Stop trading with Dork Elvis
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The Trade Deadline Exchange, Part 1
First lesson: Don't trade with Dork Elvis
By Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons on February 21, 2013
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With the NBA's trade deadline happening at 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, Grantland's Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons decided to swap e-mails all day to capture the speculation, the rumors, and maybe even a few breaking trades as they happened. Here's the first installment, tentatively titled, "Sorry, Sacramento."
Simmons (6:30 a.m.): All right, I'm up, I'm drinking coffee, I'm ready to go. What did you think of Houston fleecing Sacramento for Thomas Robinson?1 Why do teams continue to trade with Dork Elvis? Everyone, STOP TRADING WITH DORK ELVIS!!!!!
Lowe: That was a shocker. The highest-value player here is obviously Robinson (the fifth overall pick just eight months ago), whom lots of scouts love despite his rudimentary offensive skills; he's shooting 42 percent and has zero post game, though he is shooting a nearly acceptable 38 percent on midrange jumpers, per NBA.com. Keith Smart was very optimistic about Robinson's midrange jumper when I spoke to him in Dallas just before the All-Star break.
Simmons: You left out, "Oh, and he's a 21-year-old rookie getting spotty minutes for the most depressing franchise in the league … maybe that affected his jumper, too."
Lowe: In any case: Robinson's a "wow" athlete, and he's already a better rebounder than Patterson ever will be; Patterson rebounds more like a small forward than a power forward, and he's the only player of any long-term relevance going to Sacramento here. The Kings do save about $3.6 million in salary for this season, so hooray for that! Cost-cutting may well have been a motive during an awkward period for the franchise, and if it was, well, have fun digesting that one, Sacto fans. Of course, Patterson is a year away from the expiration of his rookie deal, after which point he'll become more expensive. Robinson has three years left on his rookie deal. Math is fun.
Simmons: There were so many appalling things about that trade, but you just hit on the big one — the Kings gave up on a top-five lottery pick to save a little less than $4 million. It's the kind of trade that happens when your owners are broke. It's the kind of trade that would have happened in 1978, back when the league was struggling and they were showing Finals games on tape delay. You know I'm prone to hyperbole from time to time, but I truly believe this — that's the worst trade anyone's made in years. A lottery team giving up Robinson … I mean … it's unconscionable. No, he wasn't playing that well for the Kings, but can you think of a worse situation for him?
As I've written before, the Kings were put together like The Pickup Team From Hell. Before this trade, they had a playing rotation that included four point guards and four power forwards. That's not a misprint. Robinson was getting scattered minutes off the bench behind Boogie Cousins and Jason Thompson. And they're owned by a bunch of broke brothers who are trying to sell out to Seattle and inadvertently (or maybe even advertently) turned their season into a total soap opera. Other than that, it was a fantastic situation for Thomas Robinson. I'm amazed he didn't thrive there.
Lowe: Agree that Robinson had the highest value in the trade because of his athleticism/upside, and because he represents another immediately movable high-value trade chip for Daryl Morey — a lottery pick, basically. The Rockets can deal Robinson right away if they want to make a deadline play for Josh Smith or another big-money guy, since this deal leaves Houston under the salary cap and thus safe from rules against trading a player right after getting him. Houston may choose to wait until the summer for any such chase, since they'll have max-level cap room. These two deals combined shave about $1.6 million from Houston's 2013-14 cap figure, meaning they should be able to carve out about $20 million in space in July with a bit of creativity — enough to fit Dwight Howard's max contract, and certainly Smith's. They could also use Robinson as a sign-and-trade chip.
Simmons: It was an amazing trade for them. My buddy House and I always called these types of trades "pu pu platter" trades. You know when you order Chinese food in college and it seems like a great idea to order a giant pu pu platter for the table because you get so many things with it? Then the big pu pu platter arrives and it always sucks? You have lukewarm spareribs and overcooked chicken wings and soggy egg rolls? And you wish you had just spent that money on their best entrée? That's what this trade was. Houston dealt lukewarm spareribs, overcooked chicken wings and soggy egg rolls for a piping-hot dish of kung pao chicken.
