Trade Deadline winners & losers

[bucephalus]

Who do you think made the best moves this deadline?

Thunder: they shored up their bench with a good backup pg and some shooters, got Kanter for some spare parts.
Heat: got Dragic without moving Deng, which I thought was impossible
Rockets: didn't do a whole lot, but got some nice pieces for chump change

Who made the worst?

It's fun to pick on the Suns. They got decent return for Dragic, but went completely out of their minds with the point guard musical chairs at the buzzer. I like Knight, but he is an rfa this summer and they just gave away their best future asset (lakers pick) for him.

The Nets are losers, but more the trade that didn't happen. Can you imagine being in the Nets war room, thinking you're about to offload Brook? Then Presti is like, "hold on I got another call on the line" and the next thing you know Woj is breaking the kanter trade.

Who was smart in standing pat?

Hawks, Warriors, Spurs. Basically anyone with chemistry and great players who knew better than to mess with what they had.

Who's going to regret not doing anything?

Raptors, they had assets and needs but couldn't flip anything. Whoever pays the Nets luxury bills. The Clippers for me are exempt from this category because they literally had nothing to trade.

Any other general thoughts?

The Sixers know that you can't field a starting lineup made entirely of future picks, right? Also, keep Javale away from Embiid.

[Devilanche]

SIxers could go to the Dleague and sign some players to their cheap 3-4 years contract and see if any pans out.

[giberish]

Bad deals: Phoenix and Philly

Phoenix for giving up Thomas end the Laker 1st for Knight. Given Knight's contract situation and on-court issues I'd rather have Thomas - at least it's close - and giving up a lotto pick (this year or next) makes it quite bad.

Philly got solid value for MCW - but they just need to keep some NBA players. they need to start actually building.

Iffy:

OKC I don't see Kanter as very useful for this year. He's never played on a team trying to win, and he's always rated as a significant +/- negative for Utah. For this year Perk is probably better for a good team.

Wins:

Milwaulkee: Avoid the Knight RFA questions, get a look at MCW on a real NBA team, even add a few cheap extras. Not as good for this year as my Knight/Dragic trade (which apparently Phoenix wanted) but better long-term.

Miami: Became an interesting team again, though there is worry that their long-term lack of picks could be a clear problem.

Should have done something:

Toronto - had EC filler, an extra 1st, a good team with holes that could be upgraded and stood pat.

Could have done something:

Atlanta - could use an extra solid wing for depth, had a spare 1st and cap space to make deals as well.

Most other good teams didn't have assets for significant moves at this point.

[WizardsWorld]

LOVE what the Bucks did. Thought that was a GREAT move for them. Also really like OKC's move. And unfortunately the Heat made a really good trade as well.

Confused by Phoenix today. Guess they start Knight at SG,.. but why trade Isiiah too? And as usual confused by the Sixers. Guess they pick up someone off the street to start at PG for them now?


All in all a FUN today. Like I said main winners are: Bucks, Thunder, Heat... oh and Blazers too

[Leto]

Who do you think made the best moves this deadline?
OKC, MIL, POR

Who made the worst?
Suns-trading the Laker pick for Knight was a mistake

Who was smart in standing pat?
Chicago,ATL,GSW

Who's going to regret not doing anything?
Lakers

Any other general thoughts?
I think the Knicks really needed to land Dragic to pair with Melo. They are running out of time and adding Dragic would have gone a long way towards building a contender with having 2/3 of a "big three." Second, I did not put Miami in the winners category because I don't know what kind of protections if any are on those picks. That Miami team could be terrible in a few years as they are aging. The other reason is Dragic. While he says he wants to sign with Miami after the season, he hasn't yet and teams like LAL and NY are going to be dumping a ton of money to get him. Will Miami pony up? Will Dragic get mad at Miami's FO too? Ittook him all of 3 months to blow off PHX. If Miami loses him in July, they will have wasted a lot of resources for a rental. Its that or over pay to keep him. We'll see.

