The trade deadline ended at 3 PM ET Thursday, but that doesn’t mean the news of just-completed trades is going to stop coming in. Here are a few deadline deals that broke just before or after the league cutoff.
Blazers acquire Gerald Wallace. (Ken Berger, CBSSports.com)
The Bobcats get Dante Cunningham, Joel Przybilla and two first round picks. Since Przybilla’s deal is expiring, this is a salary dump for Charlotte. They’ll come away with Cunningham and two first rounders out of the deal. Wallace can play either forward spot, so he could play alongside LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum if the Blazers want to play small ball.
Nate Robinson and Kendrick Perkins to OKC for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. (Adrian Wojnarowski, Y! Sports)
Interesting trade for the Thunder, who are going to have trouble shooting the ball if they start Perkins, Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha. They’ll have plenty of size down low and appear to be gearing up for a potential matchup with the Lakers and/or Spurs. Perkins is widely regarded as one of the best defensive centers in the league and Ibaka is no slouch either. The C’s must feel like they have plenty of size with Shaq and Glen Davis, who usually finishes games for Doc Rivers. Green will back up Paul Pierce and/or Kevin Garnett. Krstic is a serviceable center as well, and there are rumors that Boston will be looking to add Troy Murphy if he clears waivers.
Aaron Brooks to Phoenix for Goran Dragic. (Marc Stein, ESPN)
Brooks was thought to be a cornerstone of Houston’s youth movement, but one temper tantrum and one suspension later and he’s on his way to the Suns for Dragic, who was thought to be the point guard of the future in Phoenix once Steve Nash moved on. But Dragic’s three-point shot has disappeared (28% this year after 39% last season) and his numbers are down as a result. If he gets back to form, the 24-year-old could be a steal — and the Rockets got a first round pick to boot.
Rockets send Shane Battier to Memphis for Hasheem Thabeet. (Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports)
The Rockets get another first round pick as part of this deal. Thabeet isn’t ready for prime time, but maybe the Rockets still see potential in him. Battier’s contract is expiring and he obviously wasn’t in Houston’s long-term plans so they got what they could for him. The first round pick should be useful, even if Thabeet is not.
In another trade that “almost-was,” O.J. Mayo was going to be moved to the Pacers for Josh McRoberts and a first round pick, but the NBA didn’t receive the fax in time, so the trade was nullified. Insert Michael Heisley joke here.
Months of trade speculation have gone by and now Rudy Fernandez is officially asking out of his contract so that he can return to Spain. His agent Andy Miller is making that perfectly clear. Per The Columbian…
“There’s nothing to fix,” Miller said. “He does not want to come back to the NBA.”
“This is not a bluff,” Miller said. “In his mind, he’s not coming back.”
Miller said he has attempted to be fair and reasonable with the Blazers during negotiations. But after waiting
months for Portland to make a move, the “light is out.”
“In my mind, we’re at a very unnecessary juncture,” Miller said. “I’m certainly not happy as an NBA agent that this is happening.”
Rudy Fernandez will not report to the Trail Blazers training camp in October and the disgruntled guard has no intention of playing for the Blazers for the remaining two years of his contract, his agent said Wednesday.
Fernandez, 25, is unhappy with his role and is frustrated with the offensive style of coach Nate McMillan, whom he says limits him to just a shooter, and not the playmaker he has shown he can be in international play.
Miller said new Blazers general manager Rich Cho has “overreached” in his attempt to trade Fernandez, turning down offers from Chicago, New York and Boston, leaving Miller and Fernandez with no option other than to hold firm that the former first-round pick will not report.
“All I can do now is stand on the roof top and scream ‘He’s not coming!’,” Miller said. “He’s just not coming back … I’ve made that clear.”
“Why would anyone want to hold anyone against their will?” Miller asked. “He’s not going to want to practice, he’s not going to want to be around his teammates. I mean, if they thought he was difficult when he was contributing, imagine how difficult he will be when he is not.”
Last week, I examined Fernandez’s case that he should get more playing time, and found that it wasn’t all that strong. He certainly hasn’t been the guy that we saw play so well in the 2008 Olympics, but then again, the NBA is a different animal. Fernandez has far more freedom when he plays for Spain than he does in Portland, and clearly he craves that kind of responsibility.
For his part, new Portland GM Rich Cho is taking a hard line with Fernandez and has said repeatedly that he’s not going to make a trade just to make a trade. But now Fernandez isn’t asking for a trade. He wants to leave the NBA altogether — will the Blazers let him out of his contract?
Joey Crawford called Marcus Camby for a foul when he was fighting through a Grant Hill screen, only he sent Steve Nash to the line. It was a pretty bad call in the first place, but then Crawford sends the wrong player to the line. Epic fail.
Although a verbal commitment may be announced sooner, the terms of the contract cannot be finalized until Wednesday when the NBA informs teams what the 2009-10 salary cap will be.
The Orlando Magic’s recent trade for Vince Carter, who has a large salary and plays small forward — which is Turkoglu’s position — made it highly unlikely Turkoglu would be back in Orlando.
The Toronto Raptors expressed interest in Turkoglu, but were constrained by their other efforts to keep Shawn Marion and Carlos Delfino.
Turkoglu, a 6-10 forward from Turkey who played a prominent role in the Magic’s recent trip to the NBA Finals, had been looking for a five-year deal in the neighborhood of $50 million.
Five years and $50 million is a lot for Turkoglu, who is already 30 years-old and isn’t particularly efficient statistically. But his game is a pretty good fit for the Blazers, who want to space the court for Brandon Roy. Turkoglu is a good enough shooter to do that, plus he can handle the ball really well for a small forward, which help to take the pressure off of Roy. In fact, with Roy at the two and Turkoglu at the three, there’s enough ball handling there that the team doesn’t have to play with a traditional point guard. This may open up minutes for Rudy Fernandez, who was reportedly upset about the Blazers’ interest in Turkoglu.
