Tuesday, February 17, 2009

What Trades Mean for the Jazz


Over the last couple days, there have been two major trades in the NBA: the Heat sent Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Raptors for Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon and the Hornets sent Tyson Chandler to the Thunder for Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. Both of these trades have possible ramifications for the Jazz.

Heat Spend Their Cash: Because the Heat added O'Neal to their books, they won't have the money to be a major player in the free agent market this offseason. This should put an end to the Boozer to Miami rumors, and may increase the chance that Boozer resigns with the Jazz.

Hornets Put Up the White Flag: This trade made the Hornets' payroll better and their team worse. They gave up a strong interior defender and rebounder for two journeymen. Although the Hornets are trying to spin the trade as a chance to updgrade their front court, David West didn't seem to be buying it and I don't think the rest of the Hornets will either. Check out this scoop from ESPN:

At the Hornets' Tuesday morning shootaround in Oklahoma City, West told the New Orleans Times Picayune that he was hoping his team would resist the trade interest in Chandler."I don't know if that's somebody we can afford to lose,'' West told the newspaper. "So I'm not sold on that idea. You just don't find a 7-foot-1 athlete like that and he's the only 7-footer we have. Especially if we're planning on making a run into the playoffs, we're going to need size to compete with Portland, San Antonio and the Lakers. I'm not sure that would help us."

Does that sound like a guy ready to make a deep playoff run? The Hornets are currently 1 1/2 games ahead of the Jazz, but following this trade, I will be surprised if we don't catch them by the end of the year.

4 comments:

Ryan said...

On the flip side of the Hornets - Thunder trade, the Thunder are putting together a nice nucleus of excellent young players - Durant, Green, Westbrook and Chandler - and have to be considered, with Portland, one of the NBA's most promising young teams. The way the Thunder and Blazers are building, the Northwest Division looks like it's going to be a very competitive place for the next several years.

Draft Guru said...

Bingo! Right on all points. Opportunities are dwindling for Boozer (Detroit?), the Hornets got worse, and the Thunder may be a threat eventually.

Orlando said...

I don't think this hurts the Hornets so much this year, but long term it indicates that they can't compete.

Chandler has been hurt a lot this year, and Wilcox + Smith is probably the same thing as Chandler anyway. They shouldn't lose too much until next year, when they have to start Hilton Armstrong at the 5.

Boozer is not opting out. You heard it hear first.

Ryan said...

I think you may be right Crotty. It looks like teams are going to be tight with their money this offseason and Boozer's value has to have declined after another extended injury absence. If Boozer does stick around, what do we do with Millsap? Can we pay them both big money for a season? I would guess the Millers aren't going to be excited to open their wallets for that.