Breaking down the 4 team trade
By admin
Sat, 08/14/2010 - 12:36pm
By Paul Grossinger
The Mega-Deal
Late Wednesday, the Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, New Jersey Nets, and New Orleans Hornets finalized the terms of a mega-trade that will shape the near futures of all four franchises. As each of these teams have vastly different salaries, players, and both near and long term goals, the trade worked out better for some (Indiana) than others (New Jersey). Lets break it down through the perspective of each team in order of winners to losers.
Indiana: Get PG Darren Collison and SF James Posey
The Pacers are easily the run-away winners of this trade. Since 2008, when T.J. Ford suffered the one millionth injury of his career and secretly threw in the towel, the Pacers have been searching far and wide for a point guard. However, this trade solves that problem beautifully. Although a backup in New Orleans with All NBA star Chris Paul around, Darren Collison averaged 18.5 points and 9 assists as a starter in his absence and kept New Orleans near .500 over much of that span. He looks every bit the draft sleeper many of us imagined him to be at number 21, a point reinforced by the fact that Ben Howland’s last two UCLA point guards, Jrue Holiday and Russell Westbrook, were both also highly talented players who underperformed statistically in Howland’s turtle-esque defensive style and were drafted accordingly. At this point, he looks like a major steal and, if all that the Pacers need to do is eat the last two years and twelve million of James Posey’s contract, then that is a small price to pay for their new franchise point guard. Indeed, with a lineup of Darren Collison-Paul George-Danny Granger-Tyler Hansbrough-and Roy Hibbert developing together, the Pacers are a lot closer to contention than any of us might have surmised even a week ago.
Houston: Send out SF Trevor Ariza and get SG Courtney Lee and a $6.3 million trade exception
Trevor Ariza
From Houston’s perspective, this was just a swap of intriguing young players who fit Houston’s system and Daryl Morey’s team-based attitude demands. The main difference between the two players is that Lee is four years younger, a better shooter, and can play more shooting guard while Ariza is a better defender and much more of a small forward. However, Lee also makes five million dollars less so they received a $6.3 million trade exception from the New Jersey Nets; the switch puts the Rockets under the tax threshold (saving the owner $10 million), and increases their long term flexibility which makes the trade a win for Houston.
New Orleans: Send out PG Darren Collison and SF James Posey; receive SF Trevor Ariza
This trade reflects New Orleans’ desperation to appease their hometown superstar Chris Paul and convince him to re-up with the franchise in two years. From Paul’s perspective, Collison had little value as his backup and only served to question his own long term job security, so New Orleans apparently decided to convert him into a very solid future piece in Ariza. However, I think New Orleans drastically underestimated how much of a gift Collison was to their franchise. Though certainly not as good as Chris Paul, Collison absolutely can be the franchise point guard on a contending team, and his presence allowed Hornets management to not cave into Paul’s every demand simply because they could never find his replacement. Ariza is a nice player, but after this trade all of that leverage is gone and, should Paul decide to leave, the Hornets will never recover. Therefore, this trade was much more of a short term desperation play than a strong franchise building move.
New Jersey: Send Out SG Courtney Lee and a $ 6.3 million trade exception; receive PF Troy Murphy
Full disclosure: I am a major Courtney Lee fan. Not at a stalker level, but definitely someone willing to be a “Go Courtney” billboard holder at every blowout Nets loss. I think that Lee was easily one of the best value gets of recent drafts: he makes nothing and is under team control for years, plays both guard positions and even some small forward, can shoot it from anywhere on the court for a decent percentage, and is a strong defender with the potential to be one of the best on-ball defenders and steal producers in the game a few years from now. By contrast, Troy Murphy is a middle aged power forward on a one year rental who, while capable of rebounding well and also stroking the three ball, is arguably the worst defender in the entire NBA. However, this is largely consistent with the imperfect management the Nets have displayed thus far this offseason, turning thirty plus million in cap room and a roster of only vital contributors into little cap space and bloated contracts for overrated non-stars Troy Murphy, Travis Outlaw, and (gulp) Johan Petro. The Nets failed to accept that the best way to build long term would have been to (unofficially but intentionally) put a god-awful team on the court for the 2011 season and ensure themselves of getting SF Harrison Barnes, PF Enes Kanter, or SG Perry Jones next season. Any one of those top picks would have paired up well with Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, and a future free agent acquisition (using the Outlaw-Petro cap room) and created a long-term dynasty caliber nucleus. As it is, that chance is gone and, while new owner Mikhail Prokhorov is undoubtedly an astute businessman, I do not quite understand his grand strategy.
