#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Thanksgiving Break = No Classes. No Classes = Rare Free Time. Rare Free Time = Article Time! Not only is it the holidays, it's also the time where #SLOE GM's frantically send out PM's and carefully monitor their inboxes. That's right, the Deadline is upon us, the very last chance to solidify your team's direction through trades. Usually a hotbed of activity, this season's deadline has already seen some big deals, so let's get right to it...

IamQuailman wrote:Bucks send:
Rafer Alston
Bucks 07 1st

Clippers send:
Beon Udrich
7 points

Bucks Accept

Good negotiating with ya man. Relatively painless (as always!)... good luck and go get that playoff spot!

Bucks/Clippers
A pretty simple and straightforward early bird deal here. The Clippers feel (with good reason) that a solid PG is what they need to claw their way into 8th/7th seed contention, and they're willing to give up some youth in Beno Udrih to get that PG. Alston is a pure dish-n-defense PG who will certainly benefit from having the Clips' lethal shooters on the receiving end of his passes. Still, the Clips will have their work cut out for them in their playoff push, especially with Butler and Marshall out for about a week and a half. For the Bucks, after an offseason that saw their entire crew of young wings slack off and party instead of practice, finding youthful replacements was key. Udrih is a promising young combo guard with tons of potential (A's in JPS, FTS, 3PS, and HND, B's in PAS, PRD, and STL), and plenty of time to fulfill it at 22. The thing I'm not quite sure about is why the Bucks gave up their '07 1st in the deal. Despite having a stud like Artest coming into his own and a great complementary piece in Manu, this is still a young, developing team, and now they've just traded away a future safety net in case of another offseason disappointment. I dunno what the thought process was behind including the pick, but it's the only negative in an otherwise solid deal, personally.



RUMOR: Gasol On the Move?


Despite most GM's going into the red without fear ever since its inception, Lux Tax is nothing to take lightly, as the Grizz can certainly attest to. After barely paying off their tax bill the season before, fears of another high, possibly unpayable bill and harsh penalties have caused the Grizz to shop 24-year-old Pau Gasol, an RFA next season, hard. Why? Because not only could the Tax penalties prevent LoCo from re-signing Gasol, the certain max that Gasol will command in RFA would bring the Grizz's tax bill even higher (in the neighborhood of 20 mil) if they avoided the penalty and were able to match. Despite this, my thoughts are that if anyone should go, it should be current stars Vince Carter or Shawn Marion. The Grizz have completely nosedived this year after back-to-back seasons of 2nd-Round eliminations, so with few options to improve the team via FA or the draft, one would think that this incarnation of the Grizz has already maxed out its potential. As such, it might be better to trade VC/Matrix/Both, reduce the tax, pick up young pieces/picks, retain Gasol, and rebuild around him, rather than sacrifice Gasol and wait another year (and pay another tax bill) for Stackhouse and Payton's contracts to expire and free up a little bit of cap room, but with a depleted roster to work with. It seems like LoCo's open to both options though, as rumor has it that VC and the Matrix are indeed available as well. Given that Gasol's both a current and future stud, and VC and Marion are considered franchise-level talents, "What will the Grizz do?" is without a doubt one of the biggest stories at this year's deadline.

Comment by: WillMaukee
Posted: 1:29pm on 2/15/05

A little insight from BucksNation.com: Sources close to Bucks front office report that the Bucks 07 1st was the linchpin in this deal. Without the pick, the trade would not have happened. However, the Bucks had the option of their own pick or the newly acquired Mavs 07 1st and opted with their own. Will confidence, as always, come back to bite them in the ass? Or will the Bucks, like ALWAYS, try to trade back for their own pick when things go awry? Lack of confidence in their own confidence is disturbing. We will say this though. One Bucks front office rep went on the record saying, "Well, Rafer wasn't a long time solution. We were in a bit of a scramble mode when Luke came into camp out of shape and unfocused. We feel like we were just taking our 07 1st selection a couple years early by trading for Beno now."

Deadline Magic in Orlando

coltsguy510 wrote:Penny
Charles Smith
For
Korver
Rasheed Wallace
Devin Harris
Willie Green

NickMalone77 wrote:Hornets send: Allen Iverson, Ben Gordon, Maurice Taylor, Loren Woods & 10 points

For

Magic send: Shane Battier, Jerome James, Duane Causewell, & Terry Dehere.