I gotta be honest, Zach … I didn't think trades like this could still happen in 2013. Basketball coverage is so merciless now. We have hundreds of bloggers, dozens of beat writers and too many influential NBA columnists basically lounging around waiting for fresh prey. When you screw up, this entire community descends on you like a pack of coyotes. As weird as this sounds, I think it's made the 30 NBA teams as a whole a little more competent — instead of plowing ahead with a dumb deal, now they float out possible trades to gauge reactions, just to make sure they're not going to get slammed if they actually go through with it. But in this case? The Kings just plowed ahead. And thank god. I missed ripping apart a truly atrocious trade! Thank you, Geoff Petrie!
Lowe: I heard from people from at least a half-dozen teams within an hour of this trade breaking, and the universal reaction was: WHAT!!??? I mean, everyone understands the Kings did this to save money, though they may eventually try to conjure up some vague basketball-related justification — that Patterson fits better next to DeMarcus Cousins because he can space the floor, or perhaps because they are friends from Kentucky. Neither comes close to justifying the raw asset exchange they made here.
In any case, my best educated guess for how this went down: Houston has been peddling a bunch of its young guys in hopes of exchanging one for a first-round pick. They were calling around the league. They eventually got to Sacramento, at which point Petrie — still at least using the telephone, I'm told, assuming the Kings have paid the phone bill — probably mentioned Robinson's availability in a package with Francisco Garcia. Morey probably dropped the phone.
Simmons: I agree. I think he definitely dropped the phone. And there's no question that he called his guys into an electrical closet and said, "Look, give me all your cell phones. It's not that I don't trust you. I do. I 99.9 percent trust you. But I can't even leave open the 0.1 percent chance that one of you will screw me over by leaking this deal to Stein or Woj. If we get the fifth pick in last year's draft for a bunch of crap, this will be the greatest moment of my career, and possibly my life. So please, give me your cell phones."
Lowe: And don't forget — that $1.6 million in 2013-14 salary they saved could prove very important if they chase Howard.
Simmons: Here's what NBA history has shown us — you always want to target a high lottery pick who's available because he's either underachieving or playing for a team that doesn't know what it's doing. It's the best way to luck out with a potential All-Star if you never actually have the chance to pick high in the lottery. If you get them when they're young, even better. Some of my favorite examples: Chris Webber, Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups, Mike Bibby, Rip Hamilton, Joe Johnson, Rasheed Wallace, Marcus Camby … it's just happened too many times. That's why I would be targeting Minnesota's Derrick Williams today. He's available for 50 cents on the dollar, he's playing out of position for a lottery team, and there's a good chance that he might thrive in the right spot. Always bet on lottery talent. Well, unless it's Jonny Flynn or Wesley Johnson.
Lowe: To be fair, the Rockets did give up a decent rotation guy in Patterson. But that's all Patterson is. Houston watched him for three years and hoped at various times he'd augment his game by developing some low-post skills or morphing into a mobile defensive force. Neither happened. Patterson did develop a 3-point shot — he's at a very nice 36.5 percent from deep this season — but he's a liability on the glass, he gets to the line but once per game, and he's not much of a passer. He's a decent defender, but that's it, and sometimes he's not even that; he has a bad habit of biting on pump fakes. You don't sell low on a potential talent like Robinson in order to get a nice player on the back end of his rookie deal, and you certainly don't do it just because he's college buddies with your out-of-control center.
Simmons: Enjoy, Kings fans! Is it possible the Maloofs made this deal to try to encourage Seattle's ownership group to back out? I'm not ruling this out.
Lowe: Who the heck knows what the Kings were up to (other than saving that aforementioned scratch)? A source familiar with the deal confirms GM Geoff Petrie was heavily involved, though it's unclear who is really pulling the strings there. Did they even call around about Robinson's availability? Is this the best they could have done? Heck, even Garcia on an expiring deal has a little value as a locker-room guy/passable wing shooter.
Simmons: That was the most startling part for me. Why would any NBA team randomly trade an asset without making sure there wasn't a better offer out there? This drives me crazy in fantasy whenever another owner does this — it's the best way to guarantee I will send you a pissy 500-word e-mail with everyone else in the league CC'ed. Also, if I'm dealing the fifth pick in the draft, then I'm at least making you take John Salmons's contract ($7.6 million next year) and not Garcia's expiring deal … right? Or would that make too much sense? You know what's funny? Had Salmons's deal been in here instead of Garcia's expiring, I STILL wouldn't have liked the trade for the Kings. That's how bad it was.
