Trade Un-Spectacular & Injuries
It’s been way too long since I last contributed to my own blog, which I know can’t be good for building readership. What can I say though? I’ve been busy pursuing my other passion…..music.
From 2/16 to 2/24 I saw five shows in nine days from Seattle to Eugene while also working five eight hour days. And let me tell you something, I’m not as young as I used to be. It took me a full two days to recover from that run. Ugh.
Anyway, I’ll have two separate reviews on that whole shebang in the near future (one of which I hope to have published on jambands.com), but it’s NBA time now.
- I realize that I promised the ‘Trade Spectacular’ for MMM, but really, the five trades that went down since my last post were so lame that this piece doesn’t even deserve to grace the hallowed page of MMM.
San Antonio Gets: Melvin Ely
Charlotte Gets: Eric Williams
For the Spurs…
I actually like the acquisition of Ely for them. Although he's not much of a defender or rebounder, Melvin can score in the low post. Which is something SA has not been getting from the Francisco Elson and Fabricio Oberto tandem. Additionally, this should tell you all you need to know about how the Spurs organization feels about free agent signee Jackie Butler.
While I think this was another shrewd move by GM R.C. Buford, it really won’t matter if coach Gregg Popovich doesn’t play Ely. If given the chance I think Melvin (playing for a new contract) could really help SA in the playoffs. That said, there’s a good chance Ely never gets off the pine due to his lack of defensive intensity.
For the Bobcats…
Melvin was constantly grousing about his role in Charlotte and had asked to be traded long ago. So this is really addition by subtraction for the Cats. They dump a team cancer in Ely, and pick up a solid veteran locker room guy in Williams. Moreover, Eric makes more money then Melvin, so Charlotte moves further away from the minimum salary floor.
Williams will do what he does for Charlotte, which is play solid defense and make open shots from mid-range. Other than that, his time in Association is nearing its end.
Winner - Spurs
Memphis Gets: Scott Padgett
Houston Gets: Jake Tsakalidis
For the Grizzlies…
Big Jake did not fit into Memphis’ new run-and-gun-play-no-defense style, so out he went. In Padgett the Griz get a 3-point shooter to replace the bought out Eddie Jones and the done for the year Brian Cardinal.
For the Rockets…
Quality executives always seem to find that extra piece for nothing (see R.C. Buford above), and Houston Vice President Carroll Dawson certainly fits into this category.
Now, Tsakalidis is not going to tilt the balance of power in the West or anything, but he’s a very nice insurance policy in case something unexpected happens to Yao Ming. I mean, Dikembe Mutombo has done yeomen’s work this season, but Deke is much better playing 24 minutes a night rather then 35.
The great thing for the Rockets is that Jake fits right into coach Jeff Van Gundy’s style. Tsakalidis won’t shoot unless he’s wide open under the basket. He plays tough defense and rebounds the ball. Most importantly though, he absolutely loves to enforce the “no lay-up rule”.
Winner - Rockets
Atlanta Gets: Anthony Johnson
Dallas Gets: Atlanta’s 2007 second round pick
For the Hawks…
Speedy Claxton has been the definition of a bust thus far in Atlanta, so enter Johnson. In AJ the Hawks get a guy that knows how to run a team, can defend his position and makes open shots from mid-range out to three land.
I think this is a great deal for the A-T-L. Enough to get them to the playoffs? I doubt it, but all they gave up was a second rounder for a starter. Can’t beat that.
For the Mavericks…
Anthony is really too good to be rotting away on the bench, so I feel like President Donnie Nelson did him a favor here. Plus, J.J. Barea was tearing up the D-League, so Dallas already had their third PG in house.
Remember what I said about quality executives? Well, Little Nellie is in that group too. Since the Mavs don’t have a first round pick in the upcoming "draft to end all drafts", Donnie very craftily picked up what should be a very high second rounder. Nicely done.
Winner - Both Teams
Portland Gets: Fred Jones and future considerations (Fred voided the final year of his contract)
Toronto Gets: Juan Dixon
For the Trail Blazers…
I never understood why former GM John Nash signed Dixon in the first place? Anyway, thank goodness for assistant GM Kevin Pritchard, who has been methodically undoing all the damage Nash caused during his undeserving reign.
