This year's NBA trade deadline was one of the craziest in the sport's history, involving more than 10 trades and 30 players. Without further ado, here are the winners, losers, and teams/players about whom we're not entirely sure yet.
Who Won
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder have been surging into playoff position, finally snatching the No. 8 seed last night. They put themselves in position to threaten any team in the West after acquiring center Enes Kanter from the Utah Jazz, as well as a number of useful bench players just before the deadline.
All it took was to give up point guard Reggie Jackson, an admittedly talented player but one who was unhappy in OKC and plotting his escape, and Kendrick Perkins' expiring contract. D.J. Augustin will replace Jackson's backup point guard role, and although they are different players he will provide more shot-making off the bench than the man he's replacing.
Miami Heat
They did cough up two first-round picks in this large, three-team trade, but they got an All-Star caliber point guard that could help this team make the NBA Finals. When Goran Dragic had the keys to the Phoenix offense last year he was scoring 20.3 points and averaging 5.9 assists on better than 50 percent shooting. His drive-and-kick game will go very well with Miami's several shooters, while his creativity paired with Dwyane Wade's makes this backcourt arguably the most explosive in the East.
Portland Trailblazers
Portland snagged shooting guard Arron Afflalo ahead of this deadline, one of the better shooting guards in the NBA. His 3-point percentage was down this year (34 percent) but it's hard to judge players in toxic, losing situations such as Denver's. In Portland he will come off the bench, but he gives the Blazers flexibility on the perimeter for nights when Nic Batum is off; lately that's been the case more often than not.
Detroit Pistons
Hard to argue with getting a potential franchise point guard for some replaceable bench players and a future second rounder. Jackson will finally get his chance to be a lead dog, and the Pistons are hoping they've found themselves the second coming of James Harden.
New York Knicks
Surprised? The Knicks didn't do anything major, but their fans had to be delighted when they saw picks incoming. Trading Pablo Prigioni to Houston for two second-rounders is a very minor deal in the grand scheme of things, but New York acquiring draft picks is news.
Who Lost
Utah Jazz
Their haul for Kanter was confusing. Unlike the Suns and Thunder, teams with talented and disgruntled players who moved them for value, the Jazz unloaded Kanter for...what exactly? Perkins was immediately bought out, forward Grant Jerrett has made no NBA footprint for himself, and the picks they received are nondescript. A seven-footer giving you 18 and 10 a night needs to fetch more than that.
Philadelphia 76ers
They traded away the 2013-14 Rookie of the Year, point guard Michael Carter-Williams in a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, and then dealt promising guard K.J. McDaniels to the Houston Rockets in a second trade. They did get a promising draft pick from the Los Angeles Lakers, but this strategy has to be straining the will of their fans.
The 76ers recent usage of their high picks has been to take injured bigs out of college with raw offensive games. Just when exactly to the Sixers plan on putting a product on the court that is intended to get wins? Carter-Williams was their best player and even though these trades could sink them below the Knicks once again, there's no guarantee they will get the top pick.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets are losers because of what didn't happen-anything. All day the talk was of Brooklyn shipping center Brook Lopez to the Thunder, but they spurned the Nets and picked up Kanter instead. They also did not take a chance on Brooklyn-born SG Lance Stephenson, who is unhappy in Charlotte but would have been a motivated, two-way player at the Barclays Center.
Their big move was dealing Kevin Garnett for Thad Young, a youngish talent who provides some decent counting stats but hasn't contributed to much winning.
We'll See
rMilwaukee Bucks
Some might label their deadline a coup, stealing Carter-Williams and a nice rotation big in Miles Plumlee to replace the departed Brandon Knight, but for as promising as Carter-Williams is he really can't shoot. MCW is hitting just 25 percent from downtown, and 38 percent from the field. These days, it is just hard to matter when defenses can completely sag off of you. The Bucks now have a monopoly on length and athleticism, but they'll miss Knight's long-range bombing.
Phoenix Suns
They blew up their three-point guard set by trading Dragic to the Heat, and Isaiah Thomas to the Boston Celtics, then brought in Knight from the Bucks. Knight provides them with deep range none of their point guards, save for Thomas when he was hot, could offer. He can also share the point guard duties with Eric Bledsoe 50-50 if need be; both are more suited to playing off the ball than Dragic was.
In a vacuum though, it's hard to argue Knight is a better player than Dragic was. Dragic was third-team All-NBA just last year, and getting a solid player to replace him doesn't justify undercutting him unnecessarily by signing Thomas, who turned into Marcus Thornton and a 2016 Cavs 1st.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
