Trade Review v1.0

So, since draft day there have been a couple of major players in the trade market, making some major moves. Most notable among those would be Memphis, Minnesota, Indiana, Toronto, and Portland. So this is my personal grading of the trades that have happened, and basically, who I think wins from all this.

Grizzlies and Timberwolves:
Memphis sends Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal, and Jason Collins
Minnesota sends OJ Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker, and Greg Buckner

My gut instinct is to tell me that Memphis got fleeced again. Seriously, but when I take a long hard look at this I can't really think how either team wins in this. In essence, if you boil it down, it's OJ Mayo for Kevin Love, Mike Miller, and cap space (which Memphis has plenty of to give). It's a far cry from the highway robbery that was Pau Gasol, it definitely doesn't look very pretty for Memphis. What does Memphis get out of this, potentially one of the better guards in this year's rookie class: OJ Mayo, making the team younger, centered now around Rudy Gay and OJ Mayo and.... who else? Marko Jaric? Darko Milicic? I'm gonna guess that they hope that for Marc Gasol Spanish League MVP translates into something tangible on the NBA court. Of course, with Memphis, I don't think you ever know what they're thinking. Honestly, given how they're in a permanent rebuilding phase (until like 2015), I think the biggest mistake was wanting Mayo enough to give up Mike Miller. Even if Memphis wanted to get rid of Mike Miller, I'm almost positive they could've gotten a lot more value out of him. OJ Mayo could be explosive, he could be like the next great super star, we could be saying OJ Mayo and Brandon Roy's names next to each other like some long awaited match up of the century, or, he could end up being the guy on your fantasy roster that somehow gets 40 minutes a game, but you're really not sure what he does with them (think DeShawn Stevenson), that's a huge gamble there, of course, it's Memphis, so I don't know that they have much to lose.

Minnesota gets arguably one of the better big men in the draft in Kevin Love, and a prolific impact player in Mike Miller, add on the fact you get rid of Marko Jaric's $42 million contract, what's not to like? Well, firstly, we have to look at the T'wolves as a team. First, T'Wolves are nowhere near the playoffs and nowhere near looking like they're moving towards being playoff bound within the next 3 seasons, sorry Mike Miller, but we'll effectually be wasting the prime of your basketball career. Second problem, Al Jefferson can't guard centers, Al Jefferson is not a center. So... get another big man, right? Problem, Kevin Love is even less of a center than Al Jefferson. As great as Kevin Love's outlet passing and overall skills are, he's potentially a liability on defense, as he's slow, and his athleticism is often in question. So essentially, you lock Al Jefferson at center, a position he can't, and really isn't suited playing, and you play a mini-White clone of him at PF. I'm really not sold on this front-court. It's two players, one playing out of position, and one playing undersized, getting banged up under the basket. I don't see how Kevin McHale smells victory with this combo. Congrats on getting Mike Miller, but this roster still doesn't look like it's going anywhere.

Pacers and Raptors
Indiana send Jermaine O'Neal and rights to Nathan Jawai
Toronto sends TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovich, Maceo Baston, and the rights to Roy Hibbert

Is it me, or does Indiana suddenly have like 6 centers? I'm really not sure where they're going with this, but I suppose Jeff Foster and Troy Murphy can technically count as power forwards. Between them, you also add on Rasho, another high upside defensive rookie in Roy Hibbert, and the developing Shawne Williams. Not sure where they'll get the minutes, but I'm sure it'll be a spectacular front court... Right now, I don't feel like there's really a great way for Indiana to "win" in any trade, they carry way to much excess baggage as a franchise. Getting rid of all the old players (Jermaine, Artest, Jackson, Harrington) is a start, and with Ford coming in it's fairly apparent that Tinsley, one of the last of the infamous thug-Pacer era will soon be seeing his way out the door. That leaves them with... the new big 3! TJ Ford, Mike Dunleavy Jr, Danny Granger! Sorry Indiana, but I'm just not really shaking in my boots right now. They go from a non-playoff bound team to a non-playoff bound team with fewer off the court problems, in the Eastern Conference.

For Toronto, the entire success in this trade rests on Jermaine O'Neal's ability to stay healthy enough to play at least 70 games in the regular season and through all of playoffs. Honestly though, looking at it on just paper, this team will be scary. With O'Neal and Bosh making up the front court, naturally you'd go with a pass first point in Jose Calderon over TJ Ford. That was the luxury that Toronto had all these years, they had two starting caliber point guards. Tack on role players like Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon and then a slew of perimeter shooters in Jason Kapono, Carlos Delfino, and Andrea Bargnani, and you've got a solid team. What O'Neal does best is not create shots, and on a team with Bosh, he won't need to, he'll be able to do what he does best which is grab rebounds. He'll get his fair share of scoring, and with Bosh's ability to spread the floor with his range, it'll be easy. Pending any injury notices Toronto definitely wins out on this one. They are easily one of the top 5 in the East.

Blazers and Pacers
Portland sends Jarret Jack, Josh McRoberts, and rights to Brandon Rush
Indiana sends Ike Diogu and rights to Jerryd Bayless

I've only seen a couple of rookie highlights of Jerryd Bayless so I'm not entirely certain of how he plays. However, from what I've seen and heard, he's an excellent penetrator who can create his own shot. Playing alongside Brandon Roy, I think he has a great shot to grow and develop into a deadly player, perhaps a next coming of Allen Iverson. Ike Diogu just really shores up the reserves and depth of an already monstrous front court. With Oden coming back, if he really only turns out to be as good as Andrew Bogut or something, playing alongside LaMarcus Aldridge, Blazers are solid.

With the arrival of reserve guard Jarret Jack, it's almost guaranteed that Jamaal Tinsley is leaving. Brandon Rush looks to be good talent, but again, Indiana really doesn't look like it's going anywhere anytime soon.