Lowe: The whole "Let's save money!" thing raises the question of why the Kings inexplicably took on Salmons's awful contract in a three-team trade just before the 2011 draft — a trade in which the Kings took on the most long-term money and dropped down three picks in that year's lottery. It made no sense then, and it makes less sense now, though obviously the context has changed dramatically with the potential Seattle move and the multiple interests involved here. In any case, someone will overpay Patterson next summer/fall.
Simmons: And it will probably be the Kings. That's a Geoff Petrie specialty!
Lowe: Houston didn't want to be that team, so they sold Patterson and they got a lottery pick. Not so different from San Antonio's goal in the Kawhi Leonard/George Hill trade on Draft Day 2011. The deal may hurt Houston a tad in the playoff race this season, since they just dealt away their entire power-forward rotation in Morris and Patterson — two above-average 3-point shooters, especially from the corners, who could space the floor around Omer Asik pick-and-rolls.
Houston could have, in theory, waited until the summer to flip Morris — a lottery pick in his own right — for a second-rounder, keeping him around for the rest of this season.
Simmons: I wondered about that as well and came to this conclusion: The Rockets probably wanted the extra cap space for trade deadline flexibility purposes, and also, they know better than anyone that those second-round picks can become real commodities when you strike oil with them (like Chandler Parsons or Chase Budinger). You don't think of someone like Parsons as untradable, but with his cheap contract (under a million this year and next) during an era when the cap keeps dropping, he's semi-untradable — would you rather pay Parsons $900,000 or Rudy Gay $17 million? It's no contest.
Lowe: But Houston plays chunks of every game with Chandler Parsons at power forward, and this move may signal that they are confident Terrence Jones and/or Donatas Motiejunas is ready for more time. And Robinson projects as a much better pick-and-roll player and rebounder than either of the departed power forwards. Perhaps Houston can make up for the offense in other ways.
Simmons: I like the way Robinson (in my head) will fit on that Houston team. That 18-footer is always open for them because they have two elite slash-and-kick guys. In college, that was Robinson's bread and butter. And as you mentioned earlier, he could always end up being a poker chip for a much bigger move. You're not getting someone like Josh Smith for the pu pu platter, but you might be able to get him for, say, Robinson, Jones and Garcia's contract if that's the best Atlanta can do. For me, Houston is a massive wild card heading toward the playoffs, especially if they make one more monster move today. Did you see what the Rockets did to Oklahoma City last night? They skewered them! They remind me of one of those Spurs/Nuggets teams from the 1980s — you know they won't win the title, but you'd also want no part of them in a seven-game series. Dork Elvis went into the summer with a slew of "if"s and came out of it with a franchise guy (Harden), two starters on fair contracts (Lin and Asik), the fifth overall pick AND cap space for 2013. That's spectacular. I'm so happy that he's not getting fired, and that he won't be moving into my guest room. What do you think of Houston's playoff chances?
Lowe: I don't think this really moves the needle in that sense; their chances of snagging a spot are still good to very good. They're still three games up in the loss column over the Lakers, and that home win against Oklahoma City last night was huge. They hold the head-to-head advantage for tiebreaker purposes over all three of Utah, the Lakers, and Golden State, though all three of those teams have a chance to tie the Rockets. And the Warriors are slumping.
Simmons: And then some. At what point is someone going to break the news to Warriors fans that they could have had James Harden for Klay Thompson before the season? Should we do it in stages? One at a time? How should we handle this? We might have to do an oral history called "The Last Few Days Before Oklahoma City Traded James Harden." I still can't believe that Washington and Golden State evaluated that situation by saying, "Hmmmmm … no thanks, we're gonna roll with Bradley Beal/Klay Thompson over adding a franchise guy." Sorry, I interrupted, go back to breaking down Houston's playoff chances, please.
