Around The League: Trade Deadline Edition
Feb 8, 2023 12:38:40 GMT -6
klomper24, beatonz, and 1 more like this
Post by New York Knicks on Feb 8, 2023 12:38:40 GMT -6
Who's Hot
After winning 7 of their last 8 games, the Memphis Grizzlies hold the throne as the hottest team in the league through Sim #14. Memphis has had some HUGE victories recently, defeating both the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers on the road. The win @ Utah was most impressive, considering they have only lost 5 games @ Home all season long. But regardless of the opponents, the Grizz have shown the ability to compete with any team on a nightly basis. They hold a +4.3 point differential, which is 8th best in the ITP. Which shows this team is going to be competitive every game. Bob Lanier is the face of the franchise with 27/10/3. But what's most impressive about this team is their ball movement. They ranked 3rd in the entire league in assists per game (25.7). That's what happens when you have a dual point guard backcourt. Eric Snow is a nice developing PG, and Pistol Pete has fit in like a glove (19.7 PPG 5.6 RPG 4.0 APG 48.7 FG %). Memphis is now 10 games over 500, and they look like they've solidified their playoff position heading into the final 3 sims of the regular season.
Who's Not
The Boston Celtics season long struggles continue. They have lost 12 of their last 14 games. They're now up to 18 victories, after winning 48 games last year. In the 2000 season they had the luxury of having an all-league first teamer at point guard in Ron Boone. But Boone and his 25 PPG were shipped to Portland in the off-season, and he has obviously been missed. Courtney Houston, who was tasked to replace Boone at PG, has had a shaky season. Especially when it comes to holding on to the basketball (3.7 TPG to 6.9 APG). He's the primary reason why the Celtics rank 28th out of 29 teams in turnovers (14.4). In their most recent loss vs Seattle, the Celtics turned it over 23 times. As a result the Sonics had an extra +3 FGA and +42 FTA. That's 24 extra possessions. Extra possesions have been the story all year long. Thats why the turnovers (-3.0 TPG differential) AND the rebounding (-6.0 RPG differential) need to be corrected in the off-season.
Injury News
Shelden Williams - The Landlord has been evicted for the remainder of the 2001 season. Shelden recently suffered a torn hamstring, and the team just officially announced they're shutting him down. Sheldens final statline reads: 11.9 PPG 8.9 RPG and 1.5 BPG. Jeff Withey is expected to replace Williams at starting PF. Fan favorite Constantin Popa is also going to have an increased role off the bench.
Killian Hayes - This is the one Raptor fans are more sad about. Exciting rookie point guard Killian Hayes is going to miss the next 4 games with broken ribs. Hakeems little brother Marcus Olajuwon will get his first start of the season in the Raptors next game vs the Hawks.
Walt Frazier - Walt "Clyde" Frazier was "Wheeling and Dealing" and "swishing and dishing" when he suffered a painful broken finger injury. Frazier has played a key 6th man role for the recently streaking Suns. The good news is Frazier will return in about a week. The bad news is the Suns have to play the Sonics, Blazers, and Clippers (2x) over that stretch.
Michael Finley - Mike Finley has the "flu". McDyess is still babying his minor hip injury. Next thing you know James Wiseman will sit with a hangnail. The Tank is riding strong through Minnesota.
More News Around The League
- The biggest news around the league is that we're approaching the trade deadline. In less than 12 hours trading will no longer be allowed for the rest of the season. After a long stretch of trade inactivity (since the MCW trade) we're finally starting to see some life, with 2 deals in the last 2 days.
- The first one was the Washington Wizards sending starting shooting guard David Thompson to the New York Knicks for two future draft choices (2002 First - via Portland, and 2004 Knicks First ). Wizards are in rebuild mode, so the deal makes sense as they have designated Eric Money as their only keeper. From the Knicks perspective it's an interesting fit. Knicks run an outside offense, and Thompson does most of his damage inside. But Thompson is a quick athletic player that should fit the Knicks up and down style. David and Damon (The Double Ds) will be a fun entertaining backcourt, as the Knicks (32-34) continue their late season playoff push.
- Immediately after the Thompson deal, the Jazz and Bulls came to an agreement on a deal for PF Tom Barker. The Jazz had just lost starting PF Mike Green for the rest of the regular season. Barker (12.9 PPG 8.3 RPG) should be an adequate replacement for Green. In exchange the Bulls received cash considerations.
