Week 17 - NBA trade deadline deals

It was a crazy busy and exciting trade deadline week in the NBA. Here are my thoughts on some trades and JBL impacts:

 ·         First off, did you know that Norfolk had 7 players traded during the deadline?

 ·         Harden for Simmons/Curry/Drummond and 2 first round picks. The Nets win this one for me. Harden appears fat and lazy. He’s having a horrible year (by his standards) and he’s shooting 41/33%. Brussels must be excited to get Big Ben back. Hope he’s mentally able to return to the court soon. It’s been 5-6 months since he played so I wonder if his mental health will improve enough so he can return to the court. Yes, heavy sarcasm here. Imagine a 76ers vs Nets playoff matchup where Kyrie couldn’t play in Brooklyn and Simmons wouldn’t want to play in Philly. Will Drummond get minutes with the Nets? He might be an interesting play for Norfolk. I think Curry takes a big hit as there are a lot of mouths to feed in Brooklyn. But Kyrie, Curry, KD, Simmons, and Alridge/Drummond/Claxton and Joe Harris and Patty Mills and Cam Thomas for more shooting off the bench. This is potentially a scary team….if they make the playoffs.

 ·         Is it just me or did the Mavs sell low on Porzingis? I know he’s hurt all the time – but Dinwiddiie and Bertans? That’s it? Dinwidde is averaging 12ppg and shooting 37/31. Bertans had a career season a couple years ago now and is bombing away at 35/32%. I’m not sure the Mavs got any better. All Norfolk wants is for the Unicorn to actually play again.

 ·         I love the Celtics acquiring Derrick White. Just not sure it helps Derrick White’s fantasy value. He goes from starting in SA to playing off the bench in BOS. He’s a really good fantasy player and has 50 steals and 42 blocks in 49 games. Does Josh Richardson play at all in SA?? Or does Devin Vassell get first crack at the SG spot there? Maybe some added value for him down the stretch.

 ·         Daniel Theis back to Boston. JBL free agent fodder. Any value Dennis Schroder had should be gone. Why would Houston play him over their young guys? I wonder how he feels about that 4/84 Laker offer now?

 ·         Bagley to the Pistons is interesting. The Wack likes that move as surely the Pistons will play him. His arrival likely means less time for Beef Stew as Bagley’s best position is Center. The question remains though – is Bagley any good? I guess we’ll find out. Ibaka to the Bucks? Could he play the Brook Lopez role and back up Portis and Giannis? I like DiVincenzo to the Kings. He should have a fantasy role there I think.

 ·         My Hornets needed a Center and while I was selfishly hoping it would be Richaun Holmes they did end up with Montrezl Harrell. While he doesn’t play any D I think he should be very fantasy-friendly playing in one of the highest scoring offenses in the NBA. With Dinwiddie gone, does Ish Smith become the starting point guard in Washington? Or is it Raul Neto? Whoever it is, shouldn’t the starting PG of any team be on a JBL roster?

 ·         The Torrey Craig to Phoenix for Jalen Smith is a minor deal. The Suns get the veteran and the Pacers take a flier on the 10^th pick from the 2020 draft. Since I have Isaiah Jackson I am a bit worried that Smith’s arrival might impact his minutes. Same could be said for Goga as well. And look at all the guys the Suns could have taken instead of Smith at pick 10. Vassell (11), Haliburton (12), Cole Anthony (15), Tyrese Maxey (21) or Desmond Bane (30). The Suns missed out.

 ·         Thad Young is a Raptor. I thought a lot of people would have interest in him. He has barely played in San Antonio so I like to think he’s well rested. With the amount of minutes Nick Nurse plays his starters maybe Thad can get in on some of those and give some of the starters a rest now and again.  In 24 minutes last season in Chicago he averaged 12ppg, 6reb, 1.1 steals and shot 56% with 2.14 ATO. Not sure he can be that good in TO but he was worth the flier in my opinion.

 ·         The Jazz lander Nickeil Alexander-Walker in a 3-team deal and he could get some minutes since Joe Ingles was traded away and was out for the season.  I just want him to be more like his big cousin but his 37/31 shooting splits and 8.9 Tendex fall way short of being fantasy relevant on most nights.

 ·         The Pacers getting Tyrese and Buddy for Sabonis/Lamb/Holidays was a shocker for me. I thought the Kings would want to move on from Fox and keep Haliburton. But as they say, you have to give up something to get something. I love the trade for the Pacers. They get younger and can decide what they want to do with this roster more over the offseason. Brogdon is already 29 and is constantly hurt so maybe they will move him this summer. Haliburton is 22, Turner is just 26, Duarte 24, Jackson 20, and Goga 22 so maybe they can rebuild in a hurry. I think Tyrese’s numbers could be even better in Indy depending on the healthy bodies they have playing. The question will be whether the Kok decides to keep him for $34 bucks. And as much as I like Tyrese in Indy, I do like that the Kings did something. Getting Sabonis is a good get. They brought in 6 new players at the deadline to shake things up. Do I think they make the playoffs? No. Are they better now after the trade? Unsure. But Sabonis is 25, Fox is 24, DiVicenzo is 25, and Davion Mitchell is just 23 so they have some young talent. The big loser was my boy Richaun Holmes. Something is up with him. He’s not the same beast anymore. Maybe they will move on from him this summer because he’s too good to be a backup.

