What’s good, NLL?

Today we are going to talk about the most impactful deals that transpired at our trade deadline. Additionally, I will also be looking at deal from week 14, as those deals were most certainly crafted with the added pressure of the looming deadline.

Just so I can expand a little more on the most impactful deals, I will not be discussing minor deals, such as 2^nd rounder exchanges and things of that nature, only things I find to be noteworthy of a headline for that team.

Let’s dive into it:

The Brooklyn Nets send Terrence Jones and Glenn Robinson III to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Brooklyn Nets send Danilo Gallinari, DeMarcus Cousins, Khris Middleton, Jordan McRae and Tim Quarterman to the Orlando Magic. The Minnesota Timberwolves send Mason Plumlee to the Brooklyn Nets. The Orlando Magic send Kevin Love, DeMar DeRozan, Shabazz Muhammad and Tony Snell to the Brooklyn Nets. 
The Orlando Magic send a 2nd-Rounder (Utah) and 2nd-Rounder (Ind) to the Brooklyn Nets. 

The Brooklyn Nets trade -3 GM points.The Minnesota Timberwolves receive 3 GM points.

The Nets also get Justin Anderson and first rounders in 2019 and 2020, but I believe there is a provision that if Terrence Jones bolts to Free Agency, then one of the future picks goes to the Wolves.

Additionally, GM Wizkid kept the wheels moving and re-traded Shabazz Muhammad to the Golden State Warriors for a 1^st round pick in 2018.

Overview: I think GM Wizkid did it yet again. He’s gotten a boatload of assets that just keep on coming and still got away with Demar Derozan AND Kevin Love, which are the second and third best players in this deal, and stars in their own right. Yeah, I get it, he lost Boogie, but I think that team is already better. They have so many 80+ rated players with tons of sigs and that can flat out ball! I think it was masterful and not as balanced as the general consensus of NLL pundits seem to think.

From the Wolves perspective, they come away with the best player in the deal, and though I see him staying in NBA New Orleans, Demarcus Cousins mercurial nature leaves him exposed to pretty much anything now that he’s lost a lot of money not signing in Sacramento, he could pretty much walk out next year and sign wherever he chooses. Middleton is no slouch, of course, but he’s no Derozan either, and at his peak, he’ll probably be a top 10-15 shooting guard in the league, and that’s ok. Gallo has a murky contract situation and rest is just fodder.

Then there’s the Wolves, who came into this deal late when Wizkid saw he would be thin at the frontcourt with the injury of Kevin Love, and so the Nets took advantage of the Pacer bias in GM Spudspace’s heart and came away with a serviceable big who would start for about half the league. That’s cheap for Glen Robinson III and Terrence Jones who had just gotten waived, but then again I’m high on GRIII, nor do I need to be. If everybody’s happy, then it’s a great deal, but Nets have the edge in this one for me.

The Dallas Mavericks send Nikola Mirotic to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder send Alex Abrines to the Dallas Mavericks. 
The Dallas Mavericks send a 1st-Rounder (Mil) to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder send a 1st-Rounder (Dal) to the Dallas Mavericks. 

Overview: The Oklahoma City Thunder, a serious contender, get the best three point maker in the entire league in Mirotic (and he attempts the most too), a true glitch player in 2k16, because his three point ratings are not great because he’s really inconsistent in the NBA. Full disclosure, I seriously have lost count of how many times I’ve tried to take him away from Smokey, over the years, but it just never happened. Dallas took advantage of Nikola’s current value and sold him at an all-time high to OKC who can afford to lose one of his projected top lottery picks and Dallas can now breathe a sigh of relief and not feel so guilty when he loses. Dallas got his pick back, control of his own destiny, and Abrines, who is, right now, a more accurate version of Nikola Mirotic and gave away a very late first rounder. OKC is all the way in, and that’s the kind of move you have to make! In the end I think this could be called as fair, because of how juiced Mirotic is right now, but as soon as a couple months from now this could swing into Dallas’ favor really fast.  

The Detroit Pistons send Louis Williams to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks send Deyonta Davis to the Detroit Pistons. 
The Milwaukee Bucks send a 1st-Rounder (Ind) to the Atlanta Hawks. 

The Detroit Pistons receive 7 GM points. The Milwaukee Bucks trade -7 GM points.

