NBA Chat With Joel Brigham, 3/15/12

1. calvinzero

   What do you think of the Bucks-Warriors trade involving Bogut,Jackson and Monta? Is there any strong indication that the Bucks wants to pick big men in the draft or make another deal during offseason?? What’s your analysis on it?

   • Joel Brigham

     Good afternoon, HOOPSWORLD Citizens, and welcome to another edition of my weekly chat. It’s a big one because, ya know, we’re like 90 minutes away from the deadline and there’s still a ton of stuff hanging around out there. Looks like Gerald Wallace is headed to New Jersey, for example. Jamal Crawford and Mike Beasley are still getting shopped around pretty aggressively, as are the rest of the Portland Trail Blazers not named “Lamarcus” or “Nic” and about 90% of the Houston Rockets.

     Plenty can happen in the next hour-and-a-half, and that’s not even taking into consideration NFL free agency (Peyton could make a decision soon, Mario Williams to Buffalo of all places?) or March Madness, which is going on right now (Go Murray State!!!). I don’t even know how to keep up with it all. It’s been so busy I almost missed the news that HBO cancelled “Luck,” which was one of my favorite new shows of the year.

     But my goodness was that a rant. Let’s get to the questions, with starts with the first trade of the deadline from a couple nights ago:

     Milwaukee’s going to have to look into drafting some more size in the offseason, but in the meantime I think they’ve got enough to sort of hold things down with Mbah a Moute, Udoh, Ilyasova, Drew Gooden, and even Kwame Brown. No standouts there (except maybe Ilyasova, who’s been a fantasy shocker this year), but lots of depth. Still, if they can get a good big in the offseason, I have to think they’ll try.

     I’m also really interested to see how B-Jennings and Monta interact. Both guys like being the offensive dominator in the backcourt, and that’s going to change for one or both of them pretty much immediately. If it works, though, look out. Offensive fireworks on the horizon in Millerwaukee…

2. Deven

   Other than Dwight, do you see any other major moves in the works?

   • Joel Brigham

     A lot of the “major” stuff rumored to happen has either already gone down, gotten settled, or is close to happening. I think the biggest names left on the board we can expect to see moved are probably Jamal Crawford or Mike Beasley. Dwight’s officially in with Orlando, NJ’s not trading Deron, and L.A. just can’t seem to get an offer they love for Pau Gasol. Houston’s still trying to pry him away, but unless they include Kyle Lowry (they’re not, and won’t) the Lakers aren’t interested.

     Ray Allen is getting pursued pretty hard I’m told, so that could be a sleeper move, too. GMs are exasperated by dealing with Danny Ainge right now, but he’s likely protecting his vets and so asking for quite a lot. Allen, for example, will fetch a first-round pick and a young talent or he won’t be moving. Still, if a team could come up with that, it could get done.

     Will be curious to see what Orlando is able to pull off, too, now that they know Dwight is sticking around.

3. Deven

   Will Boston regret not being active at the deadline if they don’t make a move by today?

   • Joel Brigham

     Probably not. I see no real advantage to sending off KG and Ray unless you can get legitimate rebuilding tools in return, and I just don’t know if any teams are willing to give those up for a couple of guys who simply aren’t what they used to be. KG, particularly, is just about out of juice. I would never trade Rondo, and if I’m Boston I do all I can to get Paul Pierce to retire a Celtic. All that said, what harm is there in keeping the band back together and hoping for a miracle in the postseason? You never, ever know with a hungry veteran team in the playoffs. When KG and Ray expire at season’s end, you can reevaluate. At worst, they’re expiring deals. No reason to freak out just yet. Give them one more chance, even if that chance is pretty small.

4. Chris G

   I think it’s funny people are referring to last night as John Lucas’s “Jeremy Lin” moment, apparently not realizing Lucas had a 25-8-8 night earlier this season before anyone knew who Lin was. Lucas can play.

   • Joel Brigham

     I actually had that thought myself at some point over the course of the evening. National TV, a game that every real NBA fan had to be watching, and here’s this kid who’s done essentially jack squat all season long blowing up the spot. I loved watching it, especially because JL3 is such a cool dude, but there were certainly shades of Linsanity in that performance. The big game earlier in the year was fun, too, but not fun on this level. This was something else entirely.

     My wife watched the game with me, and before tip-off she asked me, “So what happens without Derrick?” I told her we’d see a mix of CJ Watson and John Lucas III, but that we’d be lucky to have Mike James in there rather than Lucas since Lucas is so nuts offensively. I mean, the shots were falling last night, so it’s fun, but this kid plays rec league ball ALL the time. If they weren’t going in, and he kept hogging the ball like that, refusing to run any plays or let anyone else shoot, I’d have a Stella-Artois-Bottle-Sized hole in my television this morning.

     Lucas saved the day last night, and it was fun, but it was no Linsanity. When Rose is back, he’ll be back to third string. When he’s hot, though, give that kid the ball.

