Inside NBA Trades 2010

Midseason Trades Really That Beneficial?

Every February NBA fans become consumed with potential trades their favorite teams might be able to pull-off. All it takes is just a quick glance at one of the chats here at HOOPSWORLD to understand just how pervasive this phenomenon is. While it's fun to ponder trades, it's seems as though most in-season trades don't translate into appreciably more playoff success.

This season fans and media members alike were raving about the trade the Dallas Mavericks made for Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler. The Mavs' new roster led to a solid regular season surge, but when all was said they didn't even advance in the playoffs as far as they did the previous season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are another team that made a major move acquiring Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards. In theory, his skill-set fits in well with Cleveland's pick-and-pop game. However, in practice, Jamison never really got his feet underneath him. One could make an argument the Cavs would have been better served to stay the course since they already had the best record in the league at the time of the trade.

It's interesting to look at the four teams still alive in the NBA Playoffs. Not one of these teams made a major move. In fact, the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns didn't make a single trade prior to the deadline. The Boston Celtics made one minor move for Nate Robinson, a player who has played sparingly for the C's in the postseason.

The Suns are perhaps the most interesting case study. The team was strongly considering trading Amar'e Stoudemire. If they had, there's virtually no doubt the Suns wouldn't be where they are right now. Compare that to the trade they made back in February of 2008 for Shaquille O'Neal. It could be argued that trade was the beginning of the end for a Suns that was so close to building a championship team under Mike D'Antoni.

It's interesting to hear fans in Cleveland discuss how things might have been different if the team had acquired Stoudemire. This is the same kind of short-sighted thinking that landed Jamison on the roster. Without a point guard like Nash, Stoudemire likely would have been lost in Cleveland. He would have been stuck in an offense with far less movement and with unfamiliar teammates.

As noted with regard to the Shaq to Phoenix trade two seasons ago, this idea of a major trade right before the deadline failing to catapult a team to the next level is not a new one. How many trips back to the Finals have the Mavs made since sending Devin Harris to the Nets for Jason Kidd back in 2008? How much better were the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs after acquiring Allen Iverson late in 2007?

The obvious exception was the Pau Gasol trade in January of 2008. This was a mid-season trade that eventually put the Lakers over the top a season later, but that kind of highway robbery is hard to commit on a routine basis.

Some might point to the trades that sent Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to the Celtics, but remember, those trades happened during the offseason. Offseason trades give a team ample practice time to truly integrate new players into their respective systems.

Others might point to the trade that sent Chauncey Billups to Denver in the 2008-09 season that pushed the Nuggets from the first round to the Western Conference Finals. Thing is, that trade happened in the first week of the season. If you look at Denver's record, they actually played mediocre basketball for the first few weeks with Billups on the roster. By acquiring Billups so early in the season, though, Denver had more than enough practice time to get him acclimated to his teammates and work out the kinks in the system.

Fact is, most mid-season blockbusters don't pan out. Still, this won't stop fans from shouting from the highest mountain top next February that every team in the league should make a move. It also won't stop GMs from trying to win the press conference. Change always seems better initially because the inevitable flaws haven't had a chance to be exposed yet.

We miss the point in the media, too. Next February readers will be inundated with pieces "grading" the trades. Chances are most writers and talking heads gave both the Mavericks and the Cavaliers high marks for the trades they made three months ago. Wonder if they would receive those same grades today? That's like assigning a student a grade at the beginning of a semester before they've had a chance to demonstrate how much they know as a result of their performance on various assessments.

Even so, expect this same process where fans, media members and even GMs get mesmerized by the potential of shiny new toys on other rosters to play out again next February. In the end, though, the true contenders will likely be making the necessary changes, if there are any to be made, this summer.

Team Conquers The Individual

While seemingly the entire basketball viewing audience -- including ABC's broadcast team -- was focused on LeBron James on Thursday night, they missed a great performance by the Boston Celtics. Hearing Celtics head coach Doc Rivers talk about teamwork in a timeout huddle was nothing new. However, watching Boston actually execute as a team was a joy to watch.

On offense Boston moved the ball in such a way that basketball purists across the country were left with giddy smiles plastered to their faces. The ball moved from strong-side to weak, from inside to out. It was truly a team effort. There's no doubt Rajon Rondo made the offense go. Within his unorthodox style he has now found a near perfect balance between attacking in transition and running the team's half-court offense.

Contrast that to what we saw from the Cleveland Cavaliers. I noted in this very space back in January that the way Cleveland ran its offense was a recipe for a good regular season but not a championship. This was never more evident than in the team's series with the Celtics. Whenever things started to go south, the Cavaliers simply stood around the perimeter and waited for James to try and make something happen. It was disjointed and not aesthetically pleasing to watch.

It's easy to place the blame on head coach Mike Brown for this, and he very well might be the guy most deserving of it. Sometimes players are so physically talented that they actually unconsciously force the team into developing some habits that aren't conducive to championship-level success. That's where having a tried and true offensive system is so important. It didn't appear that was the case this season for Cleveland.

While offense is what makes headlines, the Celtics' defense is what won the series. Boston's help defense is among the best in the league. They know when and how to tilt the floor, and this was made even easier as a result of Cleveland's predictable and repetitive offensive approach.

LeBron was the sexy story in this series, especially after the Cavs began imploding. Talk of his free agency draws eyeballs and spurs conversation. Truth is, though, the Celtics are the real story. This is a team once again playing championship level basketball.

Celtics The Toughest Potential Opponent For Lakers?

The Los Angeles Lakers are the best team in the NBA. I've said it all season, much to the chagrin of fans in Cleveland. As it turns out, we already know the Lakers will go further than the Cavs. While the Phoenix Suns are much improved, the smart money says the Lakers will represent the West in The Finals. That's where things will start to get interesting.

As we've known now for years, the NBA Playoffs are all about match-ups. While people in Orlando won't want to read this, the Magic don't match-up well with the Lakers. If the two teams were to meet in The Finals again this season Orlando would likely be more competitive, but the Lakers will still have the advantage. L.A.'s ability to play three seven-footers at their natural positions will wear on a Magic team that prefers to play smaller lineups.

The Boston Celtics, on the other hand, would be a very intriguing opponent for the Lakers. Not only do the Celtics have a little bit of a mental edge after beating the Lakers in The Finals back in 2008, but they also counter the Lakers very nicely in terms of personnel at key positions.

The Celtics' interior defense and rebounding with Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett has the opportunity to bully the Lakers' frontline. Pau Gasol is a finesse player and that was exposed back in 2008 against Boston. The Lakers would obviously be hoping that Andrew Bynum would step up and be the physical presence the team needs, but that's certainly not something he's done on a consistent basis throughout the course of his career.

It's amazing how much better this Celtics team looks now as compared to how they looked just three short months ago. This group looks eerily familiar to the one that won a championship two seasons ago.

Simply put, that's bad news for the Lakers.

A couple of months ago it would have seemed crazy to even give credence to the notion that Boston might be able to beat the Lakers in The Finals. But after watching Boston undress the Cavaliers, a team that beat the Lakers in both regular season meetings, Boston would seem to be the largest potential obstacle standing between the Lakers and another NBA title.

Tony Parker Demonstrates How To Squash Media Speculation

It's always funny to hear players get frustrated by the near constant free agent speculation. It finally happened this season with LeBron James. After a year of discussing his future, saying he was looking forward to free agency and wearing New York Yankees caps at press conferences in New York City, James finally had enough and said he no longer wanted to talk about free agency.