Overview:  GM Badwolf got his Zach Lavine replacement and now has a gunner off the bench, and one of the best in the league at it, I might add. Detroit sort of confuses me with their moves sometimes as he seems to go back and forth based on getting win-now assets. They don’t own their pick, so why trade away an asset that can win a little more? The catch here is obviously the pick, which I believe GM Laddas thinks the Indiana Pacers have a chance to be a bad squad next season, and so they are betting against them. Deyonta Davis is an athletic project who was drafted on athleticism alone but just can’t stay healthy. Fair trade.

The Atlanta Hawks send Patrick Mills to the New York Knicks. The New York Knicks send Sam Dekker to the Atlanta Hawks. The New York Knicks send Roy Hibbert and Marcus Thornton to the Washington Wizards. The Washington Wizards send Nene Hilario and Joe Ingles to the New York Knicks. 
The New York Knicks send a 1st-Rounder (NY), 2nd-Rounder (Utah) and 2nd-Rounder (NY) to the Washington Wizards. 

The New York Knicks trade -6 GM points.The Washington Wizards receive 6 GM points.

Overview:  This is the NY version of going all-in. And they did it very well, because their core is pretty much already inked in and established. They were already good, but now they got 3 starting level players to re-tool their bench, and make the team even more nuclear. Washington is in the middle of a rebuild so NY struck at the right time when they were looking for picks. A very much in the 20’s pick and 2 seconds and Dekker for 3 great role players is a good price to pay and that’s the kind of move you should do. Atlanta gets a guy  the covet and Washington gets picks and fodder they covet. Edge NY but it’s close to being fair.

The Minnesota Timberwolves send James Johnson and Taj Gibson to the Sacramento Kings. The Sacramento Kings send Tyson Chandler, Cheick Diallo and Ron Baker to the Minnesota Timberwolves. 
The Sacramento Kings send a 2nd-Rounder (SA) to the Minnesota Timberwolves. 

The Minnesota Timberwolves trade -15 GM points.The Sacramento Kings receive 15 GM points.

Overview:   This is clearly an adjustment to the Jared Sullinger fiasco of a trade that saw Sacramento shed a good player in Marcus Morris, only to see Sully get waived and have to look for a PF all over again. Tyson Chandler is the big piece that is going to replace the void left by Plumlee in Minny, and Taj and JJ go to Sac to help fill in the holes that team had and this trade solidifies them. Minny didn’t want to pay those guys in FA, and Klemmelo is going full balls-out and really doesn’t about anything but winning this season, based on his moves. That takes guts.

The Atlanta Hawks send Chris Paul and Lucas Nogueira to the Detroit Pistons. The Detroit Pistons send Jrue Holiday and Tristan Thompson to the Atlanta Hawks. 

Atlanta will also get a 1^st rounder from Detroit in the future.

Overview: GM Laddas is screaming from the rooftops “I got CP3!!!”, and he should. This is a top 3 player at his position, and arguably still the best PG in the game and anytime you can get that, you do it. I was surprised at the cost to get CP3 a little bit (full disclosure I also had an offer in, but I try not to be biased), as I thought Paul would fetch more than that (see Boogie trade). So it’s Jrue, who’s still to commit to NO, Tristan and a pick, for CP3 and Nogueira, who’s a riser. Jrue is solid, and so is Tristan, they’ll be ok for the Hawks, it’s just that guys like CP3 don’t grow on trees, but I’m clearly the minority as the pundits think this was fair. Edge Detroit to me.

The Charlotte Hornets send Dirk Nowitzki and Bruno Caboclo to the Chicago Bulls. The Chicago Bulls send Evan Turner and Trevor Booker to the Charlotte Hornets. 
The Chicago Bulls send a 2nd-Rounder (Hou) to the Charlotte Hornets. 

Overview: The Prodigal Dirk returns!!! Yes, he’s back! This wasn’t getting in, but since Daz has labeled this traded as having save his season, I guess there’s impact here. I didn’t like this trade for Chicago, but Dirk is the glitch stretch 4 this engine loves, so their price is at a premium. A little edge Hornets here.

That’s about it, guys. Hope you’ve enjoyed it. Leave a comment and disagree with me or not, my feelings won’t get hurt, lol.

Sincerely,

GM Merencio.