[Bill Simmons] Breaking down the NBA trade deadline

HMMMHMM · Feb 25, 2011

[rquoter]TRADING WITH CHRIS WALLACE: A-plus-plus-plus

Has anyone ever said the words, "I wish I hadn't made that trade with Chris Wallace?"

The latest beneficiary: Houston's Daryl Morey, who flipped 25 games of Shane Battier (a free agent to be) into Hasheem Thabeet and a protected first-round pick. Naysayers would argue that Thabeet is a stiff -- partly because he's been a total stiff, and partly because he's been a total stiff. But Raymond Felton, Michael Beasley, Channing Frye, Tyson Chandler, Mike Miller, Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson, Lamar Odom, Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups and Antonio Daniels were all top-10 picks who struggled with their first teams and blossomed somewhere else. You should always bet on pedigree if the price is low. Sure, I'd probably bet on Thabeet being on the receiving end of Blake Griffin's greatest dunk over having a worthwhile career with the Rockets. But you never know. And if you're not giving up anything, then why not?

(Important note: The previous paragraph represents my best possible attempt to defend the fact that my friend Daryl traded a quality player for a package headlined by Hasheem Thabeet. Put it this way: Until yesterday, he's called me within 12 hours of any trade he's ever done. Not this time. Which bummed me out because I was excited to congratulate him for beefing up his D-League team. And if Thabeet ends up turning his career around? Daryl will just e-mail me this paragraph 700 times per day. Either way, I'm excited that Thabeet just became a much more prominent part of my life. I can't lose. Back to the column.)

As for Wallace, he deserves credit for protecting Memphis' playoff spot with Rudy Gay injured. The Grizzlies have been a sneaky-good League Pass team for over a month now (13-4 in their past 17 games), and if they faced the Lakers in Round 1 as a 7-seed, that's a fascinating series: Gasol versus Gasol, Battier and Tony Allen versus Kobe, Chris Wallace versus Mitch Kupchak (three years after the Gasol hijacking), Z-Bo taking it to everybody, the emotional return of O.J. Mayo to USC territory after he destroyed sports there, maybe even Chuck Noland coming back for the game and getting an ovation between quarters. Remember we had this moment, Lakers fans: There might be a time in Round 1 when you're swearing at the TV and saying, "Really, Chris Wallace???? REALLY? You trade the No. 2 pick in the 2009 draft and a future No. 1 to rent Battier for four months AND THIS #$@%@&@& WORKED?!?!?!?!?!?!?" [/rquoter]

Part1: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/110225/part1&sportCat=nba
Part2: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/110225/part2&sportCat=nba

RedRedemption · Feb 25, 2011

What a lazy argument. Over the past six decades, the following players pushed their way from a worse situation to a (seemingly) better one either by trade or free agency: Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Rick Barry, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Bill Walton, Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson, Gary Payton, Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, Clyde Drexler ... should I keep going? Now this "phenomenon" is endangering the game???

As Kenny Smith said last night, "If [a small-market team] builds the right pieces around the right guy, he will stay." Period. Duncan stayed in San Antonio because it built the right team around him. Stockton and Malone stayed in Utah because they had each other. Durant will stay in Oklahoma City because of Westbrook and everyone else. LeBron left Cleveland mainly because it made bad trades and signed the wrong guys. And Utah never would have thought it might lose Deron Williams if it hadn't screwed up the roster around him. Besides, why is it such a bad thing to have six or seven loaded teams and six or seven terrible ones? Oh crap, I hate seeing the Finals with all these elite players! Give me a break.
Click to expand...

Bill Simmons speaks the truth.

dschwab · Feb 25, 2011

[Bill Simmons] On the Rockets-Grizzlies trade

TRADING WITH CHRIS WALLACE: A-plus-plus-plus

Simmons, 1/25/10, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/110225/part1&sportCat=nba

Has anyone ever said the words, "I wish I hadn't made that trade with Chris Wallace?"

