The art of trading players by teams in the league is a result of a decision that they want to improve their team’s chances of improving their overall roster so that they could compete well with other teams in the short or long term run. I guess it’s safe to assume that the statement is the goal of any team whenever they make trades (Although some teams trade for the worse; Knicks?) and the art of trading players is really a catalyst of change of environment of the league in general. The league is rich in history of trades which transformed teams and made them successful in reaching their goal; NBA Championship. Last season we saw several blockbuster trades starting with the Gasol to Lakers move by Memphis, followed by Shaq to the Suns, and Kidd back to the Mavericks. But what the hell I’m writing this about, when none of the teams got the NBA championship?
My point here is that, the art of trading players cannot be judge easily because these teams didn’t reached their goals of winning a championship, rather we should take a deeper look why did these trades happen. For example, the Nets traded for Yi Jianlin to attract the Asian market like the Chinese, so that they would have a new market where they could have better sales of tickets, merchandise and other apparels due to the support of the Chinese to their player playing for the Nets in the NBA. Other teams trade their present for the future(Portland), while some trade their future for their present (Boston). It depends upon the perspectives of the people of authority in each teams as they are placed in their seats because they should be the people who can see the larger picture in which they could really change and improve their team for the better. So what are the basic ingredients in making a good trade possible? A very deep, but shallow General Manager (GM). Why is that? Deep, in the sense that he knows which players are the most important needs of his team to take it to the next level. Shallow, because not all these players he wants for the team can be acquire. So mix both these traits and there you have, a very clever and practical GM. Of course, if he knows he can’t get the player they need, he must compensate the skills and the talent that the player they originally wanted brings for them, and look for alternative players, which must be efficient and at least fulfill the role they wanted until they can look for a player of caliber they really wanted. The thing here is, they’re very affected by the salary issues that they should really work their clever and wit to get the players they want. Of course salary issue is not a problem for the Knicks, (Hello Zeke) but look at where are they now.
As we look forward to the next season, expect more trades to come, but don’t forget that the teams that made blockbuster trades last season, as well as during the off-season should now be assess properly. The suns and mavs have bad review for their trades, but I think the changes in the franchise through the trade (Shaq and Kidd) and new coaches will make us think again whether the trade is a good one because the whole franchise adjusted to the incorporating of their respective acquired players or, they pull the wrong plug this time as these trades didn’t improve their team at all. Of course the impact of the Gasol trade (Lakers) as well as the Garnett and Allen trade (Boston) were evidently seen due to both teams reaching the finals. But this year we’ll see whether some of the trades that have been made will really produce the expected results that the teams want.
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