Hawks/Bulls and Hawks/Warriors Trades
So the Hawks made two trades that GMs thought were of huge impact and that should help them a great deal. One was much bigger than the other but we'll discuss them together since they both involve the Hawks.
Hawks/Bulls Trade
Hawks send:
Victor Oladipo
Gerald Green
Hawks 2016 first
Bulls send:
Jae Crowder
James Harden
Bulls 2016 second
So this was the trade that garnered the most moans in sim league. "Look another trape by Wig" "Look someone handing Wig another superstar" " Wig was about to see the tax man and he was bailed out again" Basically every time Wig makes a big trade, whether it's lopsided or not, the peanut gallery will scream "TRAPE!!!!". But the gallery knows that when Wig makes a move it's for a reason and that it's usually a trape
Was this a lopsided trade? Well yeah, it totally was. The picks are both 2nd rounders, the extra players are completely pointless. Gerald Green will more than likely be declined to save the cap for a better player in the off-season. It was Oladipo for Harden straight up. When you break down the trades in this way it seems obvious. Why would you trade Harden for Oladipo? A very quick look at their stats and one may say "well they aren't that far off"...and that person would be horribly wrong. The physical attributes aren't even close and that's where Harden leaves Dipo behind. The efficiency combined with the raw athleticism is why you want a player like James Harden. Then there is the matter of when you need a player like Harden, but we'll get to that in a bit.
The second trade was:
Hawks/Warriors Trade
Hawks send:
Tyler Hansbrough
Gavin Book
Andrew Parish
10 points
Warriors send:
Chris Kaman
The Warriors are rebuilding and they signed some valuable players during free agency whom they planned on flipping for points and/or anything they could get. The Hawks paid 10 points for a Center who averaged 18 and 10 last season. Still heard the same moans and whining about this trade as well. This wasn't a trape, this was going to happen for whoever went to the Warriors and asked. They signed him to specifically deal him for pennies on the dollar. If teams didn't want the Hawks to benefit then they should have gotten him first. Now they have a very nice backup center going forward. So what are the outcomes for these trades? Did the Hawks improve since adding Harden? What about the Bulls? Did this slight retool help them out? Let's take a look:
Hawks record before trades: 16-7 .696
Hawks record after trades: 14-5 .737
Bulls record before trades: 13-8 .619
Bulls record after trades: 14-9 .609
Based on just their records, the Hawks improved and Bulls got a bit worse. But that's a very rudimentary way of examining the records without factoring in other variables like strength of schedule, road vs. home games, experience of GM, and injuries. But I don't think anyone is surprised about the outcome here. This move wasn't a move to win a few more games. This was a championship caliber type move only with another ring in mind. A player Harden is who you want come playoff time. He's a difference maker. He's the guy you can move around and have overpower other players. With his athletic attributes he is one of the most valuable players in sim league and Wig did in fact come out like a bandit on this one. And I'm afraid this trade will affect the league for years to come.
