Turning Pretenders to Contenders (Part 1)

Courtesy: CBS Local New York

Los Angeles Clippers

Los Angeles Clippers receive: SF Carmelo Anthony, PG Kirk Hinrich, and Chicago’s 14’ & 15’ 2nd Round Draft Picks
New York Knicks receive: PF Blake Griffin, PF Antawn Jamison, PF Erik Murphy, and SG Willie Green
Chicago Bulls receive: SG Jamal Crawford, and LAC’s 14’ 2nd Round Draft Pick

Why the Clippers do it:
This season we have witnessed Blake Griffin’s emergence as a top PF in the NBA. He has improved his post-game and his mid-range shot immensely. Since star PG Chris Paul, went down for about 6 weeks with a separated shoulder, Griffin has really shown he can carry a team. Blake has been much more aggressive in demanding the ball and he has willed his Clippers to victory on multiple occasions.

Though the Clippers cannot win a championship without Chris Paul, Blake’s emergence has proven he deserves all of the attention and hype surrounding him. With all of that said, one may ask then why trade Blake? The answer to this question is simply because the Clippers will not win a championship with this current roster.

A front court duo of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan is fun to watch but competing for a championship is even more fun to watch. Clipper fans will not ever experience that feeling unless they make a drastic move. The team now, as it sits, is maxed out. They cannot sign any more stars or really trade for anyone that will make a big enough impact without giving up an asset. Thus Blake should and would be the piece to be moved.

DeAndre Jordan is a valuable player but not many teams would want to take on his contract and Chris Paul is way more valuable to the Clippers than Blake Griffin. Therefore, Blake Griffin will have to be traded. There have been rumors floating around the league that the Clippers and Knicks have discussed a Blake for Melo deal. However, Doc Rivers has shot down the idea and the Knicks have said that they have not even considered trading Melo.

Courtesy: Yahoo News

But, we all know it does not matter what teams say to the public because they often lie until a deal is actually done. So why would the Clippers make this trade? They make this trade because Carmelo Anthony is a superstar in this league. I don’t care what anyone says, Melo is big time. He is an unstoppable force on offense and although he is not an elite defender, he has improved his defensive game drastically. He has also able to increase his rebounding numbers over the past couple of seasons.

Acquiring Carmelo would not only move the Clippers into a top seed in the Western Conference, but it would put them into championship contention. Melo has never really had an elite point guard on his team. Pairing Carmelo and Chris Paul would lead to Melo getting tons of open shots. Right now he has to work so hard for a shot, because Ray Felton is not nearly the creator that Paul is. That duo would be deadly and even more fun to watch than Lob City featuring Blake Griffin. Now, why would LAC get rid of Jamal Crawford as well? Mainly because he plays absolutely no defense. The Clippers have struggled for the majority of this season to defend and Crawford has not helped their cause. So, acquiring a defensive work horse like Kirk Hinrich would be a solid move to improve the bench. Also, Jamal Crawford will not be much use with Melo on the team. JR Smith has helped prove that fact.

Why New York does it:

The Knicks are a complete disaster. They have no cap space, they have a crazy owner, they have a ton of losses, and they have no draft picks. These are all reasons why Carmelo will leave at the end of the season. Losing Carmelo Anthony will obviously be devastating for the Knicks, but losing him and getting Blake Griffin would not be as devastating. In fact, I’m pretty sure that many Knicks fans would not mind losing Melo if it meant acquiring Blake.

The perks to trading for Blake include his age and his contract. Blake’s only 24 years old and he is locked up for the next 4 years with his recent contract extension. The Knicks are going to be entering rebuilding mode and having a young star to build around would be fantastic, especially since they have traded away most of their future picks. This would be the absolute best case scenario for the Knicks in a trade involving Carmelo Anthony. There aren’t many other moves New York could make to get equal value back for the superstar wing. On a side note, Blake does not make as much as Carmelo would with a max extension, so it would give New York more flexibility moving forward.

