By: Tyler Ward
The tail end of the weekend was a rather boring one, as it was very uneventful in the NBA. It was expected to be an exciting, busy weekend, as the "Miami Thrice" was officially born on Thursday, along with many other trades and signings. However, it was not the case and we lived a rather dull weekend.
Good thing the weekend's over. It seemed to be a very interesting day since it struck midnight, and for that we are very thankful as the subject matter was decreasing heavily. Well, enough of the chit-chat, let's recap what has happened in the NBA the last few days.
- Toronto trades Hedo Turkoglu to Phoenix for G Leandro Barbosa; Charlotte trades C Tyson Chandler & F Boris Diaw to Toronto for PG Jose Calderon & PF Reggie Evans
As reported late Sunday night, there was a mega deal that no one really expected - it just came out of the blue. The trade included six players, with Charlotte seemingly coming out the worst. Toronto's GM, Bryan Colangelo, acquired two players that he had on the Suns when he was their GM a few years back.
Toronto received swingman Leandro Barbosa, center Tyson Chandler, and role player Boris Diaw in the trade. Chandler immediately brings back a height advantage that Toronto originally lost in the Chris Bosh sign-and-trade. He has had a history of injuries lately and he will have to steer clear of health issues if Toronto wants to get the better end of the deal. Chandler has also never played a full 82 game season in his nine-year career. His best year came in the 2007-08 season where he averaged 11.8 points and 11.7 rebounds per game (the only season he has averaged more than 10 points per game in a season).
He will more than likely immediately become the other half of the frontcourt, along with 2006 #1 pick, Andrea Bargnani. The Raptors would then have both starting frontcourt players standing at 7'0" tall or higher.
Chandler was chosen by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 2nd overall pick in the 2001 draft (his draft rights were traded to the Chicago Bulls). He spent five seasons with Chicago before being acquired by the New Orleans Hornets. Before the 2009-10 season, he was dealt to Charlotte for another former 2nd overall pick, Emeka Okafor. His Charlotte stint was short lived and injury plagued, as Chandler only played in 51 games, starting 27 of them. Now, he will be on his fourth team and maybe, he can live up to the hype that surrounded him prior to the 2001 draft. He has career averages of 8.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.
The Raptors also acquired Barbosa from the Suns, which is my favorite part of the deal. Barbosa automatically brings great athleticism and a fearless spark off the bench. Primarily being a shooting guard, he will compete with ex-USC star Demar Derozan for playing time. He has not had signficant starting time in his career and has only had 109 starts out of a possible 466 games. Barbosa will probably be utilized off the bench and Derozan will be handed the starting job. This will be Barbosa's first season with a different team, as he had spent his entire career with Phoenix before the trade (actually drafted by the Spurs, but his draft rights were traded to Phoenix).
However, he will have to make sure he is healthy for this season - since he was drafted, he had been rather healthy, but only played in 44 games last season, the fewest of his career. If Barbosa stays healthy for the majority part of the season, Toronto wins in the trade, no doubt in my mind.
In the 2006-07 season, Barbosa had a memorable season as he won the Sixth Man of the Year Award. Since the award started being handed out in the 1982-83 season, he became the fourth Sun to claim the title after Eddie Johnson, Rodney Rogers, and Danny Manning. Throughout his career, he has averaged 12.6 points per game.
The Raptors weren't even done there. They also acquired frenchman Boris Diaw in the deal, too. Since they traded Hedo Turkoglu, Diaw will probably be penciled in as the starting small forward. He is considered by some to be a tall forward, standing at 6'8" and will have a height advantage over other small forwards in the Eastern Conference.
Diaw had spent the last one and a half seasons with Charlotte, after being acquired from the Suns in 2008. He was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2003 draft with the 21 overall pick. Toronto will be his fourth team after making stops in Atlanta, Phoenix, and Charlotte. He has career averages of 9.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4 assists per game.
