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Trade Winds A Blowin’ - Who Were the Trade Deadline Winners?

Authored by Scott Shniderman - February 25, 2006 - 1:20 pm

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February 25, 2006 By Scott Shniderman As many NBA fans wanted higher profile players moved (Garnett? Iverson? Pierce?), the NBA trade deadline came and went relatively quietly on Thursday afternoon. I will attempt to break down each trade and the winners of each, starting with the biggest deal and then moving on to the other smaller deals that went down this week. To New York: Steve Francis To Orlando: Anfernee Hardaway, Trevor Ariza Winner: Orlando Unless Isiah Thomas has a master plan to acquire as many assets as he can for a summer trading spree, this trade just doesn’t make sense for the New York Knicks. New York already has Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Jalen Rose and Nate Robinson in their crowded backcourt. All of these players are shoot first guards who like to create off the dribble. Add Francis to the mix and you might have a problem finding enough shots per game to keep everyone happy. The Knicks claim they just wanted to add a playmaker to the mix, and Stevie Franchise definitely fits that bill. Francis has career averages of 19.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg and 6.4 apg. His numbers are unquestionably impressive and Francis, a former Maryland Terrapin, is definitely talented. To be honest, I’m shocked Francis came as cheap as he did. It makes you wonder a little why a guy with this kind of talent has already been traded four times in seven NBA seasons. Hopefully, for Knicks fans, Isiah knows something no one else does, because the way he keeps adding salary, you wonder how much longer he can keep this up. The Magic acquired a talented athletic swingman in Trevor Ariza who will provide a spark off the bench. They also brought back an original member of the dominant Magic teams of the mid-90s, Penny Hardaway. Unfortunately for Orlando, they don’t get Shaquille O’Neal or Lil’ Penny to help Penny stay healthy or productive, and he was quickly waived a day after being acquired. But the most important part of the deal for Orlando was Hardaway’s $15.75 million expiring contract, to free up salary cap room for the 2007 free agent class, which includes superstars Paul Pierce, Chancey Billups, Mike Bibby, Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis, among others. Orlando has a big decision on who they want to target to help build around their new franchise cornerstone, the 2005 #1 overall draft pick, Dwight Howard. To Seattle: Earl Watson, Bryon Russell, future Denver 2nd round draft pick To Denver: Reggie Evans, Ruben Patterson, Charles Smith To Portland: Voshon Lenard, Brian Skinner To Sacramento: Vitaly Potapenko, Sergei Monia Winner: Denver While most observers think Earl Watson was the most coveted piece in this trade, I think Denver really addressed their biggest weakness in this trade: rebounding and defense. With Nene, Marcus Camby, Eduardo Najera and Kenyon Martin all having trouble staying healthy, the Nuggets needed to add some toughness on the defensive end. Ruben Patterson, the self proclaimed “Kobe-stopper,” offers some great perimeter defense to a soft defensive team. Reggie Evans, who has averaged over 7 rpg for his career, adds some hard-nosed toughness to the Denver frontline. Denver feels that by adding these two players to their rotation, they can make a run at the Western Conference heavyweights, the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs, and if everyone can click at the right time, I tend to agree. Seattle acquired a player they originally drafted in the 2001 draft, Earl Watson. They seem to have some hesitation if Luke Ridnour can withstand playing 40 minutes a night and Watson offers them a very valuable backup point guard who can contribute 20-25 minutes a game behind Ridnour. Denver realized they made a mistake offering him a $29 million, 5-year deal to be third sting point guard behind Andre Miller and Earl Boykins, and shipped him off to the Emerald City. Seattle helped themselves in this deal if they can absorb the salary implications of the trade. Portland looked for salary cap relief in acquiring the expiring contract of Voshon Lenard (who is not expected to play this season) and big man Brian Skinner. Skinner will actually see some immediate playing time in Portland as the Blazers have some injury problems at the center position with Theo Ratliff and Joel Przybilla dinged up right now. Sacramento added role players Vitaly Potapenko and Sergei Monia. Potapenko also only has one year left on his contract and Monia is a rookie role player who has exactly one point in game action since December 16th. To Orlando: Darko Milicic, Carlos Arroyo To Detroit: Kelvin Cato, top 5 protected 2008 1st round draft pick Winner: Detroit Carmelo Anthony. Chris Bosh. Dwyane Wade. TJ Ford. Kirk Hinrich. These were all of the stars that Joe Dumars passed on to take a chance on the European sensation Darko Milicic with the #2 overall pick in the 2003 draft. Darko is now being compared to another #2 overall bust, Sam Bowie. Bowie was taken by Porland #2 in the 1984 draft over