NBA Trade Deadline 2016: Winners and losers
By Brad Rowland
LOSERS
Atlanta Hawks – It wasn’t a disastrous day for the Hawks by any stretch, but this is a team that appears “stuck”. Much of the lead up to the deadline involved Atlanta potentially taking calls on Al Horford (who has an expiring contract) and Jeff Teague (who has one year remaining), but the team stood pat, essentially flipping Shelvin Mack and Justin Holiday for Kirk Hinrich in a swap that included three teams and zero rotation players.
The Hawks are in a precarious position with Horford this summer in that it may not be smart to utilize their best negotiating advantage (a fifth year) to keep him, and with a point guard battle between Teague and Dennis Schröder bubbling, there are a lot of roster decisions to be made. There’s nothing inherently wrong with trying to reach the Eastern Conference Finals again, but the Hawks may have sacrificed some future value by holding on to their assets.
Los Angeles Clippers – Doc Rivers traded a first-round pick for Jeff Green. That is everything you need to know and, no, it doesn’t make it “better” that the pick won’t convey until 2019.
New Orleans Pelicans – The Pelicans didn’t do anything wrong in that the only move they made was to take on Jarnell Stokes in a salary dump from Miami. However, New Orleans badly needs an overhaul from a salary cap perspective, and the decision to stand pat with the likes of Ryan Anderson, Tyreke Evans and Eric Gordon still on the roster is a puzzling one. Anthony Davis deserves better than the “LeBron in Cleveland the first time” treatment of a poorly designed, expensive supporting cast, but that is what continues to exist in New Orleans.
Orlando Magic – Orlando pulled two sizable deals this week and, well, they certainly “lost” one of them while arguably losing the other. The Magic dealt Tobias Harris to the Pistons in exchange for Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings, and while I am not the biggest Harris fan on the whole, this simply wasn’t enough value for an extremely young (23 years old) player with real talent.
Jennings is an expiring deal and Ilyasova, while competent, isn’t nearly the player that Harris has proven to be at peak form. Later, Orlando elected to make a less offensive trade, essentially flipping big man Channing Frye for a second-round pick in a cost-cutting move. Frye remains useful for a team that is (allegedly) trying to make the playoffs, but the Magic are now on the outside looking in and if you believe that, it makes that single transaction a bit more defensible. Still, Orlando now boasts a downgraded roster without the benefit of anything tangible to hold on to moving forward.
Washington Wizards – The Wizards were so close to a “winners” mention. In theory, Washington’s decision to add Markieff Morris in a deal from the Phoenix Suns is a perfect one, given that Morris is on a very cheap contract with the talent to make a real and sizable impact for a team with playoff aspirations.
Unfortunately, Washington violently overpaid for the opportunity to rebuild Morris’ reputation, giving Phoenix a top-9 protected first round pick. In short, this places a huge emphasis on the Wizards making the playoffs this season, and in a spot where that would only assuage the fans to a slight degree, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to give up a young building block in the form of a draft pick that high. Washington is better on the floor now than they were last week, but Randy Wittman gets to deal with Markieff Morris and that partnership came at a steep price.