Mavs/Pistons Trade
This trade won't have great impact on the league really but I am including it because it was one of the trades that got the most attention during this trade frenzy. Mainly because the Pistons GM was non-existent for the majority of the season and then all the sudden he popped up to accept this horribly lopsided trade. Here's the trade:
Mavs send:
Mario Chalmers
Mavs 2018 1st Round Pick
Mavs 2017 2nd Round Pick
10 Points
Pistons send:
Bradley Beal
There was an uproar after this trade. There were two reasons for this. One was that in a vacuum AND outside the vacuum it was an atrocious trade point blank. Second was that the Pistons GM hadn't at any point resembled an active GM. Complaints of PMs not being responded to, sometimes not at all. This guy was handed a team with one of the most exciting up and coming talents in the league in Anthony Davis and has completely shat the bed thus far. The Pistons GM has still to this day NEVER submitted a real DC outside of going "recommended". So coming into this off-season he has AD and Bradley Beal, who was looking like he could be a stud himself, and a LOAD of cap space to build a legit contender around these two cornerstones. Free agency comes and goes and ZERO bids from the Pistons. We've seen this before. We've seen GMs completely ruin the careers of players(MJ) and run franchises(Prej
into the mud, but this has been tragic to watch. To add insult to injury, he pops up momentarily to accept a trade that he was explicitly advised to decline by another league veteran. He trades away one of his building blocks for basically NOTHING. Chalmers is meh and will expire and leave Detroit. And this Mavs 1st rounder in 2018...it will be worthless. The Mavs GM fearthebrow has become a respected veteran in this league with 18 season under his belt. How many of those have been losing seasons? 6. Only 6 out of the 18 have been losing seasons and most of those have been on purpose. So I'd be willing to bet a whole lot on the fact that this 1st rounder will land in the 21st-30th range. So at the end of the day this trade was: BRADLEY BEAL FOR 10 POINTS. WOW OH WOW. Warriors/Thunder Trade
Warriors Send:
Jerebko
Landry
9 points
Thunder send:
Thunder 2017 first
Thunder 2016 second
Morrison
Zeller
Your probably wondering why I included this fairly insignificant trade. Well it's because this could end up being a fleecing. It shouldn't be but it could be. The trade is really Jerekbo and Landry(two bench players who have been used sparingly by the Thunder) for the Thunder 2017 1st. After this trade happened the Thunder went on a 7-16 skid after starting the season at 13-8. So once again looking at it on a very basic level, this trade at the very least certainly has not helped the Thunder. Not to mention they gave away their 2017 1st. They will have cap space next year and will need to capitalize on the free agents next season and hope that this trade doesn't come back to haunt them.
Also a shout out to the Warriors GM for running their rebuild with perfection thus far. Sign as many valuable players in free agency as possible and then flip them for as many assets as you can get whether it's points, young players or picks. They won a ring last season and now have embarked on a rebuild that they must be happy with thus far. I would be shocked if DeAndre is still on the roster come the trade deadline. I would guess he's been working the phones pretty hard trying to work out a deal. Worst case scenario is that he resigns Jordan to a max deal and lets him rot until he gets that offer he's been waiting for. It's not like DJ is going to win him any extra games in his rebuild process.
Bucks/Jazz Trade
So this trade also garnered lots of attention and ridicule. The consensus was that the Bucks traped the Jazz and got the best side of the deal. Let's look at the trade.
Bucks send:
Darren Collison
Ryan Anderson
Jazz send:
Ricky Rubio
Ed Davis
I think the initial reactions were a bit extreme on this one, but that's normal when any one of the sim league vets pulls off a big trade. It's always picked apart and usually exaggerated one way or another which is half the fun of these trades. I personally didn't immediately think this was a bad trade but that was only because I'm still learning the players and many of these guys are newer to me and I'm not aware of the total contributions to their teams. To me it looked like Collison and Rubio were pretty close with Rubio having a slight edge. Rubio is a pure PG in the purest meaning of the word. He has the passing, the handles, and the D every GM wants their PG to have. He lacks on the offensive end but put the right players around him and he's dangerous. So I actually thought this trade was fairly even at first look. So let's see how each team has done after this trade.
Bucks record before trades: 13-9 .591
Bucks record after trades: 17-6 .739
Jazz record before trades: 13-10 .565
Jazz record after trades: 14-9 .609
So looking at the before and after records it appears that both teams have improved. The Bucks improvement is significant and considering that they still have the top scoring team in the league, I would surmise that Rubio is exactly the type of player they needed. They traded away two players that combined were nearly averaging 40 ppg, yet the Bucks are still an offensive powerhouse. On the other hand, the Jazz have gone 11-4 in the last 15 and seem to have hit their stride. The Northwest division is brutal and they have clawed and hung on and are only 4.5 games back. Overall I'd say this trade was a wash and that both teams have excelled after this trade. That rarely happens in this league. But if I had to pick a side of the trade I'd have rather been on, I'd pick the Collison/Anderson duo. Davis holds no value, and Rubio, in my opinion upon a much deeper investigation of the point guard, is not worth two players of that caliber. I can find little to no weaknesses in Collison's game, whereas Rubio has many. I think I would take Collison over Rubio straight up if I had to pick and build around. But when the teams are already in place, you have to put the puzzle pieces where you think they fit and these two GMs both got what they wanted out of this trade.
I'm just glad that both teams walked away as winners!
