Grading Every NBA Trade

NBA trade deadline report cards

By John Hollinger
ESPN.com Insider




Rockets, Suns swap point guards





Houston trades Aaron Brooks to Phoenix for Goran Dragic and a first-round pick.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine








Houston Rockets: A-
After a very promising 2009-10 campaign, Dragic has regressed mightily. He is using a ton of possessions and using them very badly, making 27.7 percent of his 3s and shooting an abysmal 60.8 percent at the free throw line. Amazingly, he has still been better than Brooks, and I think we can safely say he'll bring a sunnier attitude as well.
Somehow, the Rockets also wrangled a mid-to-late first-round pick -- which is Phoenix's if it makes the playoffs, and Orlando's otherwise -- out of this. While the change of scenery can only help both Dragic and Brooks, Dragic, 24, is younger by two years, makes less money, and I would argue has the greater upside. It wasn't the home run Rockets GM Daryl Morey was seeking, but it was a solid shot down the line.
As an added bonus, today's trades also position Houston to get under the luxury tax if it can work a favorable buyout with Jared Jeffries or if some of its players miss the incentives in their contracts. More likely, the Rockets will end up slightly over, but they at least cut their exposure with the trades.




Phoenix Suns: C-
Brooks may be the succession strategy if the Suns trade Steve Nash this summer. But if Phoenix sees him as its point guard of the future, the future just got worse. While an early-season injury may be party to blame, Brooks' numbers this season have been even worse than Dragic's, to the point that it looks like Brooks' most improved player campaign in 2009-10 may have been a fluke season.
He's not a 34.6 percent shooter, which is his mark so far this season, but even when he's playing well he's a major defensive liability. Brooks would also be in the top 10 if I ever made a list of "guys I'd hate playing with" -- he pounds the ball for 20 seconds every trip.
As a tempo-changing scorer off the bench, Brooks has value, and if the Suns just use him that way he'll be fine. But I wouldn't have surrendered a first-round pick to get him, especially when Dragic can do the same thing more cheaply; Dragic is owed just $2.1 million next year, while Brooks is a restricted free agent who is hoping to cash in.

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Battier returns to Grizzlies




Houston trades Shane Battier and Ish Smith to Memphis for Hasheem Thabeet, DeMarre Carroll and a first-round pick.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine








Memphis Grizzlies: B-
Battier's return to Memphis will be the headline in West Tennessee, as he was beloved in his first tour of duty there. Nonetheless, this trade was mainly about Thabeet, and the fact that he's been such a colossal bust as the second overall pick in 2009 that the Grizzlies effectively had to pay Houston to take him. Memphis included a future first-round pick in the deal, as well as another 2009 first-round bust in Carroll.
Battier helps Memphis cope with the absence of Rudy Gay (shoulder) for about three more weeks and the lack of bigger wings (Tony Allen, Sam Young and O.J. Mayo all are on the short side), plus he can slide up to the 4 when Memphis plays small. With the Griz pushing for a playoff berth, Battier will be quite helpful, and he may also help mentor rookie Xavier Henry -- a guy everyone in Memphis compares to Battier. As for Smith, he's a tiny speedster who will stake a claim for the Grizzlies' rotating backup point guard spot.
By the way, reports indicate that the Grizzlies had a deal to send O.J. Mayo to Indiana for Josh McRoberts and a first-round pick and they missed the trade deadline. While all those elements may be true, it can't be the whole story, as the deal as presented isn't legal under salary-cap rules. One suspects Indiana needed Memphis (or another team) to take on another contract and the two sides couldn't agree on the player.




Houston Rockets: B-
It's the end of an era in Houston and a roll of the dice on Thabeet, but Houston had enough wing depth to withstand the departure of Battier, who wasn't in the Rockets' plans beyond this season. Additionally, Houston gets a future first-round pick for its troubles (although it will be available in 2013 at the earliest), while also absorbing the little-used Carroll.
The Rockets absorb a $5 million contract for next year in Thabeet, but saved much of that in salary and luxury tax this season. Plus, as awful as Thabeet has been this season, he has shown some promise as a central defender in zones and I imagine the Rockets want to use him in much the same way they used Dikembe Mutombo.
But the main risk here isn't the money they're paying Thabeet ... it's that they'll carve out minutes for him and he'll still be terrible. The Rockets managed to avoid doing this with Terrence Williams (although he may get more of a role now that Battier is gone), and will also have to carefully tiptoe the development-versus-winning line with Thabeet.

