For all the sound and fury about blockbuster trades at the Thursday deadline, it turned out the biggest move made by a contender was Cleveland acquiring a 33-year-old power forward who might not even crack its starting lineup.
Antawn Jamison is a former All-Star, and no doubt his shooting ability makes the Cavaliers stronger. But he doesn’t exactly fit coach Mike Brown’s defense-first philosophy, which might be why Brown is wavering on starting Jamison over second-year forward J.J. Hickson (a Wheeler High grad).
Dallas acquired Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler from Washington. Houston ended up with Kevin Martin (but had to part with core player Carl Landry).
Those three deals notwithstanding, the deadline trades were less about teams fortifying for the playoffs and more about saving money or clearing cap space for the 2010 free-agent class.
“From the perspective of major trades, there were few surprises,” Hawks general manager Rick Sund said.
In addition to Cleveland’s LeBron James, Hawks guard Joe Johnson, Toronto’s Chris Bosh and Miami’s Dwyane Wade will hit the market this July. So some teams shuffled salaries at the deadline to make sure they can get in on the sweepstakes.
New York acquired disgruntled forward Tracy McGrady from Houston, but that’s more for McGrady’s expiring $22.5 million contract than any long-term plans. The Knicks cleared up to $36 million in salary-cap space and are set to make a run at James, Wade and the other free-agent stars.
“This trade improves our position to achieve our long-term goals, while also keeping us competitive now,” Knicks president Donnie Walsh said.
Chicago was able to unload Tyrus Thomas and also sent John Salmons and draft picks to Milwaukee. The Bulls ended up with Hakim Warrick, Joe Alexander, Flip Murray, Acie Law and, most importantly, just $26 million in salary commitments for next season.
“We are in a better position right now than we were 24 hours ago,” Bulls general manager Gar Forman said Thursday. “Our goals going into the trade deadline were to gain flexibility going into the summer in order to have the cap size to attract a max free agent without cutting into the nucleus of our team.”
Standing pat
The Hawks and the Magic didn’t make a trade at the deadline. The Hawks didn’t really have the flexibility to do so. Orlando had more options but stayed the course. Orlando general manager Otis Smith said Cleveland’s acquisition of Jamison didn’t create urgency to make a deal. “I think you have to stick with your plan. You can’t have a knee-jerk reaction to what somebody else does. There’s a lot more to building a team than X’s and O’s. The pieces have to fit.”
Magic forward Rashard Lewis didn’t seem impressed by Jamison joining the Cavaliers, who lost to Orlando in last season’s Eastern Conference finals. “It doesn’t scare me. I’ve been on All-Star teams as well as him. I think it’s going to come down to who executes better on the defensive end.
“Most definitely a great player. ... At the same time, one guy doesn’t win ball games. They do have another guy called Le-Bron James, which is going to be our focus.”
Information gathered by NBA beat writers was used in this report.
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