Trade 1: Los Angeles Lakers / Dallas Mavericks
Dallas gets: Pau Gasol, Jordan Hill, and Devin Ebanks
LA gets: Shawn Marion, Chris Kaman, Vince Carter, and Rodrigue Beaubois
Look, I’m of the mind of not trading Pau Gasol. Obviously, if he’s the second best center on your team, you’ve got a ton of talent. My hope is to see him utilized off the bench, playing 28-32 minutes a night, anchoring the bench unit. Over the past few years with the Spanish National team, we’ve all seen what he can do as the focal point of an offense—especially one predicated around ball movement.
The need is there too. The Lakers have struggled since Lamar Odom left. There has been no viable alternative to filling that lead bench role. Metta World Peace tried, but is too unpredictable to ever legitimately be the leader of the bench squad. Gasol has the ideal mix of pedigree, skills, personality, and selflessness to make it work. Adding sixth man of the year to Gasol’s resume just makes sense for both parties.
But, if Mike D’Antoni continues to trot Gasol out there as the Lakers starting power forward, then it would be best to trade him. That arrangement just simply won’t work in today’s NBA. With the Lakers lineup, Gasol isn’t able to consistently take advantage of his matchup—but routinely gets abused on the other end by quicker, more mobile and versatile stretch fours.
Gasol absolutely needs to be used in the post—and on Lakers as presently constructed, he won’t get that opportunity. The Dallas Mavericks offer an intriguing possibility.
From the Lakers perspective, there is a lot to like about this trade. Marion is the obvious name that pops out. He and Nash basically wrote the book on the Seven Seconds or Less era in Phoenix. Yes, Nash was the engine that made the entire system run, but Marion was the transmission, the timing belt, the brakes, and the four-wheel drive. Nash improved Marion’s offensive game while Marion covered for Nash on defense.
And while Marion’s been in decline for several years, he’s having a bounceback season. Two key developments, the return of his elite rebounding (a rate right on par with his all-star seasons) and the reintegration of the three-point shot into his arsenal. Those are obviously necessities in the D’Antoni offense.
Besides, there would be a certain level synergistic closure in having Marion go for a title with Nash—trying to prove that the offense both were so integral in creating is capable of winning a championship.
Kaman in this deal would be a complete salary dump. He has no future in Dallas (at least, he shouldn’t), and he’s too injury prone and inconsistent for any team to rely upon as a building block. With the Lakers, he’ll be a fourth or fifth big—and an $8 million expiring trade chip come this summer.
Carter, like Marion, is also have a nice bounce-back season, but is at the stage of his career when he can no longer bring it every night—though flashes that remind of his younger days still happen from game to game. As a go-to scorer off the bench, he’d be ideal. Roddy Buckets, who has been touted as the Mavericks "savior" for the past couple of seasons, has been playing himself not only out of the Dallas rotation, but potentially out of the league as well. He's due for a change of scenery and still has the type of athleticism that the Lakers sorely lack.
As for Dallas, imagine a world in which Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol play together. There is certainly some mobility issues on defense—but Rick Carlisle (unlike Mike D’Antoni) is the kind of coach who designs schemes around the personnel he has including healthy doses of zone. Besides, while Gasol is completely out of place as a defensive four, he is actually quite agile and nimble for a center and will have difficulty guarding only a handful of big men in the league. There is a lack of muscle up front with Pau and Dirk, but there is no wanting for length, which if utilized correctly, can be just as effective.
But boy oh boy could that offensive pairing be electric. Unlike pairing Gasol with another low-post dominating big (Dwight Howard/Andrew Bynum), Gasol will share court time with the best shooting big man (thus best floor spacing big) to ever play the sport. The post will be a one-on-one dream for Gasol, who excels with his back to the basket and the ball in his hands.
While Hill will miss the rest of the season, Dallas doesn’t have a realistic shot at the 2013 title anyway. But the team is probably best served getting some ping pong balls this July.
Financially, what this deal does is unloads the final years of the Carter and Marion contracts and upgrades those two into the vastly more tradeable Gasol deal, that will be an expiring contract next season. In Mayo opts in, that would leave the Mavs with only Gasol, Hill, Mayo, Nowitzki, Jae Crowder, and Bernard James on their books for next season.
Look, the future isn’t as bright as say, signing Howard and/or Chris Paul in the offseason. But the same strategy didn’t work this past offseason in Dallas’ pursuit of Howard and Deron Williams. Nowitzki has clearly been affected by the low status of the Mavs and he's only got a couple years left as an elite talent.
But with a nucleus of Gasol/Nowitzki/Mayo, the present instantly gets better. And if the team picks up some combination of Jose Calderon, JJ Redick, Dorrell Wright, Ronnie Brewer, and/or Al Fariq Aminu in the offseason, they’ve got the real makings of a legit championship contender that can be resigned if the team does better than expected or can just as quickly be dismantled for the free agent bonanza of 2014.
Trade 2: Boston Celtics / Milwaukee Bucks
Boston Gets: Samuel Dalembert, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
Bucks Get: Jared Sullinger, Courtney Lee, Chris Wilcox, $2.05 million trade exception
The goal for the Celtics is to keep Avery Bradley while also upgrading their center position. In order to move Kevin Garnett back to the four while simultaneously avoiding playing Jason Collins extended minutes—Boston is in dire need of a rim-protector who grabs rebounds. That about sums up what Samuel Dalembert brings to the table. Dalembert has been wasting away on Milwaukee’s bench behind the likes of Epke Udoh, Larry Sanders, and John Henson—who can all play and represent the future front court of the franchise. He is an expiring deal, so the haul of Sullinger and Lee seems about right, especially since the Celtics would be getting Mbah a Moute back as well.
The C’s will have to give up the enticing potential of Jared Sullinger, but they’d also be getting back the kind of defensive player in Mbah a Moute that would make the Celtics the scariest defensive team in the league and give them the needed edge to slow Miami enough in a seven game series.
For the Bucks, they are small at guard and have a thin rotation—with three good to very good point guards and the smallish, unathletic rookie Doron Lamb. Lee is not ideally large for the two guard spot, but at 6’5, he’s bigger than any other healthy guard on the roster—and has had success defending bigger wings. Furthermore, he’s active, athletic, and provides much needed floor spacing as a spot up shooter. This distinction is important, as both Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis can make threes, but do so off the dribble.
Losing Mbah a Moute would hurt the Bucks defensively, but would also open up time for Tobias Harris, who has intriguing talent, but fell out of favor with former coach Scott Skiles and just recently returned from an elbow injury.
Sullinger offers an enticing mixture of offensive and defensive potential, and gives Milwaukee a player that can score in the low post—something Henson, Udoh and Sanders have zero ability to do. While he’s short and unathletic, the three bigs that will back him up have those two deficiencies covered in spades. Another reason for the small market Bucks to like Sullinger? He’s locked up for a measly total of $5.05 million over the next three years.
No comments:
Post a Comment