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Portland picks up Wallace from Charlotte





Charlotte trades Gerald Wallace to Portland for Joel Przybilla, Dante Cunningham, Sean Marks and two first-round picks.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine








Portland Trail Blazers: B+
Really? That's it? They get an All-Star for two firsts and an expiring contract?
Apparently so, but there are some caveats here. First, Wallace is at his best in the open court, and the Blazers haven't run a fast break in several years. Wallace also isn't a good outside shooter, so when combined with Marcus Camby and Andre Miller the Blazers are going to face a ton of sagging zones. And Wallace's play has dropped off fairly sharply this season; as a 28-year-old who depends heavily on his athleticism, that's a worrisome sign -- especially since he makes $10.5 million in each of the next two seasons.
Nonetheless, he gives the Blazers' wing rotation a major boost and allows Portland to make more heavy use of its best lineup, with LaMarcus Aldridge at center and Nic Batum at power forward. However, the biggest upgrades comes from what he replaces. For the past month, Portland has effectively relied on five quality players (Aldridge, Batum, Miller, Wesley Matthews and Rudy Fernandez) and filled in the gaps with replacement-level output from a series of situational subs.
Wallace is going to soak up most of those minutes, which, on paper, is an improvement worth several wins over the course of an 82-game season. Camby, set to return from injury, and Brandon Roy, already back from injury, will take the rest. Thus, the Blazers have quickly gone from a MacGyver rotation relying on rubber bands and duct tape to an extremely solid eight-man core.
It's not a perfect fit, but considering it cost them only two draft picks -- one of which they won't owe until at least 2013, the other a pick from the New Orleans Hornets that they acquired for little-used Jerryd Bayless earlier this season -- it's about as good as they could have possibly hoped to do.




Charlotte Bobcats: C
Charlotte could have gotten a lot more for Wallace a year ago, but they were under the Larry Brown mantra of "win today and don't worry about tomorrow."
Well, it's tomorrow. The Bobcats are capped out, not very good, and don't have many good young players. Ergo, today's trades. The two first-rounders (a 2011 pick from New Orleans and a protected 2013 pick from the Blazers) will help, eventually, but neither is likely to be a high pick.
The main motivation was simply to drop the $22 million owed to Wallace the next two years. Charlotte would need to drop another contract on draft day in order to have enough cap space to be a free-agent player, but it at least has some breathing room under the luxury tax. It's very possible the Bobcats will trade Boris Diaw or Stephen Jackson after the season and completely start over.
Charlotte also receives Joel Przybilla, Sean Marks and Dante Cunningham. All three have expiring contracts; Przybilla is basically finished and Marks never really started, but Cunningham could potentially have value and his qualifying offer for next season is a palatable $1.1 million. The second-year forward is an undersized-but-mobile 4 who can hit open 15-footers, but has no other useful offensive skill. If he improves, he's a rotation player.
As a result, the Bobcats had to cut three players (Dominic McGuire, Derrick Brown and Sherron Collins) to accommodate their two trades.


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Celtics send Perkins to Thunder for Green





Boston trades Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to Oklahoma City for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic.
• View deal in ESPN's Trade Machine








Oklahoma City Thunder: B
The Thunder finally took some chips off their huge stack and threw them into the center of the table, dealing two starters to upgrade their interior defense and promote Serge Ibaka. I wrote about the transformation more extensively earlier, but the risk is that Perkins may fly the coop as a free agent. Even then Oklahoma City will be partially covered because it will have cap space, but if so it loses a valuable draft pick belonging to the Clippers for just half a season of Perkins. Robinson is more a minus than a plus in this deal, as he'll cost more than $4 million next season and is unlikely to see more than spot duty as a fifth guard.
Boston Celtics: B
Everyone in Beantown is puzzled by this deal, but the Celtics desperately needed a wing and had a surplus of centers. Obviously, dealing Perkins was a risk, and getting the Clippers draft pick is of questionable value for a team trying to win a title right now. I wrote more about the move here, but suffice it to say I can understand the logic as long as the Celtics think it's the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs, not the Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers, who present the greatest threats to their title hopes this season.

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Thunder bulk up with Mohammed





Charlotte sends Nazr Mohammed to Oklahoma City for Mo Peterson and D.J. White.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine








Oklahoma City Thunder: B
I wrote more here about the Thunder's trades, and this deal was just a small part of their big day, but getting Mohammed was a solid move for their playoff run. They'll have Mohammed's Bird Rights and a role for him if he wants to stick around, and White was buried on the depth chart behind the likes of Ibaka and Nick Collison. In an underrated note, this deal also shaved $2 million on the Thunder's 2011 cap number, so if they can't keep Perkins it opens up some more options.




