NBA Trades (post-draft)

On Draft Day 
Wolves: Jimmy Butler
Thibs is reunited with his most successful protege. The buzz is Butler is a bit of a negative Nancy in the locker room but the Wolves vibe should be good for him and his influence will be good on the youngsters. I think this is a big time pick up for the Wolves.

Bulls: Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn
Bulls need everything. LaVine is an exciting scorer (when his leg isn't in a cast...) and Dunn was the #5 pick just one year ago. They've got two exciting young players to develop, not the Bulls strong suit (Elton Brand, Tyson Chandler, Brad Miller, Ron Artest, Taj Gibson, Omer Asik, Jimmy Butler all moved). It wasn't a good trade but it could turn out brutally awful.

Nuggets: Trey Lyles
At Kentucky, I liked Lyles more than Towns. I see how mistaken I was but I still believe in Lyle, I think he could a better scoring version of Jokic (good hands, good feet, good instincts). Decent chance he gets moved again soon, decent chance he gets lost on Denver's intriguingly talented bench, but decent chance he becomes the poor man's Kevin Love and fits right into that rotation.


Post-Draft Day

Rockets get Chris Paul; Clippers get Patrick Beverly, Lou Williams, Sam Dekkar, 2018 Rockets 1st rd pick
Getting some assets back instead of letting Chris Paul (*) walk is an un-Clipper-ish stroke of good luck. Beverly can ball (they'll probably trade him); I was way more impressed with Dekker last year than I expected to be, kinda the poor man's Blake, I expect him to get some time while Blake nurses various injuries; Lou Williams is a Jamal Crawford replacement and a trade-able contract; the draft pick will be late 20's (Clippers have already traded it). Not a bad haul actually.

Rockets get a rock solid superstar badass OG PG to pair with Harden. Personally, I think Harden is the most un-stoppable player in the League but also kind of a moody brat that checks out when the trouble starts. Paul is one of the great ball handlers of our time, fine scorer on the good nights, great passer, no-nonsense clampdown guy. They're both great players but I don't think they fit together. They both need the ball a lot, they both need to be the main playmaker, and Paul's military hardass attitude probably won't mesh with Harden, one of the flakiest superstars of recent memory. I guess I like the team, they are professionals so I reckon they'll figure it out, they are two of the most efficient players around now. Upside is still not as good as the Warriors, downside is they get run by the new-look Wolves.    


Rockets get Tim Quarterman; Blazers get cash
Rockets get Ryan Kelly; Hawks get cash
In addition to picking up Chris Paul, the PG of their dreams, the Rockets also fired off a sequence of weird trades (I swear I saw another deal like this with the Bucks...) for no-name backup PGs. I don't know, this could be roster maneuvers


Jazz get Ricky Rubio; Wolves get 2018 Thunder 1st rd pick
I dunno, I kinda like Rubio with this new-look Wolves team. But Jeff Teague instead...well...uh...
...okay, I guess I can see that too. I dunno, they've been trying to get rid of him forever and they finally got a situation that's perfect for him and they ship him out. Feels like a bad karma move to me. And that Thunder 1st rd pick don't look so good after OKC got PG. They wanted to dump salary and they dumped it.

Jazz get a George Hill replacement who fits great with Gordon...oh....well, still I like Rubio to go with what the Jazz got going.


Thunder get Paul George; Pacers get Victor Oladipo, Damontas Sabonis
Weird trade, not a good one for the Pacers but somehow feels like the move they wanted to make. Instead of giving Paul George the send-off he deserved, the Pacers soured on him on the way out I think. Oladipo could be good for the Pacers and I liked Sabonis out of college, maybe he fits better in the East. Seems like they've could've gotten more (but maybe that talk you hear in the talk places about talk going on is just talk, maybe there was no worthwhile deal for PG).

OKC has now turned Serge Ibaka into 1 year of Paul George. Not bad. I think PG and Russell will be great together, I think they go great with the Adams-Kanter platoon, I think OKC can be really fucking good next year. I think they're right there with the Spurs, Rockets in the fight for 2nd place.


Clippers get Danilo Gallinari; Hawks get Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone, 2018 Rockets 1st rd pick; Nuggets get $20m trade exception, 2019 2nd rd pick
Clippers have turned Paul and Crawford into Beverly, Dekker, Lou Will, and Gallinari. Ehh, not bad.

The Hawks have already bought out Crawford (Lakers? Cavs? Celtics?) and get to keep a nice young prospect in Stone and 1st rd pick in the 20's next June. They didn't give up much of anything, so seems like they made out pretty good here.

Nuggets move on from Gallinari and get gi-normous trade exception to hold onto for another year (dubious: could be the greatest thing in the history of the franchise or be forgotten forever). (Hmmmm......Package that trade exception with Faried and you're in Lebron range; you like Lebron getting the Mile High home advantage with Jokic, Millsap, Murray, Hernangomez, Mudiay, Lyles? Oh well, Kevin Love is more likely, I guess)


Pistons get Avery Bradley, 2019 Celtics 2nd rd pick; Celtics get Marcus Morris
Hmmm...one of those sideways moves for both teams. The Celtics get another Crowder (albeit a better scoring Crowder), the Pistons get another KCP (but not as good a scorer). I like both players, I expect they'll fit in with their new teams (and be trade bait in January), but I don't see either team being fantastically better by swapping these guys.


Heat get AJ Hammons; Mavs get Josh McRoberts, 2023 Heat 2nd rd pick
I liked Hammons as a mid-2nd rd pick last year for the Mavs. Either the Heat see something in him or he'll get cut soon, because the Heat are just dumping salary here.

If McRoberts is healthy he's actually a pretty good SF facilitator. With Dirk, Nerlens and Dennis Smith, he might be pretty good. If he's healthy. I suspect they're dumping salary too and McRoberts won't be on the roster in November.


(*) I thought the Clippers would keep Paul and let Blake walk, I thought CP was the real cornerstone of the Clippers' recent success (worth remembering this is the only success the Clips have ever had) and the true fan favorite and irreplaceable superstar. Nope. Blake is younger and more LA, I guess. Okay