Lowe: Look, the Rockets might be a little undermanned up front down the stretch. They were playing Aldrich at backup center in search of some additional size, and barring some future moves, they'll have to get by again with some undersized lineups when Asik is on the bench. Houston's defense and rebounding have both collapsed when Asik sits; they've allowed about 101.9 points per 100 possessions when he plays and 108.5 when he hits the bench, roughly the gap between Miami's 11th-ranked defense and Sacto's league-worst defense. So they'll suffer some on that end, even with Greg Smith back from the D-League to assume backup center duties, but it's not as if Aldrich was making much of a difference. They might miss Douglas a bit, since he was shooting 38 percent from 3 after bombing out in New York last season. But Patrick Beverley can grab those minutes, I guess.
Simmons: Let's talk about the other part of this deal …
Lowe: You mean, the Suns getting a shooting power forward whose twin brother is on the team already, as a shooting power forward?
Simmons: Exactly! I think the Suns have officially hit rock bottom — they couldn't acquire a marquee player to get their fans excited this week, even though they were trying to overpay for everyone from Josh Smith to Iman Shumpert, so they went with Plan B. What was Plan B? TWINS! Who's up for seeing some twins! Anyone? These guys look exactly alike! And we're gonna play them at the same time! COME SEE THE TWINS!!!!!!!
Lowe: I'll give the Suns a wait-and-see.
Simmons: I'd rather give them a wait-and-don't-see. But go ahead.
Lowe: I didn't like their offseason beyond the Goran Dragic signing — I predicted they'd be the league's biggest disappointment, and couldn't believe anyone thought they'd pulled a quick post-Nash rebuild — but they've got lots of flexibility both today and going into the summer, and a ton of picks. (They get the Lakers' first-round pick if L.A. misses the playoffs.) They'll spend the rest of this season seeing what they have in Wesley Johnson and Kendall Marshall —
Simmons: It's like you're trying to provoke me to make a snarky joke.
Lowe: — and their climate and training staff appeal to free agents. Marcus Morris can play some small forward, though there is some crowding now at both positions, with Michael Beasley, Luis Scola, and Channing Frye (next season) all on the books. But really, the Suns are a bit player here. Houston and Sacramento are the stars in this weird, weird drama.
Simmons: Let's hope and pray for more inexplicably weird trades that make you say, "Wait … what???????" Keep your fingers crossed.
Part 2
The Trade Deadline Exchange, Part 2
Going out with a whimper while hoping for a bang
By Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons on February 21, 2013
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If you missed Part 1 of the Simmons-Lowe Trade Deadline E-mail Exchange Fiesta (we're still working on the title), CLICK HERE. For Part 2, we picked things up in real time with time stamps and everything.Simmons (2:07 p.m. EST): Hey Zach — less than an hour before the deadline and our three biggest Thursday trades have been headlined by Dexter Pittman, Jordan Crawford and Bassy Telfair. Right now, I'm refreshing Twitter every 20 seconds while trying to decipher from Sekou Smith's NBA TV interview with Josh Smith whether Josh wants to get traded or not. (My final verdict: Sort of.) Oh, and I'm trying to figure out how Boston landed Crawford for Leandro Barbosa when Barbosa's left knee currently doesn't have an attached ACL. I feel like my eyeballs are going to come flying out of my head. Too much going on, only nothing's going on. Is this why people start taking Adderall?
Lowe (2:13 p.m.): Well, Atlanta and Milwaukee might take us to the deadline on Smith, and we'll probably get at least a couple of little deals that trickle in before the deadline … right? The Pittman and Telfair deals are essentially irrelevant — insurance policies for teams that don't really need them. The Heat cut some money from their tax bill, and the Grizz — out a first-rounder to Cleveland, and another to Minnesota — get a second-round pick for their troubles. I'm sure the Grizz had higher hopes for their trade exceptions, especially the $7 million-plus one they got via the Rudy Gay deal, but here we are.
Simmons (2:15 p.m.): Can't say I love what Memphis did (assuming they're done). They spent a future first-rounder to give away two decent bench guys (Ellington and Speights, both of whom play for Cleveland) to save money, then they traded Rudy Gay to save money … um … why did they have to make BOTH trades? Confusing. (Note: I also would have kept Jose Calderon over dealing for Prince's contract; I just think he's a better player and would have made them more interesting. They could have always found a stopgap swingman closer to the deadline. That's what Prince is at this point — at least the Prince I've been watching these last two to three years. Maybe it's just my TV.) But wait … you don't think Bassy Telfair is a good backup?
