S71 Trade Evals: After Day 60

[greepleairport]

While the importance of such an evaluation may be a few days late here, I wasn’t sick and finding ways to be productive then. But now I am. Sick, that is, with Covid, for the 4th time.

Do not cry for me, though, because I will earn some points during this illness. And of all 4 of my covid stints? This is by far the easiest. I only took a test because I had one and I know they will eventually expire.

With my personal problems out of the way, I’d like to talk about these trades. There were a lot of them after day 60, and while some of the most consequential trades happened at Day 60 (Mavs getting a front court for pennies, and the Heat amassing a talented group of 3 big blues), there was much activity afterward, too. So let’s take a look at them, shall we?


First up, we have the Celtics / Grizzlies:

Grizzlies Send:
Nika Mulh

Celtics Send:
Darius Garland
4 points

Not much to write about here. Celtics bought a y/y PG drafted unconscionably early (during the lottery for god’s sakes), for 4 points. And even though the rename was spelled correctly, we’ll see if the name is ever spelled correctly in league forums ever again.

GRADE: C


Next, we have the Suns / Hawks:

Suns send
August Carroll
Michael Truman
Robert Gourley
4 points

Hawks send
Raul Zepeda.

Sent from my moto g pure using Tapatalk

The most exciting thing about this trade was that the Hawks traded with NOT the Mavs. I am proud of cashcab for that, but I do not think this trade did much else for the Hawks.

August Carroll is…fine. He plays 10 minutes per game, so who really gives a shit. Michael Truman is kind of a baller g/g PG, at a good price, in a league seemingly lacking decent PG’s. Truman would be a nice pick up if Herman Campbell wasn’t on the roster. And last, Robert Gourley was dead cap for the Suns for another season to come that they were able to shed.

Perhaps the 24th pick Gourley has a decent TC and the Hawks look brilliant for picking him up, but more than likely he dies a y/y death next TC and never plays in PBSL again after the Hawks (hopefully) decline his rookie option next offseason.

(Note: I wrote this before observing cashcab poured 25 points into Gourley at the deadline, so now he HAS to insure him next offseason and retain him, I would think, but Gourley was actually drafted y/y and boosted y/g in TC because…I don’t know why? 4pt gain in STR? And 4pt gain in STA?)

Now, I know, the obvious reason the Hawks cut this deal was to ensure they didn’t lose Zepeda for nothing next offseason. A player of Zepeda's caliber wasn’t likely to re-sign with the Hawks. That, or cashcab wasn’t willing to pay him what he’s worth. Either way, in this instance, something being better than nothing is…an argument, certainly. Not one I would argue, but hey. It’s all good.

And lastly, the Hawks picked up 4 points to dump into a player training bonanza between Campbell, Gourley and Noel Swanner, leaving their point bank at zero. I probably would have saved the 25pts dumped into Gourley to insure Campbell, Swanner, Cooper Flagg, AND their next draft pick, currently projected at #5, but what can you do now besides keep up with Town Halls?

Meanwhile, the Suns completely exited the tax and still have a strong claim for 2nd best team in the league. Zepeda put up a lot of points in ATL and is very cheap talent this season. For 4 points and exiting the tax while shaving salary next year as well? You can’t beat it.

GRADE: C, mostly for the value the Suns got out of it.


Now, the Pacers / Magic:

Pacers send:
F Eddie Cruce
3 points (BANK: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=65&p=116714#p116714)

Magic Send:
-David Easley

Pacers accept! Thanks for helpin me out Nick!

Nice little salary saving move here. Not much else to say.

GRADE: B


Next up, the Warriors / Bulls:

(Process cuts before trade)

WARRIORS SEND:
JR Smith Jr
Warriors 2063 1st
5 Points

BULLS SEND:
Naji Marshall
Churchill Bounds
Gregory Jackson

I’ve made no secret about this: I wanted Bryon Nelson, all season long. Once I saw the Wizards playing this well, possibly competing with the Pistons, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I scoured my options across the league, most of which would make S71 a deep, deep tax year for me, and ultimately passed on all the deals that could have really positively impacted my bottom line right now. My vanity did not win this time, and my logical head prevailed.

The only reason I wanted to make my team better was to beat the Mavs. Seeing how much it would cost, I tipped my hat to the Mavs for making massive improvements this season, creating a full lineup that I’m not sure mine will ever beat, even at full strength. Alas. I will still try in the coming seasons, and perhaps LTS will miss a UFA deadline or something crazy, but I fear this battle has already been lost.

/Mavs rant

Ahem!

Enter Naji Marshall. He hasn’t done much yet in his career, and he seems to have done Frye all since arriving in San Francisco, but I’m fine with that. JR Smith Jr. is definitely the better player today, and may be long term as well, but I was looking at a Raul Zepeda situation where I needed to get something for JR, because I wouldn’t re-sign him at the price others would in the S72 offseason. Naji will be an RFA, and I took a risk on having to overpay him, but it was one I decided to take, because I couldn’t get his fully grown counterpart, Bryon Nelson. Sigh.

