The Knicks should really stop trading with Masai Ujiri. Ujiri set the Denver Nuggets’ franchise in the right direction with the Carmelo Anthony trade with New York, and now he achieved something that was once considered nearly impossible not even a month into his tenure as the Toronto Raptors’ head of basketball operations: getting a first-round pick in exchange for Andrea Bargnani’s contract. The team taking on the last two years and roughly $23 million on Bargnani’s contract? The Knicks,
Over the years, the NBA trade deadline has been a time of year that spoils us. Once in a while, there is a year when very little happened, like 2007 when Anthony Johnson was the most meaningful player moved. This year was bizarre because there was sheer volume of trades — yet very few that moved the needle. [Read more…]
Some would say that this year’s trade deadline was all about who didn’t get traded. Josh Smith will ride out the season eating conch salad in Atlanta. Boston’s legends will try extract one more extended playoff run, and Utah elected not to mess with its team on a winning streak despite a young core and two valuable assets on expiring contracts. But we’re here to talk about a select quartet among the 27 players dealt on Wednesday or Thursday from a statistical
Playoff basketball will return to the Bradley Center in Milwaukee for the first time since 2010. And Mark Cuban can ring Dwight Howard’s doorbell at 9 p.m. Pacific Time on June 30. If there were two definitive things you could surmise from this year’s trade deadline deals, those were the biggest two. If you want to make it a threesome, the Celtics did pretty well for themselves, too, by getting Jordan Crawford as the latest backcourt replacement for Rajon Rondo/Leandro Barbosa. Can you say
Since the days of Arvydas Sabonis, NBA teams have been drafting European players with the intention of stashing these prospects in the mother continent before they make their NBA debut. Some of these players go on to be stars, such as Manu Ginobili, Ricky Rubio and Marc Gasol. Others, such as Milos Vujanic and Frederic Weis, never even smell the league. [Read more…]
Memo to Memphis: Yes, it is devastating that you broke up your “Core Four.” Your mass misery gave us a Tweet of the Day from Mike Conley and Tony Allen. But guess what? You won the trade. You just got Tayshaun Prince, who might be the missing ingredient to make y’all a legit championship contender. You also get Ed Davis, who basically replaces tax dump victim Marreese Speights, who was valuable from a depth standpoint. [Read more…]
Nobody likes a naysayer. Until, of course, it becomes apparent that yes was the wrong answer. Dwight Howard should have never strong-armed his way to Los Angeles. And not to mince words, the Lakers were not wrong to have pursued Howard. But they should now strongly pursue other options. [Read more…]
As the Memphis Grizzlies and Cleveland Cavaliers completed a deal Tuesday that will send three players and a future first-round draft pick to Cleveland in exchange for forward/perennial D-Leaguer Jon Leuer, we must all become more aware of the bigger picture at stake. The clock is expiring on the NBA’s practical, dollar-for-dollar luxury tax era. The rules are changing, and these deals will become more of the norm than the exception. [Read more…]