Trade Deadline Review

The Carmelo Anthony Trade

I could give a breakdown of all of the players and where they are going, but there are 12 players and three different teams involved and I just don't really feel like typing out all of those names.  All you need to know is that Anthony is now a member of the New York Knicks.  It's hard for me to dislike this trade for the Knicks because they were able to pair two of the top 30 players in the league together and might be able to bring in a third star next summer.

I've been bothered by a lot of the criticism of this trade (especially this piece from Jemele Hill) stating that the Knicks gave up too much for Anthony.  One of her main points centers around the fact that the Knicks are the second-highest scoring team in the league already and the addition of the offensive-minded Anthony will make little difference to a team that scores a ton of points.  This is a valid point.  I would tend to agree that the average amount of points scored by the Knicks will see little change, but with Anthony you would have to figure that the Knicks would become more efficient because Anthony is a much more effective offense player than Danilo Galinari or Wilson Chandler (or for that matter, both of them combined). 

What I do not agree with his Hill's assessment of Raymond Felton, Galinari, and Chandler.  She mentions that Felton and Chandler have become "very solid players", but doesn't really give any support of this idea.  Both Felton and Chandler are both "very solid players" in Mike D'Antoni's system, but if they play in any other system in the league would they look as good.  Were people clammering for Felton before he came to the Knicks?  Not really.  He was nothing more than a league average point guard, but throw him into the performance enhancing D'Antoni offensive system and he looks like a superstar.  The same ideas apply for Galinari as well.  Hill mentions that he is averaging a career-high 15.9 points per game this season, but it is hard to imagine he will be able to do the same thing in Denver where he won't be a part of D'Antoni's high-octane offense.

In the end, it's just hard for me to argue with a team that acquired one of the top 20 players in the league and a group of players that includes a veteran point guard when all they gave up were role players and picks.

Overall Grade for New York Knicks: A-

Though I degraded each of the former Knicks players in the first part of the trade review, each of the players they got are all decent players that will be able to contribute to a winning team at some point in their career, except Mosgov.  He's just not very good.  The only problem is this year will not be the year they will contribute to a winning team, but overall it was quite a haul for what they gave up.

Overall Grade for Denver Nuggets: B

The Deron Williams Trade

The Nets had long been a part of the Anthony trade discussions and with the Knicks acquisition of Anthony many assumed that the Nets would not make a move at the deadline, but the Nets had other plans as they acquired Deron Williams Wednesday afternoon.  To acquire Williams, the Nets gave up Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, and two first round picks, which is significantly less than what it took the Knicks to obtain Carmelo Anthony.

The acquisition of Williams is interesting for a few reasons.  The first of which is that Williams is currently in the last year of his current contract, which means that until the Nets sign him to a new contract there is no guarantee he will be in New Jersey next year.  For the Nets' sake I hope that they are able to get Williams signed to a contract extension because otherwise the trade doesn't make a lot of sense.  The second reason the trade is interesting is because of the value of Deron Williams.  As far as I'm concerned, Williams is better than Anthony.  It is much more important to have a great point guard who touches the ball on nearly every possession and dictates who gets the ball instead of a wing player that doesn't get the ball nearly as much.  Don't get me wrong, though.  Anthony is one of the best players in the league, but Williams is on the exact same level.  The fact that they're very similar players makes it very surprising to me how little the Nets had to give up in comparison to the caliber of players the Knicks were forced to give up for Anthony.

Overall Grade for New Jersey Nets: A-

While the Nuggets were able to obtain three strarters, a young center, and a bevy of draft picks, the Jazz were only able to obtain a young point guard and young power forward with two first round picks.  Not as impressive as the Nuggets package for Anthony, but you do have to credit the Jazz for not dragging out the process of trading Williams.  They decided to trade Williams and got it over quickly.  For that, you have to applaud them.