- So what does this mean for the Bulls? Are we going to see more deep dish trades from Chicago in the coming hours? Could Shannon Brown be on the move next? There's alot of teams that could use a high octane scoring guard like Brown. What about KCP? He's a career 41.4 % three point shooter. Bulls got some interesting pieces.
- Another team that got some interesting intriguing players are the LA Lakers. Lakers have been open for business all season long. They traded Michael Carter Williams earlier in the year. Now we're hearing both Antoine Walker and CJ McCollum are available as well. CJ is the player that catches most teams eyes. He's a high caliber perimeter scorer with some great potential still left in the tank. If you got cash to spend, and you wanna trade for a guard to develop. CJ is your guy.
- Staying in the Pacific. The one team everybody is monitoring on the trade front is Phoenix. Since posting their trade block, they have gone 12-2. So are they still blocking guys like Travis Best and Bob Mcadoo? Those would be two of the best players on the market. Especially McAdoo (22.8 PPG 9.2 RPG 3.1 APG 2.1 BPG).
- Besides all the trade conversations, the next biggest story in the league was (key word: WAS) the Portland Trailblazers. They had a 23 game winning streak going. Then the San Antonio Spurs came along and blew em out by 16 (106-90). The Spurs pounded the Blazers inside all game long. They got to the free throw line 45 times, and forced damn near every Blazer into foul trouble. Billy Paultz fouled out. Ron Boone had 5 fouls. Randy Smith had 4. And Elvin Hayes had 4 as well, which made him on a non factor in this one (20 minutes - 12 points). Sidney Wicks tried to pick up the slack off the bench, but he ended with a miserable shooting performance (7/21 FG shooting). And somehow Dan "The Man" Issel was even worse going 4 for 18 from the field. The Spurs suffocating defense locked down the Blazers. Holding them to 90 points on 40 FG% shooting. Big win for the Spurs.
- This wasn't the first time the Spurs took it to the Blazers. They're now 3-1 vs Portland this season. They're 3-0 vs the Denver Nuggets. 3-0 vs the Utah Jazz. And 1-0 vs the LA Clippers. That adds up to a 10-1 record against the best teams in the league. The Nuggets and Jazz get the national televised games because of Kenon and Dr J. Clippers won 71 games last year. And the Blazers are the defending champs. But should the Spurs be the team we should all be talking about right now? They're 53-16, and just 1 1/2 games back of Portland for the #1 seed.
After winning 7 of their last 8 games, the Memphis Grizzlies hold the throne as the hottest team in the league through Sim #14. Memphis has had some HUGE victories recently, defeating both the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers on the road. The win @ Utah was most impressive, considering they have only lost 5 games @ Home all season long. But regardless of the opponents, the Grizz have shown the ability to compete with any team on a nightly basis. They hold a +4.3 point differential, which is 8th best in the ITP. Which shows this team is going to be competitive every game. Bob Lanier is the face of the franchise with 27/10/3. But what's most impressive about this team is their ball movement. They ranked 3rd in the entire league in assists per game (25.7). That's what happens when you have a dual point guard backcourt. Eric Snow is a nice developing PG, and Pistol Pete has fit in like a glove (19.7 PPG 5.6 RPG 4.0 APG 48.7 FG %). Memphis is now 10 games over 500, and they look like they've solidified their playoff position heading into the final 3 sims of the regular season.
Who's Not
The Boston Celtics season long struggles continue. They have lost 12 of their last 14 games. They're now up to 18 victories, after winning 48 games last year. In the 2000 season they had the luxury of having an all-league first teamer at point guard in Ron Boone. But Boone and his 25 PPG were shipped to Portland in the off-season, and he has obviously been missed. Courtney Houston, who was tasked to replace Boone at PG, has had a shaky season. Especially when it comes to holding on to the basketball (3.7 TPG to 6.9 APG). He's the primary reason why the Celtics rank 28th out of 29 teams in turnovers (14.4). In their most recent loss vs Seattle, the Celtics turned it over 23 times. As a result the Sonics had an extra +3 FGA and +42 FTA. That's 24 extra possessions. Extra possesions have been the story all year long. Thats why the turnovers (-3.0 TPG differential) AND the rebounding (-6.0 RPG differential) need to be corrected in the off-season.
Injury News
Shelden Williams - The Landlord has been evicted for the remainder of the 2001 season. Shelden recently suffered a torn hamstring, and the team just officially announced they're shutting him down. Sheldens final statline reads: 11.9 PPG 8.9 RPG and 1.5 BPG. Jeff Withey is expected to replace Williams at starting PF. Fan favorite Constantin Popa is also going to have an increased role off the bench.
