Transactions 7/14-8/16 Part 2

by Harlan Schreiber

Houston Rockets

7/18    Matched offer tendered to Kyle Lowry

7/20    Signed Brad Miller

7/28    Traded David Andersen and cash to Toronto for a 2015 protected second-round pick

8/12    In a four-team trade, New Jersey traded Courtney Lee to Houston for Troy Murphy from Indiana, who acquired Darren Collison and James Posey from New Orleans, who acquired Trevor Ariza from Houston

In the four-team swaperoo, the Rockets have essentially dumped one good youngster with offensive issues in Trevor Ariza for another in Courtney Lee.  The only real differences are position and contract.  Ariza is still only 25 but just couldn’t score at all, despite ample opportunity to do so in Houston.  Lee also had his own scoring issues (though not as bad as Ariza) but both players are way too young to assume that their offensive games won’t develop.  It seems, though, that this trade was more about dumping Ariza (who has a long term deal) than acquiring Lee.  Indeed, the Rockets already have a long-term two guard solution with Kevin Martin and, at best, Lee will be a nice role player/third guard.  At small forward, the Rockets were not loaded (Shane Battier and Jared Jeffries are in the last years of their respective contracts and Chase Budinger looked pretty good but is not a 35-40 mpg player yet).  Even if the deal was more about buyer’s remorse with Ariza, getting cap room and a decent young player is a worthwhile decision for Houston.

Indiana Pacers

8/12    In a four-team trade, New Jersey traded Courtney Lee to Houston for Troy Murphy from Indiana, who acquired Darren Collison and James Posey from New Orleans, who acquired Trevor Ariza from Houston

For the Pacers, they are starting over, again, at the point.  Collison had a very nice first season in the NBA and the Pacers had struggled filling the point guard.  At his current level of play, Collison is better than any of the Pacers’ other options.  He will also be a nice fit for Jim O’Brien’s three-happy offense.  The offense was terrible at the point where they were terrible from distance.  Here’s a quick breakdown of the point shooting from three:

Earl Watson: 53-184, .288%

A.J. Price: 60-174, .345%

T.J. Ford: 8-50, .160% Continue reading Transactions 7/14-8/16 Part 2…

Transactions 7/14-8/16 Part 1

by Harlan Schreiber

Atlanta Hawks

7/14    Signed Josh Childress and traded him to Phoenix for a 2010 second-round pick

7/24    Signed Josh Powell

7/29    Re-signed Jason Collins

The Hawks flirted with Shaq but ultimately passed on him.  This gave Collins a shot to comeback as a third center.  It is hard to believe that Collins is only going to be 32, since he has always moved like he was 82.  Collins has very little left, basically designated to come in and use a couple fouls on big men in a pinch.  He’s probably not quite as bad offensively as he looked in 2009-10 (0.7 ppg, .348 FG%, and 0-2 from the line for the season) but how could he be that bad?  No doubt, Collins good nature has kept him around longer than most players with similar skill level would.

Boston Celtics

7/15    Re-signed Paul Pierce

7/19    Re-signed Nate Robinson

7/24    Re-signed Marquis Daniels

8/3      Signed Von Wafer

8/4      Signed Shaquille O’Neal

8/10    Waived Rasheed Wallace

The Celts are doubling down hoping for another title run.  In this case, the price isn’t too steep.  Robinson, Daniels, Wafer, and Shaq are all pretty useful and will make make less than $10 million combined next year.  Pierce’s deal is a bit rich (four years and $61 million).  He’ll be worth it for 2010-11 but it’s anyone’s guess how he’ll play when he hits his mid-30s.  Still, Pierce is a Celtic Emeritus and that combined with Boston’s immediate need to contend in 2010-11 makes the deal acceptable, despite the inevitable downside. Continue reading Transactions 7/14-8/16 Part 1…

Transactions 4/15-7/13 Part 3

by Harlan Schreiber

Milwaukee Bucks

6/22    Traded Charlie Bell and Dan Gadzuric to Golden State for Corey Maggette and the 44th pick in the 2010 draft