Lowe (2:20 p.m.): Before getting to Bassy, you're right that the scrutiny of the Rudy Gay deal should start with the pick Memphis gave the Cavaliers, and not really the Rudy trade itself. But I've covered that at length here, and the finances aren't so simple.
Back to Bassy: I don't really get the rush to give up anything of value, even just a second-rounder and player you'll never use (Hamed Haddadi), for a third point guard. John Lucas III is a shoot-first, shoot-second, shoot-third backup point guard, which can drive coaches crazy — especially a staff that wanted Jose Calderon over the more aggressive Kyle Lowry. But third point guards are like bullpen catchers: Why give up anything to get one, since you're screwed either way if your team reaches a point at which it actually has to use that player?
Simmons (2:22 p.m.): I'm biased toward Bassy; I may have seen the three best games he's played over the past two years in person (all against the Clippers). He loves going against Chris Paul. Plays him as well as anyone. I wish I could delete the part of my brain that knows things like this.
Lowe (2:23 p.m.): What do you make of the Jordan Crawford deal? Will KG murder him this week or next week? Do you care at all?
Simmons (2:25 p.m.): I didn't mind it … they gave up someone who currently can't walk for him. My rule with these things is that, if the contracts are equal, you always want the guy who can walk over the guy who can't walk. Crawford belongs in that Nick Young/John Lucas/Nate Robinson group of Irrationally Irrational Confidence Guys, which is a level below the true Irrational Confidence Guys (Jamal Crawford, J.R. Smith, etc.). When he's hot, you ride him. When he's not, you sit him. Of course, Doc couldn't stand coaching Robinson. So this will be interesting. I've always had a soft spot for Crawford dating back to his Xavier days — there's always room in a 10-man rotation for someone who can catch fire NBA Jam–style, and he's one of the ultimate "no-no-no-YES!" shooters. Did you like the deal for Boston?
Lowe (2:29 p.m.): Funny you mention Young — one league exec made this exact comparison to me just a couple of hours ago. Young was a crucial player in one pivotal playoff game last season — Game 1 in Memphis, the Clippers' massive comeback — and Crawford, for all his warts, may do something similar for Boston this season. His shot selection is egregious, he'll struggle to guard wing players, and the Wizards' offense has basically died when he's played the point this season. Point guard in Boston is a shared duty now, so hopefully the Celtics will never lean too heavily on Crawford in this way.
Simmons (2:33 p.m.): According to ESPN.com's Jeremy Lundblad, Jordan Crawford is one of seven players averaging an 18-5-4 per 36 minutes, joining LeBron, Kobe, Wade, Harden, Westbrook, and Manu. You know what's the most amazing thing about that stat? Jordan Crawford is averaging five assists per 36 minutes????? I don't think I've ever seen him pass. By the way, David Aldridge's ability to do a live studio show while tweeting and gathering info at the exact same time is amazing. I'm so impressed.
Lowe (2:36 p.m.): In Crawford's defense …
1. He played limited minutes with John Wall and Nene, meaning Crawford has gotten little opportunity this season to play alongside Washington's best offensive players — a trend that makes his on-court/off-court splits look terrible. But they are terrible, and they were last year, too.
2. He's nearly a league-average 3-point shooter this season, a big step up, and he can create a 40 percent shot off the bounce against anyone. That's valuable when the shot clock is running down. He really only takes 40 percent shots, but that's a different story. Boston could use his creativity and long-range shooting, but they have a ton of weird combo-style guards now in Crawford, Jason Terry, Avery Bradley, and Courtney Lee. At least one should be elsewhere by next year's tipoff.
3. He did make a real effort to pass more this season when the Wiz used him as a de facto point guard, but those lineups failed so miserably they almost broke the NBA.com stats database. He's putting up a career-high assist rate, as you mention. He might win a playoff game — or, more accurately, a playoff quarter — but he's not a player I'd really want on my team for the long haul. Washington just gave him away for nothing after benching him almost upon Wall's return, which feels a bit spiteful on the Wizards' part. Very little harm, very little foul for Boston. But don't expect much.
