Trade Deadline Madness: A retrospective (sense of humor required)

[Spursin6]

I've recently started an NBA centric sports blog that I post on my FB account (for now) and I update the link daily (usually) on twitter. You can follow me @Digit0wl (the "O" is a zero). I usually talk about the Spurs and for those of you who are into fantasy basketball I'll highlight players that might be worth adding/dropping on a given night. Feedback is always appreciated. Also the format looks A LOT better on FB (the pictures actually show up on there and I feel they add a lot).

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WTF Was That? 2-24-11 (NBA Trade Deadline Edition)


What more can I say? Today was one of the craziest, hectic, and balls to the wall out-of-control NBA trade deadlines that I’ve seen in my lifetime. I’ll do my best to break down all the trades that happened today. I just saw the Hurt Locker and let me tell you I feel like Sgt. James about 20 mins into the movie right about now.

1st Trade: K. Perkins and N. Robinson to the Thunder for N. Kristic and Jeff Green.

This was definitely the big boom today and this trade will have the most playoff ramifications of any trade this year. As of this sentence the Celtics are in a dogfight with the new Nuggets (68-66) and one has to wonder, “WTF are the Celtics thinking?” I mean aren’t most of the teams in the league trying to get bigger just in case they face the Celtics (or Lakers)? It looks like Boston did the league a favor. Sort of like when Andre the Giant offered to fight guys on his knees. Rumor has it that the Boston brass were worried about resigning Perkins so they traded him to get something rather than let him walk away for nothing (Bosh/Lebron). That’s fine and dandy but was it really necessary to give the Thunder the two things they need to legitimately vie for a championship this season? They’ve always been a solid big man and back-up point from taking ANY team in the West 7 games. Well thanks a lot Danny Ainge, I will take great pleasure it breaking your spirit the next time I fire up 2k11. If you’re a Western Conference team fan and you aren’t scared, well you aren’t paying attention.

2nd Trade: Semih Erden and Luke Harangody to Cleveland for a 2nd Round Pick
Again another odd trade for the Celtics, it’s like the plot of some old Captain America comic book where the Red Skull has figured out how to trade minds with Cap and tries to burn the country to the ground. Only in this instance Minny’s David Kahn plays the role of the crimson skulled-one, and poor Danny Ainge is our would-be hero. You have to think this was a $$$ motivated move, but why would the Celtics ownership get cheap so close to another title? Cleveland made out like bandits in this one and have actually given the 37 fans left something to cheer for, go Cavs go!

3rd Trade: Gerald Wallace for Joel Przybilla, Dante Cunningham, two 1st round picks, and Sean Marks

Former Spurs player Sean Marks leads a list of players in this trade that the Bobcats must be salivating over. The man is averaging a robust 1.6 points and 1.4 rebounds. What’s not to love? Meanwhile Portland continues to stockpile talent that will undoubtedly get hurt and be on the shelf for months at a time. Wallace has been oh so affectionately nicknamed “Crash” for a reason. I’ll actually give kudos to Charlotte for nabbing two first rounders in this deal. That could pay off (see Detroit, 2003 draft, oh wait don’t).

4th Trade: Shane Battier for Hasheem Thabeet and a 1st Round Pick

I actually considered doing an audio blog for this section because honestly I’m not a good enough writer to convey the proper level of astonishment that one Chris Wallace commands. So he traded their 2nd overall pick two years removed for a guy they already had on their team! That’s like canceling a second date with that hot waitress from Chili’s and getting back with your ex who has an STD. Don’t get me wrong I love Shane Battier, there’s not one guy in the league I’d want more on the Spurs than Battier. But that’s because the Spurs are a championship contending team. On a barely relevant Grizzlies team that will struggle to make the playoffs? The guy is about as useful as Verne Troyer in the Shooting Stars contest. BTW If you got that, you must REALLY like the NBA. The most hilarious thing is the Rockets get to see if Thabeet can actually play for a team with a real coach and you know a talent development program AND they get a 1st rounder in case that doesn’t work out. I guess it’s a good thing a guy like Wallace is only ruining an NBA team and not America’s financial institutions.

5th Trade: Aaron Brooks for Goran Dragic

Though on the surface this looks like a simple pg for pg swap, we’re talking about two dynamic talents here. Dragic blew up against the Spurs last spring and helped the Suns sweep their rival for the first time in team history. Brooks was last year’s most improved player. Quite simply both guys just wore out their welcome with their respective teams. The talent’s there and really both teams should benefit from this trade, though neither is a real contender this year.

So in summation FEAR THE THUNDER! Seriously, these guys have 25ish games to learn to play with one another and if they figure it out (likely) they will be a force to be reckoned with, oh and to all those Spurs fans who are championing the other night’s victory? The Spurs barely won and that was with tweener Jeff Green guarding Duncan. Ibaka is slated to start at the PF with Perkins manning the middle - totally different story. I still call Spurs in 7 if they play each other, but it’s going to be reminiscent of the Hornets/Spurs series from a few years ago. This is gonna be good.

Update: That crazy deep Nuggets team beat a centerless Celtics team: 89-75