WATERCOOLER CHAT: NBA TRADE DEADLINE
BASKETBALL
In the NBA, it was the trade deadline.
The big name in the mix was Atlanta’s Josh Smith. Many teams were hoping that he would come their way, but at the end of the day, Josh Smith wound up staying put in Atlanta. The Bucks were hoping to land both Smith AND J.J. Reddick from Orlando, but they still wound up with a sharpshooter in Reddick. The Bucks are a team on the rise, and will only continue adding valuable pieces.
Boston and Washington did a swap as well, with the Wizards sending their back-up shooting guard Jordan Crawford to the Celtics in exchange for Leondro Barbosa. Barbosa is out for the year, but the Wizards did this to get the expiring contracts of Barbosa and Jason Collins in order to clear cap space for next year. Clearly, the Wizards are positioning themselves to make some major moves in the off-season, potentially packaging their high lottery pick and some expiring contracts for a big name star.
The red hot Rockets acquired the #5 overall pick Thomas Robinson from the Sacramento Kings. That’s pretty risky, parting with a draft pick that has a lot of upside, but the Kings are being sold, and trying to shave as much money as possible and pretty much just start from scratch. And the Kings received Toney Douglas, a guy who was just starting to find his groove in Houston. Douglas was once touted as a possible star in this league, but has since become a journeyman. Perhaps he will be the perfect ingredient when the Kings move to Seattle.
And finally, a lot of the experts think that the Los Angeles Lakers were possibly the biggest winners at the trade deadline. They didn’t make any moves, but at least they now know exactly where they stand as a team. Pau Gasol desn’t have to worry about getting traded anymore, Dwight will be staying put, and now it’s just about figuring out how to play team ball and get things done. Plus, it’s being reported that Kobe Bryant guaranteed the Lakers will make the playoffs. They are 4 games out of the #8 spot, chasing Houston and Portland, but you can’t deny that the Lakers are star-studded and aware of their exact team right now. If they can gel, perhaps they can do it.