Freddie is a local boy that played at Barlow High in Gresham, OR and the much ballyhooed University of Oregon in Eugene. Those factors alone should jump start his career.
I like this deal for Portland because it makes Martell Webster and his overrated upside expendable in the upcoming (hopefully!) Zach Randolph blockbuster. The Blazers back court rotation of Jarrett Jack/Sergio Rodriguez and Brandon Roy/Jones is very well balanced with defense, shooting, play making and athleticism.
As far as I’m concerned Pritchard walks on water at the moment, and if he can parlay Darius Miles into anything at all, I’ll consider Kev the almighty himself.
For the Raptors…
Fred had fallen out of favor with coach Sam Mitchell as he went from role player to starter to glued to the bench. I like that GM Bryan Colangelo (the best in the business) cut his losses and moved on with a quickness.
Juanito will give Toronto a consistent jump shooter in the back court to go along with Jose Calderon. Other than that, Dixon is pretty useless. He’s too small and frail to defend other SG’s, and can’t handle the ball well enough to run the point. If there ever was a guy that *should* be playing in Europe, its Juan.
Winner - Blazers
Utah Gets: Alan Henderson and cash (Philly agreed to pay most of his salary)
Philadelphia Gets: the right to exchange 2007 second round picks with Utah
For the Jazz…
Umm…well…I guess they did it for the cash? The reason I say that is because Utah released Henderson on 3/2 before he even played a game. If I’m coach Jerry Sloan or Director of Operations Kevin O’Connor, I’d have kept Alan around as my fourth big man though. As bad as Henderson is, I know he’s better then Rafael “Hoffa” Araujo and Jarron Collins. Just a suggestion.
For the 76ers…
Can I have another “BK Special” please! GM Billy King is just a peach of a personnel man, isn’t he? Signs Alan on 9/8/06 and trades him on 2/22/07. I’m not going to run down the list again (look in the MMM archives), but I mean really, it’s comical at this point watching the master chase his tail.
To break this deal down even further, the Knicks second round pick (which the Sixers got from the Bulls in the Rodney Carney trade) is going to be much higher than Utah’s anyway. So why in the fork even add that provision?
(If you were wondering, Philly’s own second round pick was dealt to the Timberwolves for…..get ready….. Bobby Jones…..tah-dah!)
Apparently, dumping Henderson’s $1,178,348 contract was enough to get the Sixers under the luxury tax threshold.
Whatever. I’ve moved on from BK the dunce and am now squarely directing all my venom at Chairman Ed Snider. If he can’t see that BK needs to go, then Ed’s time is up. I’m calling on all Philadelphians to rise up and make my dream a reality.
I have motivation for you too.
If BK botches Philly's lottery pick, you will be watching the Atlanta Hawks North or Golden State Warriors East for the foreseeable future.
C’mon people, I know you can do it.
Winner - Push
- One last comment on the pathetic trade deadline. This draft better be as good as everyone keeps saying. I, for one, am sick of the hype already. Every GM in the league is afraid to make any type of move until after the lottery on 5/22. There’s just no way in the world that this draft will be *that* good. None.
- This is the time of year where season ending injuries start to happen, and as bad luck would have it, there have been three already.
1. Shaun Livingston (2/26 torn left ACL, PCL, MCL, lateral meniscus & a patella tendon dislocation that stems from a tibia/femoral dislocation, out 8-12 months)
According to Clippers team physician Tony Daly, this is “probably the most serious injury you can have to the knee” and he hasn’t seen anything similar in 24 years of practice.
If you saw the replay, you know it was Theisman-esque. I have a very hard time believing this kid is going to ever going to be the same again. And really, he wasn’t all that good to begin with. I’m sorry, but it’s true.
Although he does have a few things going for him.
#1 He’s young (21).
#2 He didn’t really rely on his athleticism all that much.