a young UNC player named Michael Jordan who went #3 overall to the Chicago Bulls. Milicic might eventually become a decent role player, but the Darko era had to come to an end in Detroit. The fact that the Pistons could add another potential lottery pick in two years is a scary thought. Orlando gets Milicic whose array of low post moves and three point skills has often wowed players in practices and workouts, but he’s never put it together in game action. Arroyo has averaged 6.4 ppg and 3.4 apg in his career and might get major minutes with the Magic after the trade of Steve Francis and Jameer Nelson’s lingering foot injury. To Seattle: Chris Wilcox To Los Angeles Clippers: Vladimir Radmanovic Winner: Seattle Both teams get players that help them immediately. Both of the 6-10 forwards involved had fallen out of favor with their teams. The Clippers get a 3-point shooting big man in Radmanovic. Radmanovic turned down a $42 million, six year deal at the beginning of the season from Seattle. I bet Vladimir would like to rethink that offer right about now. Radmanovic has the ability for some big games, as he poured in 30 points this season in a game against New York on January 8th. His career averages are 10.1 ppg and 4.5 rpg. The Sonics get a scoring athletic big man in Wilcox. Wilcox, a member of the 2002 Maryland Terrapin championship squad, had seen his minutes dwindle this season after averaging a career high 7.9 ppg and 4.2 rpg last season. Because of Wilcox’s strong play, the Sonics were able to trade one of their other power forwards, Reggie Evans, later in the week for Earl Watson. While the Clippers will definitely help themselves this season with Radmanovic, Wilcox has the long term potential to be a special player if given the playing time. To New Orleans/Oklahoma City: Marc Jackson, Linton Johnson To New Jersey: Bostjan Nachbar Winner: New Orleans/Oklahoma City If anyone would have told me that New Orleans would be four games over .500 at the trading deadline at the beginning of this season, I might have asked them to put the pipe down. Turns out this New Orleans/Oklahoma City team is a gritty bunch of players who play well together. They find ways to win close games and have a nice nucleus with guaranteed rookie of the year Chris Paul and Most Improved Player nominee David West. Byron Scott also deserves Coach of the Year consideration for what he has done with the Hornets this year. With Chris Andersen’s two-year substance suspension earlier this year and Jackson Vroman’s broken wrist (for those of you who didn’t see the replay of the play, be happy, it was nasty), the Hornets needed to add some big men and Marc Jackson and Linton Johnson fit the bill. Marc Jackson was a surprising story as an undrafted free agent out of Temple for Golden State a few years ago and has been bouncing around the league ever since. He averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds a game for Philadelphia last season. Linton Johnson is a role player, who will provide some depth off the bench for the Hornets. The Nets acquired Bostjan Nachbar, who has averaged 5 ppg this season. The most important part of the trade for New Jersey was actually Nachbar’s salary, as he allows the Nets to get under the luxury tax threshold. To Cleveland: Ronald Murray To Seattle: Mike Wilks, cash Winner: Cleveland I’m not really sure why Seattle made this deal. Ronald “Flip” Murray has actually proved he can be successful in this league, as he has excelled when given the minutes to play. Flip actually dropped 29 points in a game against Boston this season on December 26th. He averages 9.9 ppg and offers Cleveland an additional athletic wing player. Murray, who is playing for a new contract next season, might even move into the starting lineup for Sasha Pavlovic as Cleveland is looking to replace the injured Larry Hughes in their lineup. Wilks has averaged 2 ppg and 1 apg in his four year NBA carer. To Cleveland: Lee Nailon To Philadelphia: conditional second round draft pick Winner: Philadelphia How can I say a team was a winner if they didn’t receive a player in the deal? Well, Philadelphia is going to clear space under their salary cap to go after either Tim Thomas, who might be bought out by the Chicago Bulls after their unsuccessful bid to trade him this week, or another player who might help them off their bench. Danny Ferry, Cleveland GM, waived Nailon sign Joey’s brother, Stephen Graham on Friday, so it’s a little puzzling why the Cavs would give up a 2nd round pick for Nailon in the first place. Nailon averaged a career best 14.1 ppg last season for the Hornets and was supposed to provide some offensive spark for Philadelphia, but never caught on in the 76ers rotation. To Miami: Derek Anderson To Houston: Gerald Fitch Winner: Miami In a swap of University of Kentucky alumni, Miami adds journeyman Derek Anderson, with untested rookie Gerald Fitch going to Houston. Anderson and his 13 ppg career average is a multifaceted athletic swing player who can add some scoring punch off the bench for Miami and can play three positions for the Heat. Fitch adds some potential to a Rockets team looking to get younger. Scott can reached at scottx2000@yahoo.com with any comments, questions, or general musings.