Trade Reviews v1.2

So there have been a few more trades that have come about, but nothing huge, well, except perhaps for the Houston trade, but we'll see about that. I'm still all for the Lakers throwing Odom around for someone more serviceable, but, there's hesitation, understandable, because they don't know if Bynum will be back 100% yet and if his knee has yet to fully recover. If it's the case that he doesn't, then Pau Gasol will have to spend a couple more games at the C while Odom retains his PF spot. I don't know why people think this is the case, but I really don't see Odom thriving as a small forward unless he's going to get massive amounts of touches on the ball, which means he needs to be a better scorer, which, he's shown he can do, but not under pressure. Anyway, we're here to talk about trades, so here they are:

Knicks and Nuggets
New York sends Renaldo Balkman and cash
Denver sends Bobby Jones, Taureen Green, and 2nd round pick in 2010

I can't say that I've seen Renaldo Balkman play enough to say what he's like, it's obviously movement for cap space and prepping for the lush 2010 free agency by New York though. Arguably, I've seen analysts write that Balkman was somewhat of a bust, and that Wilson Chandler, brings the same things to the floor (which is to say, not much) but adds some semblence of a jump shot. Obviously the New York front office was under the crazed influence of Isaiah Thomas when they drafted Balkman then an identical player in Chandler the following year. The only reason that Wilson Chandler and Renaldo Balkman got any sort of playing time last season was due to the fact that they were marginally better than Jared Jeffries, Fred Jones was playing the guard, and Quentin Richardson was injured. Now tack on their latest pick in Danillo Gallinari then you have a glut of forwards for one position, Balkman was easy to let go of. As expected, New York has waived Jones and Green, added another pick in addition to more cap space.

If anything Balkman is known for his defensive tenacity, which Denver let a lot of go with the trade of Marcus Camby and the loss of Eduardo Najera to free agency. Of course, I don't know that Balkman adds that much, the trade is somewhat confusing to me on this end as well, even more so than on the New York end. I think Denver is trying to make up for its defensive woes by adding Chris Anderson and Balkman, while trying to cut costs in getting rid of Camby. It seems like downgrading almost, but I suppose cost is the key here, though the Balkman trade just adds salary. Additionally, Balkman standing at 6-8 and only weighing 208 pounds is even less of a power forward than Carmelo Anthony, so presumably he'll be playing behind both Anthony and Linas Kleiza, which means, he won't be playing very much at all. It doesn't solve their big man problem, since now they only have Nene Hilario and Kenyon Martin, unless they move to small ball and start playing Melo as a 4, in which case, they will get rocked even more at the defensive end, and which, I think will limit Melo's game a lot more.

Rockets and Kings
Houston sends Bobby Jackson, Donte Green, future 1st round pick, and cash
Sacramento sends Ron Artest

It's an upgrade for Houston, they don't really lose out on much, and Artest does make the Rockets better on both ends of the floor. Rick Adleman can opt to run Artest either as a 4 in a smaller lineup or start him as a 3 and have Shane Battier come of the bench as a 6th man. Either way, Artest adds the extra consistent scoring option needed behind Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, especially given their tendency to be injured. With two defensive stop plugs in Battier and Artest, and an additional scorer I see the Rockets and T-Mac finally making it out of the first round, maybe, for once. Bobby Jackson is just one guard out of 5, with T-Mac taking a lot of time at the 2, that means he'd have to fight for time with Rafer Alston, Brent Barry, Luther Head, and possibly Aaron Brooks. The biggest question is whether or not Artest will let his off-court antics get the better of him again. For now though, we'll say that this is a good trade from all appearances, and hope that Artest is true to his word and Adleman really does bring out the "winner" in him.

For the Kings it's really a matter of jettisoning excess baggage that they don't need. The Kings are going in a different direction and Artest hadn't been a part of the picture for a while. They bring back former King and backup point guard Bobby Jackson to play behind Beno Udrih and a young big man with a lot of potential in Donte Green who lit up Las Vegas Summer League with a 40 point game. Kings are trying to get younger and it looks like Kevin Martin will be now carrying the burden of scoring, I also look to see Fransisco Garcia and John Salmons get a lot more playing time now too and thriving a lot. Kings are likely still trying to get rid of Kenny Thomas, but all in all, they've changed their look, whether or not they can remain competitive in the Western Conference remains to be seen, but I honestly have my doubts. I say .500 team at best, along par with maybe the new Clippers, definitely not playoff bound, so that means one of the better lottery teams.

Voyage Across the Atlantic

A lot of recent developments have shown that an increasing number of players are beginning to take offers from teams in Europe, offers that are much more lucrative than those that their skills can garnish here in the NBA. While there is no major All-Star caliber name that is leaving the league for lush contracts in Europe, the large number of players leaving is alarmingly high and this appears to be a growing trend for more and more players that aren't happy with where they're playing, how much they're playing, and just simply put, where they are in the NBA. Among the players to leave include Josh Childress, Jorge Garbajosa, Nenad Kristic, Carlos Delfino, Bostjan Nachbar, Primoz Brezec, and Juan Carlos-Navarro.

Granted most of the players leaving are non-US players to begin with, it would make sense that they would be willing to go back home, such as in the case of Juan Carlos-Navarro, after finding that the NBA isn't as great of a fit for some as it is for others. However, in the case of Josh Childress, we have US talent that is now being lured overseas, with Carl Landry also pulling the Europe card, it shows that the international basketball market is swiftly catching up with that in the US. What does that mean for the US franchises? For one it means that in order to keep serviceable swingmen and role players like Josh Childress and company, the teams are going to have to pay a lot more, or they're going to have to bank on a lot of potential panning out. All in all, the NBA is going to start looking very different, a lot of new players filtering in and out, and maybe some familiar faces we are used to drifting to different markets playing games that we have to find somewhere on YouTube instead of on cable. What this really means now, is that the Europe card is real and it's serious, it's a new leveraging tool that many players are willing to use as the NBA gets younger.