So, assuming he’s able to walk normally again, he could be a reasonable facsimile of his former self. When/if he does come back, he’s going to have to rely on his length to get by, because I expect his sneaky quickness is gone for good.
I do have one suggestion for him during his rehab. SHOOT THE BALL! Seriously dude, if you want an NBA career post injury you have to develop a consistent J. It’s a must because there will be no more blowing by anybody.
Calogero over Sonny’s casket - “Wasted talent.”
2. Dwyane Wade (2/21 dislocated left shoulder, out a minimum of 6 weeks)
Another one that if you saw it live or on replay, you know he was hurting, and bad.
As of now Wade is still weighing his options. He can either have the inevitable surgery immediately or try and rehab it to the point of where he can give it a go in playoffs.
Normally this would be an easy call for me with a superstar player, but Dwyane’s situation is just different. Miami’s window of opportunity is *right now* and closing more by the day. Guys like Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning, Antoine Walker, Eddie Jones and Jason Williams are on their last legs. The kicker is, the Heat are over the salary cap with just four players (Wade, Toine, Shaq & Udonis Haslem) until 2008-09.
My point being, that it really is now or never for Dwyane. So does he risk it for another chance that may never happen again? Or does he play it safe and think about his career in the long term?
Tough call.
In the interim I still expect Miami to make the playoffs with their new pound-the-ball-to-Shaq-and-play-defense style. However, I no longer see them moving up into home court territory (top four seed). And if they have to start the first round on the road minus Wade, advancing is going to be very tough.
3. Jamal Crawford (2/26 stress fracture right ankle, out the rest of the regular season)
First things first, there is no way around surgery and it’s “possible” that he could be back during the post season.
This is a massive blow to a Knicks squad that actually looked poised to make their playoff run. Now they have to make due without their second leading scorer, but more importantly, their go to guy down the stretch.
Look for Quentin Richardson to start in Jamal's place as long as his back allows. I also suspect that Steve Francis’ right knee tendonitis will miraculously subside for the last 23 games of the season so he can showcase himself to the rest of league.
The good news for New York fans is that Crawford’s injury has most likely guaranteed that Isiah Thomas will be back next year. Yee-hah!
From 2/16 to 2/24 I saw five shows in nine days from Seattle to Eugene while also working five eight hour days. And let me tell you something, I’m not as young as I used to be. It took me a full two days to recover from that run. Ugh.
Anyway, I’ll have two separate reviews on that whole shebang in the near future (one of which I hope to have published on jambands.com), but it’s NBA time now.
- I realize that I promised the ‘Trade Spectacular’ for MMM, but really, the five trades that went down since my last post were so lame that this piece doesn’t even deserve to grace the hallowed page of MMM.
San Antonio Gets: Melvin Ely
Charlotte Gets: Eric Williams
For the Spurs…
I actually like the acquisition of Ely for them. Although he's not much of a defender or rebounder, Melvin can score in the low post. Which is something SA has not been getting from the Francisco Elson and Fabricio Oberto tandem. Additionally, this should tell you all you need to know about how the Spurs organization feels about free agent signee Jackie Butler.
While I think this was another shrewd move by GM R.C. Buford, it really won’t matter if coach Gregg Popovich doesn’t play Ely. If given the chance I think Melvin (playing for a new contract) could really help SA in the playoffs. That said, there’s a good chance Ely never gets off the pine due to his lack of defensive intensity.
For the Bobcats…
Melvin was constantly grousing about his role in Charlotte and had asked to be traded long ago. So this is really addition by subtraction for the Cats. They dump a team cancer in Ely, and pick up a solid veteran locker room guy in Williams. Moreover, Eric makes more money then Melvin, so Charlotte moves further away from the minimum salary floor.
Williams will do what he does for Charlotte, which is play solid defense and make open shots from mid-range. Other than that, his time in Association is nearing its end.
Winner - Spurs
Memphis Gets: Scott Padgett
Houston Gets: Jake Tsakalidis
For the Grizzlies…
Big Jake did not fit into Memphis’ new run-and-gun-play-no-defense style, so out he went. In Padgett the Griz get a 3-point shooter to replace the bought out Eddie Jones and the done for the year Brian Cardinal.
