Tuesday, February 16, 2010

NBA Trade - Portland Trailblazers and Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers and the Portland Trailblazers have worked out a deal to send Marcus Camby to the Blazers for Steve Blake and Travis Outlaw. The deal should be completed by the end of the day today but should eventually help both teams.

The Clippers will get rid of Camby which will give them a more traditional PF with Craig Smith or Blake Griffin (when healthy) in that role. By bringing in Outlaw, they get someone who can fill the SF spot over Rasual Butler and provide some punch right away. Outlaw has show streaks of brilliance while with the Blazers coming off the bench. Steve Blake will come in and be able to give Baron Davis a rest without missing a beat on offense.

The Blazers get Camby is a veteran leader and may be able to get these young Blazers to focus on the playoffs (and more) by being the man in the middle. He may want to get some insurance though because their men in the middle haven’t fared well this season. I’ll look forward to the Blazers defense picking it up a little and making them an interesting team come playoff time.

Grade:

Clippers - B – They get rid of Camby’s contract and they get a young scorer in Outlaw. Steve Blake is a helluva throw in because he can run a team as your backup point guard.

Blazers - B – They get a veteran leader who can possibly help them bridge the gap for a center for the remainder of the year. As long as Camby doesn’t take any of those ugly jumpers from the top of the key, this works great.

NBA Trade - Dallas and Washington

The Dallas Mavericks and the Washington Wizards got together to pull off one of the larger deals in the NBA. The deal sends Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and DeShawn Stevenson to the Mavericks for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, Quinton Ross, James Singleton, and a few greenbacks.

This is a major move for Dallas who had been slumping prior to the All Star Weekend and gives them new life at the 2 (Butler) and the 5 (Haywood). Erick Dampier has been hurt Jason Terry is probably better at coming off the bench. Butler should bring a hard nosed scoring threat to the Mavericks that they haven’t had since maybe Jimmy Jackson. Stevenson can also come off the bench and provide some scoring and some defense.

The Wizards are in rebuilding mode. With the suspension of Gilbert Arenas for the rest of the year, they couldn’t make the playoffs. With other coveted pieces (Jamison and Miller) still on the team, there really aren’t any pieces to rebuild with (expected one of those two to be traded). The Wizards get another head case in Howard, a decent 10 and 10 guy in Gooden, and not much else.

Grade:

Mavericks – B – Solid move but I’m not sure that you gain that much more with Tough Juice (Butler) than what you had with Howard when he was playing well. They do get a little tougher in the paint with Haywood and a little more production with Stevenson.

Wizards – D – Well, that’s about all they can do is dump salary and hope that they can clear Arenas off the books and just start over. If Howard can get his head right AND keep from spraining one of his delicate ankles, he’d be a good complimentary piece when paired with a dominant player.