Overall Grade for Denver Nuggets: B-

Kirk Hinrich to the Hawks

This trade was a real surprise to me.  Kirk Hinrich's value is much higher than I thought it was because Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong are as valuable as Mike Bibby, Maurice Evans, Jordan Crawford, and a 2011 first round pick.  I don't feel like Hinrich is valuable enough to warrant a point guard that is about equal to him (Mike Bibby), two guards that have high upside (Evans and Crawford), and a first round pick.  I just don't understand how Kirk Hinrich could be worth this much to the Hawks.  He has yet to impress me in his NBA career, but the Wizards were still willing to give up four players for him and Hilton Armstrong.  I just don't understand this trade from either team's perspective.

Overall Grade for Atlanta Hawks: D
Overall Grade for Washington Wizards: B

Baron Davis to the Cavaliers

I saw this trade on my Twitter feed as I was going to sleep on Wednesday night and I could not believe it.  I just don't really understand the trade because I felt like the chemistry developed between Davis and Blake Griffin is something rare among players.  Baron Davis literally played for the sole reason to throw ridiculous alley-oops to Griffin.  (See Exhibit A, Exhibit B, and Exhibit C.)  I just don't see Mo Williams having the same chemistry with Griffin.  Mainly because Williams is a shoot-first point guard who has yet to figure out what it's like to be an actual point guard instead of a scorer. 

Obviously, the main reason the Clippers decided to trade Davis was to get rid of his atrocious contract and set themselves to sign a free agent to a big contract in the offseason, but this only makes sense if you are a delusional Clippers fan.  After this last offseason, it has become apparent that no free agent will sign with the Clippers.  There were multiple free agents last season that would have fit in with the Clippers who offered the best supporting cast of young and talented players (Griffin, Eric Gordon, Deandre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe), but still no one will even think about going to the Clippers.  If you can't attract any superstar free agents with that cast, it seems unlikely that you would be able to do it now.

Overall Grade for the Los Angeles Clippers: D

As Bill Simmons mentioned in his trade deadline review, the amount of weight Baron Davis will put on in the next few months playing for the worst team in the league is nearly unimaginable.  Davis has proved time and time again that if he has nothing to play for he will not play hard and likely put on a ton of weight.  From a player standpoint, it was a pretty awful trade, but it can't be forgotten that the Cavs also received a first round pick.  Since it is from the Clippers, it should be a relatively high pick.  It is still yet to be seen whether a high pick in this draft is worth that much.  This draft class has been characterized as one of the weakest in recent memory and few analysts are convinced that there are many high impact players to draft.

Overall Grade for the Cleveland Cavaliers: C

Jeff Green-Kendrick Perkins Trade

This was a move I truly did not see coming as the trade deadline approached.  The Celtics were a game away from winning the NBA championship last season and seemingly only improved their team with the addition of the O'Neals (Jermaine and Shaquille).  Their core group (Rondo, Allen, Garnett, Pierce, Perkins, and Big Baby) had been playing together for years and knew each other inside and out.  The Celtics also had great chemistry.  Those guys played for each other and always had the greater good of the team in mind, which makes this chemistry very unusual.  Perkins was their best post defender and was the key to their defense against both the Magic and Lakers.  The lack of another great defender to play for them leads me to believe that they are willing to lean on both O'Neals in the playoffs to give them good minutes which isn't something that we've necessarily seen to this point.  It also leads me to believe that they aren't as concerned about post scorers, but more concerned about shutting down the suddenly strong wing players in the East (Carmelo Anthony and Lebron James).  This does make some sense because without Green the Celtics would be forced to rely on Pierce and Allen to defend Anthony and James, which drastically affects their offensive effectiveness.  All in all, it seems a bit unusual to me to get rid of the league's best chemistry for a wing player that will help on defense and with some scoring, but the Celtics haven't missed on many of the moves they've made in the last five years.

