| Cavaliers 'flip' out at trade deadline Authored by Keith Berzanske - February 24, 2006 - 3:59 pm
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Still, I did get a BIT nervous when I logged on yesterday and saw that the Cavaliers had acquired Flip Murray and Lee Nailon. "What did they give up?", I wondered. Murray and Nailon are effective scorers off the bench and used to playing limited minutes, so they should be a good fit, but I didn't want to mortgage the future. I needn't have worried.
The Cavaliers basically got the two players for free.
This art of negotiation and being aware of another team's situation was the part that Paxson never seemed to grasp, as evidenced by his ill-advised trade for Jiri Welsch which cost the Cavaliers a 1st round pick. Philadelphia was in a situation where they needed to dump a salary to avoid paying the luxury cap. Nailon had not palyed for them since a domestic dispute early in December, so he was the logical choice. The rumor is that he may never suit up for the Cavaliers as well - if not, OK, we didn't lose anything. In fact, Cleveland comes out ahead in the swap of 2nd round picks. If he does show up and can be available as a scoring option off the bench or as insurance in case Donyell Marshall is unable to go, that is even better.
The Murray deal was even more phenomenal. To get Murray, who has proven that he can score in this league given court time, for the imminently replaceable Mike Wilks - fantastic. Any time you can trade a non-asset for a potential asset with little risk attached, it is a good move in my eyes. If Murray doesn't work out, hey, his contract is up at the end of the year anyway. But with Hughes out, I think that Murray will become a valuable scoring option off the bench. He'll definitely get a lot more looks playing with LeBron James than he got in Seattle, where he was backinup their best player (Ray Allen) instead of playing with him. So I expect his hsooting percentage to improve. The Cavaliers biggest problem was that they didn't relly have anyone who could come in off the bench and put up 20 if his 3 point shot wasn't falling (see Damon Jones and Donyell Marshall). Now you've got a guy that can score points in a variety of ways. What was most amazing to me is that Seattle couldn't find a better offer for a guy like Murray.
I'd consider the Cavaliers winners here even if these players don't end up contributing much. They didn't risk anything in acquiring them, and they showed both the players and the fans that they are willing to make moves necessary to improve the team without sacrificing the future or team chemistry for no good reason.
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Of course, I can't just sign off without analyzing the other trades:
SEATTLE gets Earl Watson, Bryon Russell, Nuggets 2nd round pick
DENVER gets Reggie Evans, Ruben Patterson, Charles Smith
PORTLAND gets Voshon Lenard and Brian Skinner
SACRAMENTO gets Vitaly Potapenko and Sergei Monia
Man, have you ever seen a bigger deal that involved so little?
I was never sure why Denver signed Watson in the first place; not that he's got a good player but they already had two point guards and a gaping hole at 2 guard. Evans and Patterson will actually help, since the Nuggets have so many injuries. Watson should help the Sonics because now they can give Luke Ridnour a breather once in awhile.
I think the Kings are the big winners here - they get rid of Skinner's contract and get an expiring deal in Potapenko and an intriguing talent in Monia, who had no place to play in Portland amongst the other youngsters. The Blazer are saving 13 mil in salary, so maybe this is a trade that helps everyone in some way. Nobody is taking a huge risk here, so I guess this is the way trades are supposed to happen. I was surprised the Sonics buried Evans on the bench - last year he was a key part of their playoff run.
NEW JERSEY gets Bostjan Nachbar
NEW ORLEANS gets Marc Jackson and Linton Johnson
Jackson will basically repalce Chris Andersen, who was suspended for 2 years for violating the league's drug policy. I don't see how this helps the Nets, except for clearing a but of cap room, but they just get thinner up front and they need size almost as bad as the Hornets do. The Hornets thought they had acquired size with Steven Hunter, but he did not pass his physical and was shipped back to the 76ers.
MIAMI gets Derek Anderson
HOUSTON get...who cares
I'm skipping this one - Anderson is another veteran past his prime, so he should fit it well with the Heat
NEW YORK gets Steve Francis
ORLANDO gets Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza
Let's see...the Knicks now have 9 players making between $6 and $14 million dollars WHO ARE ALL SIGNED UNTIL AT LEAST 2008(!):
Steve Francis
Stephon Marbury
Jalen Rose
Jerome James
Malik Rose
Maurice Taylor
Jamal Crawford
Eddy Curry
Quentin Richardson
Their other 3 players are their three rookie first rounders Channing Frye, David Lee, and Nate Robinson, who are also signed through 2008.
