Well, the trade deadline has come and gone. Really, the way things went down, the teams many thought would be busy either trying to add pieces or getting the women and children on life rafts and off the sinking ship indeed were doing those things. We got a few head-scratchers as well, and the one big move which wasn’t actually a move so much as a pause. Let’s start there with the roundup.
Dwight Howard – Staying (for another season). By picking up his contract option — basically opting in rather than out — Howard will be back to do this all again next season, before he really becomes a free agent with the Orlando Magic.
It’s sort of like going to a friends’ house for a party where the party isn’t all that fun but you can tell that your friend has worked really hard on trying to make it so, even though one of his ideas was an arm-wrestling bracket-style tournament. Also, you have been telling your friend all night and during the planning stages how awesome it sounds and is, which might not be helping but hey, you’re just trying to be nice. As the night wears on, you can probably guess that this party isn’t going anywhere near the entertaining direction, but you’ve already said all those good things about it and plus, he did get that bottle of bacon-flavored rum for you as a joke because you mentioned it in passing that one time. So you agree to stay for another hour or so, not because you really want to be there, but because your friend, with some help from you, has put a lot of effort into making the party a BLAST. You don’t want him to be mad at you. So you stay, with an eye towards the door at all times, looking for an angle, or an excuse, out of there, because whether he likes it or not, you’re leaving before the cleanup starts, no doubt about it.
Uh, yeah, that’s sort of like the Dwight Howard situation in Orlando. Sort of.
Sam Young to the 76ers. Another swingman for Philly to throw into their rotation, who should fit well in the defensive scheme and add more of that depth. A theme of the middling Eastern Conference teams seems to be “if we can’t add a superstar, maybe we’ll just try to kill ’em with a bigger stockpile of pretty good-to-good players.”
Leandro Barbosa to the Pacers. To wit, from above; Indiana adds another combo guard who can still fill it up on a given night. With the Pacers almost certainly bound of the playoffs, it will be nice to see Barbosa back in some sort of spotlight.
Ramon Sessions to the Lakers; Jason Kapono/Luke Walton to the Cavaliers. Los Angeles gets the sturdy, play-making point man they’ve been looking for. Sessions is a good distributor who should definitely upgrade the dynamic of the Laker offense. Kapono and Walton are solid veterans who could see some minutes in Cleveland, and hey, there isn’t anything wrong with that.
Gerald Wallace to the Nets; Pieces and picks to the Blazers. I don’t mention names here because Portland was involved in a couple trades that came with an obvious “WE’RE DONE. SEE YA NEXT SEASON” sign attached to them; Portland has hit the reboot button, especially with the potentially-valuable draft pick. Wallace is a proven do-everything player who can opt of his deal, meaning the Nets are likely still looking to make moves on the horizon (cough, DwightHoward, cough).
Marcus Camby to the Rockets; Pieces and picks to the Blazers. Portland reboot continues here. For Houston, Camby of course makes them bigger and tougher on the inside, like giving the team as a whole of big glass of milk.
Derek Fisher to the Rockets; Jordan Hill to the Lakers. Fisher probably deserved to be done better by the Lakers, but it is a business, I suppose. Still, pretty surprising to see him, because of his memorable tenure in Los Angeles (though he really, really isn’t much of a help on the floor these days) flipped for Hill, who actually could be useful in spelling Bynum or Gasol for stretches. Still, more weird than anything to see.
Stephen Jackson to the Spurs; Richard Jefferson to the Warriors. San Antonio officially gets done waiting for Jefferson to make a lasting impact, instead bringing back a guy Tim Duncan once called the “ultimate teammate.” If Jackson is going bring it anywhere, it’s probably going to be for the Spurs. But still, he’d like that contract extension sooner than later, please.
Nene to the Wizards; JaVale McGee to the Nuggets; Nick Young to the Clippers. This was probably the craziest trade of the day. Denver, a sneaky pick to contend for the Western Conference crown, essentially would rather try its hand at taming and molding the LOLMachine McGee than keep Nene’s mega contract that they just handed him over the summer. It’s an interesting time to pull such a move, to say the least, but the Nuggets seem to be nothing if not flexible. Nene is one of the top centers in the league, though never quite elite, but his professionalism should help the massive overhaul in Washington. Young will provide Los Angeles a scoring, athletic-as-hell two-guard, which is exactly what they were looking for. Really, I think it’s probably best for all those guys who were Wizards to get a change of scenery.
Griffin Gotta contributes to The Hoop Doctors and is a co-managing editor of Straight Outta Vancouver. The story arcs and infinite weirdness of the NBA are addictions he deals with every day. Email him at griffingotta at gmail dot com.
