Trade impacts on other teams

The biggest impact to the trade deadline deals was to the Celtics, of course, but I thought I'd take a look at how deals affected other teams. Including the Carmelo and Deron Williams deals, an amazing 21 of 30 teams were involved in trades.

Just for fun, here's Bill Simmons' take on the trades. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/110225/part1&sportCat=nba

Bobcats. Got: Joel Przybilla, Dante Cunningham, Mo Peterson, DJ White. Gone: Gerald Wallace, Nazr Mohammed, any shred of respectability. A franchise in North Carolina seems like such a natural, but franchise management has completely failed to capitalize on the opportunity. They've had abysmal owners combined with "basketball people" making poor decisions. The current regime has kicked Raymond Felton, Tyson Chandler, and Gerald Wallace out the door in the past year, leaving them with... who exactly? Stephen Jackson and the Pips? I don't know if Michael Jordan is the person to blame, but somebody's doing a bad job here.

Bulls. Got: nobody. Gone: James Johnson. Not exactly the deal of the day.

Cavs. Got: Semih Erden, Luke Harangody, Baron Davis. Gone: Mo Williams, Jamario Moon. Not that anything will make a difference this season, but the Cavs got some badly needed size with Erden and a capable spot player with Harangody. Erden and Harangody's youth may help a demoralized team now, both could become capable NBA players down the road, and both should benefit from increased playing time. A small ray of sunshine for a team that could desperately use one. Of course, they also got Baron Davis, noted sunshine-extinguisher.

Clippers. Got: Mo Williams, Jamario Moon. Gone: Baron Davis. Who would've ever thought getting traded to the Clippers could be a move up?

Grizzlies. Got: Shane Battier, Ish Smith. Gone: Hasheem Thabeet. They essentially gave away nothing and got a solid wing defender and 3-pt threat to help offset Rudy Gay being out. "Success" for them is making the playoffs, and this helps them toward that goal.

Hawks. Got: Kirk Heinrich, Hilton Armstrong. Gone: Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans. Still missing: elite status, heart.

Hornets. Got: Carl Landry. Gone: Marcus Thornton. Thornton showed promise in his rookie season last year but hasn't had much of an impact this season. Landry will help. He's not great, but he's tough. In 2009, his vehicle was struck by another car, and when he got out to look at the damage, a guy from the other car shot Landry in the leg. He was playing again in less than three weeks. Last season, he got five teeth broken/knocked out/embedded in Dirk Nowitzki's elbow and missed one game (the next night of a back-to-back, after having his teeth fixed that day). In his next three games, he scored 27, 20, and 26 points. If the Hornets needed to add some toughness, I think he'll do.

Jazz. Got: Devin Harris, Derrick Favors. Gone: Deron Williams, Jerry Sloan, hope? Devin Harris was good two years ago, Derrick Favors may be good two years from now. I don't think they have an office party scheduled today.

Kings. Got: Marquis Daniels, Marcus Thornton. Gone: Carl Landry. Since it's the Kings, it doesn't matter what they do. The hope around here is that they do one more thing and buy out Samuel Dalembert.

Knicks. Got: half a roster, respectability? Gone: half a roster. Still there: James Dolan, the ghost of Isiah Thomas. I think they can be better than the Hawks and Orlando. It would help them a ton to sneak up at least one spot in the conference so that they don't have to play Boston, Miami, or Chicago in the first round.

Nets. Got: Deron Williams, Dan Gadzuric, Brandan Wright, respectability? Gone: Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, Troy Murphy. If they bring in more players in the next year, if Williams re-signs, if they drop "New Jersey" from their name in 2012... Stay tuned.

Nuggets. Got: half a roster. Gone: half a roster. Still there: head cases JR Smith, Kenyon Martin. It's funny, but now that the Carmelo saga is over, I have the feeling it will be like a weight lifted off their shoulders. They're off the radar, and no one has any expectations. I think that George Karl might be able to play the mad scientist a bit, and they could be a mild surprise the rest of the way.

Raptors. Got: James Johnson. Gone: nobody. Finally, the last piece of the puzzle to put them over the top. (Hint: that was sarcasm.)

Rockets. Got: Hasheem Thabeet, Goran Dragic. Gone: Shane Battier, Ish Smith, Aaron Brooks. Plus: Hasheem Thabeet is very tall and doesn't have stress fractures in his feet and ankles. Minus: he's Hasheem Thabeet.

Thunder. Got: Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson, Nazr Mohammed. Gone: Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic, Mo Peterson, DJ White. Now we'll see if having size puts them up with the big boys. The problem I see is that they really needed a big guy who could score and draw the defense off their perimeter shooters, but we'll see how this works out.

Timberwolves. Got: Eddy Curry, Anthony Randolph. Gone: Kosta Koufos. Please, somebody let me know when they do a trade that makes sense.

Trailblazers. Got: Gerald Wallace (somebody). Gone: Joel Przybilla, Dante Cunningham (nobody). This was the steal of the day from a basketball perspective. Since this is Portland, Wallace will probably blow out his knee on the opening tip of his first home game there.

Suns. Got: Aaron Brooks. Gone: Goran Dragic. Neither player is having a good year, so I don't think it matters much this season. My guess is that Phoenix thinks Brooks is the more capable replacement for Steve Nash if he's traded in the offseason. Since the town is named "Phoenix," I suppose they could rise from the ashes, but I think the team is going to go up in flames before next season (whenever that is).

Warriors. Got: Troy Murphy. Gone: Dan Gadzuric, Brandan Wright. Murphy will supposedly be bought out. As a Warriors fan, I'm going to stick my head in the sand and say "la la la la la la I can't hear you" for a while.

Wizards. Got: Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans. Gone: Kirk Heinrich, Hilton Armstrong. Lipstick on a pig on the Titanic.

outside,

Nice wrap up of a big day. Bill Simmon's take on almost anything is funny reading. I thought it was interesting, given he's a unabashed Celtic fan, that he didn't grade the Celtics trades.

Whole lotta new teams out there today.

bob

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