There’s nothing like that feeling when you wake up after your team had a great showing at the draft and everything has finally settled in your brain and you can stretch it all out and take one, long, deep, happy sigh. Seattle fans felt that today. I felt that to a smaller extent after the Cowboys draft this year when they swindled Cleveland’s ’08 pick and now I am fortunate enough to have that feeling again about my most-favorite team.
The NBA offseason is the greatest of all sports. It has the draft excitement that baseball lacks and the trade rumors flying around right up until the trade deadline that football lacks. At any point in time, except for probably March and April, your team could be on the verge of making a franchise-changing move.
Probably the most important fact about the draft last night is that not only did most teams involved get at least one one potential impact player, the strength of talent across the board made the NBA improve as a whole, which hopefully (fingers crossed) should increase the amount of exciting and competitive games during the regular season.
Golden St. – Charlotte
Now, onto the trades, which really made the day interesting. First off, MJ trading away No. 8 pick Brandon Wright for Jason Richardson and his 30+ million dollars over the next 3 years. SJ is probably going to pick the ‘Cats as a sleeper playoffs pick nexy season, and they have the talent to do so, but the reason I don’t like the move is that all they become is a fringe playoff team with very little chance at advancing deep into the postseason. And to reach that point, they sacrificed most of the cap-space they have been preserving the last few years. So they saved all that cap-space for J-Rich? Thats the move that’s going to put you over the top?
Richardson is a solid scoring option, but he is no playmaker. He’s not even a “franchise” type player, even by today’s standards of the word. If he were, the Warriors would have been much better in the recent past than they have. That playoff run was due to Baron Davis’ leadership, not Richardson, who’s inability to knock down his pull-up/fade-away jumpers killed them at times against Utah as much as it helped them against Dallas. Hopefully this doesn’t cripple their ability to re-sign the underrated Gerald Wallace. In the meantime, they give up the cheap labor of possible-star Wright, who could bust, but those are the risks you have to take to build a true championship contender. The teams that can afford to trade picks for veterans are the ones just missing a piece or two and have an established core…like Chicago. Then-again, maybe the plan is to let their young guys develope and have J-Rich keep the franchise afloat until his contract comes off the books.
Seattle – Boston
Another trade Steve liked that I’m not very fond of. Seattle won here, by a slight edge, initially because they handed over the reins as soon as they could to Durant and gave him a young running-mate in Green. I like Green and I think he would have fit well on the Blazers, but if you are going to give up Ray Allen, why not take a big risk on a guy like Yi, who would probably be more than happy to be on the west coast. They say they want to keep Rashard Lewis, but with all their SF’s now hasn’t he been alienated a bit. I see him going to Orlando. Seattle seems like they are trying to become Atlanta-west. Whether it works or not will depend on them upgrading at PG from Ridnour and, most importantly, the progress of Robert Swift and Sene-Sener. But for next year, you still have a team that can’t play much D and now their offense has also taken a hit if they lose Lewis. Time will tell.
Danny Ainge, meanwhile, wants to keep his job, which was obvious from the get go. We had them taking Brewer for the defensive upgrade and immediate impact, but they went for the big shot. The team is relevant again, yes, and the Garden will surely sell more tickets next season, but here are my issues with the deal.
-Doc Rivers is your coach.
-You are almost all offense and no defense. Hmmmm, sounds like the 2006 Sonics. The lack of a defensive presence in the middle is crippling. Dont even get me started on Al Jefferson.
-You have a 2, maybe 3-year window to compete in the East.
-You sacrificed your future — a lotto pick in this draft was huge in terms of rebuilding — and it’s not even a sure-thing you are a playoff team, in the EAST for crimeney sakes.
-Your backup PG is Telfair.
-Your entire team is an injury risk.
-Repeat Point: You sacrificed your future and you are NOT a contender. You are weak at the two most important playoff positions in the game, PG and C. Mediocrity is the worst thing possible in the NBA. GM’s can save their jobs by getting to the playoffs every year but most of the time those teams are so full on payroll they can never dramatically improve. Sometimes I think there are teams in the league that have a championship goal as an afterthought behind profit and job security. I’ll let John Hollinger back me up here.
"When he took over, Ainge decided to blow up Boston’s nucleus because he had an old team that had peaked in the mid-40s in wins and wasn’t going to be getting any better.Five years later, he’s dealt himself an old team that will peak in the mid-40s in wins and isn’t going to get any better."
One thing I do like about it for Boston: They didn’t give up Theo Ratliff’s expiring contract, which means they could still add another piece, which they better do, since it’s clear they are trying to win now.
Portland – New York
Kevin Pritchard said this was the best offer the team had, and I believe him. Do I think Z-bo could have netted a lotto-pick, sure, but what this turns into might be more valuable. Channing Frye was untouchable last year, and despite a sophomore slump, he is a good option off the bench who can compliment Oden in the same way Aldridge does with his high-post ability. Stevie Franchise is the interesting part. His deal is up in two years, with a player option on the second, but Portland could buy him out this summer. If they can get him to waive that second year, the contract comes off the books in ’08. The Blazers also have Raef Lafrentz’ mammoth contract terminating in ’09, giving them boatloads of cap room.
You may think the cap room is about re-signing guys like Roy and Aldridge, but they are not the issue. Paul Allen has said that he will open up his wallet to keep the team a contender, even if it means paying the luxury tax, and Portland will own all their rookie’s Bird Rights, which means they can re-sign them without concern for the cap. What the Francis and Raef contracts are good for are free-agents. Guess who is eligible to bolt in ’09 – Chris Paul. Some Portland fans don’t like this trade because it doesn’t offer immediate dividends, but they have been patient up to this point and it paid off so far. The Blazers now have one or two years to assess their pieces and gear up for a huge free-agent signing. Oh, and they got rid of the Z-bo poison in the locker room and kept him far, far away from Oden. Perfect, as far as I’m concerned.
As for NY, I think they had to do this. You could tell by the reaction at the draft that the fans were excited about Randolph coming in, and they should be. They have two very potent offensive weapons on the block. The problem is, neither one of them likes to pass once they get the ball. Who knows, Zach could be the magic piece for that team, but I highly doubt the risk turns into reward here. Like Boston, they still can’t play defense either, a factor so many analysts and fans alike choose to ignore. At least Zeke keeps his job one more year.
It’s already too cheap to make a Z-bo-NY Strip Clubs joke and this point, but this is a legitimate concern. This could end up very, very bad.
All in all, the East got some established talent, but it didn’t come near improving enough to challenge the Western
Conference. A problem, since the West just got an adrenaline shot of young talent to last-season’s bottom-half squads. Some Eastern teams now have the illusion of being competitive, but two years down the road, when all the cards have been played from the ’07 Draft moves, it will be the West continuing to rake in the chips.