Simmons (2:40 p.m.): Good work, Zach. Between you and Jeremy Lundblad, I've totally talked myself into this trade and now believe it's the steal of the century. I won't even dwell on the part that Washington was soooooo desperate to get rid of him, they traded him for an expiring contract who cannot walk and won't be able to run at full speed until after his contract ends. Bring on the Crawford era! Meanwhile, we're suddenly 20 minutes away from the deadline! Where are the moves? What is happening to Josh Smith???
Lowe (2:42 p.m.): It looks like Milwaukee or nowhere. I have to admit, Milwaukee's emergence here caught me off guard.
Simmons (2:44 p.m.): And you've always been overprotective of Milwaukee because of your unabashed love for LARRY SANDERS! Serious question — if SANDERS! got engaged to Swin Cash and they didn't invite you to the wedding, would you try to crash it anyway and risk a trespassing fine and possible jail time?
Lowe (2:45 p.m.): That would be difficult for me. I think Swin already has a restraining order after All-Star weekend.
Simmons (2:46 p.m.): If Milwaukee can land Josh Smith without giving up Jennings or SANDERS!, that would be pretty intriguing. I might not be the biggest Josh Smith fan on the planet (he's one of those guys who scares you when he's on the other team but scares you even more when he's on your own team), but I'm still one of the few who agrees with Smith that he's a max player. I had him as a second-team All-NBA forward last year. He stumbled a little this season, mainly because they didn't take care of him and he's a mild headache (and you have to take care of mild headaches before they become pounding migraines). But if you're looking at this from his point of view, the following guys are "max" players right now (or damned close): Deron Williams, Rudy Gay, Pau Gasol, Eric Gordon, Roy Hibbert, Joe Johnson, Amar'e Stoudemire, David Lee, Paul Pierce, Andrew Bynum, Carlos Boozer, Andre Iguodala.
Look at that list again. He's not a max player? JaVale McGee got $11 million a year to be someone's backup center last summer. Gerald Wallace gets $10 million a year to imitate Marvin Williams in Brooklyn. (Not a compliment.) Josh Smith can't get $16-$18 million a year? I mean … I wouldn't pay him max money, but somebody will. That's a fact. Nobody should make fun of Josh Smith for thinking he's a max player … in a goofy, twisted way, he TOTALLY is. Just about every good-to-great NBA starter is overpaid by 25 to 30 percent except for LeBron, who's underpaid by 400 percent.
Lowe (2:50 p.m.): Somebody is going to pay Smith the max, or very close to it, but you have to remember not all "maxes" are created equal. Harden's "max" starts about $4 million per year below Smith's potential max, though Harden's would go up if he wins the MVP this year. That obviously won't happen, but it would be hilarious, since it would trigger a cap rule upping Harden's value significantly.
Simmons (2:52 p.m.): He needs to play 20 more straight games like the one he played last night against Oklahoma City and the MVP is within reach. Just 20 straight 46-point games in which he misses six shots per game total and makes every big play down the stretch, that's all.
Lowe (2:54 p.m.): I'm a Smith optimist, though I recognize his flaws — very bad shot selection at times, lazy boxing out, moodiness, etc. He's not an "A" player, but he might be a "B-plus" player in nearly every phase of the game — passing, defense, rebounding, scoring from the block, etc. — and that's rare. He's only 27. If you're never going to get a star free agent to sign outright — and the Bucks aren't — this is the kind of gamble you have to make sometimes. The Raptors just made the same gamble with Rudy Gay, and Smith is a better player than Gay.
Simmons (2:56 p.m.): I wholeheartedly agree. And also, Smith was excellent last season. Gay hasn't been excellent for a couple of seasons, and maybe ever. Coincidentally, both of them have been first-teamers on the Tantalizing Potential All-Stars since, like, 2007.
Lowe (2:57 p.m.): Two Josh quibbles, though …
1. I'm surprised the Bucks were so interested in this move with both SANDERS! and Ersan Ilyasova onboard. I heard from multiple people they sniffed around a Thad Young/Monta Ellis swap, but might have gotten cold feet — presumably because of positional overcrowding issues.
