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Trade Deadline Report Card From the HP Institute of Progressive Education

February 20, 2009 in by with 0 Comments

The Heat trade Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for the Raptors’ Jermaine O’Neal
Prof. Kerby – Interesting 4 years ago.
Prof. Mahoney – Jermaine O’Neal and Jamaal Magloire are going to be the best of friends.

Grade:

The Kings trade John Salmons and Brad Miller for the Bulls’ Andres Nocioni Drew Gooden
Prof. Kerby – THANK YOU KINGS.
Prof. Mahoney – Andres Nocioni is “revenge defense” incarnate.  Drew Gooden is facial hair incarnate.  John Salmons is probably the best use of a MLE ever.  Brad Miller is Brad Miller.

Grade:

The Lakers trade Chris Mihm for a conditional Grizzlies’ 2013 second rounder:
Prof. Kerby – Great trade for both sides.  Changes everything.
Prof. Mahoney – Underhanded.

Grade:

The Thunder trade Chris Wilcox for the Knicks’ Malik Rose:
Prof. Kerby – Whatever.
Prof. Mahoney – Blerg.  Anyone figure out what’s in it for the Thunder yet?  It’s gotta be more than a few dollars, right?

Grade:

The Bulls trade Larry Hughes for the Knicks’ Tim Thomas, Anthony Roberson, Jerome James:
Prof. Kerby – I can’t believe I’m excited to get Tim Thomas and Jerome James.
Prof. Mahoney – Tim Thomas will go into Skilesian shell-shock.

Grade:

The Timberwolves trade Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth for the Kings’ Shelden Williams and Bobby Brown:
Prof. Kerby – The most interesting thing about this is that Candace Parker might be moving to Minneapolis.
Prof. Mahoney – The most interesting thing about this trade is Donte Greene’s impact on McCants’ career as a poet.

Grade:

The Rockets acquire Kyle Lowry and Brian Cook, The Magic acquire Rafer Alston, the Grizzlies acquire Orlando’s first rounder:
Prof. Kerby – Orlando gets better, but they’re still only 75% compared to when they had Nelson.
Prof. Mahoney – Does Kyle Lowry any more reason to be a starter than Rafer?  They’re each flawed in their own ways, but they do have one thing in common: both are better than Anthony Johnson.

Grade:

The Thunder trade a 2009 first rounder for the Bulls’ Thabo Sefolosha:
Prof. Kerby – Love this trade for both teams.  For realsies.
Prof. Mahoney – How many chances do we give Thabo before we settle on the fact that he’s just not that good?

Grade:

John Paxson Will Resign When He Damn Well Pleases

February 19, 2009 in by with 0 Comments

Hey remember how John Paxson was supposed to resign from his position after the deadline passed?

Great Moments in NBA Trade Season History

February 19, 2009 in by with 8 Comments

Wyn Douglas is an author for Canis Hoopus and a Minnesota Fan. So since he has little reason to live, he was kind enough to come up with this awesome guest piece on the history of the trade season. Oh, what a glorious day! -MM

I’ll be updating salary spreadsheets on the fly today here as deals go through.

The NBA trade deadline is a favorite of hoops fans. It’s the time when contenders, unanimous and cusp alike, ponder mortgaging the future for a better shot at championship glory. It also happens to be the same time that pretenders and bottom-dwellers look to sell off their expensive veterans for future hopes, or maybe steal a building-block from the downtrodden.

We’ve seen plenty of offseason moves since 1987, but the month of February has brought a vast amount of roster movement in the last 20+ years. In fact, there have already been 8 trades before deadline day this February.

Armed with spreadsheets, ProSportsTransactions.com and an unhealthy obsession for minutiae, I mined 135 trades from 1987 to 2008, each happening within 3 weeks of that year’s trade deadline, in order to bring you a  look at the history of February in the NBA.

The Rules: 1) Rescinded trades don’t count; 2) cash, picks that were never transferred and trade exceptions don’t count.

Busiest Trade Season

2005 saw the most trades ever with 13. 17 teams moved 37 players and 12 picks in 3 weeks. Highlights included Chris Webber to Philly, Baron Davis to Golden State, Antoine Walker to Boston for tour #2 and Glenn Robinson to the Hornets for Jamal Mashburn and Rodney Rogers (RIP Rodney’s only paralyzed, sorry dude –ed). So that year worked out pretty well for… for… Baron Davis?

