NEW JERSEY The Nets sent out Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, and Troy Murphy and got Deron Williams, Brandan Wright, and Dan Gadzuric. Huge upgrade at PG, no better or worse for the other guys traded away and for. PG Williams, Farmar SG Morrow, Vujacic SF Outlaw, Ross PF Humphries, Wright C Lopez, Petro ATLANTA Atlanta sends Bibby, Evans, and Jordan Crawford for Hinrich and Armstrong. Hinrich is a slight upgrade over Bibby because he's a lot younger than Bibby. Bibby put up 9.4 PPG with 3.6 APG/1.2 TO in 30 minutes, .435 FG / .441 3pt shooting, 11.7 PER. Hinrich put up 11.1 PPG with 4.4 APG/1.8 TO in 31 minutes, .452 FG / .384 3pt shooting, 13.5 PER. Atlanta has a very good PG prospect in Jeff Teague, but it's a huge risk to hand the reigns over to him without a guy like Hinrich ready to take over just in case. PG Hinrich, Teague SG Johnson, Crawford SF Smith, Williams PF Horford, Smith C Collins, Zaza I think I'd play Williams, Smith, and Horford as my frontcourt with this team. CHICAGO Sent James Johnson to Toronto for Miami's 1st round pick next season. At least Miami didn't get their pick back to help bolster their roster! NEW YORK New York added Corey Brewer, Shelden Williams, Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Carter, Chauncey Billups, and Renaldo Balkman. Tgey gave up Timofey Mozgov, Anthony Randolph, Danilo Gallinari, Eddy Curry, Raymond Felton, and Wilson Chandler. Clearly a vastly improved team with the addition of Anthony and Billups. It is not going to matter what their regular season record is, as long as they make the playoffs. Once there, they have three guys capable of closing out games, and Billups can still run an offense with the best of them. On the surface, the team appears thin at the bigs positions, in spite of Stoudemire's presence. They have just two guys 6'10", but a reasonable rotation of guys at 6'8" or 6'9" that are at least as good as Kurt Thomas. The pickup of Shelden Williams was huge in filling the Knicks' only real weakness. PG Billups, Toney Douglas, Anthony Carter SG Landry Fields, Bill Walker SF Carmelo Anthony, Corey Brewer PF Stoudemire, Shawne Williams, Balkman C Turiaf, Stoudemire, Shelden Williams BOSTON Sent Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to Seattle for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. Sent Semih Erden and Luke Harangody to Cleveland for a 2nd round draft pick. They're doing well enough without Perkins most of the season, and Krstic can play enough quality minutes as a replacement. Green was originally drafted by OKC using the 5th pick in the draft obtained from Boston for Ray Allen, so it's sort of a home coming. They have a lot of quality big players (Shaq, Jermaine, Krstic, Big Baby, Garnett) when they're healthy. Right now, Shaq is day to day and Jermaine maybe returns for the playoffs. But enter Green, who appears to be headed for perhaps more PT at PF than at the SF position he's been playing so far in his career. He provides excellent backup for Pierce, and even allows the Celtics to play Pierce at SG some. Green averaged 37 MPG, I wouldn't be surprised if he averages near that at two positions for the Celtics. The trade of Erden and Harangody seems to be a foolish move, simply because Erden is 7'0" and the perfect guy to go up against Omer (and to give the Celtics some insurance at C). The loss of Nate Robinson means Delonte West becomes the backup PG - and he's just come back from missing 39 games due to injury. PG Rondo, West SG Allen, Pierce SF Pierce, Green PF Garnett, Green, Big Baby C Shaq/Jermaine/Krstic/Big Baby
Miami didn't/couldn't do anything to improve. Knicks improved, but I don't think by as much as it looks. Orlando is still trying to put the pieces together. Boston made a lot of moves, not sure if they improved. Does Green take minutes from Big Baby, but no way he avgs more than 20-24 minutes if Pierce and Garnett don't get hurt. Krstic is a better euro big than Erdin, but how much will he play. C's seem a lot more versatile in the front court, but only if guys who are used to playing consistent big starters minutes can be effective in short, limited stretches. Atlanta seems to have plugged the biggest hole of any of the playoff teams, but they still have a lot to prove. Now it comes down to where the buyouts end up.
I don't think it's outlandish to say that the toughest competition for the Bulls in the East may have substantially weakened their chances through horrible in-season trades.