Charlotte Bobcats: B-
I'm just as shocked as you are, but yes, it appears Mo Peterson is still in the NBA. His expiring deal was the salary ballast, but White-for-Mohammed is really the trade. Basically, the Bobcats need White's mildly promising future more than Mohammed's mildly useful present.
White is a good spot-up shooter and a decent system defender who needs to improve the other phases of his game. Since his game is so similar to that of newly acquired Dante Cunningham, it will be interesting to see which of the two wins consistent minutes as Boris Diaw's backup. Also, while you can freely accuse the Bobcats of being cheap you-know-whats for the Wallace trade, they actually took on a bit of money on in this deal.

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Cavs acquire two C's rookies





Boston trades Semih Erden and Luke Harangody to Cleveland for a second-round pick.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine








Cleveland Cavaliers: B
I don't think Erden is much of a player, but I can at least understand the Cavs' mentality here: They would use a second-round pick this summer to get a true center to back up Anderson Varejao anyway. Paying Harangody next season is likely just the price of it -- although, he may be competent enough to pass as a fourth or fifth big man. Cleveland also had to waive Leon Powe to clear a roster spot for the trade.




Boston Celtics: C+
Trading Erden is an odd response for a team with a rash of frontcourt injuries that hopes to contend right away. Obviously, Boston hopes to use the roster spots on waived or bought-out veterans, such as Golden State's Troy Murphy, but they already created one by shipping Marquis Daniels to Sacramento. A second-round pick from Cleveland has some value -- actually more value than Erden, I would argue -- but the time horizon here is the problem. Boston's window is right now.

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Kings take on injured Daniels





Boston trades Marquis Daniels to Sacramento for a protected 2017 second-round pick and cash considerations.









Sacramento Kings: B+
This was a no-brainer. As ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported, the Kings were under the league's salary floor, which means having Boston pay them to take Daniels cost them less than nothing -- they were going to pay out extra money to players otherwise; instead, Boston is doing it. It's possible they can also parlay a small asset from a sign-and-trade with Daniels this summer, but this was mainly a money deal.




Boston Celtics: B+
A nice way to wriggle out of some luxury-tax money, as the Celtics essentially pay Sacramento to take Daniels, who was unlikely to play the rest of this season because of a spinal injury. That's the NBA for you -- Boston paid Sacramento to take Daniels, but both teams profited from it thanks to the cap and luxury tax rules.

Feb. 24: Clippers trade Baron Davis to Cleveland





L.A. Clippers trade Baron Davis and the Clippers' 2011 first-round draft pick to Cleveland for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine











Cleveland: A-


I've always wondered what the cash price of a lottery pick was. In this case, it seems to be about $12 million -- the difference in what's owed over the next two years between Davis and Williams. Cleveland effectively paid the Clippers that amount for their first-round pick, which is completely unprotected in the 2011 draft and could end up being first. In fact, it's possible the Cavs will have the first two picks in the draft, which certainly could accelerate the post-LeBron rebuilding. Give a tip of the hat to Cavs owner Dan Gilbert for agreeing to use his checkbook to speed up the process.


In the short term, this trade may make Cleveland even worse. Although Davis is the more talented of the two players, Williams played fairly hard for a miserable Cleveland team, and nobody expects Davis to do the same, especially because he's reunited with coach Byron Scott. (The two clashed in New Orleans.) Look for Cleveland to deal him again at the first available opportunity.


Capwise, however, the Cavs' logic is airtight. Cleveland wasn't going to have cap space in the summer of 2011 no matter what; and even with Davis' fat contract on the books, it'll still have plenty of space in the summer of 2012.








L.A. Clippers: C+


Take our point guard ... please. The Clippers wanted to be out from under the weight of Davis' contract so badly that they gave away their lottery pick in this year's draft.


I'm not crazy about this tactic, but I should point out that this move isn't just run-of-the-mill Clippers cheapness. The strategic part is that the trade cuts just enough salary to make the Clips something of a player in this summer's free-agent market. They won't have enough space for a max deal but could easily make a play for L.A. native Tayshaun Prince or one of several other promising free-agent small forwards -- the one position that's holding the Clips back at the moment.


