Thoughts on the Magic-Suns-Wizards Blockbuster

I'm going to Orlando to play with Hedo? Ball.

The Magic made two trades today in the hopes of possibly re-invigorating their franchise's title hopes.  The first was with the Phoenix Suns in which they sent Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, their 2011 first rounder and $3 million to bring back former Magic player Hedo Turkoglu, Jason Richardson and Earl Clark.  The 2nd trade was for much maligned star Gilbert Arenas, for which they swapped Rashard Lewis.

Thoughts on the Nets-Rockets-Lakers Trade

If you haven't heard by now, the New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Lakers have agreed in principle on a three team trade.  New Jersey receives a 2011 first round pick from Los Angeles, a 2012 first round pick from Houston, and Sasha Vujacic.  Houston receives Terrence Williams and Los Angeles receives Joe Smith.

The deal makes sense for all three teams.  New Jersey deals a player in Williams who, while very talented, has been a bit of a disappointment and headcase (he was recently sent to the D-League as punishment for excessive tardiness) for an expiring contract in Vujacic and two more first round picks with which to use as assets, possibly in a trade for Carmelo Anthony.  New Jersey now has four first round picks within the next two years (one each from Houston/L.A./Golden State and their own) with which to entice Denver, as well as their lottery pick from this year, Derrick Favors.  Along with several expiring contracts, that's a much more appealing offer than one New York, team Carmelo reportedly wants to be traded to, could put together, as the soonest first rounder New York can send out in a trade is in 2014.

Houston's Daryl Morey has also struck again, essentially dealing a lottery protected pick for a guy drafted #11 overall last year, and at the position of biggest need for the Rockets.  Williams is a player who needs guidance, and a team like Houston, with players like Battier (whom Williams admires), is more capable of giving it than a young rebuilding team like the Nets.  Morey has now acquired two lottery picks from last years draft (Jordan Hill and now Williams) for less than if he had the picks in the first place.  In a minor second trade, the Rockets are sending little used guard Jermaine Taylor to the Sacramento Kings with cash for a 2nd rounder they likely won't ever receive.  This saves them from keeping Taylor's contract on the books if they had waived him to make room for Williams.

On the Lakers end, the deal was almost purely financial.  As they are over the Luxury tax, Vujacic's deal of about $5.5 million would've cost them double that amount (you pay one dollar for every dollar you are over the tax), so by subtracting that amount with Smith's contract, the team saves about $8.7 million. That's quite a bit of savings.  There's also the fact that unlike Vujacic, Smith is a veteran who can actually provide some solid frontcourt minutes for a Lakers team that has a propensity for bigs that get hurt.  This will be Smith's 13th different NBA team (tied for an NBA record), so he knows his way around the league.

So for now I'm calling this trade a clear win for the Rockets and the Lakers, and a wait and see approach for New Jersey.  It all depends on what they use the picks for.

Exploring the Worth of the Expiring Contract as an Asset

Yesterday I mentioned in my trade analysis that it is rare nowadays to see a trade be mostly about acquiring basketball talent and not trying to cut salary.

As such, the growing conception in the media is that expiring contracts, that is players with big contracts that expire that year, are very valuable assets for a team to have.  The idea is that teams with expiring contracts can use the contracts themselves to get something they want, like getting under the luxury tax for instance, or grabbing young players with smaller contracts and more potential.

This year's expiring contracts look to be especially attractive according to experts, because the Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire and it is widely assumed that more limitations will be placed on teams, and salary will be slashed across the board.

It seems to me though that a lot of these "valuable" contracts don't get traded at all though.  But since I like to be more analytical than "It seems to me", lets take a look at the actual expiring contracts over the last few years and see what's been done with them.  We will be ignoring rookie scale contracts as expiring since those players go on to become Restricted Free Agents, players with Player Options or Early Termination clauses, and also players with salaries less than $3 million as the value of their expiring contracts would not be considered significant enough to trade for (unless a team was really close to being under the tax).

I will warn you now, this is a long article.  If you see an egregious mistake, (there's bound to be at least one I didn't see) let me know and I'll fix it right away.

Pacers-Hornets-Rockets-Nets Trade Analysis

Yesterday, Chad Ford broke the news that a 4 team trade involving 5 players occurred between the Pacers, Hornets, Rockets, and Nets.  This wasn't a bunch of no-names either as each team either got or traded a significant player on their roster.

Indiana Pacers trade: Troy Murphy

Indiana Pacers receive: Darren Collison, James Posey, approx. $4.2 million trade exception

New Orleans Hornets trade: Darren Collison, James Posey

New Orleans Horents receive: Trevor Ariza

Houston Rockets trade: Trevor Ariza

Houston Rockets receive: Courtney Lee, approximately $6.3 million trade exception

New Jersey Nets trade: Courtney Lee

New Jersey Nets receive: Troy Murphy

My analysis of each teams haul after the jump.

The Circle of Kaaaahn!!!

Yesterday, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded Ramon Sessions, Ryan Hollins, and a 2013 2nd round pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Delonte West and Sebastian Telfair.

I find this funny, because it creates a full circle from last year, when Telfair also was with the Wolves.

A couple weeks ago, Tom Ziller wrote over at Fanhouse that an Avocado would likely have made a better GM than David Kahn.  I agreed with it at the time, and I agree with it now, because after the trade, the Wolves are back to where they were last year with Telfair, but worse.  Let's review:

7/20/2009:  Wolves trade Sebastian Telfair, Craig Smith, and Mark Madsen ($9.465 million) to the Los Angeles Clippers for Quentin Richardson ($8.7 million).

8/4/2009: Wolves sign Ryan Hollins to 3 year, $7 million contract.

8/13/2009: Wolves trade Quentin Richardson ($8.7 million) to the Miami Heat for Mark Blount ($7.97 million).

9/4/2009: Wolves sign Ramon Sessions to 4 year, $16.4 million contract.

3/1/2010: Wolves waive Mark Blount who hadn't played a minute with them.

7/26/2010: Wolves trade Ryan Hollins, Ramon Sessions, and a 2nd rounder ($17.6 million) for Sebastian Telfair and Delonte West ($7.2 million).

7/27/2010 - 8/3/2010: Delonte West widely expected to be waived, as only $500,000 of his 2010-11 salary is guaranteed.

So in the end, instead of letting the contracts of Smith and Madsen expire, the Wolves paid for 1 year of Sessions (8.2 PPG, 3.1 APG) and Hollins (6.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG), paid $500,000 so that Delonte West won't ever suit up for them, paid Mark Blount almost $8 million to do the same, lost a 2nd rounder, and still have Telfair.  And its arguable that Smith and Telfair would've been more productive for the Wolves last year than Sessions and Hollins were, at a cheaper price.

It's the Circle of Kaaaahn.