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NBA Trade Deadline: Top 10 deadline trades of all time

By Daniel Tran

Oct 10, 2013; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons player development coach Rasheed Wallace (middle) shakes hands with Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade (left) after the game at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Heat beat the Pistons 112-107. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2013; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons player development coach Rasheed Wallace (middle) shakes hands with Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade (left) after the game at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Heat beat the Pistons 112-107. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /
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1. Sheed defines instant success in Detroit

When head coach Larry Brown inherited the Detroit Pistons from Rick Carlisle in 2003, he got a team that had been in the playoffs two consecutive years, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals the previous spring. As the season progressed, the Pistons had a 32-16 record going into February before they went 2-6 headed into the trade deadline.

Not content with the way their roster was playing, the Pistons started taking a sledgehammer to a roster that made a deep run into the playoffs the year before, hoping to turn the good Pistons team to a championship contender. Much like he did with Philadelphia where he brought in Dikembe Mutumbo at the NBA trade deadline, Brown and the Pistons orchestrated a trade that would bring the team immediate, positive returns.

In a convoluted three-team trade, Detroit ended up shipping Chucky Adkins, Lindsay Hunter, and a first-round draft pick to the Boston Celtics for Mike James. Simultaneously, they sent Bob Sura, Zeljko Rebraca, Chris Mills and a first-round draft pick to the Atlanta Hawks for sweet shooting, technical foul machine Rasheed Wallace.

Although he had a reputation of going off script and freelancing on the court, he immediately gelled with Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, and Ben Wallace, buying into the team oriented structure that Larry Brown instilled. Because of Brown’s ties to North Carolina and Dean Smith, who coached Wallace at North Carolina, Brown was able to harness Wallace’s talent a bring a championship to Detroit after topping the Los Angeles Lakers who had four hall of famers on their roster.

Next: NBA Trade Deadline: 10 players likely to be traded

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