2008, however, was the year when the most assets (players and picks) were moved with 49 players and 10 picks (11 moves involving 19 teams). Memphis was the team of the season, moving 13 assets that year (you may have heard about their trading a Spaniard to the City of Angels). In addtion to Gasol, 2008 was the year that Shaq went to left South Beach, Bibby went to Hotlanta and Kidd went to Dallas.

The busiest single trade season for a team (by the number of assets) was Phoenix in 1988 with 15. They made 3 trades (something 11 teams have done since 1987) and moved 4 players and a pick for 5 players and 5 picks. I’d like to have some insight on how trading Sacramento’s mayor away affected the Suns that year, but all I remember is how the 1991 Hoops cards looked so much cooler than 1988′s.

The second busiest season for a team was Atlanta in 2004 (14 assets) when they moved Sheed twice and Chris Crawford and Bobby Sura won the fantasy season for me. Third was Memphis in 2008 (13 assets) when they sent Pau, Jason Collins and Sergei Lishouk away. I’d say they’ll regret the Lishouk move most when all is said and done.

Busiest Teams All-Time

New Orleans (including their time in OKC and Charlotte), New York and Houston tie for the most trade season trades since 1987 with 14 each.

Toronto has the highest average with .77 trades per trade season (10 trades in 12 years).

Washington brings up the rear with just 2 trades in 22 years. Sorry Cavs fans, but that doesn’t bode well for Szczerbs/Jamison talk.

Biggest Trade

In 2006, the Blazers, Kings, Nuggets and Sonics got together and made the only 4-team trade in trade seasons since 1987. It was a riveting concoction that included Earl Watson, Reggie Evans, Brian Skinner, Ruben Patterson, Voshon Lenard, Vitaly Potapenko, Sergei Monia, Charles Smith, Bryon Russell, and a 2nd round pick. I wish I could give you the time it took to read those names back to you… but I can’t.

But the biggest deal by assets was in 2008 when the Bulls, Cavs and Sonics moved around 12 assets in one fell swoop. Ready? Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown, Cedric Simmons, Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Ira Newble, Donyell Marshall, Adrian Griffin and a 2nd round pick.

You may recognize Gooden, Simmons and Joe Smith from such trade seasons as 2009. Not to mention the fact that Hughes and Szczerbiak are candidates for new jerseys by 3pm EST today.

The next biggest move is a 3-way tie for 10 (I suppose it’s mildly noteworthy that Szczerbiak was involved in the aforementioned biggest trade and one of the 10-asset trades).

Most Traded Player

Surprisingly, this is a 12-way tie as no player has ever been traded in 4 trade seasons. There are three active players, though, that could set the record this year: Mike James, Anthony Johnson and Nazr Mohammed. My money’s on Nazr.

Trades Most Likely to Alter the CBA

Another tie between Aaron McKie and Keith Van Horn for their sign-and-trades of 2008. When Mitch Kupchak and Donnie Nelson couldn’t put together the right package for Pau Gasol and Jason Kidd, respectively, they found moves that didn’t circumvent the CBA, but made the schribs in Secaucus take note. McKie and Van Horn both signed 3-year deals that only guaranteed money in the first year. Predictably, both were cut before being paid a dime past their first years.

Case Study: Isiah Thomas

No review of the trade deadline would be complete without a look back on Zeke’s performance. While I enjoy making fun of him as much as the next bloke, you can actually see progress in his moves. They go from awful, to a mix awful, questionable and reasonable to staying pat. That’s called learning.

2004: Traded an expiring contract (Van Horn) and a 2nd round pick (Turiaf) for Tim Thomas and Nazr Mohammed

2005: Traded expiring contracts (Norris, Vin Baker) and a 2nd round pick for Maurice Taylor; traded Nazr Mohammed and Jamison Brewer for Malik Rose and 2 1st round picks (David Lee and Mardy Collins)

2006: Traded an expiring contract (Antonio  Davis) for Jalen Rose and a 1st round pick (Renaldo Balkman); Traded an expiring contract (Penny Hardaway) and Trevor Ariza for Steve Francis

2007: Stayed pat

2008: Stayed pat

And remember friends, keep hitting refresh today.