The latest beneficiary: Houston's Daryl Morey, who flipped 25 games of Shane Battier (a free agent to be) into Hasheem Thabeet and a protected first-round pick. Naysayers would argue that Thabeet is a stiff -- partly because he's been a total stiff, and partly because he's been a total stiff. But Raymond Felton, Michael Beasley, Channing Frye, Tyson Chandler, Mike Miller, Mike Bibby, Joe Johnson, Lamar Odom, Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups and Antonio Daniels were all top-10 picks who struggled with their first teams and blossomed somewhere else. You should always bet on pedigree if the price is low. Sure, I'd probably bet on Thabeet being on the receiving end of Blake Griffin's greatest dunk over having a worthwhile career with the Rockets. But you never know. And if you're not giving up anything, then why not?

(Important note: The previous paragraph represents my best possible attempt to defend the fact that my friend Daryl traded a quality player for a package headlined by Hasheem Thabeet. Put it this way: Until yesterday, he's called me within 12 hours of any trade he's ever done. Not this time. Which bummed me out because I was excited to congratulate him for beefing up his D-League team. And if Thabeet ends up turning his career around? Daryl will just e-mail me this paragraph 700 times per day. Either way, I'm excited that Thabeet just became a much more prominent part of my life. I can't lose. Back to the column.)

As for Wallace, he deserves credit for protecting Memphis' playoff spot with Rudy Gay injured. The Grizzlies have been a sneaky-good League Pass team for over a month now (13-4 in their past 17 games), and if they faced the Lakers in Round 1 as a 7-seed, that's a fascinating series: Gasol versus Gasol, Battier and Tony Allen versus Kobe, Chris Wallace versus Mitch Kupchak (three years after the Gasol hijacking), Z-Bo taking it to everybody, the emotional return of O.J. Mayo to USC territory after he destroyed sports there, maybe even Chuck Noland coming back for the game and getting an ovation between quarters. Remember we had this moment, Lakers fans: There might be a time in Round 1 when you're swearing at the TV and saying, "Really, Chris Wallace???? REALLY? You trade the No. 2 pick in the 2009 draft and a future No. 1 to rent Battier for four months AND THIS #$@%@&@& WORKED?!?!?!?!?!?!?"
Click to expand...

jvu · Feb 25, 2011

Good post. My moral has shifted north.

dschwab · Feb 25, 2011

Sorry for the re-post.

durvasa · Feb 25, 2011

That's putting the best possible spin on it, which Simmons pretty much admits he's doing.

The way I look at it: its not a trade that hurts us, but its not a trade that makes us significantly better either. We are treading water. My disappointment isn't specifically the trade, but that we did not put ourselves in a better position to make a bigger move.

gah · Feb 25, 2011

And here is the most fitting motivation:

• Motivation No. 6: "We're neither good nor bad. We're in no man's land. Crap. Maybe a trade would get our fans to forget this for a week or so."
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Dennis2112 · Feb 25, 2011

durvasa said:

That's putting the best possible spin on it, which Simmons pretty much admits he's doing.

The way I look at it: its not a trade that hurts us, but its not a trade that makes us significantly better either. We are treading water. My disappointment isn't specifically the trade, but that we did not put ourselves in a better position to make a bigger move.
Click to expand...

I do agree that I would have wanted a much bigger "splash" but we just did not have the pieces to make the "big deal"

Draft picks are nice but the young players that went in the Melo deal and the Deron Williams deal were more highly ranked and talked about then any on our roster. We have good players but not players that other teams just absolutely value.

Another Brother · Feb 25, 2011

Team chemistry is one hell of an X-factor. Now that these guys have only themselves to depend on I expect us to end the season comfortably over the .500 mark whether they make the playoffs of not. My enthusiam exists within watching these players be in control their own destiny, there are no more deadlines or trade rumors to cloud their perspective.

They don't have the talent, let's see if they have the heart.

Aruba77 · Feb 25, 2011

durvasa said:

That's putting the best possible spin on it, which Simmons pretty much admits he's doing.

The way I look at it: its not a trade that hurts us, but its not a trade that makes us significantly better either. We are treading water. My disappointment isn't specifically the trade, but that we did not put ourselves in a better position to make a bigger move.
Click to expand...

Agreed. What we got is completely unknown at this point, so you cant say we got over. the only thing that is known is that it is impossible for the trade to hurt us because battier is a FA. We are not going to be worse off, not matter what.

Agreed that the upsetting thing was the anti-climactic/ impact-playerless deadline for Houston.

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[Bill Simmons] Breaking down the NBA trade deadline

HMMMHMM Contributing Member

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