Overall Grade for the Boston Celtics: B-

In my mind the acquisition of Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson have made the Thunder contenders for the NBA championship.  Last year, the Thunder were able to bother the Lakers in the first round, but ultimately lost due to a lack of size to defend Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.  With the addition of Perkins and the improvement of Serge Ibaka, the Thunder seem prepared to matchup against just about anyone in the West.  In the first half of the season, the Thunder's two weaknesses have been bench scoring and size and they filled both of these needs.  The addition of Robinson could prove to become invaluable come playoff time because as he proved last season with the Celtics he can absolutely fill it up.  Sam Presti just continues to prove why he is one of the best GMs in the league.  Absolute home run for the Thunder.

Overall Grade for the Oklahoma City Thunder: A

Fired Up Friday

Albert Pujols

The Albert Pujols situation makes absolutely no sense to me.  I honestly don't understand how the Cardinals did not sign Pujols.  I have heard from multiple Cardinals fans that signing Pujols to a 10 year, 300 million dollar contract would cripple the organization and that since no one else can offer him a contract at this point there is no reason to offer him such a large contract.  There is some logic to that reasoning, but I just don't see how you can convince yourself as a fan that your team will be better when you don't resign the best player in the league (and quite possibly the best player of our generation).

The St. Louis Cardinals are not a small market team and I'm getting tired of hearing people say that they are.  Their payroll has been steadily increasing for years and is hovering somewhere between 95 and 100 million dollars at this point.  Though they are certainly not a big market team like the Yankees or Red Sox, they do have enough money to fit a large contract into their payroll.  Even if they would sign Pujols to the reported 300 million dollar contract, they would still have 75 million dollars to put together the rest of their team.  This is not that difficult considering ten teams fielded a team with less than 75 million last season including two playoff teams (Reds and Rangers).  There is no reason to think that the Cardinals would not be able to have a competitive team with Pujols' large contract.

I just don't understand why the Cardinals are unwilling to pay the best player in the game.  I know there are concerns about his age especially with the length of the contract, but I can't imagine age will become a factor with Pujols.  Throughout his career, Pujols has been one of the most consistent players in the league.  There have never been large differences in his statistics.  His statistics have plateaued and that plateau just happens to be the highest peak in the whole league.

During this offseason, reports have consistently stated that Pujols wants to sign the largest contract in baseball history and I cannot blame him.  He is definitely the best player in the league and has been playing at a bargain the whole time he has played for the Cardinals.  It's about time that he gets the money he deserves.  I had assumed that the Cardinals would have been discussing offering him a huge contract, but then a report came out this week saying that the Cardinals were offering him a contract that would be somewhere between the 5th and 10th largest of all-time.  A contract that size would put his contract somewhere between 19 to 21 million dollars a year.  Matt Holliday was signed to a 7 year, 120 million dollar deal as a Cardinal and is currently making 17 million dollars a year.  The Cardinals are only willing to offer Pujols four million more dollars a year than Matt Holliday. 

Are you kidding me? 

If that is as high as the Cardinals were willing to go, they probably would have been better off not even offering a contract.  Honestly, they would have had a much better chance signing Pujols to a contract when he becomes a free agent by not offering him a contract.  This could not be a bigger slap in the face.  I know there are some Cardinals fans upset because they believe Pujols should have given the Cardinals "hometown discount", but did they really think Pujols, who has been asking for around 300 million would willingly take less than 200 million.  There have been examples of hometown discounts before (most recently Joe Mauer in Minnesota), but expecting Pujols to take two-thirds of what he wanted is asking Pujols to take a hometown giveaway, not a hometown discount.

"I'm happy the Cardinals are not forking out that kind of money for Pujols."

"We can't afford to pay Pujols.  He shouldn't get paid 300 million.  That's ridiculous."

"We can get two other great players for the price we would have paid Pujols.  Two other great players with Holliday.  We'll be unstoppable."

