Grading The Deal - Rockets C-

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Just seconds before the NBA’s trade deadline on Thursday afternoon, Orlando, Houston and Memphis slipped in the day’s most substantial swap.

Orlando acquired point guard Rafer Alston from Houston in the deal, a move that helps soften the blow of Jameer Nelson’s potential season-ending shoulder injury. If you ask me, the completion of this deal all but confirms that the first-time All-Star is done for the remainder of the 2008-09 campaign.

In exchange for Alston, the Magic sent an unprotected first-round pick to Memphis, who also acquired guard Mike Wilks and center Adonal Foyle and cash considerations. The Rockets landed guard Kyle Lowry (via Memphis) and forward Brian Cook (via Orlando) to complete the deal. Houston could end up taking on a few other players in order to make the trade’s finances work.

Alston has one year left on his contract, worth $5.25 million next season. In order to fill the void left behind by Nelson, the Magic actually lowered their payroll by a couple of hundred thousand dollars, which is the difference between Alston's contract and that of Cook, Wilks and Foyle.

Orlando general manager Otis Smith swung this deal in anticipation that the team has a legitimate shot at reaching the NBA Finals this June. After acquiring Tyronn Lue to pair with Anthony Johnson at the point shortly after Nelson’s injury on Feb. 2, it become obvious that without a better option at point guard the Magic’s chances of postseason success were considerably lower.

The Magic are 3-3 since Nelson went down, and have averaged 98.3 points in those six games, which is four points below their average for the season.

In exchange for Alston, all Orlando gave up was rarely-used Cook and a future first-round pick. If they end up making an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals, or advancing even further, this deal becoming a no-brainer and a significant reason for their success over the final third of the season.

Yao Ming and Dwight Howard are very different, Howard is more agile and Yao has much deeper range, but Alston shouldn’t take long to gel with the Magic because he’s played with a dominant center. There aren’t a lot of them in the NBA these days.

Grade For Magic: A-

Trading Lowry confirms that the Grizzles have confidence in Mike Conley Jr. and O.J. Mayo handling the ball. It also saves them a little more than a million dollars this season, and a total of $6 million over the life of his deal (including his qualifying offer for the 2010-2011 season).

Memphis will also receive the aforementioned unprotected 2009 first-round pick from Orlando, which will help the young team add talent without dishing out a lot of money this offseason. The question remains though, how much younger can the Grizzles get?

The deals of Wilks and Foyle, which add up to a little over $2 million, are expiring.

Grade For Grizzles: B+

The move is somewhat of a strange one for the Rockets, who had been leaning rather heavily on Alston this season. The point guard was putting up 11.5 points, 5.4 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 33.1 minutes per game for Houston this season.

Aaron Brooks, who is averaging 10.3 points in 22.7 minutes, should receive an increase in playing time as a result of the deal. Lowry played heavy minutes early in the season, but was only averaging 6.3 minutes per game for Memphis this month because of an ankle injury.

Houston, assuming no other players are shipped their way in the deal, is saving a little more than $200,000 in the trade this season. Cook has a player option worth $3.5 million for next season that he’s be foolish not to exercise, which means the Rockets will pay the combination of Lowry and Cook more than they were scheduled to pay Alston.

Plain and simple, I don’t see an aspect of this trade that benefits the Rockets.

Heading into the deadline, Houston needed a point guard above any other upgrade (aside from health), but in this deal I believe they downgraded. Alston is a better shooter and scorer than Lowry, which further makes it a head-scratcher.

Grade For Rockets: C-

Andrew Perna is Deputy Editor of RealGM.com and co-host of RealGM’s Radio Show. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com