Looking at the Draft Day Deals

What separates the NBA from the other professional sports is the perception that anyone can be traded at any time. You could argue that the same occurs in Baseball, but oftentimes when a star is traded, prospects are going the other way. You have to be a pretty dedicated fan to know what prospects are within your favorite team's system, let alone in every other teams. It takes too much work to evaluate a baseball trade, but then again I am really lazy.

After the flurry of trades from last off-season and this past season, there could be a good amount of trades coming at us this off-season. Before I speculate about trades that will never happen, lets take a look at the trades that did go down on Thursday.

The Bucks send Yi Jianlian & Bobby Simmons to the Nets for Richard Jefferson.

I'm still clueless as to how the Nets couldn't secure a the #8 pick in this deal, or a future 1st, or at least the right to swap picks at some point with the Bucks. RJ was one of the better players in the league last year, and you've got to think the Nets undersold him. I'm also disappointed Mike D'Antoni isn't the coach of the Bucks, they'd be obscenely fun to watch now.

On the other side, I only watched Yi a handful of times last year, but looking at his splits he severely declined as the season progressed and its not as if he was going nuts in the first place. I suppose that he may have been miserable in Milwaukee and now that he's playing in one of his "preferred markets" that he could take steps in the right direction.

Along with the cap room angle, I feel like the Nets now have another major selling point to lure LeBron in 2010. Being Yi Jianlian's teammate from a financial standpoint can't be a bad thing. Just look back to how McGrady's jersey sold once he became Yao's teammate. If LeBron really wants to be the richest man in the world, getting his foot in the door in the Chinese market is a step in the right direction.

The Biggest loser in all of this is Cleveland (even beyond the LeBron angle). If the rumors that were being tossed around are correct, they were relatively close to getting Michael Redd from the Bucks and I don't see how that could possibly happen now that the Bucks could conceivably make a run at the playoffs.

Advantage: Bucks (unless LeBron signs with the Nets in 2 years)

The Grizzlies send Kevin Love, Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal & Jason Collins to the Timberwolves for OJ Mayo, Marko Jaric, Antoine Walker & Greg Buckner.

Yesterday I posted a link that had comments from T'Wolves fans that were livid over this trade. They have just got to be used to complaining at this point, because I love this deal for the Wolves. No way in hell that OJ Mayo was excited to play in Minnesota. Even if he did show up, Foye, McCants & Jaric all are similar players anyway.

Not only did the wolves pick up an underrated player in Mike Miller, but they also ditch Jaric's terrible contract. Outside of Corey Brewer, the Wolves are horrific defensively, but they should be entertaining offensively. So long as Love doesn't put on weight in preparation for a cold winter, I don't see how they loose in this deal.

Outside of using Mayo to bait Pat Reily into dealing Beasley, I don't get this at all for the Grizzlies. They're a team who's trying to cut costs, but talking Jaric isn't helping. Mayo isn't that much more talented then Love to justify this. I'm just glad Chris Wallace isn't screwing up some other team now.

Advantage: Wolves

The Blazers send Brandon Rush, Jarrett Jack and Josh McRoberts to the Pacers for Jerryd Bayless and Ike Diogu.

TJ Ford has got to be excited to play with another Point Guard who he may or may not be better then. Brandon Rush is going to be a fantastic 4rth/5th wheel for a good team. I don't understand some teams rationale for drafting projects with a 5% chance of turning out well over solid rotation guys like Rush (I'm looking in the Bobcats & Kings general direction).

The Blazers probably could have gotten more for Zach Randolph last year, but other then that any other move they've made is seemingly favorable. The typical rookie struggles that a Point Guard goes through should be lessened for Bayless since Brandon Roy can bring the ball up the floor. While he learns to run the offense, he can just concentrate on being a shooter as Roy sets up the offense (at least thats the route I'd go). Diogu should also be a nice lift off the bench as well.

Advantage: Blazers

The Pacers send Jermaine O'Neal & Nathan Jawai to the Raptors for TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Roy Hibbert & Maceo Baston.

Knowing that they could have gotten Gerald Wallace for Ford, I'd think the Raptors would have gone for that deal before this one and then had Rasho's contract to move at the deadline, but this is still a decent deal for them. O'Neal was obviously miserable and should come back and play well for the Raptors, so long as he's not injured.

The problem with the deal is that O'Neal is an overrated rebounder. I used to watch Antoine freaking Walker muscle him around under the hoop for rebounds. Either O'Neal or Bosh have to step up on the glass and given both of their demeanors, I'm less then optimistic.

It's hard to evaluate this for the Pacers because they're so hopelessly screwed right now. Ford is one of the few legit Point Guards in the league, but he's also shown he can be a malcontent. I'd be hard pressed to tell you that they could have gotten more for JO though, so this has got to be seen as at least a partial win for them. The fact that they got a 1st round pick in addition to Ford is amazing.

Advantage: Raptors (addition by subtraction)