 ·         My Blazers blew it up. Bye bye CJ McCollum. This wasn’t a deal about improving the roster so much as it was clearing out salaries. Josh Hart is a useful players but his contract for next season isn’t guaranteed so they could move on from him too. The Blazers also moved Norm Powell and Lord Covington so they were really cleaning house. Bledsoe’s 19 million dollar contract is only partially guaranteed (3.5 million) so I wouldn’t expect him back next season. But Bledsoe could soak up some minutes in PDX this season. And the Justise Winslow reclamation project continues. In the 18/19 season he averaged 12 and 5 with 1.1 steals and 1.990 ATO in Miami. Will he be able to get back to that?? Unknown. But for the final 22 games of the season, Golden was willing to take a flier on someone who has to play a lot of minutes simply because his competition is CJ Elleby, Trenton Watford and Greg Brown.  Simons and Nurkic are the big winners here as they should be the focal points of this offense.  It will be interesting to see what happens with Lillard this offseason and whether he wants to be a part of this rebuilding project. And Nurk is a FA so do they bring him back? My prediction is that the Blazers trade Dame this offseason. And I fully support that move.

 ·         The Pelicans are going for the playoffs with this move. I like CJ in NO but he does take shots away from my boy Ingram. My empty stocks Ingram. A lineup of CJ, Herb, BI, Zion, and Jonas could be scary to deal with. And yes, Herb is already a core piece for this Pelicans team. The Kok has done extremely well with that signing. I wonder who would say no to a Scottie Barnes for Herb Jones deal?

 ·         LeVert is a Cavalier. While I think it’s good for the Cavs to have another scorer, I don’t like it for my boy Garland (wow, I’ve said that a lot about Golden players).

 ·         I mentioned Powell and Covington to the Clippers. And when I think about that roster I think, man, they have too many guys. They have almost 15 guys who could play regular minutes on any given night. I don’t have any Clippers so makes no matter to me. But when you are that deep it feels like coaches will ride the hot hand so some nights your guys play and other nights they ride the pine. Not a good thing for fantasy basketball.

 ·         I think that was it for NBA trades. The JBL keeper deadline is not that far away (Feb 20^th).  I can always tell the interest level in the JBL by a couple of factors. How many votes a poll gets and how many FA bids there are. Based on both of those, interest is low right now. This is the usual time that interest fades for some. The title race is limited to a few teams. Hope is lost. Interest starts to wane. But, this is the last chance to set your team up for success next season. Do you have those keepers in place for next year to give yourself a core of cheap and talented players?

 ·         And with all the talk about expansion and the lack of appetite to do so, I always encourage owners to ask themselves about their own commitment level to the JBL. Do you still enjoy it? Of course we want teams to be active and sign FA’s and make trades – but that can’t be mandated. Heck, look at our current leader – Maui hasn’t made a single trade and has only signed a couple FA’s. But we’ve seen teams like Manila Ice (2018) and Manhattan Beach (2017) pull the plug as they just didn’t have the time or the passion to continue on. And that’s OK. But it’s the annual check in to review your own commitment for next season. And if you have doubts, let me know, as there is a lineup of willing owners to come and join the JBL next season. But if you still love the JBL and love the game, then I look forward to doing it all again next year.

 ·         And it’s also the time for the deadline reminders when it comes to keepers for next season. Anyone drafted at auction is eligible for protection. Anyone signed as a Free Agent (who was not originally drafted at Auction), needs to play 20 regular season NBA games to be eligible for protection. So, Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz, TJ Warren, Jon Isaac and others drafted at auction are eligible for protection (Rule 5.10).  John Wall, who wasn’t drafted at auction, if someone signed him as a free agent now would need to play 20 regular season games to be eligible for protection. Any player in the FINAL year of their contract, even if dropped to free agency, will not be eligible for protection and goes back to Auction.

 ·         So, will the JBL see any deadline deals??  I’m all for having every JBL team update their ‘On the Block’ page so we all know who you might be willing to trade. Let’s see if we can get some deals going. We know Seoul is looking to upgrade his keeper list and might be willing to part with Scottie Barnes. We know Bellingham is looking to move Jarrett Allen. We know Arctic likely has too many cheap options to protect all of them. We know Norfolk is looking for a keeper option if he can escape the basement. So, if you feel like getting some crappy Idaho offers – update your On the Block page.

 

That’s it for this week. Enjoy the SuperBowl!!