These are all things that I have heard in the last week.  At this point, Cardinals fans are beginning to find ways to cope with the fact that they are going to see Pujols in a different jersey next season and the jersey will probably say Chicago on the front.  As a Brewers fan, I'm sick to my stomach thinking about Pujols in a Cubs jersey and the fact that I will have to watch him destroy my team for his whole 20 year career.  And once Pujols is in that other jersey, Cardinals fans will vilify him.  He will be made out as the bad guy in the situation.  He will be the greedy athlete that wanted too much money.  He will be the athlete that doesn't care about the team he started with, the team that brought him up through the minor leagues and made him into a star.  Though they will do this, deep down they will know that their feelings are unjustified.  They know that the feelings they are faking are simply covering up their one true feeling: regret.  Regret for what could have been.

Fired Up Friday

Andrew Bynum for Carmelo Anthony

This week's newest Carmelo Anthony rumor involves the Lakers and is centered around Andrew Bynum.  I'm fired up about this for a couple of reasons.  The first reason I'm upset about this is because we all know that Carmelo will end up in New York, whether it is at the trade deadline or next season.  I'm tired of all the posturing both sides are doing.  Denver keeps asking for more and the Knicks keep saying they are giving up too much, but as the deadline approaches both teams will be realistic and actually get a deal done.

The second reason I'm fired up about this is Andrew Bynum.  As I was watching Sportscenter yesterday, one of the analysts mentioned that Andrew Bynum is "one of the most talented big men in the league."  That is an absolute joke.  To be considered talented, you need to have skills.  Andrew Bynum is large and athletic.  That is not talented.  He is not a post player you are going to feed the ball and run your offense through.  He's simply just not good enough to do these things.  If you watch him play, you will see a lot of dunks and blocks and not much else.  That is indicative of a player that isn't very skilled.  If you watch some of the most talented big men in the league (Duncan, Garnett, Horford, Bogut, etc.), you will see them catch the ball in the post, show off their footwork, pass out of double teams, and hit jumpers.  I'm not sure I have seen Bynum do any of these things. 

If the Nuggets really are going to trade a franchise player like Carmelo, they need to get a franchise piece back and Bynum is not a player you can build a franchise around.  Along with the fact that he isn't really all that talented, he also is extremely injury prone.  He has played a full season (all 82 games) only once in his six-year career.  Why would any team trade for a player that gets injured this consistently?

Deron Williams > Jerry Sloan

Yesterday, Jerry Sloan, the NBA's longest tenured coach, resigned.  Sloan had coached the Utah Jazz for 23 years before resigning and led the Jazz to their most successful run as a franchise.  Sloan was one of the few old-school coaches left in the league.  Sloan did things the right way and absolutely demanded respect from each of his players.  Since the Jazz selected Deron Williams with the 3rd pick in the 2005 NBA draft, Sloan and Williams have butted heads.  In his rookie year, Williams was upset with the amount of playing time he received from Sloan because he felt like he deserved more than he was receiving and the relationship has remained strained ever since.  Apparently, Sloan and Williams haven't been getting along all season, but the breaking point was reached on Wednesday night when Sloan called a play and Williams ran a different play.  This was not acceptable in Sloan's eyes and he resigned.  I can't really blame him.  Sloan is one of the few coaches that has been around long enough that he deserves respect and his knowledge should be unquestioned.

The thing that is most bothersome for me is the fact that Williams is nearing the end of his contract and the Jazz are adamant about resigning him, yet they have done nothing to make him want to stay in Utah.  They allowed Carlos Boozer to leave for Chicago without much of a fight.  They allowed Wes Matthews to do the same.  They claim to want to keep Williams, but have done nothing about actually keeping him.  So now they are saddled with a disgruntled point guard who forced out one of the best coaches in the league's history and they might not even keep the point guard.  How much sense does that make?  They allowed Deron Williams to call the shots for their franchise and yet are not even trying that hard to keep him.  Essentially they picked Deron Williams over Jerry Sloan, but they're not even sure Deron Williams will pick them at the end of the season.