Phoenix acquired unhappy forward Hedo Turkoglu in the deal. After spurning the Blazers last summer, he signed with Toronto for a 5-year/$53 million contract. He expressed his displeasure with Toronto and immediately regretted his decision during the regular season.
He got such a high-dollar deal because he did so well in the playoffs with Orlando, helping them get to the NBA Finals for the first time since the mind 1990's. Before Orlando, his performances were lackluster and he didn't really provide help for championship contenders like San Antonio and Sacramento (the Webber/Stojakovic days).
However, this helps Phoenix because he will be chosen as their starting power forward after Amare Stoudemire left for New York earlier this month. Throughout his time in the NBA, he had been primarily used as a small forward, but standing at 6'10", he can also play power forward. With the re-signing of Channing Frye and the signings of Hakim Warrick and Josh Childress, they have had a pretty decent offseason - perhaps the best a team could have after losing such a player like Stoudemire. The Suns are also likely to lose popular forward Louis Amundson to free agency so getting Turkoglu is a good decision.
Turkoglu had a horrible season and he certainly didn't live up to the $9+ million he was scheduled to make last season. He averaged an uninspired 11.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.1 rebounds, which was his worst season since 2003-04, statistically (maybe you should lay off the cigarettes, Hedo). The ex-Raptor is poised to do better this season and the Suns can only hope he does.
Michael Jordan and the Bobcats also received a little something out of this deal, too. The Raptors traded late-season choker Jose Calderon to Charlotte, along with high-paid forward Reggie Evans. On paper, it looks like the Bobcats got the worst part of the deal, taking on two very high paid players.
Calderon is a decent player, but he contributed to the Raptors' late season collapse and they missed out on the playoffs yet again. However, they needed to acquire a point guard because they let Raymond Felton walk to the New York Knicks last week. They had only one point guard on under contract, which was D.J. Augustin. Augustin hasn't really started in his career, so Calderon will likely be the starting point guard for the Bobcats next season. Calderon has averaged 9.8 points and 6.6 assists per game in five seasons with the Raptors.
The Reggie Evans part of the deal is meaningless. Evans, overpaid, will probably not get valuable playing time when he will be competing against DeSagana Diop, Nazr Mohammad, Derrick Brown, and Alexis Ajinca in a crowded frontcourt. He is scheduled to make roughly $5 million this season.
- Atlanta trades SF Josh Childress to Phoenix for a 2012 2nd round pick (Childress will sign a five year contract worth approximately $34 million)
The Hawks have agreed in principle to trade Josh Childress for a conditional 2nd round pick. Childress is expected to sign a five-year deal with Phoenix after the trade becomes official.
This is a great deal for Phoenix because this gives them a serviceable small forward that can be a starter or a bench player. He was one of the best free agents left on the board, but was grabbed up in a trade that was virually one-sided.
Childress had spent the last two seasons overseas with the Greece Team, Olympiakos Piraerus. He was offered a 5-year/$33 million contract by Atlanta in 2008, but instead, he went overseas on a three year deal woth $20 million. Even though Atlanta's offer consisted of more money, he had the ability to make even more money in Europe by signing a Nike contract. He was very incontent and decided to play overseas because he the Hawks teams he played on were anything, but spectacular. In his first year of Euroleague play, he averaged 8.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
This trades adds to a deep Suns bench that includes Childress, playoff hero Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, Hakim Warrick, and Channing Frye, they are poised to have a deep 10-man rotation. The Suns are hoping that they can do even better than last year when they lost in six games to the eventual champion, Los Angeles Lakers.
The Hawks chose Childress with the 6th overall pick in the 2004 draft. He has averaged 11.1 points, 5.6 assists, and 1.8 rebounds per game.
- Orlando signs SF Quentin Richardson to a multi-year contract
The Magic reportedly brought in sharpshooter Quentin Richardson, which inevitably means they will not re-sign defensive specialist Matt Barnes. This was a good deal for the Magic because they needed another good shooter in case they lose out on re-signing J.J. Redick.