Somebody Forgot to Call ‘No Takesies Backsies’

February 19, 2009 in by with 1 Comment

Buzz-kill alert: the Chandler-to-OKC trade is no more.  And let me be the first to tell you, this is some pretty bad news for all parties involved.

As of yesterday, one team was in mourning and another finding legitimacy.  The tragic fall of the Hornets was countered by the impending meteoric rise of the Thunder, who reinforced one of their weakest positions by adding one of the game’s best interior defenders.  It all made sense for the Thunder, who used smart management and unadulterated opportunism to swipe away a young center who was a perfect fit for the team they hope to build.

That’s all changed.  Where one team fell and another rose from the ashes, both teams now stand in their own relative states of sorrow.  Oklahoma City ponders what could have been, a day’s worth of excitement and intrigue turned into nothing but a fantasy.  New Orleans is now left wondering (or the more likely: worried that the cat’s out of the bag) what defect in Chandler’s physique would be worrisome enough for the Thunder to turn down a high quality big man (that better be one helluva toe injury).

Oh, and I’m sure it won’t be awkward for anyone.

A trade that at least produced one happy party has been rescinded, and all of the happiness in the room went with it.  Any joy that goes along with Tyson’s return has been sapped by the elephant in the room, and it’s tough to say just how much his physical status could impact the Hornets’ outlook.  Maybe OKC is just enjoying the luxury of time for a team with low expectations.  Or maybe there is something legitimately problematic with Chandler’s wheel.  It does make for quite the leverage-killer though; Chandler’s curious injury status practically ensures his place in NOLA, barring some ridiculous, unspeakably lopsided trade.  That likely means that the Hornets will be active until the final bell tolls on the trade deadline this afternoon, trying desperately to clear enough salary to duck under the luxury tax line.

So, let’s all go back to our everyday lives.  It was fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end.  Wipe those eyes, Thunderites, and prepare to be kept up at night wondering if Tyson stubbed his pinkie toe on the curb, Hornetians.  There’s still plenty of time until the trade deadline, and I’m doubtful we’ve heard the last from either of these franchises.

You’re a Sly One, Mr. Wallace

February 19, 2009 in by with 1 Comment

Welcome to Mihmphis, y’all.

One year ago, the Memphis Grizzlies sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers for questionable returns and under questionable circumstances.  It transformed L.A. from hopefuls to contenders, with seemingly no basketball benefit for the Grizz.

Then, last night, the Lakers agreed to send Chris Mihm* to the Grizzlies in a Camby-esque salary dump.  Chris Mihm for a future conditional second round pick?  Hello Lakers?  It’s common sense calling.  You just made a HUGE mistake…or did they?  It all seems a bit suspicious.  Could it be that the real prize of the Gasol trade was not Marc Gasol’s rights or the mythical creature known as cap space, but actually a highly conditional side trade which would ultimately steal away the Mihmster?  The Mihmdog?  Mihmastopholes?

I’m on to you, Chris Wallace.

*Chris Mihm is terrible at basketball.

This is How You Give Every Team in the League ‘The Cold Shoulder’

February 19, 2009 in by with 1 Comment

Everybody wants John Salmons.  Nobody wants Brad Miller.  So naturally, through problem solving, you package your attractive commodities with your unattractive ones and manage to get…decidedly less attractive ones.

When given the choice of paying Andres Nocioni until 2012 or Brad Miller until 2010, I’ll do what I can with Miller.  He’s a more productive offensive player than Noc, and seems like a generally less angry person.  Plus, you’d have to think that Miller’s expiring $12ish million contract will be pure gold going into the summer of 2010 .  If the Kings want to wait and try their hand with the free agents, then awesome.  Or if they want to try to pry a nice star from the clutches of a LeBronstruck GMs, that’s cool too.  Either way it provides the Kings with a nice player in the short-term, and hopefully an even better one in the long-term.

Instead, they stood up the midlevel girl everyone wanted to take to the prom, and in return saved some money and will be paying Andres Nocioni’s mortgage.  Lovely.

Noc does give the Kings a more natural fit at the 3, but that doesn’t change the fact that his game is based almost exclusively on hustle, overdoing it, and taking questionable shots as his emotions run wild.  He’ll hit people, but sometimes at the expense of your offensive and defensive sets.  Sounds worth it, right?  Brad Miller happens to completely suck at defense, but he also plays the hardest position to fill and gives you offensive production from the high post.  Elementary, my dear Petrie.

