Grading the Trade....

Grading The Deal: Four-Team Trade Wakes NBA From Hibernation
By: Andrew Perna
RealGM.com Writer

August 11, 2010 6:13 PM
The NBA had lulled most of its fans into hibernation in recent weeks after the initial fervor that surrounded “The Decision” and the opening of free agency more than six weeks ago. When Minnesota’s signing of Anthony Tolliver last week was “headline” news, you knew the offseason drama had slowed to a crawl.

The league got a little more exciting on Wednesday when a four-team, five-player trade was agreed upon. Two teams that had largely stood pat thus far, the Hornets and Pacers, finally woke from their slumber and shook things up.

New Orleans has sent Darren Collison and James Posey to Indiana, while acquiring Trevor Ariza from Houston. To complete the deal, the Pacers have shipped Troy Murphy to the Nets, who have in turn sent Courtney Lee to the Rockets.

The clear winner of this deal is the Pacers, who have finally been rewarded for their patience.

Having only signed their rookies to moderate deals, the trade officially awoke them from their summer of inactivity. They get the point guard (Collison) they’ve essentially been looking for since the days of Mark Jackson, while dealing just one of their expiring contracts (Murphy).

They had to take on the contract of Posey as well, who is owed more than $13 million over the next two seasons, but their proactive approach to their proposed cap room in 2011 was an absolute necessity.

While the Pacers did finally fill a huge hole in their roster, they now have one at power forward with Murphy in New Jersey. Barring another move, they’ll have just Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts as cut-and-dry fours. They’ll likely use Danny Granger at the position at times, especially with their wealth of wing players (Granger, Brandon Rush, Dahntay Jones, Mike Dunleavy, Paul George and now Posey).

I’d imagine that president Larry Bird and general manager David Morway will now work on another deal to turn one (or two) of those swingmen into a more established power forward. They’ll have competition in that regard as Detroit is rumored to be shopping Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton after adding Tracy McGrady earlier this week.

Indiana could have dealt Murphy to a number of teams, but they waited for the right deal and this one suits both sides.

Grade for Pacers: A

Having settled their front office and coaching positions, the Hornets were in need of a move. Shortly after LeBron James decided to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, Chris Paul’s camp began a movement to get him traded out of New Orleans.

Those rumors died down after Paul met with New Orleans general manager Dell Demps and head coach Monty Williams and the trade of Collison means that CP3 will be running the show for the Hornets through at least the 2010-11 season.

With that said, it’s highly unlikely that Paul expects Trevor Ariza to be the tipping point for the Hornets to become title contenders. With a bigger offensive role, Ariza’s eFG% dropped from 51.1% with the Lakers in 08-09 to 46.2% with the Rockets in 09-10. The Hornets must be anticipating Paul making a big impact in creating offense for Ariza, similar to what the swingman enjoyed when playing with the likes of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.

A side note, the Hornets are reportedly close to another deal that would send Julian Wright to the Raptors for Marco Belinelli.

Ariza is extremely athletic and will be able to run the floor with Paul at will, but there is now no safety net at point guard. If the New Orleans-Toronto deal is consummated, Belinelli will be Paul’s backup instead of the promising Collison.

The saving grace for the Hornets is that they were able to part with Posey’s contract, but they fill it with Ariza’s, which is similar in value but two years longer.

If everyone is healthy, New Orleans should comfortably contend for a low playoff spot with a starting lineup of Paul, Marcus Thornton/Peja Stojakovic, Ariza, David West and Emeka Okafor. One injury (especially to Paul) would make them a virtual lock to the lottery, however, as they don’t have much proven depth.

Grade for Hornets: C

If the Pacers are the clear winner in this deal, the Nets are a close second.

They acquire a hometown boy in Murphy, who will come off the books after the 2010-11 season, which gives them the flexibility to re-sign him to a more reasonable contract next summer or simply let him walk away. At this point, he appears to be a perfect fit for New Jersey as they can slowly bring along rookie Derrick Favors as opposed to rushing him into significant minutes.

If they don’t see Murphy, who turned 30 in May, as part of their long-term plan, they can ship him to a contender at midseason in return for much more than they paid on Wednesday.

They can also keep free-agent signee Travis Outlaw at small forward instead of asking him to play small at the four. The loss of Lee won’t leave them too thin, because they can shuffle Outlaw, Terrence Williams, Anthony Morrow, Quinton Ross and rookie Damion Jones on the wing.

New Jersey does add about $10 million to their cap for the upcoming season, but they had the space and the bank account of Russian owner Mikhail Prokhorov. Like the Pacers, the proactive approach of the Nets is a smart move.

Grade for the Nets: B+

The move is absolutely financial for the Rockets, who save $5 million this season alone thanks to the trade. Even if they keep Lee’s escalating rookie contract, they’ll still save $4 million in 2014 when Ariza is due to make $7.7 million.

Ariza played well, but wasn’t the player the Rockets expected when they signed him to a five-year deal last summer. The acquisition of Kevin Martin and the growth of Chase Budinger made Ariza a movable piece without hurting their depth too greatly (especially since Lee will absorb any minutes created on the wing).

Lee has been traded twice in two years, but he’s a player I’d love to have on my team if I was running an actual NBA franchise. He’s young, cheap, unselfish and dangerous offensively. He fits into Houston’s new mold. They are leaning much more on offense than they have in recent seasons, when they were known as a defensive powerhouse.

Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is a numbers guy and he’ll love the PER comparison between Ariza (13.40) and Lee (12.88) in light of the salary differential.

Grade for Rockets: A-

Andrew Perna is Deputy Editor of RealGM.com. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com. You can also follow Andrew on Twitter: APerna7.



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