6. The Lakers are done playing games
Jeanie Buss means business if you didn’t gather from the Red Wedding she stunningly pulled on her brother Jim and Mitch Kupchak just 48 hours before the deadline. The same goes for Magic Johnson, who, upon ascending to his new perch as Lakers president of basketball operations, traded away Lou Williams, got the team involved on the Paul George front, and took calls on Nick Young, all faster than you could say “Abdul-Jabbar.”
Now none of those moves were game-changers in and of themselves, but they affirmed one message to Laker Nation: our long national nightmare is over. Johnson is already working to rebuild the franchise’s reputation in the eyes of marquee talents. He is teaming with new GM Rob Pelinka and the rest of the front office to put the Lakers in a position to realistically and financially be able to acquire that talent. So rival executives best be vigilant of no-look passes zipping by their ears, because it’s Showtime in Los Angeles again.
7. Doc Rivers is perfectly content to run it back again
Another team somewhat surprising in their silence this year was the Los Angeles Clippers, who took a pie to the face last deadline by swinging an eleventh-hour deal for Jeff Green, who played for the team for all of two months, in exchange for Lance Stephenson and a future first-rounder. Welp.
Perhaps the sting of that belly flop of a trade necessitated the exercise of more prudence this time around, but the Clips are in a good spot regardless. Merciful point god Chris Paul is on the verge of an early return from injury, and Blake Griffin has been Hellboy in basketball form since his own return.
While the temptation to gauge themselves against Golden State and panic into a Carmelo Anthony-type deal must have been enormous, there’s intrinsic value in the 2011 Dallas Mavericks model of keeping a nucleus intact for several seasons in the hope that they can eventually break through the glass ceiling. Though the Dubs have all but assured that the ceiling [commander-in-chief voice] just got ten feet higher, it sounds like that’s the conventional wisdom Doc Rivers is going for here.
8. The cavalry is coming behind Russell Westbrook
Those 10,000 “Save The Brodie” shirts I ordered off eBay were not purchased in vain.
Though the loss of Westbrook’s blood sworn dance partner, Cameron Payne, is absolutely devastating (not really), the reinforcements have arrived for our beloved triple-double addict. Doug McDermott will offer Billy Donovan a versatile offensive threat to close games with in those situations where the foul stench of Andre Roberson’s jumper is too much to bear. The addition of veteran forward Taj Gibson should also unlock a number of juicy tall-ball lineups next to Steven Adams in case rookie Domantas Sabonis isn’t ready for the bright lights of the postseason or if Enes Kanter isn’t the same upon returning from his upholstery-related injury.
All things considered, the cost is quite minimal for the Thunder. Joffrey Lauvergne proved to be little more than a 6-foot-11 whoopee cushion in the increased opportunity presented by Kanter’s absence, and Payne is a low-upside option at a position of abundance who simply hasn’t looked serviceable since foot surgery. The same goes for Anthony Morrow, a solid long-range sniper, but one who could never carve out a proper role in OKC. With the Thunder only 3.5 games out of a top-four seed in the West, let Westbrook’s piercing battle cry shepherd the weak through the valley of darkness.
9. Is The Process still being trusted?
The trade of Nerlens Noel to Dallas was a bolt from the blue, especially since he had finally appeared to find his calling as a defensive dynamo sixth man for the Sixers. In selling off Noel, a Day One Process OG, is Jerry Colangelo beginning to trample all over the carefully-crafted sandcastle that his predecessor, the Honorable Sam Hinkie, built?
In conjunction with their earlier trade of Ersan Ilyasova to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for the injured Tiago Splitter and two future second-rounders, Colangelo seems to be presiding over a radical shift in team-building strategy by the Philly front office. Gone are the days of building exclusively through the draft in favor of clearing out roster space and cap room, perhaps to work more closely with the free agency pool in future years.
With that in mind, dealing Noel, who is due for restricted free agency after the season, makes at least a remote inkling of sense, even if it’s still difficult to justify the late 180 of choosing to keep Jahlil Okafor over Noel. So while I can at least somewhat understand why Colangelo pulled the trigger, as a fanatical disciple of the Holy Gospel according to Hinkie, I can never forgive him.
10. Paul George survives the deadline
As it turns out, Larry Bird was just toying with us all along. Though the PG-13 fever dreams abounded from Boston to LA, George ultimately remained with the Pacers through the deadline. The whole “will they or won’t they” tap dance was a clever way for Indy to maintain the outward appearance of long-term commitment to the four-time All-Star while also gathering intel as to what his trade value might be over the summer and onwards into next season.
In the end, it stands to reason that the time just wasn’t ripe for the picking to move George. The Pacers are still a playoff team and George is under contract through 2018. But as the Carmelos and the Butlers before us can attest, this by no means symbolizes the death of the rumor mill, for George or for other potentially-available stars. So as winter becomes spring becomes the playoffs and becomes the summer, there shall be no rest for the weary, least of all us embattled hardwood devotees. Long live the National Basketball Association.