SO, basically, this is your Knicks team for the next 3 years...
GOOD LUCK!
The Magic, meanwhile, should have about $30 million in cap room in 2007 to add pieces around Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, and Darko Milicic. Free agents avaiable then will include Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Mike Bibby, Rashard Lewis, and Chauncey Billups, among others.
The last time Isiah did this, he traded a bunch of expiring garbage and draft picks to Phoenix for Marbury and Hardaway. The Suns then used the cap room to sign Steve Nash. Hmmmmm
Oh yeah, the Knicks also have traded away next year's lottery pick and the Bulls can swap with them in 2007, ostensibly costing them any chacne at either Adam Morrison or Greg Oden.
I'd write more but I am too busy laughing...
WHEW...OK, back to the trades...
ORLANDO gets Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo
DETROIT gets Kelvin Cato and a 1st round pick
I'm really rooting for Darko - I mean, could all of thse scouts been THAT wrong? Players need minutes - I refuse to write the guy off until he gets 30 minutes a game for 2 months. Oh by the way, Brian Hill - PLAY DARKO! Your team is going nowhere right now. I watched them the other night on TV against the Cavaliers and jsut felt terribly sorry for the phenomenally talented Dwight Howard. Here's a guy getting 15 points and 12 rebounds a night and he still hasnt' learned that many offensive moves. Scary
Detroit had to trade Darko, but yo'd think they coudl have gotten something to help them out in the ir playoff run. Their only weakness is relying too much on their starters. But it's worked so far, so who am I to argue?
SEATTLE gets Chris Wilcox
LA CLIPPERS get Vladimir Radmanovic
I liek this trade for both teams. Wilcox was wasting away on the bench and goes to a Sonics team that really needs muscle and athleticism inside. I don't think he'll ever be a GREAT player, but he can really help them in stretches.
Radmanovic goes from being one of many gunners to THE gunner. The Clippers really needed a forward that could play away from the basket and hit jumpers. Radmanovic is inconsistent, but he should really help the Clips. At least a lot more than Wilcox was helping them. Teams have to respect his shot, because he can get hot, so this will open the floor, meaning more space for Livingston and Cassel to drive and more room for Brand and Kaman to operate.
And while I am on that, let's end the 'Elton Brand is the MVP' talk. Sam Cassell is the reason this team is winning close games that they didn't used to. Period. Elton Brand is a nice player, a bit better than Shareef Abdur-Rahim. But don't get carried away. Watching the All-Star game should show fans the subtle difference between players like LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, etc. who can truly take over games and impose their will in multiple phases of the game, and 'solid skilled players' like Elton Brand, Rasheed Wallace, etc. There's a difference.
Here's my take on MVP so far:
(1) Steve Nash
(2) LeBron James
(3) Dirk Nowitzki
(4) Chauncey Billups
(5) Tim Duncan
(6) Kobe Bryant
(7) Allen Iverson
(8) Dwyane Wade
(9) Elton Brand
(10) Chris Paul
What Nash is doing is amazing - notice that every player on his team is having a career year and they are one of the 3 best teams in the West without Amare Stoudemire (who was last year's Elton Brand in this discussion)
NEW ORLEANS gets Moochie Norris
HOUSTON gets Maciej Lampe
I just like to mention Lampe because ESPN 'expert' Chad Ford repeatedly insisted that the Heat were taking Lampe with the 5th pick in the 2003 draft.
They didn't. They took Dwyane Wade.
HOUSTON gets Keith Bogans
CHARLOTTE gets Lonny Baxter
because of injuries, this trade of less than noteworthy players actually made sense for both teams
TORONTO gets Antonio Davis
NEW YORK gets Jalen Rose and a 1st round pick
unfortunately, the pick is not Toronto's; it belongs to Denver
Davis will help the Raptors in the locker room more than on the court, although he's probably still better at center than Rafael Araujo
NEW ORLEANS gets Aaron Williams
TORONTO gets two saecond round picks
Williams wasn't playing for the Raptors, although I'm not sure why. I guess his minutes were going to Matt Bonner, who is pretty decent as a role player. The Hornets seem to be continually trying to acquire size for their bench.
