Trade Deadline…Yawn…

The trade deadline came and went and all the blockbusters we were expecting to hear about never came to be.  Amare Stoudemire to the Grizzlies? Nope. Vince Carter to the Blazers? Never happened.  Antawn Jamison to the Cavs? Shaq to the Cavs?  Richard Jefferson to the Cavs?  The biggest name that moved this deadline (not counting the Jermaine O’Neal/Shawn Marion swap nor the Brad Miller trade) was Tyson Chandler. Oh wait.  That trade got rescinded.  The biggest names were Rafer Alston and Larry Hughes. The Orlando Magic panicked after Chris Paul destroyed them on Wednesday night but fortunately didn’t have to give up much to get Skip. I doubt that first-round pick has much of an impact on the Grizz unless they’re able to package that pick along with some other assets in an offseason deal.  I don’t think Orlando thinks Rafer will bring them a championship but he’ll probably allow them to get that #3 seed in the East.

As for the Hughes deal, it doesn’t have much of a playoff implication since it’s possible both the Knicks and Bulls will miss the playoffs but I like the deal for New York since they get rid of Jerome James. Finally.  I mean the guy only played in four games in the last two seasons.  Donnie Walsh has somehow gotten rid of almost all the worthless players Isiah Thomas brought in so that in itself has to be a victory for New York.  I think Hughes will actually be pretty decent and Mike D’Antoni will utilize his slashing skills because we all know he’s not much of a shooter. (And for the record, I like the Chris Wilcox deal.  Athletic bigs are built for D’Antoni’s system).  Tim Thomas will provide some offensive spark for the Bulls but he won’t have much of an impact.  But I guess he’s better than a benched Hughes.

You know, I don’t really see any trade winners or losers.  There were some cost-cutting moves and some moves to free up roster spots.  Like I said, there weren’t any of the blockbusters we’d been hearing about and no superstars were on the move.  The biggest surprise was hearing that Shaq was rumored to be going to Cleveland.  Good thing it didn’t happen though because I couldn’t see Big Z and O’Neal playing together (nor could I picture Shaq in a Cavs uniform).  But the team whose strategy I can’t quite put my finger on is the Kings. I thought they could’ve gotten more for Brad Miller and John Salmons but settled for mediocrity.  And they didn’t even get any draft picks.  I am looking at their roster and they have long-term contracts tied up in Kevin Martin (who is good), Andres Nocioni (who is okay but I can already picture them trying to trade him soon), Beno Udrih (who they want to get rid of), and Francisco Garcia (who I’m sure they’ll also be looking to trade).  Not exactly the makings of a championship nucelus.  I do like the trade with TWolves though.  Brushing my UNC bias aside, I do like the deal bringing in Rashad McCants because he’s talented and they can see what he can do these next few months then decide what to do with him.  Shelden Williams isn’t even the best basketball player in his own house (that distinction goes to Candace Parker) so he was pretty much wasting space.  I don’t know what the Kings are doing and they look like they will be doormats for the foreseeable future.  I’ll take a stab and say Geoff Petrie will be fired by this time next year.  Kings fans, help me out and let me know what your team is doing.

I was terribly disappointed with the trades this year because like I said, there were a lot of superstar names on the block.  I expected to see at least a few of these rumored deals come to fruition but the contenders pretty much stood pat.  I guess this crappy economy is even affecting the kinds of trades we’re seeing in the NBA.  Oh well.  Maybe next year things will be more exciting.

Sacramento Kings Preview

SACRAMENTO KINGS (38-44)

Although the Kings won only 38 games last year, that is still quite impressive if you look at their roster, especially in the West.  Even though they don’t have the most exciting players, they would be a playoff team if they were in the other conference.  Reggie Theus has done a nice job with the Kings and now with Ron Artest out of the picture, perhaps they can come closer together as a team and elevate themselves to a playoff contender.

A definite star in the league.

Face of the Franchise: Kevin Martin. The fifth-year player out of Western Carolina has established himself as one of the elite scorers in the NBA. He finished sixth in the league averaging 23.7 ppg while taking only 15 shots per game.  Very impressive for a shooting guard.  What’s more impressive is that he gets to the line more often than Kobe Bryant. Despite all this, Martin is still well-under the radar in terms of fan popularity and will continue to be as long as the Kings are kept out of the playoffs.

Send Him Away: Brad Miller. If the Kings were title contenders, I would say to keep Miller.  He is the second-best player on the team and without him, the losses would be sure to mount.  But at 32 years old, I can’t imagine him being a productive player when the Kings can actually be good.  They still need to add a few pieces and Miller is one of their best trading chips.  He makes a lot of money but he is one of the best passing big men in the league and any contender would love to add a guy like him.

Going for 40.

Impact Newcomer: Donte Greene. I am not sure about this one but I can pretty much only choose from Greene, Bobby Jackson and Jason Thompson. Greene came over in the Artest trade and the Kings must think pretty highly of him to pretty much make him the centerpiece of that deal.  He exploded for 40 points in his summer league debut and scored 18 in his preseason debut against the Blazers. At 6-11, he is a tall and athletic swingman who can has range out to three point land, but he seems to take a lot of shots and sometimes, miss a lot too.  That was the case his one year in Syracuse and it looks like that’ll be the case in the pros.  His shot selection needs to improve if he wants to stay on the court for Coach Theus but if he can do that, he will provide a nice 1-2 punch with Martin in the future.

X-Factor: Beno Udrih. Surprisingly, Udrih has flourished during his time in Sacramento.  Generally an afterthought while he was with the Spurs, he has made the most of his opportunity here.  He has seized the starting point guard role and it doesn’t look like he’ll be letting go.  We’ll see if he can sustain the success he had last year.

Hang Time!

Forecast: High Lottery. As I said before, the Kings had a nice year last year.  Unfortunately, I do not see them getting any better, especially with Artest gone.  They’ll take a step back and hopefully they’ll be able to unload Brad Miller and get some young players and/or draft picks in return.  They have a nice core of young players but need to add get some better front-court prospects than Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson. If they can, they will be a scary team in a couple of years.