[SD2042]

Best moves?

OKC-They did good to become deeper with their pickups today although I think Augstin will hinder the Thunder bench with the lack on ball distribution.

MIL- They move off a RFA in Knight and go into a new PG direction with MCW, Ennis, and Plumlee to replace Sanders.

MIA- Getting Dragic should help their backcourt production on offense and assist numbers. Only issues is defense and the revolving door known as Dwyane Wade(injuries)

Worst Moves?

PHX- I have to follow the vultures here and pic on the remaining Suns corpse. They gave away the Lakers picks. Divorce themselves from Dragic and Thomas and pick up Knight who will be an RFA and likely will burn rubber as the team was promised to Eric Bledsoe from last summer. Also their roster is still all over the place with tweeners at multiple positions.

Questionable Moves?

BOS- With the Suns getting IT from the Suns, what was the point of drafting Marcus Smart? Offensive improvements are good, but defensively they get worse.

Did right by standing put?

Warriors, Hawks, and Grizzlies

Who will regret sitting on their hands?

Pelicans- to better surround Davis with talent to chase playoff spot
Clippers- had no choice, they lack assets to make better deals.
Raptors- missed out on acquiring a PF who can mix it up on both ends
Nuggets- not completely submitting to the rebuilding project

Other thoughts

With the Blazers trading for Afflalo today, how will it effect the FA signings or Matthews, RoLo, LMA during the offseason? Will it be enough money to get all their players back into the fold? Will Enes Kanter resign with the Thunder this offseason. Will Reggie Jackson prove that he belongs as a top ten PG or will he be another overpaid player for no reason? Ty Lawson for all his worth should have been moved today to finalize the inevitable divorce between him and Shaw for keeps. Otherwise, today's trade deadline was an adventure today.

[Zordor]

Man Crush WIlliams and KJ , two guys I really wanted to see the 76ers keep for 6th man/starters moving forward. 3 guys that need to be moved this offseason for 76ers if they get Okafor (who I am not wholly sold on) in my humble opinion, Noel, Embiid (I think he is going to be a Darko/Thabeet kind of bust, personal opinion so sell high while you can, you can disagree), Wroten, I think they can net some good assets this off season for those, draft Okafor make him your center piece, get a solid point guard in FA, use assets and cap to make a huge splash in 2016 + 2016 FA.

I would personally do an Emiid/Noel for Middleton+Parker + 2017 Clippers 1rst

[theatlfan]

One team not getting enough love here is HOU and their apparently under the radar move of acquiring KJ McDaniel for what amounts to a couple of 2nds. Wouldn't surprise me if McDaniel has a bigger impact on the playoff run than Afflalo *this* season and is younger and on trolled going forward. Good deal for them.

[DocRI]

Who do you think made the best moves this deadline?
• MIL — Assuming their deal today means they had no intention of re-signing Knight this offseason (either for financial reasons or because they didn't feel he was their long-term PG), turning a player you're planning on losing into MCW, Ennis and Plumlee is an amazing haul.
• DET — The cost for Reggie Jackson was SO cheap that deal is literally all reward, no risk (especially seeing the Pistons have no PGs signed past 2016). And sentimentally, Tayshaun Prince returning for a victory lap as the "veteran on a young team" is a great story.
• MIA — Got the biggest name available, who fills a massive need, for a song (I didn't even realize teams were allowed to trade 2021 draft picks!).

Who made the worst?
• PHX — Yeah, sorry to pile on, but trading that Lakers' pick is inexcusable.

Who was smart in standing pat?
• GS — Of the other usual "don't rock the boat" suspects, I actually thought ATL and SA would each look to make minor trades to shore up depth.

