I know we have a post about how you would grade each but, now that the dust has settled, what was the biggest surprise in your opinion? 1) Kings trading Webber who put them on the map, thus closing the door on their championship asperations. 2) Rockets unloading Taylor and actually getting cap relief and a pick in return. 3) Celtics acquiring Antoine Walker after a bad breakup a little more than a season ago. 4) Dallas getting ANOTHER offensive, high-priced player. 5) Hornets parting ways with Baron Davis. 6) Knicks making trades and getting even worse off financially. 7) Lakers, T'Wolves, Blazers & Raptors not making any moves at all.
i totally agree with you, playerwise though i'll go with the webber trade. the sixers just got entirely better.
Lots of surprises to me. 1) How far has Baron Davis fallen that a PG with his skills in his PRIME (25 years old) was given away for ONLY an expiring contract (and Speedy)! No Dunleavy, no 1st round pick. I know Baron has had some injury problems, but man! The Rockets moved Francis for Tmac. The Hornets moved Baron for Dale Davis. LOL 2) The 76ers were able to acquire Webber without giving up a single one of their young players: Dalembert, Korver, Iggy, Greeen. Nice move. 3) Dallas acquired KVH via giving away an expiring contract. I thought they were trying to be fiscally conscious now since they didnt sign Nash long term? Why KVH? What, they dont have enough offense!?!? To me a MUCH better move would have been to move Hendu for PJ Brown. Dampire by himself just isnt going to get it done with some of these teams, especially the Spurs. Getting a guy like Brown would have been a nice defensive insurance policy. But Nellie and Cuban dont like defense so they undervalue what Brown could bring to the team. Other comments....... • Walker back in Boston? Seems odd. I can only assume that Ainge just wanted Walker because he is a better asset than Payton in terms of trades. Ainge can now work a S&T with Walker to another team in the summer if he wants and that would get more back for him than something with Payton. Or Walker stays and becomes a solid piece for them. Either way, while surprising, it makes sense in terms of asset building. • Best move of the day might have been the Spurs getting Nzar from NY. Now the Spurs have a legit backup C with serious size to help combat a potential matchup of Shaq in the finals. Rasho certainly wasnt going to get it done and they dont want Duncan on Shaq all the time. Rose is 6'7". Nzar is a legit 6'11". Nice size upgrade! • Sweetney, Jerome Williams, Mo Taylor, K Thomas. Nice set of undersized PFs there NY! BTW, the Knicks moves were nothing more than them ACCEPTING large contracts back so they could get 1st round picks. So basically they are buying 1st round picks by taking other teams bloated contracts! Hilarious! I guess that's the only way they can get younger is with those picks. They have to do something. But that payroll is hilarious!
Webber, since I just didn't think there was any way they could move that godawful salary. Plus, there were zero rumblings that the Kings had anything cooking with him. Peja had rumors going, but not Webber. -Can't say Walker, since that had been in the papers for well over a month (with the Celtics laughing it off every time). -Can't say the Knicks, since Isiah is just that stupid. -Can't say Puffy the PG, because his spat with the Hornets was just a little too well-timed this week. -Won't say Cuban, since this is the same sort of trade he's made the last couple of years (make a move not for a player but for a future piece of trade bait), and the Bucks were desperate to move KVH. -Runner up would be the non moves. The Blazers not moving SAR? The most talked about Raptor (Marshall) not going anywhere? The Wolves stand pat (though DA did mention last night that Sam nearly became a Rocket again)? On the flipside, the story with all these guys for the entire season was that they were trying to make moves, but couldn't find a trade that would fit. Evan
Evan, DA said Cassell almost became a Rocket? Wonder what we were offering for him? James will be a much better chemistry fit for us. Agreed on the "non" moves. I think Babcock in Toronto was AFRAID to make any more moves for fear that he would get burned again like the Carter deal. But Toronto and the Blazers not making moves is surprising.
He said last night that Cassell for Howard was on the table and ready to go yesterday morning until we got cold feet. I can believe it. It would help us at PG and the cap, but we'd be naked at the 4. I'd have to think there was a follow-up deal that would have been coupled with that trade. I wasn't sure how I felt about Sam coming back.* Evan *edit - yes I was. It was the polar opposite of what tinman's reaction would be.
I voted Lakers, Raps, etc. not making moves. Mainly because the Webber deal was not on the deadline day, so I think it doesn't count.
It wasn't surprising that Webber got traded. What the Kings got back was somewhat surprising. To me, though the Walker trade was just a head-scratcher. They went out of their way to get rid of the guy not that long ago. Must be awkward in the lockerroom.
