking place within the last 24 hours.

I used to think that the pending collective bargaining agreement among players and team owners made general managers cautious of pulling down a deal. I was wrong because within the last 24 hours there were eleven deals made.

I did not expect Phoenix to join the fray as it made its move weeks ago by acquiring Jim Jackson who refused to play for New Orleans Hornets (in exchange of young Suns Casey Jacobsen, Maciej Lampe and Jackson Vroman, stripping them from the title as the youngest team in the L) and recently Walter McCarty who came from Boston in return of the 2005 conditional second round pick obtained from Golden State in a previous transaction that sent Zarko Cabarkapa to Oakland. The moves is obviously seen as a serious pursuit to the playoffs by giving up youth with playoff experience.

Anyway too much of showing as a Suns fan. Here is my analysis of some trades:

Philadelphia 76ers trading with Sacramento Kings

It does not came as a shock that Chris Webber was traded away but as a surprise as his does not appear in rumor mills (I have long abhorred these gossips). Personally I like the situation of Sacramento obtaining three role players in Corliss Williamson, Brian Skinner and Kenny Thomas against one All-Star in Webber. By earlier emphasizing on offense by trading Doug Christie for Cuttino Mobley, Kings GM Geoff Petrie acknowledged the need for big men to clog inside especially that Webber's health is an issue. An apparent messing up in offense took place when Webber returned from injury and affected Peja Stojakovic's game that a time he demanded trade last Summer. Once considered an NBA MVP contender last season, Peja's chances dimmed as his production sank when Webber returned into the rotation. 76ers also did well in this trade since winning now is imperative and pleasing Allen Iverson is another. By trading the three big men, Webber gets into action with Sixers youngsters Andre Igoudala, Kyle Korver and Sam Dalembert.

Milwaukee Bucks trading with Dallas Mavericks

Milwaukee star Michael Redd becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer and rumors (again!) circulated that Cleveland is serious in its bid to pry Redd from the Bucks. Since he is unrestricted free agent, Redd has the final say on where to sign a contract. This usually boils down to the team who could offer the maximum deal. What Milwaukee did was more of clearing the salary cap rather than get rid of Kieth Van Horn as a player. The trade created roughly 9 million in cap space enough to re sign Redd and other Bucks such as Zaza Pachulia and Dan Gadzuric. It became evident that since Redd wasn't traded Milwaukee took the risk and hope he remains loyal to his word. In Van Horn, Dallas gets a quality player off the bench with better rebounding skill when playing small forward. Along with Jerry Stackhouse, Van Horn makes Dallas bench deeper. The downer is that he is a very expensive backup to Dirk Nowitzki.

New York Knicks trading with San Antonio Spurs

As much as we would laud Spurs General Manager RC Buford for this trade the direct opposite goes to Knicks GM Isaiah Thomas. The Spurs got a real defensive big man in Nazr Mohammed who will play alongside Tim Duncan especially that Rasho Nesterovic is ailing. Mohammed is among the top shot blockers and decent rebounder. While fans felt bad with the trade of Spur Malik Rose, it should be understood as business and for the betterment of the team. After all, fans root for their teams and hope they win the championship. Rose is an undersized four and acknowledging that Duncan is a four and not a center, Rose is better off replaced with someone who could spell Nesterovic. Thomas is notorious for taking bad contracts, filling up the roster with multiple positions (see Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford) and now comes Malik Rose whose a clone of Michael Sweetney. By giving up Mohammed, they lose a true center and significantly became a small team. It will mean even disgruntled forward Kurt Thomas playing the center position, something he publicly dislike as he is more productive when playing as power forward. To me if there is somebody who needs to be kicked out of an organization at the moment, it should be Isiah Thomas. I rooted for the Lakers during the Bad Boys era, but this has nothing to do with it. Thomas messes the Knicks, embarrassing the NBA's hometown.