Who's going to regret not doing anything?
• TOR — Another obvious pick, but is any team in the league now more set up to be "that" team who has a great regular season and gets bounced in the first round?
• CHA — Unless you count the Mo Williams deal. But otherwise, look at my "best moves" selections; all teams they're competing with in the back half of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Any other general thoughts?
• I have never seen as crazy a last 15 minutes prior to any trade deadline than this afternoon and I sincerely doubt I ever will again.
• Really don't understand PHX's thinking. I get that they were forced to move Dragic, but what happened to "rebalancing the roster?" They overhauled the team, and spent a prime asset in that Lakers' pick, to essentially re-make the roster in its same image and pair Bledsoe with Knight. Does McDonough have a fetish for scoring combo guards?
• How can PHI feel comfortable moving on from MCW already when they've never really put a team around him? And just how far is Hinkie gonna push this before he starts actually spending the assets he's hoarding to create an actual team?
• I think today's deals set up for a more boring summer of free agency. I suspect all the RFAs who were traded (Jackson, Kanter, Knight) are now highly likely to stay with their new teams; why would they have traded for them if they don't plan to take advantage of the Bird Rights they just acquired? I also suspect MIA is now an overwhelming favorite to retain Dragic as well. Those were all major free agents who were projected to move on the open market who I'd now all handicap to stay put.

[GopherIt!]

Big Winner:
Miami: Enter the Dragon

Winners:
OKC: turned Jackson, Pleiss, lotto prot 1st, and Perk into Kanter, Augustin, Singler and Novak. Very solid.
Minny: got KG for a guy who is not part of their future.
Portland: landed Afflalo

Loser:
Brooklyn: I like the Thad Young addition long term (if he resigns) but minus KG this team is out of the playoff race.
King also failed to move Deron, JJ or Lopez.

Biggest Loser:
Phoenix Imploding Suns. Textbook case of how NOT to handle a star player. Your PG blossoms into a special player, leads u to 48 wins, earns the MIP award and what do u do? Sign another PG in free agency, (who wants to start) & give another PG a max contract. Ugh. Moving the Laker pick/Ennis for Knight, an RFA, was a reactionary move that may prove costly. Dumping IT was at least the right decision.

TBD:
Philly: Taking another step back. Hinkie passed on a lot of solid players last year to draft Carter-Williams. He needs that Laker pick to convey this year. The Lakers will make a splash in FA this summer, and the value of that pick is sure to decrease. Taking on McGee for the Thunder's first round pick seems like an overpay.
Milwaukee: Glass half empty - Knight and the Bucks were playing very well and showing great chemistry - if its not broke...
Glass half full - Kidd sees something in MCW and now they don't have to give Knight a big contract.

[Higgs Boston]

Best: Sixers, OKC
Mid: suns, miami, portland, detroit
Worst_ Bucks, Boston, minnesota, denver

[SalemStoner]

Does everyone think the OKC deal was good because:
a) better than the supposed one with Nets
b) move out Reggie who the locker seems to dislike now (Westbrook comment was quite bad for someone who doesn't want to talk to the media when he want to)
c) really good on its own?
d) we avoided a followup move for Norris cole?

It's good because in one day you went from being short on shooters to heavy on shooters. Durant and Westbrook will have much more space on offense after this... And other teams are scared of that.

[ReKon]

Who do you think made the best moves this deadline?
MIL-I believe the Bucks are the big winners of the day.They turn Knight(who btw might fit really well in PHO but will hate it for the same reasons Dragic did)into a PG that Kidd really wanted(and could turn into something special maybe?) and has 2 more years after this one in his rookie deal a rookie PG in Ennis to be MCW s replacement(and if MCW struggles the starter) and Plumlee who adds depth to our C position after this whole Larry nonsense.Overall a great haul for Knight

OKC-I m not as big as others are on their move but OKC still managed to turn Jackson and Perkins to depth.Kanter might be a rental but who cares Singler and Augustin add depth to the wing/guard positions so overall pretty good job.Most of all they showed Durant that they ll do anything to win and keep him there.