The other thing to remember is that the Blazers’ cap space wasn’t going to last. They have to sign both Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge to big extensions as soon as this summer and Greg Oden will be eligible for an extension next summer. It was sort of a “use it or lose” it scenario for the Blazers, and owner Paul Allen has never been afraid to spend. They added a versatile, experienced small forward who proved in the playoffs that he knows how to win. $10 million per season is a lot for Turkoglu, but his game should age pretty well, so at worst the Blazers should get quality play for the first three or four years of the deal.
What’s lost in all of this is the fact that Orlando will not be bringing back the core that went to the Finals this year. Chemistry is a rare quality and the Magic may rue the day that they brought in Vince Carter and waved goodbye to Turkoglu. After all, there were two overtime games in the first four, and the Lakers won both. Had those games gone the other way, the Magic would have led the series 3-1 with Game 5 at home to clinch the title. They didn’t need to tinker this much, and GM Otis Smith may eventually regret it.
The Blazers have been making inquiries all over the first round. Their main target has been Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair, a burly power forward who plays with a toughness the Blazers lack and coach Nate McMillan would appreciate.
However, Sunday night, there was talk Pritchard has even grander plans. With point guard Ricky Rubio possibly slipping out of the top four, the Blazers are talking to the Wizards about acquiring the No. 5 pick.
There’s no question Pritchard also is trying to figure out a way to get maximum cap room this summer to use for a free agent or in a trade. The Magic’s Hedo Turkoglu gets the most mention, but sources say Portland’s real target is Bulls point guard Kirk Hinrich.
Portland drafted Jerryd Bayless last year, but he didn’t have a very good rookie season, and head coach Nate McMillan would like Pritchard to steer clear of drafting another rookie. Hinrich would be a great fit. He’s relatively cheap (three years, $26.5 million remaining), experienced, and is a good defender.
The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 19, and the biggest name on the trading block is Amare Stoudemire. The Suns appear ready and willing to trade their former 1st Team All-NBA player (against my free, unsolicited advice), so I decided to play along and come up with a potential trade scenario (or two) for just about every team in the league. I’ll go through the league franchise-by-franchise and discuss the chances of each team actually making a play for the 26 year-old All-Star. Each blurb will also contain a link or two – if you click it you can see the trade in the ESPN Trade Machine. (I wore that thing out!)
For the record, I don’t really care where he lands — I’m just happy that the Suns didn’t announce a deal as I was writing this opus. Now that would have been a bummer.
Let’s roll…
Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks are pretty much set at every position except point guard. Mike Bibby’s contract is up this year, so that’s the only hole going into next season. That said, they’d be more likely to offer some combination of forwards than they would Joe Johnson. How about Al Horford (young star), Marvin Williams (young star) and Zaza Pachulia (cap relief)? I don’t think the Hawks would be willing to part with Joe Johnson or Josh Smith.
Boston Celtics
There’s no deal that would work unless the Suns truly covet Rajon Rondo. KG and Paul Pierce are untouchable. Rondo and Ray Allen for Amare and Alando Tucker would work, but since the trade offers no salary cap relief for the Suns, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Besides, if they trade away Ray Ray and Rondo, who’s going to play guard for the C’s?
If this story is true, Amare Stoudemire could be heading to the Pacific Northwest before the Nov. 19 trade deadline.
The Portland Trail Blazers have made a strong play for Amare Stoudemire, discussing a package that includes LaMarcus Aldridge, Jerryd Bayless, and Raef LeFrentz’s $12.7 million expiring contract, a person with direct knowledge of the talks told CBSSports.com Tuesday.
One factor complicating matters, according to a team executive who has spoken with the Suns, is an apparent difference of opinion between Kerr and managing partner Robert Sarver as far as what Phoenix hopes to get back in a Stoudemire trade. Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and Leandro Barbosa are viewed as untouchable in any trade talks with the Suns. It is not known if any of those players is the source of disagreement between Kerr and Sarver.
I’m surprised that the Blazers are willing to give up Aldridge, but if that’s the case and Steve Kerr insists on trading Stoudemire, then he should jump on this deal. Aldridge is currently #13 amongst power forwards in PER (18.98), while Stoudemire is #11 (20.14). This tells me that Aldridge is every bit the stat guy that Amare is, and he’s probably a better defender too. The Suns would get a burgeoning All-Star talent, a young prospect in Bayless and salary cap relief in the form of Raef LaFrentz’s expiring contract.
- Terrell Owens now has his own blog over at YARDBARKER and is wondering what people would think if he had said the things about Cris Carter that Cris Carter said about him. Confused yet? I am.
1. No big surprises at the top of the pace list — that’s the number of positions a team plays on average per game. The Warriors, Knicks, Lakers and Nuggets are #1-#4. There are a couple of surprises at the bottom with the Hornets at #29 and Blazers at #30. Since New Orleans has the best point guard in the league, you’d think that they’d want to get out and push the ball and allow him to create. On the other hand, Portland’s youth might provide a conditioning advantage, but the Blazers have been content to slow things down. It’s funny to see the Suns at #11, but that just goes to show how differently they play with Shaq and without Mike D’Antoni.
2. The Cavs are tops in offensive efficiency (points scored / # of possessions). They were #18 last season, so this is a huge jump and explains why Cleveland is off to such a hot start. They are #2 in defensive efficiency, which is also a big jump from last year, when they finished #11 in that category. It would appear that the Mo Williams trade has helped offensively while not hurting the Cavs on the other end of the court. The bottom line is that Mike Brown is doing a nice job this year.
3. The worst defensive team in the league? The Wizards. The worst offensive team in the league? The Thunder.