Kudos to the Bulls for getting out from under Nocioni’s contract, and finding two starting caliber players in a bargain bin.  Joakim Noah does, well, things on the floor, but he has trouble playing center.  Aaron Gray is better than you’d think, but he’s not ready for big-time minutes.  Brad Miller gives the Bulls a new look at the 5, including some actual offense (?!).  Tyrus Thomas is becoming everything I’d ever hoped he would be, and having the new-and-improved Tyrus in the frontcourt with Gray, Noah, and Miller is pretty solid.  Not ‘win a playoff series’ solid, but probably ‘make the playoffs’ solid.  Baby steps, yo.

Drew Gooden is free money.

John Salmons allows us to openly criticize Ben Gordon again, which I would list among my all-time favorite pastimes.  He hasn’t been bad this season, but he’s now the most obviously expendable piece on the roster not named Larry Hughes.  It would be nice if the Bulls could get something for him before the deadline passes, but I wouldn’t bet on it.  Word on the street is that there isn’t exactly a buyer’s market for small shooting guards whose egos are bigger than they are.  Salmons is a better defender and gives the Bulls some size in the backcourt, and his game seems to complement Rose’s well.  He’s not perfect, but he’s one of the best midlevel exceptionees I’ve seen.  Me likey.

Porter Bounced: Who’s Got The Wheel In Phoenix?

February 15, 2009 in by with 4 Comments

Terry Porter’s the fall guy in Phoenix. So with one question answered, what are the questions that spring from this. And most importantly, what does this mean for Amare and the rest of the league?

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Foiled Again

February 2, 2009 in by with 0 Comments

Is it too late for Superbowl talk?  Now that I’ve had a 24-hour breather and some distance from Sunday’s thriller, I’ve had plenty of time for digestion.

The Steelers’ 6th Superbowl win is a pretty remarkable accomplishment, but the never-ending Pittsburgh lovefest has been throwing the Steelers around with a couple of basketball teams from Boston and L.A..  I think it’s pretty much against company policy to write anything positive about either team here (Josh has been in the stocks since you last heard from him), but I think this needs to be said: the Steelers are not the Lakers, and they’re certainly not the Celtics.  They may have more Bowls than anyone in football, and that is really neato.  6 is a nice number.  But you know what it’s not?  17.  Or 14.  This is a case where two proud franchises can throw their considerable volume around, and in that department the Steelers don’t even compare.  Nevermind the fact that the NFL’s playoff format doesn’t have the quality control of the NBA or that the single-elimination format often means death for a good team on a bad night; both the Lakers and the Celtics have had longer and more frequent stretches of dominance, and in those stretches they were more successful.  End of story.

Beyond that, it’s interesting that the fortunes of the Steelers are turning up just as the Cowboys are plummeting downwards.  Professional sports in America are typically powered by dramatic foils.  It’s more than a rivalry, really; it’s a sharp contrast that gives a team it’s definition, a sense of context that allows us to understand who a team is by juxtaposing them next to who they are not.  In football, it’s the Steelers and the Cowboys, smashmouth versus glamour.  In baseball, it’s the Yankees and the Red Sox.  In basketball, it’s the classic east coast/west coast battle that’s been supplying fireworks for about 50 years.  Too often, they rise and fall together, alternating in periods of dominance and hibernation, keeping their senses trained to the sound of the other’s alarm clock.  It’s no coincidence that the Lakers rose to prominence in 2007, even before the Gasol trade.  After all, the Celtics were relevant again, and it takes two to dance your way to the top of the league.  They take turns leading and following, but the important thing is that they keep dancing.  That’s exactly why I knew that you couldn’t just pencil the Lakers in as the champs for the next 5 years after they turned a magic bean into a seven-foot Spaniard.  Inevitably, the Celtics’ age would catch up with them, and as Boston goes so does L.A..

Just when it looks as though Boston’s formerly unquestionable rule is being challenged by Cleveland and Orlando, the fates have seen it fit to take the Lakers down a peg with Bynum’s injury, at best making their lives difficult and at worst demoting the Lakeshow to the rest of the Western Conference pack.  Funny how these things work.