Additionally, Williams is likely a much better complement to Blake Griffin than Davis was because of his sweet outside shot. The Clips now have two deadly outside shooters at the guard positions in Williams and Eric Gordon, and with Griffin's potent passing ability, they've set themselves up to be extremely difficult to defend in the half court.


Jamario Moon is also in the deal and has an expiring contract; I expect the Clips to let him walk and pursue better options in free agency.



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Feb. 23: Troy Murphy to Golden State



Nets trade Troy Murphy and a second-round pick in 2012 to the Warriors for Dan Gadzuric and Brandan Wright.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine











New Jersey: B-


I'm not sure who did the more spectacular job of destroying a useful power forward's value: New Jersey with Murphy or Golden State with Wright. Ironically, in each case the team gave up a quality shooting guard in the original acquisition: Murphy cost the Nets Courtney Lee, and Wright cost the Warriors Jason Richardson.


New Jersey, at least, ends up with a good player out of this in Wright, who can take over Derrick Favors' minutes at power forward and should team with Deron Williams to provide a long finisher diving to the basket on pick-and-rolls. He's injury-prone and doesn't defend much, but he'll help the Nets offensively. At the effective price of a second-round pick, this was a very solid addition; he's a restricted free agent with a prohibitive qualifying offer, but New Jersey should be able to re-sign him cheaply if it's interested.


About the only faint praise I can offer for Gadzuric is that he might not be as bad as Johan Petro. He has an expiring contract and won't be back.






Golden State: C+
Even if the Warriors didn't want to keep Wright, they gave up his Bird rights (the ability to re-sign him at a cost that would put them over the salary cap) for shockingly little -- a 2012 second-round pick from New Jersey -- and actually took on money in this trade unless they can squeeze Troy Murphy for favorable buyout terms. On the other hand, if you look at it as a straight purchase of a second-round draft pick, the terms aren't bad -- Golden State paid only about $400,000 and could move into the black on this deal if it gets favorable buyout terms from Murphy.



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Feb. 23: Hawks add Hinrich



Washington trades Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong to Atlanta for Mike Bibby, Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans and a 2011 first-round draft pick.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine











Atlanta Hawks: B


As far as need goes, it's tough to do better than this. Atlanta Hawks fans who have spent half a decade watching their point guards get torched night after night will now have to cope with the shocking sight of Hinrich competently defending opponents at either guard spot. Also, I'm looking forward to watching Hinrich squirm with his goggles in person every night. I may need to create a goggle-adjustments-per-minute stat just for him.


Hinrich isn't as good a spot-up shooter as the departed Mike Bibby but he's better at everything else, and his ability to play off the ball should make him a solid backcourt cohort with Jamal Crawford or even Jeff Teague. Look for Joe Johnson to also benefit, as he'll no longer be spending his nights chasing all the point guards that Bibby couldn't contain.


The Hawks also send out 2010 first-rounder Jordan Crawford and a 2011 first-rounder while saving the Washington Wizards about $2.5 million in salary next season. That's probably the most surprising part: Atlanta added 2011-12 salary, when spies had told me the Hawks were looking to cut money (it's possible they still could by dealing Marvin Williams or Zaza Pachulia).


Oh, Hilton Armstrong is in the trade too. He'll make Jason Collins and Josh Powell feel better about themselves in practice.








Washington Wizards: B+


I haven't been a big fan of what Washington has done recently, but the final accounting on the Hinrich era is hard to argue against. Washington walks away with three first-round picks (counting Crawford) merely for having Hinrich on its roster for two-thirds of a season. Subtracting the cash they received from the Bulls and the money they paid Hinrich, and remembering that even late first-round picks typically cost $3 million, they came ahead by at least a first-round pick.


None are high picks, but the Wizards' rebuilding project will happen by acquiring good young players, not 30-year-olds. Crawford has been erratic as a rookie, but Washington will take a chance on his ability to provide scoring off the bench, while the first-round pick from Atlanta should be around No. 20.


As for the other players: Bibby still has a year left on his deal after this one and obviously is of little value to Washington, meaning a buyout is one potential outcome. Evans could seek a buyout too, especially if he could finagle a return to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he served as mentor to Andrew Bynum during his previous stint.



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Feb. 23: Hornets Swap Thornton for Landry





Sacramento trades Carl Landry to New Orleans for Marcus Thornton and cash considerations.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine











Sacramento Kings: B


This is probably about as well as the Sacramento Kings of Anaheim could have hoped to do for Landry, who has an expiring contract and had no intention of staying in Sacramento. Or Anaheim. Although his defense is suspect and he can be too single-minded at times, Thornton is a good prospect who can really score. He'll be most useful when Tyreke Evans is off the floor, where he can indulge his scorer's mindset as a sixth man. Sacramento also gets cash, which it will use to tip the movers.