Killian Hayes - This is the one Raptor fans are more sad about. Exciting rookie point guard Killian Hayes is going to miss the next 4 games with broken ribs. Hakeems little brother Marcus Olajuwon will get his first start of the season in the Raptors next game vs the Hawks.
Walt Frazier - Walt "Clyde" Frazier was "Wheeling and Dealing" and "swishing and dishing" when he suffered a painful broken finger injury. Frazier has played a key 6th man role for the recently streaking Suns. The good news is Frazier will return in about a week. The bad news is the Suns have to play the Sonics, Blazers, and Clippers (2x) over that stretch.
Michael Finley - Mike Finley has the "flu". McDyess is still babying his minor hip injury. Next thing you know James Wiseman will sit with a hangnail. The Tank is riding strong through Minnesota.
More News Around The League
- The biggest news around the league is that we're approaching the trade deadline. In less than 12 hours trading will no longer be allowed for the rest of the season. After a long stretch of trade inactivity (since the MCW trade) we're finally starting to see some life, with 2 deals in the last 2 days.
- The first one was the Washington Wizards sending starting shooting guard David Thompson to the New York Knicks for two future draft choices (2002 First - via Portland, and 2004 Knicks First ). Wizards are in rebuild mode, so the deal makes sense as they have designated Eric Money as their only keeper. From the Knicks perspective it's an interesting fit. Knicks run an outside offense, and Thompson does most of his damage inside. But Thompson is a quick athletic player that should fit the Knicks up and down style. David and Damon (The Double Ds) will be a fun entertaining backcourt, as the Knicks (32-34) continue their late season playoff push.
- Immediately after the Thompson deal, the Jazz and Bulls came to an agreement on a deal for PF Tom Barker. The Jazz had just lost starting PF Mike Green for the rest of the regular season. Barker (12.9 PPG 8.3 RPG) should be an adequate replacement for Green. In exchange the Bulls received cash considerations.
- So what does this mean for the Bulls? Are we going to see more deep dish trades from Chicago in the coming hours? Could Shannon Brown be on the move next? There's alot of teams that could use a high octane scoring guard like Brown. What about KCP? He's a career 41.4 % three point shooter. Bulls got some interesting pieces.
- Another team that got some interesting intriguing players are the LA Lakers. Lakers have been open for business all season long. They traded Michael Carter Williams earlier in the year. Now we're hearing both Antoine Walker and CJ McCollum are available as well. CJ is the player that catches most teams eyes. He's a high caliber perimeter scorer with some great potential still left in the tank. If you got cash to spend, and you wanna trade for a guard to develop. CJ is your guy.
- Staying in the Pacific. The one team everybody is monitoring on the trade front is Phoenix. Since posting their trade block, they have gone 12-2. So are they still blocking guys like Travis Best and Bob Mcadoo? Those would be two of the best players on the market. Especially McAdoo (22.8 PPG 9.2 RPG 3.1 APG 2.1 BPG).
- Besides all the trade conversations, the next biggest story in the league was (key word: WAS) the Portland Trailblazers. They had a 23 game winning streak going. Then the San Antonio Spurs came along and blew em out by 16 (106-90). The Spurs pounded the Blazers inside all game long. They got to the free throw line 45 times, and forced damn near every Blazer into foul trouble. Billy Paultz fouled out. Ron Boone had 5 fouls. Randy Smith had 4. And Elvin Hayes had 4 as well, which made him on a non factor in this one (20 minutes - 12 points). Sidney Wicks tried to pick up the slack off the bench, but he ended with a miserable shooting performance (7/21 FG shooting). And somehow Dan "The Man" Issel was even worse going 4 for 18 from the field. The Spurs suffocating defense locked down the Blazers. Holding them to 90 points on 40 FG% shooting. Big win for the Spurs.
- This wasn't the first time the Spurs took it to the Blazers. They're now 3-1 vs Portland this season. They're 3-0 vs the Denver Nuggets. 3-0 vs the Utah Jazz. And 1-0 vs the LA Clippers. That adds up to a 10-1 record against the best teams in the league. The Nuggets and Jazz get the national televised games because of Kenon and Dr J. Clippers won 71 games last year. And the Blazers are the defending champs. But should the Spurs be the team we should all be talking about right now? They're 53-16, and just 1 1/2 games back of Portland for the #1 seed.
