In A World of Sports

So the NBA trade deadline has come and gone as of 3 p.m. today and as was fairly expected there wasn’t much action.  Most teams had made their significant moves in the months, weeks, and days leading up to the deadline, capped off yesterday by San Antonio acquiring their Shaq-insurance in the form of Kurt Thomas.  However, there were two trades of significance to me personally involving The Raptors, and their conference foes (and very possible playoff foe which is why I care so much) the Cleveland Cavaliers.  So let’s have a look at the moves both teams made at the deadline…

Toronto Raptors - I recently wrote a post describing a few trade options the Raptors had to change up their club, but realistically none were likely going to take place.  My trades centered around Andrea Bargnani who I think will be given at least one more year to show what he can do, and in light of this and the upcoming restricted free-agency of Calderon and Delfino, the Raptor deals I discussed were more fantasy than possibility.  The Raptors wanted to make sure they had the money to sign these guys back.  I expect though that next year the Raptors might be bigger players - with Nesterovic’s contract coming off the books at the end of next year (after he exercises his player option this year) which makes it a desirable contract - when they are a year older, wiser, and better equipped for the playoffs.  At that point Colangelo would have further assessed the needs of his team, have Calderon and Delfino under contract, and will know the fate (and true potential) of Il Mago. 

So ya, let’s talk about what they did this year.  Not much.  They traded the unhappy Juan Dixon for Primoz Brezec.  This trade is fine by me.  You get rid of a guy who is a distraction while he sits on the bench for a guy.  That’s about all Brezec is these days after a few decent years in Charlotte were derailed by a bad back, achilles tendon, and dehydration, yup dehydration.  Both contracts expire at the end of this year, so really this was a chemistry move.  The Raptors are only a couple moves away from being contenders for Eastern Conference champs, and I think next year could be the year Colangelo makes those necessary adjustments.  So Raptor fans will have to wait at least another year, but trust in Colangelo, he is one of the smartest minds in the NBA right now.

The Cleveland Cavaliers - The Cavs basically had to make a move.  They have arguably the best player in the league on their team who signed a 3-year extension in 2006.  That wasn’t the max he could sign, so the message was clear: give me talent to play with, and we’ll talk again, give me nothing, and I’m gone.  In recent weeks and days, Lebron has often been quoted as shocked and disappointed by moves teams around him were making and the lack of movement by his own club.  The Cavs were also rumoured to be hard persuers of a true point guard, namely Kidd or Bibby, which is an identified need for Lebron.  We all know how that turned out, Kidd went to Dallas, Bibby to Atlanta, so Cleveland went to Plan B. 

Plan B - In my opinion, Plan B was conceived in the minds of men who think that the New York Knicks have a good formula for building a ball club and want to emulate their team structure: acquire underachievers with huge contracts.  In case you can’t tell, I’m not a fan of this trade for Cleveland at all.  This is how the trade breaks down:  Cleveland picks up Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, point guard Delonte West, forward Joe Smith and a future second-round pick from the Bulls; The Bulls gets Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes (whose ESPN.com player profile pic finally explains what happened to Michael in the TV show Lost), Cedric Simmons, and Shannon Brown; Seattle gets Ira Newble, Adrian Grffin, and Donyell Mashall.  This how I think this will affect each team:

Sonics - I don’t know how Seattle got involved in this trade, but they came out the winners in my opinion.  This trade works for them because it immediately frees up about $3.5 million in cap space, and gives them about $2 million more in the summer from the difference between Newble’s and West’s contracts.  They are basically lowering payroll, they will load up on more youth in the draft, and get under the cap in the summer to save more cash.  Basically Seattle is making themselves more attractive for buyers.  I will give them an A for this trade because this accomplishes exactly what they needed to do at the deadline.

Bulls - So it didn’t take long for the Ben Wallace experiment to be abandoned in Chicago.  This is the best thing they’ve done all year.  Wallace is a liability on offense, and the defense that earned him his massive contract from Chicago has declined steadily in his 2 seasons in the windy city.  I don’t know what happened to Chicago this year (I believe that Kirk Hinrich’s horrendous year is a major reason for their downfall cause he is their leader and runs that team) but they needed to shake things up and they did just that.  In return for Wallace, Smith and Griffin, Chicago picks up Drew Gooden, who is a decent forward with the ability to score, rebound and defend, Larry Hughes, who carries a contract almost as ludicrous as Wallace’s, but has shown signs of maybe being healthy lately, and a couple of young guys who never panned out, in Simmons and Brown.  This trade doesn’t necessarily drastically improve or hurt the team.  I think it’s an upgrade simply because they needed to make changes, and more specifically because they needed to get rid of Big Ben.  Gooden and Hughes could potentially bring a couple more dimensions to the team, improving their depth which hasn’t been there this year.  The Bulls get a B minus in this deal.

Cavs - I don’t know what to say, I really don’t.  Losing out on the two most available and desirable point guards forced their hand, but Cleveland really Lost (hiyoooooo) their head here.  In a perfect world, Wallace will be their big stopper on D, Smith would replace Gooden, Wally would spread the floor (particularly when Gibson is on the bench), and West would help run said floor…

…well this world is far from perfect.  Wallace has lost a step or three.  Maybe his lack of defense and ability is a product of unhappiness, but I just think we will never see him play even close to the level that garnered him 3 Defensive Player of the Year Awards, and he basically makes every Cleveland offensive-possession into a 4 on 5, for the other team.  What’s worse is his decreased rebounding gets you fewer of those possessions a game too.  When asked about the trade, Wallace reportedly said his time in Chicago was “pretty good” then said “It is what it is”, a phrase made famous recently by former Roger Clemens’ trainer Brian McNamee.  I wonder if this was a secret message from Wallace.  McNamee said that it basically means “The truth is the truth”; what truth is Wallace talking about?  Does he know about Clemens?  Does he know what the shit is going on in Lost? We need to get Ben Wallace in front of a steroids and/or Lost committee to find out what he knows.  Smith cannot replace Gooden.  Simply put Smith just isn’t as good as Gooden, on the boards, defensively or offensively.  Gooden was also their second most consistent (not best, but consistent) scorer behind Lebron.  Smith is also older and has a contract that is only about a million shy of Gooden’s over the next 2 years.  Wally World can still shoot the long ball, and his FT and overall FG percentages are good, but at over $12 million a year for the next 2 years he is hardly worth the price tag.  Maybe I’m wrong about Wally though, his last name makes him hard to write about so I won’t cover him beyond this (and why I have decided to simply call him Wally), but maybe he will shock everyone and have the kind of affect Korver had on Utah (hint: He won’t).  Delonte West is being referred to as a PG, but he’s not, he’s a SG, and not a very good one.  I have to grade the Cavs with a D minus, but only because I don’t believe in failing people.  The only positive about this trade is that surprisingly they only added about $50,000 in salary after taking on the huge contracts of Wallace and Wally. 

Well that was some great deadline fun.  With the NHL’s deadline on the 26th and talks heating up their I will be sure to have something to write about very soon, and hopefully we’ll get more answers about Lost.