NBA Trades Right Before the Draft

The Pacers and Raptors just completed a deal and assuming physicals work out (which is not a formality in this case), Jermaine O’Neal will be traded for TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, and the #17 pick in the draft. People say call this a risky trade for Toronto because O’Neal was hurt so much last year, but Ford is one more neck injury away from being out of the league. O’Neal at his best is much better than Ford at his best, and both of their injury histories and risks cancel each other out. The Pacers also get Rasho Nesterovic and the #17, which turn into a big man such as Robin Lopez, Roy Hibbert, or a random foreign. It looks like Toronto got the better of this deal, but that’s probably because they are a better organization. Toronto has three big men with Bosh, Bargnani, and O’Neal. They wanted to get rid of Ford anyway, and getting O’Neal for what they gave up was well worth it. At worst, O’Neal will be a good player who can bring much more than Rasho and a big man at #17 will. At best, this will rejuvenate O’Neal’s career and keep the Raptors in the top half of the Eastern Conference for at least a few years. The Pacers on the other hand, look like they are heading further south, even if they are trying to get rid of their players who don’t want to be there (O’Neal) or cause trouble (Tinsley). Hopefully for the Pacers, Dunleavy and Granger will continue to improve and TJ Ford will be able to work well with the team. The Pacers are starting to look like the Nets, good guards with horrible big men, which didn’t work too well for them this year (#10 pick). The Pacers might as well get two big guys and pray one develops. They can get a project like DeAndre Jordan, who has dropped from a few red flags, which I don’t understand because every center in this almost every draft is very risky.

New Orleans sold its pick to the Paul Allen Blazers for cash. I hate when teams do this just to save money. Hopefully New Orleans had to do this for cap reasons, but I doubt it. I don’t see why a team would not just pick a player and let him ride the bench or put him in the D league. Maybe they didn’t see anyone that could help them at #27, or maybe they were confused what to do because they have never picked that low in the draft before.

Denver traded their #20 to Charlotte for a protected future pick, which was probably a good idea for Denver depending on how protected. Charlotte won’t be picking any lower than #20 next year, so they essentially traded up in next year’s draft.