What was the most intriguing part of yesterday's NBA trade deadline? That more trades were made with the summer of 2010 in mind than the latter half of the current season.
As any fan of the league knows, the contracts of a number of high−profile players, including the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, will expire heading into the offseason. The majority of deadline deals were underlined by this knowledge, including the trades involving John Salmons to the Milwaukee Bucks, Tracy McGrady to the New York Knicks and Antawn Jamison to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Jamison deal could have the biggest impact on the current season. The Cavaliers were already considered by many to be the top team in the Eastern Conference, and they acquired Jamison from the Washington Wizards for virtually nothing from a basketball standpoint, making it a big hit financially.
The Cavs gave up Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who will almost certainly be bought out by the Wizards, as well as a draft pick that will very likely be close to the end of the first round. In return, they boosted their title hopes exponentially by adding Jamison to the mix, and they didn't have to part with coveted second−year man J.J. Hickson.
Cleveland is banking on the fact that after flirting with names like Amar'e Stoudemire and Corey Maggette, Jamison will put the Cavs over the top in their title pursuit. He seems to be a great fit at the power−forward position with his outside ability, and he gives Cleveland a 20−point−per−game scorer and an underrated rebounder. From a basketball perspective, it is a great trade. But no NBA trade can be understood without taking into account salary cap ramifications.
If the Cavs fail to win a title, will the moves General Manager Danny Ferry has made be enough to convince James he should remain in his home state? Jamison will be 34 in June, and his presence does not necessarily guarantee a great core for the future on the shores of Lake Erie. It is a high−risk deal for Cleveland, but the Cavs had to do something to try to keep the best player in the league on their team.
That is because a number of teams are lining up for a shot at LeBron. The third team in the Jamison deal, the Los Angeles Clippers, was able to create a great deal of financial flexibility on its end, enough to try to lure a max player to L.A.'s "other" team. And the Knicks are going all out in an effort to land not one, but two of the top free agents this summer.
The whole world knew the Knicks have been prepping for the summer of 2010 for years. Now, New York is going all−in and mortgaging any hope of a future if it fails to sign a big name. Nothing else can explain the Knicks' full−court press to obtain McGrady from the Houston Rockets — or to get his expiring contract, in more accurate terms. In order to do this and get Jared Jeffries' contract off the books to create further cap space, the Knicks had to toss all their eggs in one basket because they have no hope of a future without a big splash this summer.
The Knicks had to give up 2009 first−round pick Jordan Hill, their 2012 first−round pick (top−five protected), and they will let the Rockets swap first−round picks with them in 2011 (top−one protected), if they so choose. With no first−rounder in this upcoming draft, New York is not rebuilding with a youth movement. The Knicks brass will be paying to bring a championship contender to Madison Square Garden.
The team that makes out the best in this deal is Houston. In addition to the potential high draft picks from the Knicks, the Rockets acquired swingman Kevin Martin from the Sacramento Kings. Kings General Manager Geoff Petrie had gone back and forth over whether he was going to trade the talented Martin and rebuild around rookie Tyreke Evans. The two had not meshed well since Martin returned from a wrist injury Jan. 15, as Sacramento went 3−14 in the span up to the trade.
But Martin is a great scorer, if not much else, and Houston can use the help of a shooter next to Aaron Brooks in the backcourt, even if it means that it had to give up the underrated Carl Landry in the move.
The other team that is banking on grabbing one of the big names on the free agent market now is the Chicago Bulls, though their target is more likely to be the Chicago−native Wade. By dealing the aforementioned Salmons for two expiring deals in Hakim Warrick and Joe Alexander, the Bulls insured that Salmons will not be around to pick up his $5.8 million option for next season, thereby freeing up the space to go after one of the premier players on the market.
But lest you think that no one wants to try to make the playoffs this season, there were some trades that actually helped teams on the court outside of the move for Jamison. That probably started last week when the Dallas Mavericks obtained Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood from the Wizards in the first move of the rebuilding campaign in Washington. But that also includes the Portland Trail Blazers' trade for Marcus Camby and the Celtics obtaining Nate Robinson from the ever−busy Knicks.
The Camby trade makes a lot of sense for the Blazers, who were desperate for some help up front after season−ending injuries for both Greg Oden and Joel Pryzbilla. Camby is one of the best defensive centers in the league and should help solidify Portland's playoff positioning before he too becomes a free agent, at least as long as Brandon Roy can somehow get healthy.
The Robinson deal is a little murkier. Yes, the Celtics could use some scoring off the bench and someone to spell Rajon Rondo. But if Danny Ainge was making a move for the sake of bringing a spark to his reeling team, this won't change much. Robinson has the ability to contribute, but if he plans on averaging almost 12 shot attempts per game, he will be in for a surprise. In other words, Celtics fans shouldn't expect this to be what saves the season; it still rests on the precarious turnarounds of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Regardless of the reasoning, it was a busy deadline day for the league. And outside of David Kahn's decision to pay $1 million to rent Darko Milicic for a few months before he returns to Europe, all of the deals seemed to make some sense — whether for financial or basketball reasons.