By far, the biggest trade (Amount of people) I've ever done and glad we could get this done CG. Good luck chasing the Wizards.

In a double-dose of deals so huge for one team that covering them in separate articles doesn't do it justice, the Magic shout "WIG it" (literally) and completely overhaul their team in a major push for the Atlantic division, the playoffs, and - given Penny's championship pedigree - a title. C'mon, you all knew that there was no way that Coltsguy would stay put with his current roster for long, right? Anyway, before moving into what this means for the Magic, let's discuss what this means for the two other teams involved in these deals. First off, the Hawks. Despite another year of Central division dominance, the Hawks act on their earlier statement that the "time is right" to rebuild, and in true Wig fashion, pick up perfect value in return for the 4-time Finals MVP. Korver and Harris are solid starts to a youth movement, and a (current) frontline of Big Ben, McDyess, and Rasheed ensures that the Hawks remain a team not to be taken lightly. Only a GM of Wig's caliber could trade a guy like Penny and still come out with a playoff-caliber squad.

Moving on to the Hornets, I really wonder how long this deal was in the works, because had Nick not shook things up and traded O'Neal and Pack for Kemp in a pre-ASG deal with Indiana, this really would've been a nice haul for him, and the roster would definitely have to be considered a current and future Central division contender. As it is though, this is a solid move that gives the Hornets some tools to continue fighting for the playoffs while also giving them a brighter future. Battier/Jefferson is a sick young swingman combo that brings a little bit of everything to the table, and the James/Kemp/Z-Bo post triumvirate is quite the defensive unit. The downside is that things are gonna get real expensive, real qiuck, as all three of Z-Bo, Jefferson, and Battier will be RFAs this offseason, and all three will likely command hefty price tags. I hope Nick really likes his roster, because chances are he'll pretty much be locked into it for a while. All in all, it's a quality deal for Nick and the Hornets - but it comes with a price...literally.

And now we come to the star of these deals, the Magic. No doubt about it, these moves were made with a title in mind. Penny's resume speaks for itself, and Iverson's at least a proficient scorer if nothing else. Combine that with young 6'8" scoring swingman Mike Miller and superstar forward Keith Van Horn, and you've got a lineup that can score easily on anyone in the league. As a member of the Atlantic, I'm terrified, but as an analyst, I have a lot of questions. This is nothing short of a complete roster overhaul, and with so little time to gel, it's clear that Coltsguy's hoping that talent trumps cohesion. Also, while Jerome James wasn't exactly a huge contributor, it's asking a lot for Loren Woods, Mo Taylor, and rookie Emeka Okafor to replace James and Rasheed Wallace down in the post, thus putting a lot of stress on Van Horn to hold things together. And finally...how long is this team going to stay together? With both Van Horn and Penny hitting FA next season, one would have to imagine that keeping them both will be expensive, thus locking the Magic into a tough, but aging, core for the next few seasons. So whereas the Magic once had a future as bright as their present, with a deep young core, now they're primarily a now-or-never franchise. If they don't at least come close to winning a title this season, then paying Penny and Van Horn becomes a risky move, and opting to leave them behind leaves them right back in a rebuilding phase. So, what we have here is a classic case of high risk, high reward. Let's see if it pays off.

78# wrote:Rockets trade DeSagna Diop, Byron Russell, and Kerry Kittles to the Miami Heat for David Wesley.

Rockets accept.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Rockets/Heat
78's done a really good job at creating a solid, balanced roster despite having the highest tax bill in the league. Wesley's another solid addition to the Rockets, as he can still produce at a high level and will certainly give Kidd an opportunity to rest during games. For the Heat, it's pretty much a wash, as Diop is the only guy who has a prayer of sticking around. This deal is all about the Rockets.

TheSyndicate wrote:Hawks send:
Vlade Divac

Nuggets send:
6 points

Hawks/Nuggets
Another, simple, straightforward deal. The Hawks needed to reduce their tax bill a bit (and didn't need Vlade anymore thanks to picking up Rasheed), and the Nuggets were happy to pick up a solid bench big to continue fighting for playoff positioning. Not much more to say here.

aburns211 wrote:Clippers send:

3 points
Othella Harrington

Lakers send:
Brian Skinner

Clippers accept. Thanks Tray. Good Luck.