For the Rockets…
Quality executives always seem to find that extra piece for nothing (see R.C. Buford above), and Houston Vice President Carroll Dawson certainly fits into this category.
Now, Tsakalidis is not going to tilt the balance of power in the West or anything, but he’s a very nice insurance policy in case something unexpected happens to Yao Ming. I mean, Dikembe Mutombo has done yeomen’s work this season, but Deke is much better playing 24 minutes a night rather then 35.
The great thing for the Rockets is that Jake fits right into coach Jeff Van Gundy’s style. Tsakalidis won’t shoot unless he’s wide open under the basket. He plays tough defense and rebounds the ball. Most importantly though, he absolutely loves to enforce the “no lay-up rule”.
Winner - Rockets
Atlanta Gets: Anthony Johnson
Dallas Gets: Atlanta’s 2007 second round pick
For the Hawks…
Speedy Claxton has been the definition of a bust thus far in Atlanta, so enter Johnson. In AJ the Hawks get a guy that knows how to run a team, can defend his position and makes open shots from mid-range out to three land.
I think this is a great deal for the A-T-L. Enough to get them to the playoffs? I doubt it, but all they gave up was a second rounder for a starter. Can’t beat that.
For the Mavericks…
Anthony is really too good to be rotting away on the bench, so I feel like President Donnie Nelson did him a favor here. Plus, J.J. Barea was tearing up the D-League, so Dallas already had their third PG in house.
Remember what I said about quality executives? Well, Little Nellie is in that group too. Since the Mavs don’t have a first round pick in the upcoming "draft to end all drafts", Donnie very craftily picked up what should be a very high second rounder. Nicely done.
Winner - Both Teams
Portland Gets: Fred Jones and future considerations (Fred voided the final year of his contract)
Toronto Gets: Juan Dixon
For the Trail Blazers…
I never understood why former GM John Nash signed Dixon in the first place? Anyway, thank goodness for assistant GM Kevin Pritchard, who has been methodically undoing all the damage Nash caused during his undeserving reign.
Freddie is a local boy that played at Barlow High in Gresham, OR and the much ballyhooed University of Oregon in Eugene. Those factors alone should jump start his career.
I like this deal for Portland because it makes Martell Webster and his overrated upside expendable in the upcoming (hopefully!) Zach Randolph blockbuster. The Blazers back court rotation of Jarrett Jack/Sergio Rodriguez and Brandon Roy/Jones is very well balanced with defense, shooting, play making and athleticism.
As far as I’m concerned Pritchard walks on water at the moment, and if he can parlay Darius Miles into anything at all, I’ll consider Kev the almighty himself.
For the Raptors…
Fred had fallen out of favor with coach Sam Mitchell as he went from role player to starter to glued to the bench. I like that GM Bryan Colangelo (the best in the business) cut his losses and moved on with a quickness.
Juanito will give Toronto a consistent jump shooter in the back court to go along with Jose Calderon. Other than that, Dixon is pretty useless. He’s too small and frail to defend other SG’s, and can’t handle the ball well enough to run the point. If there ever was a guy that *should* be playing in Europe, its Juan.
Winner - Blazers
Utah Gets: Alan Henderson and cash (Philly agreed to pay most of his salary)
Philadelphia Gets: the right to exchange 2007 second round picks with Utah
For the Jazz…
Umm…well…I guess they did it for the cash? The reason I say that is because Utah released Henderson on 3/2 before he even played a game. If I’m coach Jerry Sloan or Director of Operations Kevin O’Connor, I’d have kept Alan around as my fourth big man though. As bad as Henderson is, I know he’s better then Rafael “Hoffa” Araujo and Jarron Collins. Just a suggestion.
For the 76ers…
Can I have another “BK Special” please! GM Billy King is just a peach of a personnel man, isn’t he? Signs Alan on 9/8/06 and trades him on 2/22/07. I’m not going to run down the list again (look in the MMM archives), but I mean really, it’s comical at this point watching the master chase his tail.