(Also, I can't think of a bigger travesty than the fact that Jerry Sloan NEVER won the Coach of the Year Award.  NEVER.  He was one of the best coaches of the last 25 years.  Previous winners include Mike Brown, Sam Mitchell, Rick Carlisle, and Mike Dunleavy!   How did Sloan never win one?)

Dennis Rodman

I know it seems unusual to see the Worm mentioned in a Fired Up Friday post considering he hasn't played in the last ten years, but earlier today the Detroit Pistons announced that they would be retiring Rodman's jersey as a franchise.  I normally don't have much of a problem with jersey retirements, but this one I can't get my head around. Rodman played seven seasons with the Pistons and was only a starter for two of them.  This just doesn't seem like the type of the player you retire a jersey for.  I understand that he was a major contributor during the Bad Boys Era in Detroit and Rodman's intensity was pivotal on the defensive side of the ball, but it just doesn't add up for me.

I see retiring a jersey as a type of lifetime acheivement award.  If you are retiring a player's jersey, he needs to be one of your franchise's greatest players and have played their for a majority of his career.  Rodman's jersey will now be hanging in the rafters alongside Joe Dumars, Dave Bing, Isiah Thomas, Bob Lanier, and Vinnie Johnson.  Each one of those players is synonmous with the Pistons.  Those five players were instrumental in shaping the organization and will always be looked at as examples of what it means to be a Piston.  Can you say the same thing about Rodman?

Surly Sunday

Sorry for the delay on this Fired Up Friday post.  I was bogged down in meetings for much of Friday and didn't get a chance to write a post until today.  I'm deeply sorry for the wait.  It won't happen again. 

Super Bowl Predictions

This is the week that anyone who thinks they know anything about football predicts what they think will happen in the Super Bowl and then defend it to the death.  Honestly, few things annoy me more.  I can't stand it when people give a prediction and then people begin to argue with them about it.  How can you argue a prediction? 

Packers 21-17?  Are you crazy? Last time they played each other it was 37-36.  They are going to score so much more than that.

Steelers 35-31? You are putting two of the best defenses in the league on the biggest stage in the world and you think they're going to give up that many points?  You have got to be kidding me!

These hypothetical arguments drive me absolutely crazy.  There is nothing to argue.  There are not actual facts.  It's impossible to argue about something that hasn't happened yet.  So with that being said, here is my prediction.

Steelers 31-30.  It really pains me to pick the Steelers.  I truly do not like them as a franchise, but Big Ben is entirely too good in the playoffs to pick against him.  My man crush on Aaron Rodgers is telling me I should pick the Packers and I really want to, but I just can't pick against Roethlisberger.  Though I'm picking the Steelers, I could very easily see the Packers winning because I think which ever quarterback gets the ball last will win the game.

The Extra Week Before the Super Bowl

I despise the extra week before the Super Bowl.  The only reason it exists, from what I can ascertain, is to give the media a week to see what irrelevant stories they can attempt to turn into news.  Apparently its a skill they really need to work on because we give them a week to do it this year and they didn't disappoint.  They produced some real gems this year.

Ben Roethlisberger is Partying Before the Super Bowl!!!!  How pissed is Mike Tomlin going to be?  Is it a big deal?  If you were his teammate would you be mad?  Doesn't he respect his teammates?

The Packers' Injured Players Weren't Included in the Super Bowl Picture!!!!  They are just as much a part of the team as everyone else!  How could they treat their teammates like that?

Maurice Pouncey is Going to Play!!!! It doesn't matter if he has a broken ankle, he says he's 75% and he's going to play!  How did he heal so quickly?  How will it affect the Steelers?

Super Bowl Parties

There is nothing I hate more than a great football game ruined by needless chatter and socialization.  I don't need my friend's girlfriends coming over.  I don't need people who don't care about football here just to enjoy the party.  The only people I want to watch the game with are the few friends I have that understand that the Super Bowl is not a time to talk and joke around.  There are certainly proper times to enjoy yourself and crack some jokes, but there are very few times where loud noises are called for.