5. Mario

   Hey joel what’s up buddy. ok lets get started I know that miami chicago last night was a big game but it was still just a regular season game in your opinion do you think a healthy bulls squad will beat miami in the post season and one more ? Do you think we should move boozer I like him but we can’t have him not showing up for bIg games you can’t just show up when we play jersey and then against miami you can’t be found.

   • Joel Brigham

     1.) I’m still really hesitant Chicago can beat Miami in a seven-game series. Wade and LeBron are nuts. Just waaaay too good. I want it to happen so very badly, but I just don’t know that it will.

     2.) Bulls aren’t trading Boozer. No one’s interested in acquiring him, anyway. Along those lines, all I can say is thank God for Taj Gibson.

6. John Connor

   What were your thoughts on the Bulls v Heat game? Chicago made up to 5 or 6 passes on each possession and the open guy always took the shot, they are so unselfish. The heat only looked dangerous when Bron or wade ran isolations, they looked like a 2 man team where Chicago looked like a 10 man team would you agree?

   • Joel Brigham

     100%

7. Rudens

   Now that the nets lost out on Howard do you think we can dump boozer on them? He and Dwill really played well together, maybe we can invole a third team to improve our power forward position, because as usaual Boozer sucked last night, what do you think?

   • Joel Brigham

     This question was asked before the Gerald Wallace trade went through, but even if that hadn’t gone down I would’ve have seen this happening. Again, Boozer’s play relative to his contract doesn’t have a lot of teams calling Chicago inquiring about him. What other teams want from Chicago are Taj Gibson and Omer Asik. They’re on tiny deals, play great defense, and could start for a ton of teams in the league. What’s being thrown out there (like Courtney Lee, for example) isn’t on par with what’s being asked for, so I just don’t see Chicago making a deal. They’ve been sniffing around some two guards today–C.J. Miles is one I’ve heard from a few different places–but like I’ve said all along I’ll be shocked if they end up really doing anything. They believe so strongly in chemistry, which has got them this far, that I doubt they do anything to potentially screw that up.

8. Lateak

   Do u think the knicks will get it together… I do… Its time 4 melo to step up BIG!

   • Joel Brigham

     Sorry for the delay between questions… some tech issues on my end, or perhaps HOOPSWORLD is just so unbelievably popular on trade deadline day that the interweb is confused and shutting down on me. We’ll go with the latter for now. Either way, I’m back, and there’s been a trade!

     Cleveland is sending Ramon Sessions and Christian Eyenga to the Lakers for Luke Walton and a first-round draft pick. Lakers shed salary, get the help at PG they wanted, and Cleveland gets a first-rounder out of it and… well, Luke Walton.

     Ric Bucher also reporting Spurs and Warriors are discussing a Stephen Jackson/Richard Jefferson swap. So that’s out there, too…

     As for the Knicks, I certainly hope they do, because they’re a much worthier playoff team than the Bucks. Too much talent there to play as poorly as they have since Melo got back. Don’t think Mike Woodson is long-term solution there, but imagine if they pull Phil Jackson or Jerry Sloan out of retirement to take them helm there? Holy cow!

9. Ron Washington

   If the nets are willing to give up Lopez for Howard would they trade him for Josh Smith?

   • Joel Brigham

     Atlanta looks like they’re going to hold on Josh Smith. So it’s not a matter of whether Jersey would do it, it’s whether the Hawks would. And they wouldn’t. So that settles that.

10. James

    Will the Kings do any trades today?

    • Joel Brigham

      Less than an hour to go, and I haven’t heard any chatter about them yet. Not sure what they’d do, anyway, or even what parts other teams would be inquiring about. Don’t be shocked if they sit tight for now, not that that’s a particularly good thing.

11. Wayne Price

    Long time Rockets fan here. Just wondering what will/what should my Rox do within the next few hours? Any “superstars” coming our way? If not, what should be the focus of next year? Tired of being just a “pretty good team”!!!!!

    • Joel Brigham

      Best you can hope for is L.A. softening on their desire that Kyle Lowry be included in the Pau Gasol discussions now that they’ve got Ramon Sessions coming into town. Luis Scola and a ton of other stuff might get L.A. to bite. I doubt it, but if I were a Rockets fan, that’s what I’d be praying for to happen in the next 53 minutes.

12. Jason

    Predict 2 trades that go through in the next hour and a half

    • Joel Brigham

      Jamal Crawford to somewhere and Michael Beasley to somewhere else. I think those two dudes have got to be moved at some point today.

13. Howie Abrams

    If you would be so kind, could you give me the latest on the reported three team trade between the Lakers, Blazers and Wolves? People say that the talks are losing steam.

    • Joel Brigham

      That’s what I’ve heard, but from the Lakers’ standpoint, they’re still seriously trying hard to acquire Beasley. Minnesota really wanted Crawford, too, so it’s a matter of finding something that works for the Blazers. Whether it’s a three-team thing or not, though, L.A. is pushing hard for the Beaze.

14. jr

    Do really think Beasley and Ramon s. Would make a big impact if they become Lakers?