MIA-Imo they re close to MIL.They get the big prize of the trade deadline by trading away borderline rotational players and two first rounders while they were also one of Dragic's desired destinations?Pat Riley working his magic again

DET-They turned Singler and Augustin to Reggie Jackson.Don t know what happens when Jennings gets back but pretty good move for a team in need of a PG right now

Who made the worst?
UTA-I m ok with them letting Kanter go...But for nothing?I mean they re the ones giving the best piece to OKC and they get Perkins in return while Detroit lands the second best one?They could just let him walk this summer no need to make a trade that doesn t give you anything back...Still excited to see the Favors Gobert frontcourt in full effect now

PHO-I thought they were in the playoff hunt and they re making rebuilding moves?They got 3 first rounders that will be worse than the one they gave up.Can t argue the Dragic move cause he made it clear he s not resigning but the Knight move makes little sense to me


Who was smart in standing pat?
Hawks.I m kinda biased on the Warriors cause they pretty much may have lost themselves Draymond this summer.I still do believe they should have traded Lee but they are #1 in the WC so they know better

Who's going to regret not doing anything?
Charlotte from the EC and LAC from the WC.I would say Toronto but i wouldn t dare to doubt Masai.The man obviously knows what he s doing.Otoh Charlotte didn t really do anything while every other team on the EC playoff hunt actually got better(meaning Heat and Pistons).As for the Clippers as good a coach Doc is he is proving that he can t handle the GM duties.Good luck advancing in the playoffs with Matt Barnes being your starting SF

Any other general thoughts?
CRAZY trade deadline.We haven t had one like that in years and it feels like everyone changed teams.From a Bucks standpoint i m pretty glad we were active and what a haul that was

[Curmudgeon]

Well it was certainly a more eventful deadline than I thought it would be, but the only real star that moved was Dragic.

IMHO the big winners were Miami and Detroit. Both of those teams are fighting for the playoffs, and both filled a position of need with good players. I suppose the big losers were the Nets, who failed to move any of their overpriced, underperforming stars.

The rest just looked to me like reshuffling a few fungible pieces or deals for the sake of making deals, e.g. KG to Minnesota for Thaddeus Young, or to resolve possible locker room issues (e.g. Phoenix).

[BullyKing]

TBD:
Philly: they passed on a lot of solid players last year to draft Carter-Williams.

It seems to me that the only players they passed on that would even be in the realm of discussion for receiving that Lakers pick are Giannis and Gobert.

[jowglenn]

Winner: Bucks, by a mile. Knight is at the perfect point to move him for value, and move him they did. MCW will thrive under Kidd (he used Livingston well), Ennis is basically a full rookie, and Plumlee fits a need there.

Way to diversify assets! MCW could be better than Knight if Kidd manages it right.

Loser: Suns. I don't mind the Dragic for picks deal; it seemed to be the best out there. And I don't even mind the Isaiah Thomas for a 1st deal.

But Ennis and the lakers pick for Brandon Knight seems like an overpay.

Suddenly, instead of having the three-headed monster of Dragic/Bledsoe/Thomas, with Ennis & the lakers pick and Plumlee in reserve, they've instead got Bledsoe/Knight and 3 sorta lesser picks (CLE pick via Boston & 2 future MIA 1sts) I like the unprotectedness of those future 1sts, and frankly this shows Phoenix thinking ahead in many ways by having more multiple future picks. They've picked Bledsoe as their guy, they'll probably re-sign Green, and they'll add Knight as the other guard. A Bledsoe/Knight/Green 3-headed monster could be good.

But it just feels like they gave up too many productive players (Dragic, Thomas) and great assets (Lakers 1st, Ennis, even Plumlee) for one solid player (Brandon Knight) and a multitude of iffier assets (1sts in 2021 and whatnot).

Very strange moment. Where is this team going?

[Ruzious]

I thought the biggest winner was OKC. They got the low post scorer/rebounder they lacked and showed Durant that he should stay where he is. It hurts me to say that last part - as a Wizards fan.

