Torture, Pure Torture
In the interest of keeping my what's left of my dwindling readership I won't go into the nervous breakdown that was right on the horizon as I tried desperately to keep up with today's 3 PM trading deadline in the NBA with a dial up internet connection and no ESPNEWS. Right now ESPN has snowmobiling on and The Duece has drag racing. Dammit people, the whole dynamic of the (L)Eastern Conference just changed and I have to hear about it on the freaking sports ticker at the bottom of the screen!!??!! Argh. I just added a cable modem internet connection to my HDTV order. I can't take it anymore. But I digress...
While there were a few other minor deals that went down today, the grandaddy of them all involved the Pistons, Hawks and my beloved, although increasingly crappy, Celtics. The trade breaks down thusly:
Pistons get: Rasheed "Smoke Weed Every Day" Wallace and Mike James
Hawks get: Chris Mills, Zeljko Rebraca, Bob Sura and a first-round draft pick (from Detroit via Milwaukee)
Celtics get: Chucky Atkins, Lindsay Hunter, cash, and a first-round draft pick (from Detroit)
This deal is great for the Pistons because the get the premier free agent on the market right now and still have enough cap space this summer to resign Memet Okur. The Pistons have to be the favorite in the (L)Eastern Conference right now as Rasheed just might be the best post player in the conference (but only if he quits playing on the prerimeter and shooting 3's all game long). This deal really was a slam dunk for Pistons GM Joe Dumars and he is to be applauded.
However, the Pistons have seriously comprimised their backcourt depth with this trade. Atkins and Sura were their guards off the bench. Now they will only have newcomer Mike James and his forte is big shots late in the game, a time he figures to be on the bench in Motown. If Rip Hamilton or Chauncey Billups goes down for an extended period of time, the Pistons are in big, big trouble. Still, it's easy to see them in the Finals now and their big front line theoretically can match up with the big boys out West.
The Hawks are basically collecting ending contracts so they will have cap room this summer to take a run at Kobe or any other big free agent avilable. Although why in the fuck would Kobe sign with them now that Rasheed is gone. At least they got a decent draft pick that they should have tried to get in their earlier deal that brough Rasheed to town. Basically instead of one big expiring contract, they now have 4 smaller ones and a draft pick. Ho hum. Doesn't salary cap management make for good reading?
As for my beloved Celtics, this deal is a mixed bag. Earlier reports of a deal with the Pistons had Scoreless Williamson being involved (somehwere in NYC, Coolfer is laughing) and deals for Juwan Howard, Brent Barry + Vladimir Radmonivich or Kelvin Cato/Maurice Taylor + Bostjan Nachbar were also making the rounds on the internet. For salary cap reasons that I won't go into because I'm already boring you to death, the C's had to deal Mills and his $6.6 million salary so that they can spend that money on someone else this summer. Earlier this week Danny Ainge said he wanted to get a tall veteran point guard and a young banger to help on the boards. Instead we got 2 small point guards and a late draft pick. Ummmm...Woo Hoo? Atkins started for the Pistons two years ago when they won 50+ games so he isn't a stiff but he sat the bench in Detroit for a reason. At the same time, Mike James was starting for the C's and he was better suited to come off the bench so that's a wash.
What's good about this deal for the C's is that they basically gave up someone who never played for them and their starting PG who would have been a Free Agent this summer for Lindsay Hunter and his expiring contract as well as the $3 million the Pistons sent along to pay half of Atkins salary. We also get an extra 1st round draft pick this summer, making a total of three for the team. Danny will be looking to move up by trading all or some of those picks. Dukie Luol Deng is rumoured to be a traget.
The bad aspect of the deal is that it did nothing to shore up our already weak frontcourt. Waltah freaking McCarty is our starting power forward! He averages exactly 3 rebouds per contest. This is bad. If Ainge could have turned Hunter into Melvin Ely or something, this trade would have been better. Unfortunately people will knock this trade for what it isn't as opposed to what it is but that's the nature of the game today.
And that is why Trade Deadline Day is often so exciting and excruciating at the same time. 90% of the deals you hear about don't go down but that never stopped anyone from talking about "What If...".
**BREAKING (although unconfirmed) NEWS** / 4:19 PM
Damn I'm good. ESPN is reporting that the Celtics are speaking with the Spurs about acquiring PF Malik Rose and possibly another first round draft pick. That's my boy!! NBA rules permit teams to consumate trades past the 3 PM deadline if they were on the phone working out details of the trade when the deadline passes. This trade would make sense for both teams as Rose is the doghouse in San Antonio and the C's need someone that weighs over 140 pounds to act as their PF. Stay tuned....
kyle - excellent, excellent, excellent breakdown of the big trade!!! why you don't have a job at ESPN (or at least at a local fishwrap), i have no idea. you are, without a doubt, the real deal when it comes to breaking down the "why's" that came together to make a trade happen. color me effing impressed, my man. kudos.
btw, if your blog isn't on your resume, it certainly should be. mos def.
An interesting post, but anyone who's handing over the East to the Pistons is smokin' with Rash-weed. Indiana is still six games up, and inserting Al Harrington for the injured Ron-Ron is not a huge step down. Plus, Ron-Ron seemed to be heading toward another blow-up, so maybe a little time off doesn't hurt. Also, New Jersey is still smokin' hot under Lawrence "The Littlest General" Frank, or should I say, under Jason Kidd. I agree that the Pistons have gutted their backcourt for a crack at Rash-weed, who may help boost the offense, or send Larry Vagabond hurtling toward a heart attack faster than another Chauncey Billups 26-footer.
And as far as clearing cap room -- you know, the Bulls and the Magic cleared a lot of cap room once. Fat lot of good it did them.
Supposedly Harrington's knee is really bothering him and he may be out soon as well.
I use don't see the Nets winning the East again, but then again, no one in the Easthas an answer for jason Kidd.
Agreed on the cap space. it's good and all but players have to want to play in your town. I think that's why Danny made the move for Atkins. He;s probably better than anyone we can bring in next year as an underpaid free agent. I'm assuming we're resigning Mihm, which we'd be stupid not to do.