Time for my thoughts on the trading deadline for the NBA which ended earlier today.
Music to listen to: Sister Andrea by Mahavishnu Orchestra
-I understand why the Jazz traded away Deron Williams. Teams are finally getting smart to the idea that if your star player isn’t going to sign a long-term contract with you, its time to get some value for him. Toronto was stubborn with Chris Bosh last year and it has set that franchise back several seasons.
Williams wasn’t going to re-sign with Utah after the 2012 season. The Jazz know that it isn’t an attractive site for future free agents, meaning that destinations such as New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago or Miami will be the primary choices for those players.
The best way for Utah to attain talent is through the draft or trades.
-However, I can also understand Jazz fans being despondent about the current prospects of the team. I think that Devin Harris is a good player and Derrick Favors has the potential to be an All-Star player.
Despite of all this, the Jazz have lost their two best players and a Hall of Fame head coach all in the past nine months. Carlos Boozer leaving for the Bulls was expected but Jerry Sloan’s retirement was a major blow to the strength of the organization, continuity from the leadership on down.
The reality is that while a Harris-Paul Millsap-Al Jefferson may make the playoffs, its doesn’t have the maximum potential of the Jazz lineup of a few weeks ago.
Hand in there Jazz fans.
-The Knicks had to get Carmelo Anthony. When the initial trade went down, I thought that New York gave too much for an overrated scoring forward who doesn’t play defense.
Than I slept on it and have come to this conclusion.
New York has been openly clamoring for Anthony, who is a top-10 NBA player and desperately wanted to come to your franchise. If the Knicks couldn’t make this deal happen, it would hurt the rest of the attempts to get elite players in the future.
This move wasn’t about this year for the Knicks. Sure, they will still make the playoffs and maybe even win a series, but anything beyond that shouldn’t be expected. New York doesn’t play enough defense to compete with Miami, Chicago, Boston and probably Orlando in the East.
-The Nuggets did well considering the circumstances. Denver was put in a difficult position of having to deal a star player with no leverage. The only team that Anthony was going to was New York, so the Knicks could have gouged the Nuggets.
However, the Nuggets got some good players in the deal. Felton is a good point guard who can provide support to Ty Lawson in that spot for Denver. I’m high on Danilo Gallinari and think he can develop into an All-Star over time. Timofey Mozgov gives Denver depth at the center position.
Furthermore, Denver got two draft picks, Wilson Chandler and $3 million in the deal.
-I don’t see the logic of the Celtics trading away Kendrick Perkins in essence for Jeff Green.
I understand the spin that the Celtics are putting on this. They’re saying that Perkins wasn’t going to sign a long-term deal with them at the end of the season when he would be a free agent. Boston will say that they desperately need depth at the small forward position and Green gives them that.
There are several problems with this logic.
First, the Celtics have a two-year window to win a championship. This trade hinders this significantly. If Boston is worried about losing Perkins at the end of the year, worry about it in July when the season is over. You can always do a sign-and-trade at the end of the year.
Second, Jeff Green’s value has been overvalued greatly by the glow of playing in Oklahoma City. He’s a nice player but his skill set can be easily found in another player. Finding a mobile seven-footer who understands your system, especially on the defensive end, is harder.
Finally, the Celtics better hope that Shaq is healthy for the playoffs. You just traded away your starting center and your insurance policy is someone who is past his past prime and has been dealing with leg injuries all season. Good luck with that.
-The Thunder are now solidly in the top-four of the West. I still think that in a playoff series, San Antonio, the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas are better but a case can be make for Oklahoma City.
The one thing that the Thunder was lacking was interior defense and that’s now going to be taken care of by Perkins and even Nazr Mohammed.
Furthermore, Jeff Green wasn’t part of the future plans of the Thunder so getting value for him was excellent as well.
-Odd day for Houston. The Rockets traded away Shane Battier for Hasheem Thabeet. Battier is a better for a playoff contender as a role player than a non-winning team like Houston. However, Thabeet is a major, major project at center and is not even ready to be a replacement for Yao Ming.
Also, trading away Aaron Brooks to Phoenix for Goran Dragic and a first-round pick in a bad draft is questionable, unless you look at the money. Brooks was going to demand a new contract at the end of the year and obviously the Rockets weren’t going to give him one.
Furthermore, they traded Carl Landry for Marcus Thornton? Houston doesn’t need another guard.
-Mo Williams needs to thank his lucky stars once again. Williams was able to parlay his play with former teammate LeBron James into a new contract and an All-Star game appearance.
Now Williams gets to play with Blake Griffin in Los Angeles and got out of Cleveland.
-I wouldn’t call Baron Davis right now. He went from living in Los Angeles, his true home, to Cleveland in the winter. Biggest loser of the trade deadline.
-Let’s see. Miami brings in two of the top-15 players in the NBA to join a top-five guy to form their core. Orlando has the best center in the league. Boston has the best record in the conference. Chicago brought in Carlos Boozer. New York makes major moves. The Nets just got Deron Williams.
Atlanta traded for Kirk Hinrich. Shame on the Hawks ownership.
Those are my thoughts. What are yours?
The Sports Inquirer 
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