Pat Riley builds a contender on the fly again; Houston Rockets make a mess of the James Harden trade assets; mixed feelings for the Toronto Raptors and Kyle Lowry
Friday 26 March 2021 13:06, UK
After one of the most chaotic trade deadlines in NBA history, it is time to take a step back and see if we can make out the wood from the trees, or at least which flaming wreckage of a franchise appears to be in better shape for the future out of the Magic and the Rockets.
Pat Riley has built a contender on the fly yet again.
The smoothest man in basketball managed to obtain Victor Oladipo from the Houston Rockets, a long-term target for the franchise, while only giving up Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and the rights to a pick swap in 2022. Olynyk is expiring at the end of the season, the pick swap is almost worthless due to the Heat being a contending team and Bradley is averaging nine points a game.
They also look set to pick up Jeff Teague and LaMarcus Aldridge, both former All-Stars, for free after Teague was waived by the Orlando Magic, where he was sent as part of the Evan Fournier deal, and Aldridge was bought out of his contract by the San Antonio Spurs.
Part of the allure Miami has is its hard-working, no-frills culture currently embodied by Erik Spoelstra and their two star players: Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler. But that all comes down from the top, where Pat Riley's reputation as a winner goes beyond everything else.
He's won nine NBA championship rings after all, one as a player and assistant coach, five as head coach and two as an executive with the Heat. All he has to do is flash those bejewelled hands in the vague direction of a star hungry for success and they will inevitably come running.
It was believed that Miami were Kyle Lowry's destination of choice over his hometown Philadelphia. The above explains why. Never one to be on the wrong end of a bad deal however, Riley pulled out of negotiations for the Raptors point guard after Toronto demanded Tyler Herro in any deal.
With career averages of 20 points per game, six rebounds and five assists, Oladipo is quite the player to get for essentially nothing. Expect the Heat to make a serious run at the Finals once more.
Sometimes there is nothing left to be done but tear it all down.
Sure, the Magic gave up their three best players and sure, they didn't get all that much back other than five so-so draft picks. But see this is as an opportunity, not a setback.
This franchise wasn't going anywhere. The Vucevic-Fournier-Gordon core made the playoffs exactly twice since Gordon was drafted in 2014 and got bounced 4-1 in the first round both times. Nobody should aspire to tread water as an eighth seed in the East, not even the Magic.
Now they have cap flexibility and the chance to build around two exciting young players in the form of Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz once they return from injury. They might even get a great draft pick this year.
And hey, in the meantime Magic fans will get to watch Terrence Ross given the greenest of green lights for the rest of the campaign. Expect an 80-point game in a 142-96 blowout loss before the season is out.
For the sentimental among us, it was great to see Kyle Lowry, semi-officially the Greatest Raptor of All Time (GROAT), stay with the franchise at the trade deadline despite ongoing discussions with the Sixers, Heat and Lakers.
Whilst Lowry himself would probably prefer to play on a contender at this stage in his career, he'll get his pick of them come the summer when he enters free agency, along with the added benefit of not weakening their rosters upon his arrival.
The bad news is that the normally astute Masai Ujiri will see his franchise point guard leave for nothing after pricing everyone out of the market by demanding Talen Horton-Tucker from the Lakers, Tyler Herro from the Heat and Matisse Thybulle from the Sixers in any deal.
While the stubbornness to acquire a talented young player for Lowry was admirable, it has ultimately left them nothing - not a great result considering that Duncan Robinson from the Heat and Dennis Schroder and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from the Lakers were rumoured to be on the table.
Oh boy, where to start. Houston traded James Harden in January and all they got in the end was 20 games of Victor Oladipo, Avery Bradley, an expiring Kelly Olynyk, four first-round picks and five first-round pick swaps.
For a bonafide superstar like Harden, one of the best scorers AND playmakers the league has ever seen, that is nowhere near enough whichever way you look at it.
That's before you even take into consideration the fact they could have acquired arguably the best defensive player in the league, Ben Simmons, by dealing with the Sixers rather than the Nets, or even just kept Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen from the eventual deal - two much better players than Bradley and Olynyk and potential building blocks for the future alongside Christian Wood.
Houston has many problems right now, with only the faint chance of being gifted the No 1 overall pick to draft Cade Cunningham offering any kind of consolation for what has been an utter mess of a season. Onwards and upwards for the Rockets from here, I suppose.
Ok, so Sam Presti did as Sam Presti always does by managing to hoard even more assets. Fantastic. Good for him. One question: now what?
At some point, you're going to have to do something with those 17 second-round draft picks. The problem is, I'm not sure exactly what - if anything - can be done.
The fact the Oklahoma City Thunder have such a monopoly over the draft for the next seven years is detrimental to the war chest's overall value. Once they engage in talks with any other team they're going to demand the house, car, television set, corner sofa and refrigerator, simply because Oklahoma have it all. The Thunder will have to give up a king's ransom to get anything done.
What I'm saying is, asking about Bradley Beal and being told by the Wizards it's the full cupboard of 34 draft picks or nothing will be a monumental waste of everyone's time. Although it will at least be very, very funny.
Every single player in the league called Gary was traded on Thursday. That's it. That's the end of the column.