Why Chicago does it: 

Chicago is not receiving any household names like Griffin or Anthony, but it is the perfect deal to get in on. With the Clippers acquiring Melo, they will not have much use for Jamal Crawford any longer. Not many teams would want to take Crawford’s contract on in a straight up deal, so joining this trade would allow them to take on Crawford without giving up too much. Chicago is definitely not competing for a championship this season, so there is no use in hanging onto players if they are not part of the rebuilding project. As a result, Kirk Hinrich is the perfect guy to trade away and trading him for a scorer, like Crawford, is the ideal transaction. The Bulls are dreadful on offense as they do not have anybody that is a go to scorer. Jamal Crawford is the ultimate heat check player, so adding him would be one piece to the puzzle moving forward in Chicago.

Courtesy: Zimbio

Detroit Pistons

Detroit Pistons receive: SF Luol Deng, PG Steve Nash, C Chris Kaman, Cleveland’s 2014 2nd Round Pick, Memphis’s (via Cleveland) 2014 2nd Round Pick
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: PF Josh Smith
Los Angeles Lakers receive: PF Charlie Villanueva

Why Detroit does it:

The Josh Smith experiment has not worked out. Actually it could not have gone any worse. On paper the Pistons are very intriguing with Brandon Jennings, J-Smoove, Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond, but so far they have been pretty horrific. Believe it or not, this team is actually out of the playoffs in an extremely weak Eastern Conference. If I had to guess, Jennings and/or Josh Smith will be traded this season or in the offseason.

Both have reasonable contracts, with Smith making about $13.5 million a year and Jennings making about $8 million a year. Both are assets but not on this team. So, Josh Smith has to get traded for a real SF that can actually shoot. The problem with Smith is that he thinks he can shoot, but he really can’t.

I’m not a Detroit fan and I even cringe when Smith takes a jumper. At this point it comes down to Detroit choosing between Greg Monroe and Josh Smith as their PF of the future. I’d personally choose Greg Monroe, because he is still improving his game, while Smith has been in the league a little longer, so we know what we are getting with him.

Courtesy: USA Today

Detroit trading Smith for Deng would boost them into contention because it allows the floor to spread, which would give Monroe and Drummond more room to operate in the paint. Luol Deng is not a selfish player by any means, so if I am Detroit I would not worry about him hogging the ball at all.

Also, adding Chris Kaman for depth would be perfect, since the Pistons do not have much of a bench, especially at the PF and C positions. Additionally, they would be taking on Steve Nash with the intention of using their amnesty clause on him at the end of the season to open up some cap space. With this sort of deal the Pistons mesh much better as a team and gain some flexibility moving forward. The team would also match up a lot better against a team like the Indiana Pacers.

Why Cleveland does it:

The Cavs can’t really believe that Luol Deng would stay on a team that is such a disaster. I mean they have no sense of direction for the future except for the lottery (which they have failed to capitalize on the past three seasons). Deng is good as gone and the sooner they realize that, the better. Trading for a star like Josh Smith would give Kyrie more reason to stick around, because Smith is locked up for 3 years. The duo of Smith and Kyrie would be fun to watch and give Cavs fan a reason to go to games. Cleveland is many trades away, but they can begin to restart their rebuilding project by acquiring Smith. It will not solve all of their problems but it would be a step in the right direction.

Why Los Angeles does it:

The Lakers would be ecstatic if they were presented with a deal like this. They would not only receive a huge expiring contract, but they would get rid of injury plagued Steve Nash. Saying Nash’s time in LA hasn’t worked out is a massive understatement. As a Laker fan, the entire situation is a headache and I would do anything to trade away that contract. I can’t even remember Nash playing in more than 10 games.

Also, this would give them a chance to get rid of Chris Kaman who has also been annoying. I can’t blame the guy for constantly complaining, because he is losing playing time for Robert Sacre, but enough is enough. All Kaman does is complain. Just the thought of having another half of a season with him sitting on the bench is awful. This deal opens up about $10 million more in cap space for this upcoming offseason which will be needed for the Lakers to keep depth on their team.

~Credits to RealGM.com, NBA.com, and ESPN.Go.com (all trades verified through NBA Trade Machine)~