Orlando will use their one remaining mid-level exception to sign Richardson - however, all but $2.1 million is supposed to go to recent addition, Chris Duhon. Terms have not been fully disclosed, but it is more than likely a two year deal similar to the one Jermaine O'Neal received from the Celtics last week.
This could also be one of Richardson's final stops. He was traded four times last offseason, with the last trade sending him to the Miami Heat. Miami decided not to re-sign Richardson and he would be on a different team again.
Richardson stayed relatively healthy for the Heat last season, starting 75 out of a possible 82 game schedule. He shot a career-best 39.7% beyond the arc and also leading the team in that category. He averaged 8.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
- New Jersey signs PG Jordan Farmar to a 3-year/$12 million contract
The Nets continued to wheel-and-deal with their third signing since late last week - Johan Petro and Anthony Morrow were the other two.
Farmar is brought in to immediately back-up young guard Devin Harris. Farmar, who had spent his entire career with the Lakers, leaves behind a franchise where he won two championships. The Nets are hoping he can bring that championship pedigree to the Nets and bring them back to the playoffs. After losing out on LeBron James in free agency, they have made somewhat of a splash in the market since Thursday. Their team has gotten significantly better with the acquisitions of Farmar and Morrow, along with draft picks Derrick Favors and Damion James.
Farmar will bring in quality minutes and great shooting off the bench, which the Nets needed with their 12-70 record last season. He was chosen 26th overall by the Lakers in the 2006 draft. Farmar has only started 2 out of the 301 games he's played, so he doesn't have much starting experience. He has averaged 6.9 points per game throughout his career.
- Miami re-signs PF Udonis Haslem to a 5-year/$20 million contract
ESPN reported today that Udonis Haslem would take less money to come back and play for the Heat. He had received two 5 year/$34 million offers, coming from the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks. Haslem took significantly less money to stay with an immediate championship contender (Can you blame him?)
He had drawn interests from multiple teams around the league, but he did the smart thing and stayed in Miami. Before the signing, the Heat were thin in the frontcourt with only two players under contract next season (rookies Dexter Pittman & Jarvis Varnardo). This also provides Chris Bosh with a great energy guy as a back-up when he isn't on the court for the 10-15 minutes he usually misses.Dwyane Wade is still united with Haslem, as they both came into the league in 2003. This brings a little bit more chemistry to the Heat's rotation because Wade and Haslem have played together so much. Although he is considered "short" to play at power forward, he still brings in a big body that can battle with the other offensive forces in the Eastern Conference.
The Heat still aren't done. They have already made several great moves in free agency this year and this is still in the top tier because they needed a power forward so badly. Miami also announced today that they officially signed swingman Mike Miller to a contract, so it looks like the Heat are definite championship contenders this year.
- Los Angeles Lakers re-sign PG Derek Fisher to a contract
ESPN also reported today that playoff hero Derek Fisher will come back to the Los Angeles Lakers. After getting a great offer by the Heat, Fisher decided that he will go back to Los Angeles in hopes of winning his third straight championship. Terms of the deal have not been fully disclosed.
Fisher announced on his website that he would re-sign with L.A. and named Kobe Bryant in particular as the reason he would come back.
He wrote on his site, "At the end of the day, there’s one person I could not turn away from. Kobe Bryant asked me to stay but supported whatever decision I made. He and I have played together for 11 seasons, came into the league together as kids, and has been loyal to me even when others had doubts. We have won five championships together. I have decided to continue with Kobe, continue with our teammates and the fans of Los Angeles. While this may not be the most lucrative contract I’ve been offered this off season, it is the most valuable. I am confident I will continue to lead this team on and off the court. Let the hunt for six begin…"
The Lakers specifically needed Fisher to come back after Jordan Farmar signed with the Nets on Monday, too. They were incrdibly thin and their lone point guard was recent signee, Steve Blake.
