So we’re past the NBA trade deadline.
Some Players have new teams, teams have new aspirations.
Some teams are tanking and some just got better.
No long intro this time.
Hey guys.
Purple Prince is here and let’s look at those trade deadline deals and give out some
grades.
Let’s start with a big one.
Houston Rockets trade pretty much their only big guy and rim presence in Clint Capela to
Atlanta Hawks and get Robert Covington.
In total 4 teams are involved in this deal.
Ok, so for the Rockets I give this deal a solid B. I’m not a superfan of this deal
as I think they will sorely miss that rim presence in the playoffs, but I get what they
want to achieve.
They want to outshoot you and Covington is definitely a better fit for that.
Covington is a very good defender and shooter, which he didn’t really show for Minnesota.
I know the pick they gave away will not be high, but it’s a lot considering you were
giving away a really good center.
So all in all, for the Rockets it’s a B from me.
For the Hawks.
It’s an A. They get that defensive presence alongside Trae Young.
He should fit so well here.
And should get a lot of rebounds.
Nene will probably be dropped, but considering they really didn’t give away any important,
even rotational players, this is a very good trade for the Hawks.
Timberwolves.
I give it a B-.
Covington wasn’t the best version of himself for the Wolves, and Minessota didn’t really
get back a haul for him.
That pick might turn out into something good and it might not.
Juan Hernangomez is an OK player, so is Evan Turner.
They might have given up the best player in this trade to another team.
And he was on a good contract.
Nuggets: A clear cut A. Why?
They gave away players that would be gone anyway and they got some good rotational pieces
to make their team deeper.
Gerald Green I think is an underrated acquisition and that first-round pick from Houston.
Expect it to be in the high 20s.
Next, we have a trade between the Hawks and Kings.
This trade I suppose makes sense for both teams.
The Hawks get a very capable center backup for Clint Capela and someone who was good
for them already.
The Kings, on the other hand, get rid of a contract and a player who didn’t want to
be there and acquire a player who might help them offensively a bit more than Dedmon did.
I give this trade a B for both teams.
Then we have the Warriors collecting picks and the 76ers acquiring some shooting.
This trade feels like an OK trade for both teams as both are looking in vastly different
directions and both have totally different goals for the remainder of this season.
Alec Burks has had a pretty good year.
So has Glenn Robinson III.
Their stats obviously are a bit inflated considering all the injuries Warriors have had, but nonetheless.
If you can get 2 15 ppg scorers for 3 second-round picks I think it’s a good deal.
And the same goes for Warriors.
Usually, I wouldn’t be excited for 2nd round picks, but for a team like the Warriors they
can prove to be useful.
Just look at their draft history.
This year they got Eric Paschall in the 2nd round, and 8 years ago, they got Draymond
Green.
I give a B+ grade to Philadelphia and a B grade to the Warriors.
Let’s go to another shocking move.
The Miami Heat get Andre Iguodala and give up on Justise Winslow.
This move is shocking because, for the whole first part of the season, all we heard was
how one of the LA teams will land Andre Iguodala.
Yet the team that landed him was the Miami Heat.
The big winner here I think is Memphis.
Iguodala was never gonna play with them, and he’s old.
They gave away some rotational pieces, but they got back a good backup center who by
the way has learned how to shoot a three in Gorgui Deng, they get Justise Winslow who
might be the best player in this deal considering his age and potential and they get a first-rounder.
Protected, but still, a first-rounder.
I give it an A for Memphis.
As for the Heat, they get the veterans they wanted, so I guess they win too.
But, am I the only one who thinks that at this point of his career Andre Iguodala is
a tiny bit overrated?
He’s a veteran, he can defend, he can hit a clutch shot, but last year he wasn’t that
good.
And he had plenty of nagging injuries with the Warriors so where’s the guarantee the
same thing doesn’t happen here?
I like the move, but I don’t love it.
B+ for the Heat.
As for Minnesota, there’s nothing to really grade here.
Getting James Johnson for Gorgui Deng.
It’s an average move IMO.
I give it a C.
The Timberwolves did make a splash trade though.
The Timberwolves acquired D’Angelo Russell from the Warriors.
And I guess it’s official now that Andrew Wiggins won’t be the next Lebron James and
now, he’s on the Warriors.
For Minnesota, they get the player they have wanted, a player that their superstar has
wanted, and they get a player that’s better than the former no.1 pick Andrew Wiggins.
On the contrary, they also had to give up picks, but that was pretty much the only way
they could get off of that bad Wiggins contract.
This is an A- in my book.
For the Warriors, you can see this trade from multiple sides.
If we rewind the film way back to this summer, then getting Andrew Wiggins and 2 picks for
a Kevin Durant that would’ve walked away anyway is very good.
If we compare Russell to Wiggins as the main players swapped in this trade right now, then
this trade does look average, even with those draft picks attached.
But then you remember that Russell probably wasn’t the long term answer anyway and Wiggins
is still young and who knows, maybe he can become a very good player for the Warriors
as he will be in a different system, a different environment.
It’s not like he’s a bum.
Golden State gets a B+ from me.
Now this next trade I don’t understand.
This trade doesn’t make sense for any of the teams involved.
For the Cavs, mark my words, Drummond will leave after this season.
There’s no chance he stays on the Cavs.
He has a player option for next year, but most likely will look for a max deal.
And why would he stay on the Cavs?
Have they showed they can win without Lebron James?
No.
Not really.
What is their plan?
Getting Andre Drummond for 2 so so players and a 2nd round pick would get an A all day,
every day, but for the Cavs, in this situation, most likely it’s just a rental, and they’re
not competing for anything.
Maybe there’s something I don’t know, maybe they can keep Drummond, pair him with
Kevin Love and make the playoffs next year, I don’t know.
But for now, it’s a C move.
As for the Pistons.
They probably didn’t want to pay Drummond as he’s not a needle mover, but he’s the
best rebounder in the league by a notable margin and before the season you knew he could
leave.
They might have hoped that Blake Griffin will be healthy and they can make a push, but cmon,
they were never championship contenders.
This move was a desperate one, just to get something for a player they were gonna lose,
and since they couldn’t figure out all of this sooner this is a big fat D for them.
D for Drummond.
And the last sort of a big move was the LA Clippers getting Marcus Morris.
The full trade included 3 teams and the Clippers also got Isaiah Thomas.
They are the big winner here, no doubt.
They are going all-in and Marcus Morris is what they sorely needed - a 3 and D guy, and
most importantly, a tough guy.
Isaiah Thomas...
While there’s no chance he ever becomes the Boston IT, he has shot good from the deep
with the Wizards this year, so maybe he can add some 3-point shooting from the Bench.
The Clippers get an A from me.
The Knicks.
It’s hard to say anything good about an organization that’s done so much bad, but
in this case, it made sense.
They weren’t winning, they were paying big dollars, and they got 2 draft picks which
can always be an asset, even for the Knicks.
This is a B+ trade for them.
As for the Wizards, they get a young player in return for a player they wouldn’t retain
anyways.
I give that a B grade.
So these were the biggest moves of this year’s NBA trade deadline and how I saw them.
Which move is the best one in your opinion and who are the biggest winners and losers
from the trade deadline?
Please leave a comment with your grades down below.
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Thank you very much for watching.
This was Purple Prince and I’m out!