Choosing Winners And Losers For All 12 NBA Trades in the 2012-13 Season

2/21/13- Toronto traded C Hamed Haddadi and a 2014 second-round draft pick to Phoenix for G Sebastian Telfair.

Let’s not waste too much time on this. Phoenix wanted to free up playing time for Kendall Marshall and Toronto wanted to ship out Haddadi, who didn’t play a single game for the Raptors (because of a visa issue).

Winner: Phoenix. The Suns got a second round pick, and that pick has the potential to be better than the players who were traded.
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2/21/13- Orlando traded G J.J. Redick, C Gustavo Ayon and G Ish Smith to Milwaukee for G Doron Lamb, G Beno Udrih and F Tobias Harris.

This happens to be a fascinating trade. Then Magic want to be as bad as possible for a while, they clinched at least the second worst record in the league on Tuesday, and Milwaukee wanted to improve its playoff standing but hasn”t been able to get above the eighth seed. Orlando got an expiring deal of just over $7 million in Udrih, rookie Lamb and an intriguing player in Harris.

With nothing to lose (except more games), Orlando has given Harris starter’s minutes and he’s proven himself as a very capable NBA player:

Harris	Min	PPG	FG %	Reb/Game	PER
Before Trade	11.6	4.9	46.1	2	13
After Trade	35.5	16.3	44.2	8.4	16.1

Milwaukee got a couple of decent, controllable players in Ayon and Smith, but the Bucks have a slew of tough decisions to make this summer. It’s not really about this season for the Bucks. They’re going to be the eighth seed, with an unavoidable first-round sweep at the hands of the Heat coming in less than two weeks.

It would be hard to defend starting Redick over Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings, but his numbers really dropped coming off the bench for Jim Boylan and the Bucks. His field goal percentage dropped from 45 percent to 41.6 (from 39 percent to 33.6 percent from 3-point range), and his PER went down from 16.1 to 12.7. You could easily argue that Harris has been a better player than Redick since the trade was made. Redick, Ellis and Jennings could all leave Milwaukee after the season, so the jury on the Bucks is going to be out for a while. What we do know is …

Winner: Orlando. We know what the Magic got out of this trade. A nice NBA player in Harris and some salary relief. What the Bucks got short term is a first-round loss to Miami, and the future is muddled from there.
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2/21/13- Oklahoma City traded G Eric Maynor to Portland for the rights to F Georgios Printezis and cash.

Maynor was sent to the third Northwest Division team in his career, and is playing a lot better with the more playing time Portland is giving him. The Blazers will get a win in this trade since they didn’t give up any immediate assets, but Portland fans shouldn’t run around the streets in celebration, considering that Maynor is still a below average NBA player.

Maynor	Min	PPG	FG %	AST/Game	PER
Before Trade	10.6	2.8	31.3	2	7.5
After Trade	21.5	6.8	42.8	4.3	10.5

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2/21/13- New York traded G/F Ronnie Brewer to Oklahoma City for a 2014 second-round draft pick and cash.

I said that this trade was a steal for the Thunder, and it still is despite Brewer only playing 10 games for Oklahoma City. He’s played at an elite level defensively for the Thunder when he’s been on the floor:

Brewer	Min	O Rating	D Rating	PER
Before Trade	15.5	100	106	10.2
After Trade	5.4	113	95	15.1

Winner: Oklahoma City. Brewer could give the Thunder quality defensive minutes off the bench during the playoffs, something the Knicks could probably use.
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2/21/13- Miami traded C Dexter Pittman, a 2013 second-round draft pick and cash considerations to Memphis for the draft rights to F Ricky Sanchez.

Ricky Sanchez will never play in the NBA and Pittman has played a total of 20 minutes with the Grizzlies. So who do you give the win in this deal? Well, the Heat of course! Miami was able to free up playing time for Chris “Birdman” Andersen, who has been quite good in his 37 games with the team.