15 Footer 1.30.09: If You Could Be ANY Animal…

January 30, 2009 in by with 0 Comments

…What animal would you be?

Because it’s a Friday and because no one is really going to read this anyway, I’m breaking each match-up down to it’s most primal, animalistic simplifications.

REASONS TO WATCH THE GAMES WILD ANIMALS OF THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION TONIGHT:

A Bird After an Oil Spill (Milwaukee at Toronto):

Tragic.  Victims of circumstance.  Restricted by their own instinctive habits and the flurry of misfortune around them.  Source of countless documentaries.

Anaconda, From the Movie, Anaconda (Boston at Detroit):

Obvious intentions.  Predictable outcome.

Hamster on a Piano (Miami at Indiana):

Wtf.  Lovable.  Surprisingly entertaining.  Philosophical questions about everyday ideas.

An Armadillo (Washington at Philadelphia):

Ugly, but surprisingly endearing.  Curious.  Kinda creepy.  A welcome surprise, but you wouldn’t want to see one everyday.

A Siberian Tiger (LAC at Cleveland):

Intensely territorial.  Majestic.  Will rip your face off.

Tazmanian Devil (Looney Toons Variety) (New Jersey at Atlanta):

Completely insane.  Whirling dervish.  Awesome as a product of unpredictability.

A Run-of-the-Mill Jellyfish (LAL at Minnesota):

Initially intriguing, almost beautiful.  Pedestrian.  A dime a dozen.  Irritating if you get too close.

A Monkey Wearing Glasses (OKC at Utah):


Bizarre, but makes more sense than you could possibly imagine.

The Photoshoppian Jackalope (Charlotte at Denver):

Fantastical.  Nonsensical.  Makes you ask the question: “What is reality?”

A Flock of Seagulls (Golden State at New Orleans):

I ran.  I ran so far away.  I just ran.  I ran all night and day.  Couldn’t get away.

A Wildebeest (Chicago at Sacramento):

Because the Kings still make me think of Keon Clark.

If You Must Rage, Rage Consistently

January 29, 2009 in by with 8 Comments

The obvious: I’m a huge Lakers fan, as well as a huge Kobe Bryant fan. If you’re aware of how I first began blogging, you know this. With that said, let’s hope our venerable Editor-In-Chief, Matt Moore, is having a good day… if he isn’t, he probably won’t speak to me for a week because of this. Here goes nothing.

In this post:

Believe it or not, not everything about being a Lakers fan is “super awesome”

Controversial calls in Golden State and San Antonio

The bloggers react with indignation and outrage, but can’t seem to make up their minds

More bad calls, this time against the Lakers… and no reaction

Free throw differential in Boston and Sacramento

My challenge to you

I’ve been a part of the ideological minority for most of my life. I’m a Mac user in a Windows world. I’m a Christian in a very hostile and increasingly secular society, but I’m also an intellectual in a Christian sub-culture that tends to frown on my thought process and the questions it leads to. I’m a moderate conservative who attended two of the most liberal colleges in the nation and, until very recently, was living in one of the biggest liberal hotbeds in the United States — all environments very hostile to conservatives, especially Christian conservatives. For that matter, I’m a conservative in a culture that is swinging decidedly left. Oh, and here’s one for you: I absolutely believe that global warming is real, but I absolutely don’t believe that it is a human-created problem.

I believe this is the part where you ridicule and insult me because I don’t believe what you do.

Here are a couple more for you: I’m a Lakers fan in a sports world that loves to hate the Lakers and their fans, and I’m a Kobe fan in a world still full of Kobe haters. And as many of “us” as there are, there are a lot more of “the rest of you” — and you don’t tend to play nicely with others us.

The one thing that all of the above have in common is that in each case, being a part of that group means suffering a constant onslaught of verbal affronts from the vocal majority. It means being continuously inundated from every direction with rhetoric that, aside from typically being untrue, is unwelcome and offensive to me.

As someone who has had plenty of experience as a member of ideological minorities, I can tell you this: It’s tiring. It wears on you, and it just gets old. Sooner or later, you just want to withdraw yourself from the conversation entirely, because you’re tired of fighting the world — and more than anything, you’re tired of everyone constantly attacking you, and the things you love.

So it is with the Lakers — in the media, among sports fans, and more than anything, throughout the blogosphere.
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