2017 NBA Trade Deadline Winners and Losers
Whoa, is this our first NBA column? That doesn’t seem right.
The 2017 NBA Trade Deadline came and went fast. I’m here to sift through the foggy haze from the Woj-Bombs and make sense of who may have walked away from this battle fully intact and who may be missing a limb.
Because winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing, we’ll start with the winners first:
Winners
New Orleans Pelicans
There’s no telling how Boogie Cousins will pan out in New Orleans, but it’s got to be better than what they had. The Pelicans were fighting off a barrage of front office attacks in recent days for pure incompetence trying to support star big-man, Anthony Davis. So in a surprise move, they kidnapped GM Vlade Divac of the Sacramento Kings and wrote a ransom note to Vivek Ranadive that read:
We have Vlade.
Give us Boogie and we’ll give you a below average rookie, some draft picks, and a pack of menthols.
Signed,
Dell Demps
P.S. Dope Arena.
If you’re thinking that’s not true and sounds like the plot of a bad straight-to-DVD movie, you’re right. But doesn’t that sound more believable than Ranadive saying Buddy Hield (whom he got in the trade) has Steph Curry potential? The answer is yes, it is.
Now it’s Boogie and The Brow, which sounds like an awesome buddy cop movie, but really it’s an awesome front court that should put the Western Conference on notice.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors took the lead on blockbuster deals last week when they dealt Terrence Ross and a 2017 first-round pick to the Magic for Serge Ibaka.
That pick will likely be in the high 20’s if the Raptors roll deep in the playoffs and that image looks to materialize even more as they have dealt Jared Sullinger and 2 second-round picks to the Suns for wing P.J. Tucker.
Ibaka and Tucker’s contracts both expire so these could both just be rentals for the Raps. But relieving some pressure in their guard logjam and unloading Sullinger who hasn’t provided much for the Drakes this season is a win. With Kevin Love of Cleveland out until the playoffs, Toronto, sitting at 4th, is gunning for the Eastern crown.
Houston Rockets
Back to the West. The Rockets might’ve called up the Lakers new VP of Basketball Operations on his first day and convinced him to do his first desk pop.
They managed to send a 2017 first-round pick and an offensively limited Corey Brewer to Los Angeles for SG Lou Williams.
Williams was having a great season for LA averaging 18.6 points off the bench (1st in the NBA) and is under contract for a discount of $7 million dollars annually through the end of next season.
You know who is 2nd in the NBA in scoring off the bench?
Rockets guard Eric Gordon.
Houston is second in PPG in the entire NBA, to Golden State. So this move makes me think they’re looking to just out gun the Warriors and more importantly, put together a strong second unit which the Warriors lack.
Losers
Sacramento Kings
I wonder how many times the Kings have been listed as taking L’s on columns like these?
It’s too obvious, though. They traded away a franchise big-man for essentially nothing. What confused GM’s across the league more was that the Kings could’ve gotten a much better deal and instead hit the panic button on what was left on the table in order to not bring Boogie back after the All-Star game.
What I didn’t mention before, is that the Kings also got Tyreke Evans in the trade. A player they had already once traded away!
But to be fair, there’s no telling how good Buddy Hield could develop. At 23 years old, though, that’s old for an NBA rookie and the level of potential might already be plateauing.
There’s no doubt that the 2 parties needed a fresh start, but the Kings should’ve have parted ways with Cousins at least 2 seasons ago for a lot more rebuilding pieces.
I may have defended Sacramento a little too much so to add to Sacramento’s L, I’ll also mention that DeMarcus Cousins was flown to New Orleans on a private jet.
Hield and Evans? They had to take a charter flight.
Orlando Magic
Hindsight is always 20/20 and there’s no telling what the ramifications for one trade can mean for the future. We can’t fault the Magic too much for how the Ibaka situation unfolded.
Ibaka went to Orlando during last year’s draft for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and 11th pick Domantas Sabonis who went to the Oklahoma City Thunder. They got 56 games out of Ibaka and flipped him for Terrence Ross who is arguably worse than Oladipo and a 2017 draft pick from Toronto which could very well be in the late 20s.
Orlando just should’ve known stacking their team with forwards isn’t a recipe for success nowadays.
Oklahoma City Thunder fans
The Thunder traded Cameron Payne, Anthony Morrow and Joffrey Lauvergne to the Bulls in exchange for Doug McDermott, Taj Gibson and a second-round pick thus robbing fans of dope pregame handshakes like this:
Danny Ainge
Another trade deadline, another year of Celtics GM Danny Ainge sitting on assets. While GMs asked for more in a trade, Ainge refused to throw in trade pieces like this version of Jordan Belfort:
When instead he should’ve been dealing like this version of Jordan Belfort:
Sure this upcoming draft is deep and that 2017 Nets pick they hold is likely going to be a Top-3 pick, but when are the Celtics going to dive into full Win Mode? Isaiah Thomas is a star in this league offensively, but they lack that ‘It Guy’ who can just take over on both ends of the floor.
Paul George could’ve been that guy.
Now they’ll just have to sit on their hands and settle for another conference semi-finals ousting and wait 3 years until Markelle Fultz can take them to the promise land.
I hope you’re patient, Boston.