BOSTON gets Wally Szczerbiak, Michael Olowokandi, Dwayne Jones, and a 1st round pick
MINNESOTA gets Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Justin Reed, and Marcus Banks
In my book, this is a big win for Boston, even if we just consider the first round pick coming from a team going in the wrong direction. But in addition to that, Szczerbiak is the best player in the deal. He's a phenomenal shooter and an underrated defender who has been overlooked playing next to Garnett his entire career. I don't like any of the palyers that the T'Wolves got. David can play, but is so inconsistent, and is overrated as a defender - he is athletic, but that doesn't mean he is good on defense.
PHOENIX gets Nikoloz Tskitishvili
MINNESOTA gets a 2nd round pick
Tskitishvili sucks terribly, but given what Steve Nash has done for the likes of James Jones and Boris Diaw, don't be surprised to look up in April and see that he's averaging 8 points per game in only 8 minutes or something otherwise unexplainable.
The funniest part of the press release to me was this outtake:
"The move reunites Tskitishvili with Suns coach Mike D'Antoni, who coached him with Benetton Treviso of the Italian league in 2001-02."
do they really think this will help? NO - Steve Nash is what will help. You could lock NT is a room and make him watch videos of Larry Bird for 9 days straight and he'd still suck
and the last one...
SACRAMENTO gets Ron Artest
INDIANA gets Peja Stojakovic
Who better to acquire Artest than casino owners? I mean does anyone know what to expect from this guy? He could average 25 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and win Defensive Player of the Year. He could decide to fight Bonzi Wells to the death after losing a game of H-O-R-S-E in practice. I have no idea.
What's really interesting is what will happen to Stojakovic - will he rediscover the magic from 2 years ago that he seems to have just lost for no reason? Will he mesh with Jermaine O'Neal to lead the Pacers to an improbable playoff run? Will he resign with Indiana or become a much sought after hired gun free agent?
The best part of this trade is that, no matter what, for now we get to watch Ron Artest play. And like I said, anything can happen.
My mid-season picks:
MVP: Steve Nash
Rookie of the Year: Chris Paul
Coach of the Year: Avery Johnson
Most Improved Player: David West
1st team all-NBA:
G Steve Nash
G Dwyane Wade
F LeBron James
F Dirk Nowitzki
C Ben Wallace (yikes - bad year for centers - Shaq will probably come on strong and take this over though)
2nd team:
G Allen Iverson
G Kobe Bryant
F Shawn Marion
F Elton Brand
C Shaq
3rd team:
G Chauncey Billups
G Vince Carter
F Tim Duncan
F Kevin Garnett
C Dwight Howard (OK I cheated here, but I'm not putting Mehmut Okur or Marcus Camby. I'm just not!)
Who gets the shaft:
Paul Pierce and Chris Bosh - too many forwards. I can't even really believe I have Duncan and Garnett on the third team.
Gilbert Arenas, Jason Kidd, Pau Gasol, and Carmelo Anthony also deserve mention.
The Cavaliers should not only avoid the collapses of the past couple of seasons and make the playoffs, but look for them to cement themselves in the 4 seed as well. That means you should get out now and get those palyoff tickets before they become scarce! They'll probably face Indiana in the first round, which should make for an interesting series.
Sasha Pavlovic has really played well lately - he 's shown a wide vareity of skills and can score but also fits in well with the team concept. When Larry Hughes comes back, the best idea is to have Hughes head up the second unit. Imagine that your 4 players coming off the bench are Hughes, Donyell Marshall, Damon Jones, and Anderson Varejao. It's a solid 9-man rotation (with starters Eric Snow, Pavlovic, James, Gooden, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. When you think about guys like Ira Newble and Luke Jackson (both otu injured right now, and the newly acquired Flip Murray as potentially the 10th-12th guys on the bench, ready for emergency duty, you start to realize just how deep the roster has gotten, thanks to some shrewd free agent signings and the development of talent like Pavlovic. And let's not forget, a lion's share of the credit goes to the amazing LeBron James - he makes all of his teammates look better and play better and the main reason that any free agents came here at all was for the chance to play with LeBron. Winning the MVP of the All-Star game and leading this team to what will likely be 50 wins and a high seed is just another example of James silecning doubters like Charley Rosen. Remember Cavalier fans - you are watching history unfold before your eyes. 50 years from now, old men will be sitting in rocking chairs on front porches, saying 'Remember when LeBron dominated that game?' And who knows what game they'll be talking about - but you can bet that eventually there will be playoff games and champinship games to add to that All-Star game. That's what I am looking forward to. |
