So the NBA Trade deadline has come and gone. There were some duds, there were some explosions, and then there were the Milwaukee Bucks! The Oklahoma City Thunder made off like kids in a candy store. While the rest of the trades left us scratching our heads.
Courtesy: NY Post
With regards to the Phoenix Suns, GM Ryan McDonough just gave my GM dreams a gigantic boost! All of these years I thought that the Nets Billy King was paving the way for me to get my inexperienced foot in the door. Think about my surprise when I finally observed Ryan McDonough at work, screwing up the Suns organization. You spend the entire offseason trying to re-sign your franchise point guard, only to spend $20 plus million to lure Isaiah Thomas from Sacramento to the “Valley of the Sun”! Oh did I mention that they still had the explosive Goran Dragic on their roster, who also happens to be a POINT GUARD! Let’s just top off the Sunday with the fact that they also drafted Syracuse’s Tyler Innis!
If you’re counting the exclamation points as you read along, you’ll start to understand my anger and frustration with the way the NBA works today. I have to sit back and inhale of of this crap and do my job as objectively as possible. So if any of my friends or family are reading this article, you now know why I don’t consider this job “DA BOMB”!
Although I LOVE working in sports, it takes a toll on me sometimes. Sorry for the minor ramble but I couldn’t suppress it any longer.
After posting career numbers for the Phoenix Suns and being so consistent in just a half a season, Thomas was shipped off to the Celtics? What sense did it make signing him to a huge deal in the first place if it was just an experiment? They could’ve done a 1 year deal. Argue all you want that they were just trying to stockpile some bargaining chips.
In Charles Barkley’s (and my) opinion, they didn’t do ANYTHING with their “chips” so to speak. So all you Phoenix Suns supporters can thank Ryan McDonough for screwing up the roster!
Courtesy: SI.com
On to the main characters of this plot; the Milwaukee Bucks. Brandon Knight was on the cusp of being named an Eastern Conference All Star and had been the Bucks best player up until the trade deadline. A young guy who plays both ends of the floor, has tremendous upside, and at 6’3, has great size for a lead guard. With all of that being said, the Milwaukee Bucks trade him out and bring in MCW (Michael Carter-Williams)?
A guy who has tremendous size(6’6) for a point guard but leaves little else to the imagination. His jumpshot is atrocious and he flat out STINKS from long range. He turns the ball over extremely too much for a team leader, and lets not forget that he is doing all of this for a team that has been rebuilding for a few years now. That’s the polite way of saying that they STINK! He doesn’t make them better at all!
So the brain-trust of the Bucks all got together and decided to send their most consistent player out west, and bring in a guy that’s been inconsistent for a terrible team, and really hasn’t done anything to show why he was a lottery pick! Besides the occasional triple-double or flirting with one, he’s never shown why he was once the center piece of a rebuilding process in Philly.
Last but certainly not least, the Detroit Pistons. You’ve already committed big money to Brandon Jennings, yet you go out and make a trade for a point guard who has been a career backup and was ALWAYS unhappy playing behind Russell Westbrook. Yet when Westbrook and Durant were sidelined with their various injuries, he did very little to show that he is indeed a top tier playmaker.
Courtesy: CBS Sports
I mean let’s be for real, ANY knucklehead can score the ball! Sure he scored a lot in some games but look at the shot chart. He shot something like 38% from the field and the Thunder tanked! Westbrook is a perennial All Star, an Olympic gold medalist, and one of the most electrifying players in the league. If you’re keeping score, Jackson also spent some time in the D League as well.
So instead of earning his spot as a starter, he gripes about being a backup and forces a trade. As much as we saw the Harden saga play out in the media, we all knew that Harden had earned his keep and more than likely would be a star in Houston. The majority of us hit the nail on the head! My dad use to always say “son, be careful of what you wish for. It just might come true”. Now Jackson is left with the task of trying to help resurrect this floundering franchise, while Jennings is on the shelf.
In closing I would just like to say, sometimes the grass is greener on the other side. Most times it’s just tunnel vision that has you thinking this way.