While Thornton is a free agent after this season, he's restricted and has a minimal cap hold, which means the Kings can easily keep him without cutting into much of their cap space.








New Orleans Hornets: A-


The New Orleans Hornets give up a valuable young player in Thornton, but he wasn't playing and New Orleans badly needed help for its frontcourt. On that front, this was a huge success, as the Hornets' flagging bench gets a go-to scorer. Landry is absolutely perfect in this role and can destroy second-line power forwards with his combination of mid-range shooting, aggressive drives and offensive boards -- much as he did with the Houston Rockets for two seasons before his trade to the Kings.


This is also a signal that the Hornets are going the opposite way of the Utah Jazz in handling their 2012 free-agent point guard. New Orleans has aggressively moved to add veterans such as Landry, Jarrett Jack and Trevor Ariza in the hope of surrounding Paul (and West) with a championship-contending core. One presumes the Hornets will try hard to keep Landry when he's a free agent this summer; owning his Bird Rights and having a solid role for him, they should have an advantage.



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Feb. 23: Jazz ship D-Will to New Jersey





Utah trades Deron Williams to New Jersey for Derrick Favors, Devin Harris, two first-round draft picks and cash considerations.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine











New Jersey Nets: Incomplete


This trade can't be evaluated until we learn whether the New Jersey Nets can get Williams to agree to an extension. If he does, it's an A. If not, it's an F. There is no in between. The Nets could trade Williams again, but they're not going to get as much as they gave to the Jazz; if somebody out there had been willing to do so, he wouldn't be a Net right now.


Unless the new collective bargaining agreement has a franchise tag, Williams also can hold up New Jersey's free-agency push this summer until he decides whether to extend his contract. (He's eligible to do so beginning July 9.) Williams would be a major lure for other free agents, but only if they knew he was staying. Ironically, the best free agent this summer appears to be New Orleans' David West, who could wind up ditching Chris Paul to play with Williams.








Utah Jazz: B-


I can't give the Utah Jazz too high a grade when they did the equivalent of punting on fourth-and-1 from midfield. It's not certain that Williams would have left in 2012, and they might have had a franchise tag to protect themselves under an eventual 2011 labor agreement. And if that turned out not to be the case, they simply could have traded him later (albeit for less). Additionally, it's not as though other stars are clamoring to come to Utah; when a team like the Jazz gets one, it needs to hang on for dear life the way the Hornets have done with Paul.


With all those caveats, Utah made a heck of a deal. Favors may never wow us offensively, but he's going to be a rock-solid defensive player who stabilizes the Jazz's good-hit, no-field frontcourt, and the two first-round picks (along with Utah's own) should help the Jazz recover quickly. Additionally, Harris is a fairly good player in his own right, and his contract is fair, so he'll cushion the blow of Williams. In the short term, it leaves the Jazz a mediocre team but by no means an awful one. If they draft well (which they haven't of late), the path to recovery could be short.


But you'd still rather have Williams.



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Feb. 22: Raptors land Bulls' Johnson





Chicago trades James Johnson to the Raptors for a first-round draft pick.











Toronto Raptors: C+


It says everything you need to know about Johnson's career thus far that he was the No. 16 pick in the 2009 draft, and was traded two years later for what's likely to be one of the last picks in first round. (The pick the Toronto Raptors gave the Chicago Bulls comes from the Miami Heat in the Chris Bosh sign-and-trade. In an abundance of caution, the Heat lottery-protected it.)


And even then, one suspects the Raptors overpaid. Johnson has turned the ball over in enormous quantities in his limited NBA minutes and has done little else of note. He's also already 24 years old, so his upside is fairly limited compared with some other prospects. Even with a late first-rounder in what many anticipate will be a weak draft, the Raptors may still have been able to do better.


We'll know the answer soon, as Johnson should get meaningful minutes in Toronto right away. The Raps can plug him as either a 3 or a smallish 4 -- I suspect his best position is the latter, but Toronto has a greater need at the former -- and see if he can turn his flagging career around.








Chicago Bulls: B+


This is a small deal, obviously, but I like it for the Chicago Bulls because they generate two assets -- increased cap space and a draft pick. Neither is a game-changing piece, but both put them in a better position to make a more notable move in the next 48 hours. They also can take these assets into draft day and see what they're worth then. They could do this because Johnson wasn't playing anyway. Overall, the Bulls basically give themselves a do-over on their 2009 draft pick.

