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If you're able to get past the feeble attempt at alliteration in the title, you'll realize that this year's NBA trade deadline passed in relatively anticlimactic fashion. This was nothing like last year, when teams made big waves on Feb. 23, although Isaiah Thomas continues to amass big contracts and talent as though he's running a fantasy basketball squad.
Still, there were at least two big moves before the deadline, and a number of small ones that may have a surprising effect. Let's begin with Zeke's yearly salary grab: this year it was the ultra-valuable expiring contract of Penny Hardaway (that's $16 mil. in salary cap space, if you're wondering how a man with no knees can be valuable to a basketball team) and second year SG/SF Trevor Ariza (considered a great draft find by Thomas as recently as six months ago) for Stevie "Franchise" Francis.
This is a trade that nobody - including Isaiah Thomas - can really understand. This much is proven by Isaiah's own words at the post-trade press conference: "It's so crazy it just might work." Now, putting aside the fact that it's irresponsible to the point of idiocy to say something like that about a move you just made, the phrase is not at all applicable.
Putting cinnamon on steak is "so crazy it just might work;" using Jester font on your corporate presentation is "so crazy it just might work;" ESPN giving Steven A. Smith his own hour-long TV show (a.k.a. daily grandstand) is "so crazy it just might work." Increasing your league-high payroll from $120 mil. to $130 mil. without filling any of the holes on a roster that resembles Swiss cheese is just absurd.
Isaiah literally brought in the one "point guard" in the league that is as selfish as Stephon Marbury, while giving away his most valuable asset in desperately needed cap space. Francis, like Marbury, is a spectacular talent - a born scorer with explosive leaping ability - but, also like Steph, doesn't look to pass unless he can't get a shot up. This makes five guards (count 'em: Marbury, Francis, Jalen Rose, Quentin Richardson and Jamal Crawford) who are all about getting their own shot off. Marbury, Francis and Crawford are (technically speaking) point guards, but none of the three have ever been considered great passers.
Meanwhile, the Knicks did nothing to bolster a pathetic frontcourt, featuring vastly underperforming C Eddy Curry (now going by "Baby Benoit Benjamin" in the NY media), and the wildly overpaid rotation of Malik Rose, Jerome James and Maurice Taylor. If it weren't for great drafting (Channing Frye and David Lee look very good and Nate Robinson is impressive talent-wise, if nothing else), the Knicks might not have won a game yet this year.
Really disturbing, though, is the fact that Isaiah seems still not to have grasped a fundamental NBA truth: teams win games, not talent.
While he continues to pull the best talent out of deals (certainly Francis is better than Ariza, just as Curry is more talented than Michael Sweetney) and apparently spot talent well in the draft (Ariza was a lauded pick before Larry Brown stuck him at the end of the bench, and Isaiah certainly did a great job with limited picks this year) he pays no attention to team chemistry, payroll, or just generally to how players fit together.
But enough about the league's worst team, let's talk about playoff contenders. The Nuggets were involved in a four-team deal that sent PG Earl Watson (a piece in virtually every trade rumor this year) to Seattle and gave Denver two things it needs: a perimeter defender in Ruben Patterson and a strong, rebounding PF in Reggie Evans. While this trade doesn't make them an immediate championship contender, they did manage to unload two players they weren't using, in Watson and Voshon Lenard, and picking up two that they will.
There were four other deadline-day deals, three of which will have very little effect: Marc Jackson (Nets) for Bostjan Nachbar (Hornets) adds size to a depleted Hornets front line and gives the Nets space to acquire Tim Thomas (who may soon be released by the Bulls) or another waiver-wire player; Derek Anderson (Rockets) for Gerald Fitch (Heat) is all about Pat Riley acquiring another versatile veteran and does nothing for Houston, outside of jettison a failed experiment; Lee Nailon (76ers) to Cleveland in a pure payroll move, as the Sixers also look to add a player from waivers.
The last trade, although equally small-time at first glance, has the potential to be a very important move. The Cavaliers picked up SG Ronald "Flip" Murray from the Sonics for backup PG Mike Wilks. With big off-season acquisition Larry Hughes going down for the season a couple weeks ago, the Cavs needed to find another scoring option at the guard position. Donyell Marshall (the other summertime addition) continues to shoot an underwhelming 38.3% from the field, down from 44.3% last year, and though he looked sharp in his red suit at All-Star Weekend, Damon Jones has been a big disappointment as well.
In Flip Murray, the Cavs add a guard with proven scoring ability. If you're wondering how a player with a career average of 9.6 ppg is a proven scorer, think back to the opening of the 2003-04 season, when Ray Allen was hurt and Flip started at SG for the Sonics. In what was only his second NBA season (after a rookie campaign in which he played in only 14 games) Murray scored 20+ points in ten of the first eleven games.
With Ray Allen playing in front of him and an injury in the 2004-05 season, he hasn't had much chance to shine since, but a starting spot next to LeBron James might be just the thing to jump-start him. It's still only Flip's fourth year, and he will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, so the Cavs can let him go if things don't work out. If GM Danny Ferry is right, Murray could be the complimentary scorer that LeBron needs at his side to make a charge at the Pistons and Heat.
In the end, most of the teams rumored to be part of big deals stood pat at the deadline. There was no Kevin Garnett deal, no Allen Iverson trade, and Paul Pierce is still a Celtic. Nothing happened involving any NBA royalty, and perhaps that's best. The teams that are serious contenders couldn't find an opportunity to clearly improve, and those that are not realistic challengers (most of the league falls into this category) saw nothing that would put them in the mix.
When this happens, teams decide not to do anything under the stress of the deadline. The upshot is that we could see a number of high-profile, superstar-caliber players available in the off-season trade market. In what's considered a weak year for NBA free agents, this reporter will be looking forward to an exciting summer by trade.
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