I would have rated Miami 2nd, but the Bosh health problem probably ruins their strategy. Riley put the finishing touch on an excellent starting 5 - but with a lack of depth - and 1 day later his best laid plans blow up.

So Milwaukee gets 2nd. Knight put up some good numbers but didn't fit - as shown by his awful +/- numbers. So even if MCW doesn't improve, they still benefit by not over-paying Knight. Jason "The Point Guard Whisperer" Kidd will do his work on the Syracuse PG connection of MCW and Ennis.

Loser - Phoenix. For a generally good organization, it's perplexing what they did yesterday. They should have just traded 1 of their PGs for a couple of picks and stopped there. Not understanding why they prefer Knight and his future 12 mil a year contract vs Thomas and his relatively cheap contract - and that Lakers pick they gave away is worth more than the 2 picks they received.

I thought Portland overpaid for Afflalo, but respect that they're going for it.

[loserX]

Who made the worst?
UTA-I m ok with them letting Kanter go...But for nothing?I mean they re the ones giving the best piece to OKC and they get Perkins in return while Detroit lands the second best one?They could just let him walk this summer no need to make a trade that doesn t give you anything back...Still excited to see the Favors Gobert frontcourt in full effect now

For some reason a lot of sites said that Utah got Perkins for Kanter, but never updated when the rest of the deal came in.

Utah also got a future protected 1st from OKC (haven't seen the protections yet), a 2nd rounder from Detroit, a foreign prospect from OKC named Tibor Pleiss, took Grant Jerrett from OKC, and dumped Novak (on OKC).

So Utah did get something out of it after all...thank goodness

[jbk1234]

One team not getting enough love here is HOU and their apparently under the radar move of acquiring KJ McDaniel for what amounts to a couple of 2nds. Wouldn't surprise me if McDaniel has a bigger impact on the playoff run than Afflalo *this* season and is younger and on trolled going forward. Good deal for them.

I think Houston is the only clear winner of the deadline. KJ McDaniels for a bag of peanuts is a steal.

Miami was a clear winner before Bosh came down with that blood clot. That trade looks very different now.

OKC is a fake winner. This season they've given up two future first round picks and Reggie Jackson Jr. for Augustine and two good but limited young players who are redundant on that team. Kanter made some sense on a team that didn't already have two max players and Ibaka. He makes some sense on a team that could develop him and coach his defense up to mediocre before this year's playoffs. I'm not convinced that the wouldn't have been better off holding onto their pick and trading Reggie Jackson and Perkins for Lopez.

I like what the Bucks did long-term but I don't think it helps them this year. They are going to have trouble scoring and they are in the sixth slot in the East right now.

If Billy King stopped the Lopez trade from going through because he asked for too much, he clearly is the worst GM ever.

That LA pick makes it hard to judge Phoenix and Philly. The Lakers will finish in the bottom five and there is a decent possibility that that will be a middling pick in 2016.

I like what Utah did. Two picks for Kanter is a good return.

[Virginia]

Best Value: Milwaukee getting two young PGs for Kidd to mold and a decent end-of-bench big for a guy who they were probably gonna let leave anyway.

2nd Best Value: Utah, getting a couple picks and dumping a contract for a guy who they were probably gonna let leave anyway.

Gambled and Lost: (big picture) Phoenix, by adding IT, extending Bledsoe, and thinking they could hang on to Dragic. Saw a good analogy: the Suns lost $1000 toward the end of the night, but salvaged $200 at the end to make it look okay.

Mixed Signals: Denver. Sold an outgoing veteran, bought cap space, held on to a couple other vets. Not sure what their plan is.

Did What They Had to Do: Portland, Houston, and OKC all added some tools for this year's playoff blood bath. Miami made a good play to potentially have a solid, older team for a few years.

I Have No Idea What I'm Doing: I was all for Philly this summer, but the people in charge will be fired before they actually finish what they're doing at this rate.