Report Card: Nuggets send Melo to New York



Denver trades Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman to the Knicks for Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov, a first-round draft pick (2014 or later) and cash. Knicks also send Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry to Minnesota for Corey Brewer.
• View this deal in the ESPN Trade Machine





New York: D+








You can't evaluate this as you would a normal trade. This deal was made at gunpoint, and that colors the entire assessment.
Anthony became the first player in memory to issue a trade demand and then list one team that he'd accept a trade to. And then somehow, the Knicks decided to start bidding against themselves and repeatedly agreed to up the ante in the final hours.
New York could have had Anthony this summer while losing only Chandler (a restricted free agent they would have had to renounce). Their primary risk to that outcome was a "franchise tag" in the new collective bargaining agreement that would have allowed Denver to keep Anthony. But even then plenty of alternatives were available for the Knicks, as three better players -- Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Dwight Howard -- all seemed anxious to get to the Big Apple via power plays of their own, and one of the three (or another marquee star) may have wriggled free regardless of what new restrictions the next CBA imposes.
This isn't Indiana or Memphis, and this saga laid that reality bare. Even with a franchise tag rule, New York had so many advantages that it was only a matter of time before a second star showed up, especially given the salary cap space the Knicks had carved out.
To get a player like Anthony in those circumstances, it was worth paying something above just Chandler to convert a likely outcome to a certainty.
But in this case the premium New York paid was as follows, beyond Chandler:
• Gallinari
• Mozgov
• Their 2014 first-round draft pick
• Golden State's second-round picks in 2012 and 2013 (owned by the Knicks)
• $6 million in cash ($3 million each to Minnesota and Denver)
• Swallowing two dead-money years at the end of Balkman's contract
• Trading Anthony Randolph for Corey Brewer
• Trading Felton for Billups, making New York eight years older at the point guard spot with a player who makes nearly twice in salary next season. Remind me again why they needed to commit to all eight of these additional considerations for a player they were likely to get anyway?
The worst part, of course, is that this deal proves that no matter how many advantages New York gains from its magnetic appeal to potential free agents, owner James Dolan will screw them up. Leaning on the genius of Isiah Thomas -- because it worked out so well for the first time -- he fell hook, line and sinker for every bluff thrown his way by the Nuggets and Melo's people. (Yes, Melo's people participated -- Anthony needed to make sure he got a lucrative contract extension under the current salary rules before being traded.)
New York still gets its Melo-Stoudemire nucleus, but now lacks the supporting pieces to do anything important with that core. And by extending Melo now, they agree to lock him up at such an expensive price that, in concert with Stoudemire's deal, it likely precludes making a run at Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Dwight Howard in 2012.


Denver: B+








With a loaded gun pointed at their heads, the Nuggets bluffed and schemed their way to a very palatable end-game by running circles around the New York area's battling ownership groups. Using New Jersey for leverage and hoping the Knicks were foolish enough to take the bait, Denver eventually squeezed terms that got the Nuggets under the luxury tax line -- a sizable fit considering they were $13 million over -- brought in a much younger point guard, two quality forwards, a young big man, a first-round pick, two second-round picks and cash.
That's not a bad haul, and it still may be improved upon. With Lawson ready to move up to the starting role, it appears Felton may be moved on to a third team. It's not out of the question that Denver could still make the playoffs, and if the Nuggets can hang on to center Nene Hilario -- another of the Nuggets' potential free agents -- Denver will come out of this in far better shape than most teams that lose a star player.


Minnesota: B+








I like Brewer, but I'd trade him for Randolph in a heartbeat. Brewer is a solid role player who plays great defense but can't shoot or dribble. That type of player has his uses, but that's all Brewer will ever be. Helpful, yes, but fungible too.
Randolph has a lower floor but a much higher ceiling. He can't shoot, he weighs 11 pounds and he's a head case. On the other hand, he has rare shot-blocking talent, handles the ball unusually well for a player of his size, and is an elite athlete. He's a potential game-changer at the defensive end and, if the light bulb ever comes on, he's going to provide a very potent complement to Kevin Love's skills in the Minnesota frontcourt.
The price of that trade was just swallowing Curry's expiring contract, but because of the difference in salary between Brewer and Randolph and the $3 million coming from New York, it's pretty much a wash financially. Basically it amounts to a free talent upgrade for Minnesota just for loaning out their cap space to get the Nuggets under the luxury tax.