Wild Trade Deadline

It’s been a wild couple days since the Carmelo Anthony trade went through. It was the first domino to fall and initiated a lot of wheeling and dealing leading up to today’s noon deadline.  This trade deadline has had an unprecedented amount of big deals, and small deals in effort to shed cap, improve playoff rosters, or get draft picks with a lot of questions hanging over the new CBA. It’s crazy what one summer can do to a league, and Lebron got this ball rolling so fast with the decision, I don’t know if it can be stopped. For today it was nice that the storylines were actually real, and not just speculation on things like whether Dwight Howard and Chris Paul will be traded before their contracts are up. I’ll start with my quick thoughts on the players that were traded over the last couple days.

Melo and Chauncey to NY – No brainer, how couldn’t you make that deal no matter how many starters you gave up. Get the stars and move on.

Deron Williams to NJ – Hmm DWill or Favors, Harris, and some crappy picks. I’d take DWill any day, but Utah got a lot out of it especially since NJ will be in the lottery this year. Takes a superstar to get superstars, and maybe DWill and the $19M of cap space they will have can woo some big name there. I’ve never understood why aren’t the Nets Jersey’s made from Rocawear?

Carl Landry for Marcus Thorton to NO – Cuban is pissed. Can’t argue with his logic on any level. New Orleans gets tougher, and that’s never a bad thing when your star is a tough minded guy.

Kirk Hinrich to ATL – Solid move, an upgrade over the aged Bibby. Not sure it really helps them against Rose, Wade, or Rondo in the playoffs though. It will free up Jamaal as the only scoring guard on the squad. Kirk doesn’t care about points.

Baron Davis for Mo Williams to CLE – Who would’ve thought being traded from the Clippers would be bad for a player!?! He pulled his hammy picking up the phone when his old coach that he always got along with Byron Scott called, and decided he won’t be playing for the next two months. That being said he’ll play enough to get paid. For the Clippers it makes it Blake’s team no questions asked in the locker room.

Shane Battier for Hasheem Thabeet and a draft pick to Memphis – Battier makes them tougher. Not sure why they made this deal, because Gay is out for awhile. Without him they seem to be hitting a rough patch and it will be hard for them to make the playoffs.

Nate Robinson and Kendrick Perkins for Jeff Green and Nenad Krystic to OKC – Great deal for the Thunder. They needed some big guys to knock guys down, and Perk will do that. I like the Thunder’s chances against LA a lot more as he can contain Pau. The Celtics needed a swing man and Jeff Green is solid. Maybe they knew they weren’t signing Perk after the season, so they cut their losses already… I’m not sure I like it, but who am I to say a move the Celtics made was bad.

Nazr Mohammed for DJ White and Mo Peterson to OKC – Another big man that will smack you around on the defensive side of the ball. OKC is probably the biggest winner of the day in terms of helping their championship hopes.

Aaron Brooks for Goran Dragic and 1^st round pick to PHO – Wow, this was a shocker to me. I’ve had a mancrush on Brooks since he was at Oregon, so I like it for Phoenix. They need someone to take over for Nash someday, and Dragic isn’t that answer. Houston gets a guy that doesn’t mind being a backup and a draft pick. Books gets to run and gun in a fun offense that would make most players happy. Win-win I think.

Gerald Wallace for Joel Pryzbilla, Daunte Cunningham, and two draft pick to POR – Great deal for Portland, they get one of those hard working blue collar guys that they have targeted since the JailBlazers days. I think this move helps get them to the playoffs. I won’t say it makes them win a series, but they made a big upgrade.

OJ Mayo for Josh McRoberts and a 1^st round pick to MEM – Oh wait, this one didn’t end up happening…

I’ll update this if I see any more trades on the Ticker!