To break this deal down even further, the Knicks second round pick (which the Sixers got from the Bulls in the Rodney Carney trade) is going to be much higher than Utah’s anyway. So why in the fork even add that provision?
(If you were wondering, Philly’s own second round pick was dealt to the Timberwolves for…..get ready….. Bobby Jones…..tah-dah!)
Apparently, dumping Henderson’s $1,178,348 contract was enough to get the Sixers under the luxury tax threshold.
Whatever. I’ve moved on from BK the dunce and am now squarely directing all my venom at Chairman Ed Snider. If he can’t see that BK needs to go, then Ed’s time is up. I’m calling on all Philadelphians to rise up and make my dream a reality.
I have motivation for you too.
If BK botches Philly's lottery pick, you will be watching the Atlanta Hawks North or Golden State Warriors East for the foreseeable future.
C’mon people, I know you can do it.
Winner - Push
- One last comment on the pathetic trade deadline. This draft better be as good as everyone keeps saying. I, for one, am sick of the hype already. Every GM in the league is afraid to make any type of move until after the lottery on 5/22. There’s just no way in the world that this draft will be *that* good. None.
- This is the time of year where season ending injuries start to happen, and as bad luck would have it, there have been three already.
1. Shaun Livingston (2/26 torn left ACL, PCL, MCL, lateral meniscus & a patella tendon dislocation that stems from a tibia/femoral dislocation, out 8-12 months)
According to Clippers team physician Tony Daly, this is “probably the most serious injury you can have to the knee” and he hasn’t seen anything similar in 24 years of practice.
If you saw the replay, you know it was Theisman-esque. I have a very hard time believing this kid is going to ever going to be the same again. And really, he wasn’t all that good to begin with. I’m sorry, but it’s true.
Although he does have a few things going for him.
#1 He’s young (21).
#2 He didn’t really rely on his athleticism all that much.
So, assuming he’s able to walk normally again, he could be a reasonable facsimile of his former self. When/if he does come back, he’s going to have to rely on his length to get by, because I expect his sneaky quickness is gone for good.
I do have one suggestion for him during his rehab. SHOOT THE BALL! Seriously dude, if you want an NBA career post injury you have to develop a consistent J. It’s a must because there will be no more blowing by anybody.
Calogero over Sonny’s casket - “Wasted talent.”
2. Dwyane Wade (2/21 dislocated left shoulder, out a minimum of 6 weeks)
Another one that if you saw it live or on replay, you know he was hurting, and bad.
As of now Wade is still weighing his options. He can either have the inevitable surgery immediately or try and rehab it to the point of where he can give it a go in playoffs.
Normally this would be an easy call for me with a superstar player, but Dwyane’s situation is just different. Miami’s window of opportunity is *right now* and closing more by the day. Guys like Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning, Antoine Walker, Eddie Jones and Jason Williams are on their last legs. The kicker is, the Heat are over the salary cap with just four players (Wade, Toine, Shaq & Udonis Haslem) until 2008-09.
My point being, that it really is now or never for Dwyane. So does he risk it for another chance that may never happen again? Or does he play it safe and think about his career in the long term?
Tough call.
In the interim I still expect Miami to make the playoffs with their new pound-the-ball-to-Shaq-and-play-defense style. However, I no longer see them moving up into home court territory (top four seed). And if they have to start the first round on the road minus Wade, advancing is going to be very tough.
3. Jamal Crawford (2/26 stress fracture right ankle, out the rest of the regular season)
First things first, there is no way around surgery and it’s “possible” that he could be back during the post season.
This is a massive blow to a Knicks squad that actually looked poised to make their playoff run. Now they have to make due without their second leading scorer, but more importantly, their go to guy down the stretch.
Look for Quentin Richardson to start in Jamal's place as long as his back allows. I also suspect that Steve Francis’ right knee tendonitis will miraculously subside for the last 23 games of the season so he can showcase himself to the rest of league.
The good news for New York fans is that Crawford’s injury has most likely guaranteed that Isiah Thomas will be back next year. Yee-hah!
posted by D$ at 7:55 PM
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