We've talked a fair amount about how a guy like Ben Wallace appears to have an unmovable contract and how good trades just arent' available too often, but when I look around and see a slug like Nazr Mohammed with a long and inexpensive contract left traded for two guys on expiring deals who seem like just as good or maybe better players (Primoz Brezec and Walter Herrmann), I think trades are there to be made. Or to put it differently, there are suckers out there waiting to be taken advantage of.
Depends how desperate a team is. Most NBA GMs are conservative by nature, they're working more to not get fired than to really make big, franchise changing moves. They know if those big moves backfire they'll get fired. Granted there's some exceptions and you see both sides of the coin. Isiah Thomas for example is not afraid to make big moves, but look what its gotten him, hes taken on crappy, overpaid, lazy players and his team is horrible for it. Chris Mullin on the other hand, also makes big trades and takes on "troubled players, "headcases", or even just guys who were outcast and doubted from day 1 of their NBA careers and its turning out great for him. Baron, Jack, Barnes, Azubuike, etc. were all written off as either complete scrubs who couldn't play or coach-killing headcases who were nothing but cancers. The desperate GMs will make moves, the delusional ones who think their team can still rally to make the playoffs will stay put.
First rule of finding a GM to take advantage of is to look at how many All Star appearances they have. The more they have, the easier it is to take advantage of them. Examples: Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas Second rule of finding a GM to take advantage of is to see if they were a member of the 80's Celtics. Examples: Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge Third rule of finding a GM to take advantage of is to look for someone named Billy. Examples: Billy Knight and Billy King
Part of the problem is that the majority of the GM's in the NBA don't have any foresight and aren't all that proactive. They only react to problems instead of anticipating them and that's why you see disgruntled superstars being traded for barely anything as well as GM's ignoring fundamental flaws in their roster until its too late.