Lakers/Clippers
So...Skinner can be decent when given minutes, and Donyell's out for the moment, so I guess that's the reasoning behind this? I dunno, I honestly don't know what's going on with the Lakers this season. "Crazy" doesn't begin to describe the Lakers's post-championship season. I really can't think of much to say about this trade.

NickMalone77 wrote:Hornets send: Nick Van Exel & Kris Humphries

For

Spurs send: Jacque Vaughn, Nazr Mohammed, 06 Spurs First Round Pick, & 4 Points.

Good deal Eazy and good luck battling in the West.

Hornets/Spurs
Call it a hunch, but I'm guessing this means that rumors of Ray Allen being on the block were greatly exaggerated. The Spurs haven't had a star PG since Mark Price (!), so words can't describe how big a deal this is to San Antonio. Think the Clippers/Bucks deal (ain't that a coincidence), but on a bigger scale. One of the league's top assist men will be passing to two of the league's top scorers in Allen and the Big Dog. That's a combo that definitely puts the rest of the West back on notice after the departure of Abdur-Rahim took the Spurs off the league's radar. For the Hornets', it's a move that nets them a future first (which is almost always good) and few points, but the future cap will still be a concern thanks to Vaughn's contract. It's been a bit of a wild ride for Hornets fans this season, and really, who knows what the future will hold for these guys? Nice deal for Eazy, though.

kucoach7 wrote:Blazers send:
Blazers 05 1st
Bobby Simmons
Steve Nash
Alvin Williams
Matt Carroll

Grizzlies send:
Vince Carter

Blazers accept. Thanks for smooth negotiations.

Blazers/Grizzlies
And BOOM goes the dynamite. Vinsanity's headed down the Pacific Northwest to Portland, and the Grizzlies get a bucket full of expiring contracts to make life a bit easier for them. I really like the inclusion of the Blazers' '05 1st, as it basically replaces the Grizzlies' own 1st, which is now in the Sonics' hands. Bobby Simmons (who will be on his second stint as a Grizzly) is a solid piece to have as well. Future cap room, a decent player, and a probable lotto pick - not bad. For the Blazers, this season's pretty much a wash, but next season...Dirk, DerMarr, and Vince sounds like a potential scoring triple threat, add that with the defensive/rebounding prowess of Kandi, and you have a team that can definitely make some noise in the Pacific. But that's in the future...

NOLa. wrote:Kings send:
Knicks 05
Tom Gugliotta
Ruben Patterson

Grizz send:
Shawn Marion

I accept. Safe travels Louie.

(Of all days to travel)

Kings/Grizzlies
...And the entire West just screamed "WIG it!" LoCo wastes no time in moving the Matrix, and he might've just picked up a Top 3 pick for his troubles. Not bad. I really would've loved to see him snag Luol Deng too, but hey, you take what you can get. Darth's gonna be real happy, because the Grizz's season is likely done, giving the Sonics a lotto pick, but the Grizz have really put themselves in a great position to move forward in the seasons ahead with these moves. Future cap space, a decent player in Simmons, two lotto picks, a lighter tax bill, and Pau Gasol. Nice. Now, on to the Kings. There's not much else to say other than one of the best teams in the league just got better. Marion & McGrady is a lethal combo that can just about - no, they can do it all, and the rest of the league should take care. This looks like the final trade of the deadline, so it's fitting that we pretty much began with a bang in the East, and ended with a stunner out West. Will the deadline determine the outcome of the playoffs, and dare I say the Finals? Who knows. That's why the games are simmed. Until next time (maybe), thanks for reading!

Xist2Inspire wrote:There's not much else to say other than one of the best teams in the league just got better. Marion & McGrady is a lethal combo that can just about - no, they can do it all, and the rest of the league should take care. This looks like the final trade of the deadline, so it's fitting that we pretty much began with a bang in the East, and ended with a stunner out West. Will the deadline determine the outcome of the playoffs, and dare I say the Finals?

AWARDED 5 POINTS! THANKS FOR THE DOPE ASS ARTICLE!