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Written by Zach Harper
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Tuesday, 16 February 2010 11:15 |
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The trade rumor season is always pretty ridiculous.
Probably at least 99% of the crap you read is exactly that – crap. You’ve got trades concocted by eager fans, people that like to stir the pot, NBA front offices that are trying to trick another team into thinking they need to up their ante, and media members that need something to write about.
But what always gets me is the desperate contenders who need one more significant piece to put them over the top. A good portion of those trade rumors always seem to be absurdly one-sided and ill conceived based on what we know about NBA teams. Take the Kevin Martin trade rumors that were bandied about for the past few weeks. Kevin Martin and Kenny Thomas/Andres Nocioni to the Celtics for Ray Allen’s expiring jump shot? Kevin Martin to the Cavs for Zyndrunas Ilgauskas straight up? Maybe throw in a protected pick? How did any of this make sense?
These were rumors made up on the other side of the Kings front office desk that seemed like desperate attempts to trick fans into thinking these contenders were “trying their best” to improve the title chances. And it was all BS. Why is there always this overlying theme that makes it seem like the lesser teams of the NBA want to help out the playoff contenders with trades that fleece the bad organizations?
Well, in watching the Twitter-explosion of the Marcus Camby trade late last night, I can see why this posturing and sense of helping the rich get richer is saturated in this trade rumors. Kevin Pritchard is one of those smart GMs. In fact, he’s so smart that he continually fleeces unsuspecting GMs and they don’t even realize they’re being fleeced.
Mike Dunleavy hasn’t been terrible since he took over the Clippers GM duties. He hasn’t been re-slicing bread for the first time by any means but he hasn’t been incompetent like so many of his colleagues before him. But he did just trade Marcus Camby to the Portland Trailblazers for Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw. Is this a terrible trade by any means for the Clippers? Not completely.
They currently sit in the 12th seed of the Western Conference and are eight-and-a-half games behind the Blazers for the eighth seed. They are unlikely to compete the rest of the season considering they aren’t all that good/consistent to begin with and they won’t be getting the services of Blake Griffin any time soon. They also won’t be getting the services of Travis Outlaw (their new acquisition) because he might not come back from foot surgery this season. They’re sort of in limbo, much like they have been for the past 30 years or more.
The problem with the move Mike Dunleavy made in dealing Camby for Blake (a backup point guard they need with Sebastian Telfair injured) and Outlaw is that it seemingly isn’t nearly as much you would expect them to be able to get from a trade partner. Marcus Camby is a commodity in this league. He’s the second leading rebounder in the league and still a nice eraser at the basket. And you’ve just shipped him away for Steve Blake and the expiring surgically repaired foot of Travis Outlaw. That’s right. Outlaw’s contract is up at the end of this year and while holding his free agent rights might help out, you’re not guaranteeing yourself any help from him in any way.
When Outlaw is healthy, he’s one of the best sixth men in the NBA. He’s an athletic anomaly with a silky jump shot and has had good success with late fourth quarter scoring over the past couple of seasons. But you’re probably not going to get him this season and you’re going to have to overpay to get him to stay beyond July. You’re guaranteed solid minutes from Steve Blake as the backup to Baron but that’s all you’re getting for one of the best shot blocking and rebounding centers left in the NBA?
Leave it to Kevin Pritchard to help out his team much more than he helped out his trading partner. The Blazers have been reeling from the Greg Oden and Joel Pryzbilla trades by putting in patchwork centers and praying that LaMarcus Aldridge grows an affinity for playing in the post and grabbing rebounds. Juwan Howard has been the guy putting the band-aid over the wound that badly needed stitches. But now with Camby, they have the needle and thread to sew up what’s been ailing them for a final playoff push.
On the surface, this looks like a basketball trade and not a financial move. The Blazers needed someone in the middle and got Camby. The Clippers needed a backup for Baron and an athletic wing so they got Blake and Outlaw. It’s nice to see teams making basketball-related moves rather than economic related purges. But I wonder how much of this deal was finalized because the Blazers are also sending the Clippers $1.5 million?
Was this a case of a dirtbag owner selling away his commodities for some cold, hard cash? Or was this just another example of one NBA GM helping out another NBA GM because he had no shot at the playoffs and no clue he was being taken for more than he realized?
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The problem is that this is a real gamble for them and now Al has more leverage and less trade value.