The Bulls, on the other end, threw in the towel a while ago, wanting to rebuild, and would take any decent offer to accelerate it. Heading into the playoffs, JR Smith Jr. made the Bulls a tiny bit better now, to make Chicago's season more interesting. Plus, a smattering of points and a pick from a year around the time the Warriors decide to pack it in and rebuild? Yeah, you can’t beat that.

GRADE: A-. It was my deal and you can rant in the comments if you don’t like it as much as I do.



Oh lord. Here's the Celtics / Kings / Raptors / Bobcats abominat...I mean trade:

Celtics Send:
Herschel Boughton (Kings)
Orlando Kamp (Kings)
David Tucker (Kings)
Arnold Forbes (Kings)
Derick Stroud (Kings)

Kings Send:
Lenz Durrenberger (Celtics)
Brian Higgs (Celtics)
Ayo Dosunmu (Bobcats)
James Joplin (Raptors)

Toronto Raptors send
Jaden Akins (Kings)
Saul King (Bobcats)
Dominique Warnock (Bobcats)
2061 Raptors 2nd Round Pick (Bobcats)
2062 Raptors 2nd Round Pick (Bobcats)

Charlotte Bobcats send
Brandon Ingram (Raptors)
Mel Samples (Raptors)
Dante Howard (Kings)

Boy oh boy did the clown cars empty and refill on this one! This is a relatively inconsequential trade for an obnoxiously large trade. The Celtics sent 5 people I’ve never heard of to the obnoxiously inconsequential Kings. The Kings then sent players to other teams.

And then the real trade happened.

The Raptors sent Akins to the Kings and a blue pot. rookie to the Bobcats, and the Bobcats sent Mel Samples and Brandon Ingram to the Raptors.

For the Bobcats and Raptors, I really liked this deal. Saul King and Jaden Akins were practically dead cap for the Raptors, because Saul turned green and Akins had a precipitous TC drop despite staying blue. Approx. $85m between the two players this season, gone. In return, Ingram and Samples filled the roles of King and Akins in the way Penny probably expected King and Akins would without needing to trade them. The Raptors were the most clear winners of this trade.

Then, with the Bobcats, Dr. Kavarga found himself with good players serving no purpose and flipped them into a blue pot. rookie. It would have been nice to see him get more back for Ingram and Samples (some points at least?), but at least he didn’t walk away empty handed.

Quite frankly, I don’t know how to evaluate this trade. Maybe the Kings will get more than 16 minutes per game out of Akins and get boosted a bit from that? But probably not. They’re not even going recommended last I checked.

GRADE: N/A

(Hopefully that was offensive enough for AB to shed light on why a (decent) grade would actually be applicable here.)


Lol, Bobcats / Spurs:

Bobcats Send:
10 points
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11858
Note: the bank was done for the non-completed trade last season so it’s accurate once this is processed

Spurs send:
Henry Widener

I loved this so, so much. Two seasons in a row, this trade happened, then busted, because it wasn’t legal. Widener thus will fly off into the UFA ether, probably to sign with the Bulls or Lakers, and Dr. K kept his 10pts. All in all, not too bad of an outcome. Maybe between now and RFA, Eazy P will figure out a way to pay off his tax bill.

GRADE: HILARIOUS


Ahh, a real trade to quench my analytical thirst from the Heat / Wiz / Grizz:

Heat Recieve:
Dia
Rinker
Ervin
Lawson
Wiz 61' 1st
Wiz 63' 1st

Wizards Receive:
Kuminga
Miller
Waldman
Heat 62' 1st

Grizzlies Receive:
7 points (from Wizards - viewtopic.php?f=15&t=85&p=116726#p116726)
Castaneda

I accept. Thanks for the talks as always ML, and big thanks for coming in the clutch K100!

Because my boy Mike Lowry doesn’t like to write full names, I’m not entirely sure who all these people are. Speaking with him about the deal, I know that he received a good prospect and a role player out of those guys, at least, and the Wiz got Kuminga and [Baba] Miller.

The Wiz clearly won this deal, but they have not had the best W-L record since it happened, earning a third of their season’s losses last sim (really because Fabian Hub was injured and not for any reason involving this trade. Before Hub’s injury the Wiz went undefeated following this trade…minus the first game, losing to the Pacers).

The Wizards’ picks have presumably no value whatsoever for the Heat, but get a possibly decent pick from the Heat. The Grizz came out 7 points richer, and the Heat got out of the tax (!). The world was normal again.

GRADE: A


Now what else do we have here. Finally...Uhm...Do we have to end on this? Ugh. Mavs / Hawks:

Mavs Send:
Logan Gilley
David Blodgett
James Friel
2 points

posting.php?mode=edit&f=15&p=116605

Hawks Send:
2063 Second Rounder

If you don’t know how I feel about this trade, you haven’t played sim league this season, or read the meme thread the first two times these brothers completed a trade.

GRADE: F

[AngryBanana]

My thoughts on why the trade should be considered good for all: Kings/Celtics edition

Celtics: I have been playing great since getting the steady ship that is Lenz. I went from missing the playoffs for sure to maybe being higher than an eight pick.

Kings: cut a boat load of salary and swapped Ayo for Akins.

My thoughts: B+

My point distribution: +6