I just discovered that I can now get on this blog from work, so thats exciting.
More to the point, the NBA's trade deadline was this last Thursday at 3pm Est. This year, there were severl trades in the days leading up to the deadline (14 by my count) including a few major trades.
Let's look at the 3 big trades:
On Tuesday, this trade went down: the Denver Nuggets traded Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Anthony Carter, Renaldo Balkman, and Shelden Williams to the New York Knicks for Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wison Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, a future 1st round draft pick, 2 future 2nd round draft picks, and cash, plus Kosta Koufos and a 2nd round pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves, who traded Corey Brewer to the Knicks for Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry, and cash. So that trade involved 13 players (1 an All-Star this year) and 4 draft picks being moved. That is a huge trade. The key piece to this was Carmelo Anthony wanting to play in New York, so the Nuggets decided to trade him there instead of letting him go in free agency in the summer. By doing this trade, they also saved around $25 million this year in salaries and luxury taxes.
The next big trade happened Wednesday. This one wasn't so big in the number of players, but big in significance. The Nets felt they missed out on getting Carmelo, so they traded Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, 2 1st round picks, and cash to the Utah Jazz for All-Star point guard Deron Williams. Like the Nuggets, the Jazz were worried that Williams would leave in free agency when his contract is up in 2012, so they decided to trade him now and get something good in return. This trade is also significant for the Jazz in the sense that they have had one losing season in the last 23 years, and yet in the last month they have fired their head coach, Jerry Sloan (the head coach for all 23 of those years), and traded away their best player all while having a winnign record right now. If they can maintain a winning record for the rest of this season I would be surprised.
The next big trade isn't in the number of players, nor was their an All-Star player traded. It is big because the best team in the East, the Boston Celtics, traded their starting center. Boston traded Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. Most people I have heard talk about this trade think the Celtics were the big losers in this one. Perkins gave them the size, toughness, and experience necessary for the playoffs. Green gives them versitility, more offense, and potential. I think Green will be an important part of the Celtics rebuilding plan once Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen retire in the next few years. However, I do think it hurts their chances to win it all this year. They have to hope that Shaq can stay healthy for the playoff run. But if the Celtics can sign a recently released free agent, such as Troy Murphy or Leon Powe, I think they will be set for this year and the future. On the Thunder's side, this trade makes since because they lacked everything I mentioned Perkins has. Plus, they have a young, up-and-coming power forward in Serge Ibaka (his full name is Sergeballu LaMu Sayonga Loom Walahas Jonas Hugo Ibaka and he is a 2nd year player from the Congo). So this allows him to get more playing time too.
Other trade deadline notes:
One of my favorite players, fellow Purdue alumni Carl Landry got traded to the New Orleans Hornets from the Kings. I like this trade for a couple reasons. The Hornets needed more size off their bench. This allows Landry to play for a better team. And now, two of my favorite Purdue athletes, Landry and Drew Brees, both play in New Orleans.
Total there were 50 players and 17 draft picks traded this past week.
For the rest of the trades and other transactions, visit hoopshype.com.