I think it's outlandish to say anything else. To put it in the terms we've discussed here, I think Perkins is at least comparable to Noah in many respects. A different style and strengths, but a young, very good center. The overwhelming majority of folks wouldn't have traded Noah for Melo. The Celtics just traded their version of Noah for a guy no one in their right mind would mention in the same breath as Melo.
Remember Boston has 3 open spots on the roster after trading Daniels, Erden and Harangody. Lot of possibilities, we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.
I always hesitate to charge a poster on the Bulls board with not being a true Bulls fan, but I'm going to make an exception in your case based on visual evidence. C'mon admit it, you really kinda like the Celts..at least a little. Not sure what you guys have in mind, but launching Perkins struck me as an odd move for an obvious "win now" team...unless of course, you somehow plan on picking up the other best post defender on the planet.
I understand Boston's move. Even with all those bigs, their offense beyond their 4 starters was terrible. Like Nate was it! Green fills a bigger need. And they're going to pick up Murphy and maybe Rip...
Not sure why Celtics let Tony Allen go for $3M a year and then deciding they need to trade their starting center for a replacement. LOL about Rondo and (especially) Green being a nice youthful core.
Yeah, Rondo and Green is the youthful core of a 30 win team. I agree that the moves seem odd.....the Celtics seem hell bent on trading away their biggest comparative advantage I'm also not sold on Danny Ainge being a great GM either. Before the Garnett trade he did a lot of boneheaded tinkering, IMO. I do know a few people who thought an athletic 3/4 guy was what the Celtics needed. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but we'll see. For the purpose of this season, I'll count it as a +1 for the Bulls. The other trades don't concern me too much, for this season at least. The difference between the #2 and #3 seed did get a lot bigger though.
Well said. I heard that several Celts' vets were none too happy about the Perkins trade. Can't blame them. Most only have a few more fights in them and trading Perkins pretty much hurts their chances for the remainder of their foreseeable careers. They may still be good enough, but Perkins fills more of a need than does Green. One of the nice things about being a Bulls' fan these days is that the prospects for both the present and the future are bright. They're a legit contender (though not the favorite) right damn now and their core is young and improving. They also have both financial flexibility and the assets to significantly improve their team. Obviously, there are no guarantees, but I pretty much love what the Bulls players, coaches and FO have done to this point...they're in a "win now AND in the future" position and that's a great place to be.
I can see why Ainge made the moves. Green has a lot of potential even if I don't see him as a great 3. I think Ainge took a look around and realized that Orlando and the Lakers are probably not the biggest threats to the Celtics winning this title this year. Boston needs the legs to run with and guard Miami, Chicago, and whoever comes out the West, which no longer looks like it will be the Lakers. Boston already handled Miami 2 times without Perkins, so Perkins really wasn't necessary.
I think Dumars had a tough job to rebuild a team with guys like Rip and Prince on big long contracts. It remains to be seen if he does it in less time than it took the Bulls to rebuild - he's got about a decade more to match our futility.
I see things absolutely in reverse. I agree that you have to be able to run with Miami. But as we saw yesterday, you can't run with Miami. You can't even get back against Miami. Dwyane fucking Wade and Lebron fucking James. It's not going to happen. What you have to do is stop Miami's break on the boards. You toss a giant slow big man and have him fight for every board. If Miami can't clear their rebounds quickly the break never happens. It's not even really a question of clearing offensive boards as much as you just have to make the Miami bigs fight for them. You combat fast with slow. That's why Asik was so integral last night. (And also why every time Noah shot the ball it lead to a fast break. When he's shooting he's not covering the glass.) As to my earlier comments about trades undercutting the Bulls' primary competition, I was talking about Boston, obviously, but I was also talking about Orlando. It's so strange. I feel like teams are actively trying to lose through their personnel moves.
I think that's the winning narrative for why this trade was made. OKC, San Antonio, Miami, Dallas and Chicago are agile teams that win with finesse and execution, not brawn. The Celtics aren't well positioned to deal with that in a 7 game series, have done well without Kendrick Perkins, and we're going to lose him in FA anyway. Jeff Green makes them a little more athletic and agile, is a good defender, and he's a lot better than the nothing Boston would have gotten for Perkins this offseason. Not sure I agree with it, but I think that's the story.