6/25    Traded a 2012 second-round pick to New Jersey for Chris Douglas-Roberts

7/8      Re-signed John Salmons and signed Drew Gooden

Unquestionably, the Bucks have won the talent exchanges here.  Maggette is still a pretty good player but is owed about $30 million over the next three years, while Bell and Gadzuric will be pretty much gone after 2010-11 (Bell is owed $4 million in 2011-12).  So, Maggette is essentially a free agent pick up for the Bucks, giving them the extra scorer they need.  The only downsides with Maggette are injury concerns and his lack of defense, a weakness that does not always work with Scott Skiles teams.  Douglas-Roberts could also help in the scoring department but between Maggette and Salmons there isn’t much playing time left over for a lower budget scoring type.

The Gooden signing is also a nice talent move, though the contract terms appear a little long (five years and $32 million).  Like Maggette and CDR, Gooden will also scoring as his primary ability, challenging Skiles to assimilate a different kind of talent base to his core.  The addition of more scorers correctly identifies the right problems with the Bucks.  Even so, I don’t see the Bucks making a big jump forward.  At best, this will be a consolidation year to make sure the gains of 2009-10 carry forward.  It should be noted that consolidation is worthy goal since Skiles last three winning season were followed by struggles the following year:

-2000-01 Suns, 51-31:  Slipped to 25-26 the next season and Skiles was fired.

-2004-05 Bulls, 47-35:  Fell to 41-41 the next season

-2006-07 Bulls, 49-33:  Started out 9-16 the next season and was fired. Continue reading Transactions 4/15-7/13 Part 3…

Transactions 4/15-7/13 Part 2

by Harlan Schreiber

Los Angeles Clippers

7/7    Named Vinny Del Negro head coach

7/8    Signed Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes

7/9    Signed Brian Cook

In the best and worst of times, there is a certain sense of futility we all get when we hear that someone is going to be new coach the Clippers.  It is true that all coaches are hired to eventually be fired, the Clippers seem to stack the deck against a coach’s ability to have long term success more than most.  This got me wondering where Clipper coaches come from and where they go from Clipperdom.  Here’s a list of the Clipper head coaches hired by Donald Sterling and how it went for them:

-Jim Lynam, 1983-84: The Clipps were Lynam’s first head coaching gig.  He went 30-52  the first season before being fired after a 22-39 start in 1984-85.  This job wasn’t a dead end for Lynam, who parlayed it into work with the 76ers (1987-88 to 1991-92) and the Bullets from 1994-95 through mid-1996-97.  Neither later stint was a rip roaring success but Lynam  did win one division with the 76ers and Charles Barkley at his best in 1989-90. Continue reading Transactions 4/15-7/13 Part 2…

Transactions: 4/15-7/13 Part 1

by Harlan Schreiber

Atlanta Hawks

5/14    Fired Mike Woodson

6/13    Named Larry Drew head coach

7/8      Re-signed Joe Johnson

From a decision-making perspective, Atlanta is one the weirder franchises in the NBA.  First, Mike Woodson apparently wins a power struggle with GM Billy Knight right about the time when it was clear that the Hawks had built a pretty good team.  Now, the team is looking pretty good and Woodson is shown the door too.  Knight was apparently fired because he was unable to lead the team past the second-round (they were swept out of the second-round both years).  If that is the main basis for firing Knight, it strikes me as a little obtuse.  The Hawks have done nothing but improve with Woodson.  Sure, it’s not fun to be swept but the teams that swept them (Cavs in 2008-09 and Magic in 2009-10) were much better.  Woodson isn’t irreplaceable or the main reason the team improved so much over the last five years but usually it is better to err on the side of stability and keeping a competent coach over canning him because of unreasonable expectations.

Hopefully, Drew will show himself to be a good coach and take the team to the next level.  Drew has been a well-regarded assistant for a long time and has paid enough dues to get this job.  On paper, however, Atlanta looks like the same second-round team they were the last few years.  Continue reading Transactions: 4/15-7/13 Part 1…

About Hoops Analyst:

Hoops Analyst is the premier destination for in-depth basketball analysis, insight, and commentary.