2. I'm worried Smith will age poorly. He's a "do your work late" kind of player on defense, and especially on the glass. By that I mean: His fundamentals are sometimes poor, in terms of sliding or boxing out, because he thinks he can use his speed/leaping at the end of a play to make up for any lost ground. That ability vanishes as a player ages. But he's actually a very smart player, and he might learn to adjust.
In any case, Atlanta has about three minutes to make up its mind between the Bucks, Nets, and whoever else is out there. Also: Eric Maynor just got dealt to Portland, apparently. Woohoo!!!
Simmons (3 p.m.): Things are heating up! We're on a run of third-string point guards getting dealt — look out, Willie Green, you might be next. Uh-oh, I just checked my Twitter feed and about 20 NBA guys reported at the same time that (a) the Bucks were out of the Josh Smith Sweepstakes, and (b) J.J. Redick was probably headed to Milwaukee. But for what??? My best guess — Monta Ellis and a conditional pick to Orlando, Redick and Josh McRoberts's Expiring Contract to Milwaukee. I'm just worried that two white guys might not go over well in Milwaukee.
In other news … THE DEADLINE HAS PASSED. We made it.
Lowe (3:07 p.m.): It's over. Whew. Sifting through all these last-minute deals — Anthony Morrow to Dallas, Eric Maynor to Portland, where he'll actually be a major upgrade to the league's worst bench — the headliner of the day is J.J. Redick to Milwaukee in what appears to be an eight-player, three-team deal, with the Bobcats also involved.
Simmons (3:09 p.m.): In other words, we won't be bouncing our grandkids on our laps someday and telling them about Trade Deadline 2013. I'm glad Presti finally dealt Maynor … that means our long national nightmare of Presti trying to pull a Jedi Mind Trick on the media and pretend Maynor was good at basketball and had genuine trade value is finally over. That totally would have worked if writers and other GMs didn't have League Pass and NBA Broadband.
Lowe (3:13 p.m.): I liked the Thunder snagging Ronnie Brewer from the Knicks for a second-round pick. I'm not sure what happened to Brewer in New York. He started off defending well in killer small lineups, getting baskets on cuts, and even making corner 3s. The 3s weren't going to last, and he did suffer a couple of bumps and bruises, but he could still do that other stuff for a team that could use some healthy, stout wing guys. The Knicks are now counting very heavily on Iman Shumpert and a slumping Jason Kidd — on both ends — and need all the wing depth they can get to play heavy minutes with Melo at power forward. So that bears watching.
Simmons (3:16 p.m.): Jason Kidd isn't slumping … he's old. He's like four years younger than me, and I have to rub elk semen on my knees just to play pickup hoops once a week. Remind me to buy deer antler spray; I keep forgetting. Anyway, keep going.
Lowe (3:17 p.m.): The Thunder have never really had a full-time backup small forward for Kevin Durant. Thabo Sefolosha has basically assumed that role in the playoffs, and he wasn't big enough to guard LeBron James in the Finals. DeAndre Liggins and Perry Jones aren't going to be ready in June. Brewer may not impact the Thunder at all, but he's worth a shot as a backup defense-first wing and potential extra ingredient in small lineups with Durant at power forward.
Simmons (3:19 p.m.): And the Zombies certainly could have used Brewer last night against Harden. Hey, it's just dawning on me that the Celtics kept Rondo/Garnett/Pierce together at least through next June. What a strange run it's been … for three of the last four Februarys, we were thinking to ourselves, They're gonna blow it up, they're gonna blow it up, and it never happened. But during the fourth February, we weren't thinking anything because they had the best record, and THAT was the month they blew it up (Perkins for Green).
Anyway, I'm OK with standing pat this month. Garnett didn't want a trade. That Clippers deal (KG for Bledsoe and Jordan) was sitting there; he didn't want it. (Deny it all you want, Clippers. Your general manager Chris Paul wanted to make that deal.) But Garnett wants to retire as a Celtic. My question is … when? This summer? Next summer? Or is the plan, "As soon as we're positive that Rondo is healthy, we're dealing him for whatever we can get?"
You never want to be in NBA No-Man's-Land, and right now, the Celtics are in NBA No-Man's-Land. That's why I would have considered a Rondo/Bass for Smith/Pachulia/no. 1 pick deal, as mentioned in this SportsCenter clip …
2/22/2013 12:24 PM