NBA Daily Preview — Deadline Day
It all boils down to today (and games are back!)
Look at this empty office room. It’s easy to imagine the similar rooms in arenas around the country where GMs and owners are speaking/yelling/whispering/however executives talk about players. Right now, Boston might be deciding whether or not to ship out the Brooklyn pick(s) to land Jimmy Butler or Paul George. I don’t know, and few around the league do. But one thing is for sure: all the big trades will be finished by this afternoon (and this post might be outdated in a matter of minutes).
The factors surrounding this trade deadline are twofold. Golden State’s dominance makes true title contention nearly impossible, but the bar to make the playoffs is lower than it has been in years. Because teams like the Warriors are sucking wins out of the middle and bottom of the pack, the line around each conference’s eighth seed isn’t too hard to clear. There are only six teams with winning records in the East right now, for example, and the race for eighth in the West will nearly-certainly end with a team with a losing record in the playoffs.
“Good” teams like the Pacers and Bulls — teams set to make the playoffs—are considering trading their best players. They see the writing on the wall, and know that a rebuild is the best way to increase title odds in the future. But other teams like the Pelicans are making moves. It’s easy to make the playoffs, so a trade to reach that level makes sense.
In any case, the next post I write about the trade deadline will be a recap rather than a speculative piece. The craziness ends today, and when the smoke clears the league may be a lot different. Only Boston has a chance to truly change the balance of power in a conference, but that doesn’t mean the sun will rise on a much different NBA tomorrow.
Predictions
BASKETBALL IS BACK, and I’m taking my prediction record of 131–103 to two TNT games tonight.
New York at Cleveland: Cleveland
It’s possible that the Knicks will start tonight’s game without Derrick Rose, but in any case they’ll be massively overmatched. The only way that the Cavaliers can come out of the trade deadline as anything other than prohibitive favorites in the East is if Boston gets Butler or George. Even then, a full-strength Cleveland team is probably better positioned.
LA Clippers at Golden State: Golden State
Chris Paul might play tonight, which adds a level of interest to this game. Even so, he should need time to re-acclimate himself to the NBA’s pace of play and Golden State is a terrible team to match up with in that regard. This might be a nice preview of the second round this spring though, and should be a lot of fun to watch.
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