Very nice informative thread. From all these it seems even more inevitable a trade happens by the tradeline and it illustrates Morrey's genius. Esp the Tmac trade.
In hindsight all of these deal were terrible. But in the context in which they were made, they ALL improved our team at the time.
Definitely the Lowry deal. The Kevin Martin one wasn't bad either. Both of those helped us eventually land Harden. I also really liked the Bobby Jackson trade. Had Yao not gone down immediately after, we might've benefited from that one a lot more. The worst ones for me are Brooks for Hamilton, giving up Shane Battier(who helped Memphis upset the Spurs in Round 1 that season), and trading Jordan Hill for the loathsome Derek Fisher who we then cut anyway.
Remember, just because you whiff on a pick doesn't mean that the trade to acquire that pick isn't a good one. For instance, if the Rockets trade Alexey Shved for a lottery pick, that'd be a phenomenal trade by any standard. If the guy they end up picking is a bust, it doesn't make that TRADE any less terrific. Those are two different things. That T-Mac/Kevin Martin trade was a stroke of genius and is easily the most impressive deadline deal that Morey has made. After that, the trades to acquire Goran Dragic AND a first rounder and to acquire Kyle Lowry were both terrific, too.
Has to be the Lowry trade. He was a pretty big reason why that 2009 team made it past the 1st round. If Yao and Dikimbe (and T-Mac) were healthy, I really felt like we had a championship team. But in actuality, Morey's best trade deadline deal is a combination of the Lowry and Martin trade since those trades gave us the pieces to get Harden.
This illustrates how ridiculous those are who say "Nothing has even been rumored?" when trying to shoot down possible trade targets that are being discussed. With Morey, there are almost NEVER any rumors prior to him pulling something off.
Lowry, Dragic were not playing well enough at that time...So expect to see unimpressive but potentially good trade from Morey.
1. The 09 3-team trade that netted us Lowery. He became an integral part of our rotation & his later trade led to James Harden. 2. Followed closely by the 10 3-team T-Mac trade. We got Jordan Hill & Kevin Martin in that deal. Hill was a 3-step forward/2-step back project that didn't really develop until after we traded him to the Lakers. Martin was our go-to guy until his trade brought Harden here. HUMMM! I just realized that the 2 deadline trades I like best, netted us James Harden. Yes, I'm a Harden fan, but not a HOF (heck, I even like Dorsey).
WOW! I've got to start using more than 2 fingers to type a reply. In the time it took to post my 2 best trades, half a dozen others posted the same opinions!
This is what I get from the list, too. Hard to pull off actual blockbusters at the deadline-- just the way the NBA is, most teams punt those to the offseason. So the best Morey could do are some minor deals for often younger pieces that he likes in terms of potential impact- whether immediate or future-- or minor assets like late 1st round picks. Some of those players thrive, some not so much (Jordan Hamilton, Thomas Robinson, etc.).
The Lowry deal is probably the best of the bunch. Trading an injured McGrady looked like a coup at the time, but a lot of the assets we got went belly-up. The trade was still a win, but not quite the haul we hoped for. I also want to point everyone's attention to the Marcus Camby trade. He didn't last long, but was pretty effective for awhile and was essentially free.