    • Joel Brigham

      I honestly don’t think those two guys make too huge a difference, if I’m being perfectly honest. It’s a change, which is a nice place to start, and those two players unquestionably have some talent, but bettering the team, making them better in the postseason? I don’t really see that. It’s not like they’d be getting a couple of battle-tested veterans here or anything. These are role guys. They help, but they don’t save. Lakers still have problems even with those guys. (Assuming they get Beasley, that is)…

15. Paul

    Hi, If the Bulls keep up this pace is Thibs tho COY. People say that we got one of the best crowds in the NBA but i highly disagree 5 minutes left in the Miami game and the crowd was quiet. Half the time I’m the only one cheering. Don’t you think we should have a cheering section like soccer teams do, it would get the whole UC going and we both know who is the best sixth man

    • Joel Brigham

      Something like that in Indiana that’s pretty fun to watch. I agree, but I also know that when the UC is rocking, there aren’t a lot of buildings like it in the league. Plus, the fact that it sells out every single game shows that Chicago does, in fact, have pretty solid fans.

      As for Thibs as a COY candidate, he’ll be up there. Doug Collins should be, too.

16. mike

    Since Barbosa was traded, is it likely that the Raps would be looking to make more moves by the end of the deadline? Maybe Jose? And do you think they got enough value back with that trade… it was only a 2nd rounder

    • Joel Brigham

      Only a second-rounder doesn’t matter because Barbosa was walking at year’s end, anyway. A second-rounder is something, which is better than nothing. Plus, they dump one of their top scorers, which makes them theoretically worse in a year when having a bad record/high pick is worth quite a bit. Lots of franchise savers in this class… bringing in Valanciunas and, say, Mike Gilchrist next year would totally turn the franchise around. Don’t worry about Barbosa. The pick is just a consolation prize, and it’s better than nothing.

17. adam

    what are you hearing from the cavs camp?

    • Joel Brigham

      Not much. They’ve most likely made their trade for the day in the Sessions/Walton deal. They’d be okay moving Antawn Jamison, but they’re finding that expiring contracts aren’t the asset they used to be, so interest has been pretty low on that end. I think the Cavaliers’ fireworks are more or less over for the day.

18. Cliff

    What do you think of the Pacers pick up today?

    • Joel Brigham

      Perfect move. They had to spend some money to meet minimum team salary, anyway, and the fact that they were able to add exactly the kind of guy they needed to also happens to be an expiring contract seems like a pretty shrewd deal. Seriously, David Morway for exec of the year so far. He and Larry Bird have made great picks late in drafts and built a team round guys picked 10-17 in the draft, then to make that deal for George Hill and sign David West for such reasonable money and then make the Barbosa deal, all while preserving plenty of space to extend the young studs when they come of age? I love it all. This team has been rebuilt rather well, I’d say.

19. CJ

    Do you think the Celtics are going ot at least aquire a big man from somewhere? We are extremely weak at the 5 now besides KG’s brief moments. But he can’t do that the whole game. I know Kaman was an option.

    • Joel Brigham

      Doesn’t look like it. Reports out of Boston right now are that teams are calling like crazy for the three formerly known as “The Big Three,” so there’s a chance they bring in some new pieces and picks and begin the rebuilding process, but like I said at the start of the chat, I’ve got a gut feeling they ride it out and see what happens with the group they’ve got. One more year. Just one more.

20. lance aldridge

    who would you rather build your team around Landry Fields or Marshon Brooks?
    Who has more potential and who do you see being the better player in the future?

    • Joel Brigham

      Brooks. He’s got more star quality to him, and I could easily see him becoming a 20 ppg guy in this league. Fields is very good, but he’s always going to be more of a role guy, the fourth of fifth best guy on his team. Brooks could officially be the #1 guy for a team. If not that, #2 seems perfectly reasonable, as well. Obviously, I like MarShon.

21. Jeff

    Are your hearing a rumors regarding the Jazz making a deadline trade?

    • Joel Brigham

      Nothing big right now. Minor guys like C.J. Miles and Raja Bell being discussed, but haven’t heard much of any substance this afternoon. With so little chatter, and only about a half hour left until the deadline, I wouldn’t expect much. We’d have heard something about it by now.

22. miller time

    luv ur chats man…anyweiz is it a good trade 4 da pacers that they got the blur or are the guards fully stacked i was wishing 4 collison calderon trade en also 4 kaman trade but i guess its all good ty man

    • Joel Brigham

      It is all good, and there’s more good to come. Expect a few more to come down the pipe in crunch time here. No Kaman for the Pacers, and I’ve heard nothing about Indy wanting to trade Collison (that’s more something the fans have pulled for in recent months… something I disagree with, by the way), but some other team somewhere has another deal to make. Stick with us for the last half hour as we ride this thing out, and enjoy what’s left of trading season!

      Luckily, March Madness is right there to pick up where Dwight’s “The Indecision” left off. Enjoy the games, enjoy the trades, and go Bulls!