The Mega-Deal
Late Wednesday, the Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, New Jersey Nets, and New Orleans Hornets finalized the terms of a mega-trade that will shape the near futures of all four franchises. As each of these teams have vastly different salaries, players, and both near and long term goals, the trade worked out better for some (Indiana) than others (New Jersey). Lets break it down through the perspective of each team in order of winners to losers.
Indiana: Get PG Darren Collison and SF James Posey
The Pacers are easily the run-away winners of this trade. Since 2008, when T.J. Ford suffered the one millionth injury of his career and secretly threw in the towel, the Pacers have been searching far and wide for a point guard. However, this trade solves that problem beautifully. Although a backup in New Orleans with All NBA star Chris Paul around, Darren Collison averaged 18.5 points and 9 assists as a starter in his absence and kept New Orleans near .500 over much of that span. He looks every bit the draft sleeper many of us imagined him to be at number 21, a point reinforced by the fact that Ben Howland’s last two UCLA point guards, Jrue Holiday and Russell Westbrook, were both also highly talented players who underperformed statistically in Howland’s turtle-esque defensive style and were drafted accordingly. At this point, he looks like a major steal and, if all that the Pacers need to do is eat the last two years and twelve million of James Posey’s contract, then that is a small price to pay for their new franchise point guard. Indeed, with a lineup of Darren Collison-Paul George-Danny Granger-Tyler Hansbrough-and Roy Hibbert developing together, the Pacers are a lot closer to contention than any of us might have surmised even a week ago.
Houston: Send out SF Trevor Ariza and get SG Courtney Lee and a $6.3 million trade exception
Trevor ArizaFrom Houston’s perspective, this was just a swap of intriguing young players who fit Houston’s system and Daryl Morey’s team-based attitude demands. The main difference between the two players is that Lee is four years younger, a better shooter, and can play more shooting guard while Ariza is a better defender and much more of a small forward. However, Lee also makes five million dollars less so they received a $6.3 million trade exception from the New Jersey Nets; the switch puts the Rockets under the tax threshold (saving the owner $10 million), and increases their long term flexibility which makes the trade a win for Houston.
New Orleans: Send out PG Darren Collison and SF James Posey; receive SF Trevor Ariza
This trade reflects New Orleans’ desperation to appease their hometown superstar Chris Paul and convince him to re-up with the franchise in two years. From Paul’s perspective, Collison had little value as his backup and only served to question his own long term job security, so New Orleans apparently decided to convert him into a very solid future piece in Ariza. However, I think New Orleans drastically underestimated how much of a gift Collison was to their franchise. Though certainly not as good as Chris Paul, Collison absolutely can be the franchise point guard on a contending team, and his presence allowed Hornets management to not cave into Paul’s every demand simply because they could never find his replacement. Ariza is a nice player, but after this trade all of that leverage is gone and, should Paul decide to leave, the Hornets will never recover. Therefore, this trade was much more of a short term desperation play than a strong franchise building move.
New Jersey: Send Out SG Courtney Lee and a $ 6.3 million trade exception; receive PF Troy Murphy
Full disclosure: I am a major Courtney Lee fan. Not at a stalker level, but definitely someone willing to be a “Go Courtney” billboard holder at every blowout Nets loss. I think that Lee was easily one of the best value gets of recent drafts: he makes nothing and is under team control for years, plays both guard positions and even some small forward, can shoot it from anywhere on the court for a decent percentage, and is a strong defender with the potential to be one of the best on-ball defenders and steal producers in the game a few years from now. By contrast, Troy Murphy is a middle aged power forward on a one year rental who, while capable of rebounding well and also stroking the three ball, is arguably the worst defender in the entire NBA. However, this is largely consistent with the imperfect management the Nets have displayed thus far this offseason, turning thirty plus million in cap room and a roster of only vital contributors into little cap space and bloated contracts for overrated non-stars Troy Murphy, Travis Outlaw, and (gulp) Johan Petro. The Nets failed to accept that the best way to build long term would have been to (unofficially but intentionally) put a god-awful team on the court for the 2011 season and ensure themselves of getting SF Harrison Barnes, PF Enes Kanter, or SG Perry Jones next season. Any one of those top picks would have paired up well with Devin Harris, Brook Lopez, and a future free agent acquisition (using the Outlaw-Petro cap room) and created a long-term dynasty caliber nucleus. As it is, that chance is gone and, while new owner Mikhail Prokhorov is undoubtedly an astute businessman, I do not quite understand his grand strategy.
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