NBA off-season: Winners and losers

Last week I listed the NBA teams that have come out as winners in their trades and acquisitions. However, like in any sport, where there are winners, there are losers.

As far as I am concerned the losers are: Portland Trailblazers: They lost power forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim; shooting guard Derek Anderson; power guards Damon Stoudamire and Nick Van Exel.

The Blazers essentially lost all their grizzled veterans and got zilch in return. It appears that owner Paul Allen and general manager John Nash want to overhaul their roster with young talent and build around proclaimed franchise cornerstone Zach Randolph and young prep-to-pro point guard Sebastian Telfair. Whatever valuable playoff experience and leadership this team had, they lost in this exodus. Look for this team at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

Boston Celtics: They lost forward Antoine Walker, but gained shooting guard Qyntel Woods and F Brian Scalabrine and front court Curtis Borchardt.

Their acquisitions didn’t make sense, apart I guess from the fact that Scalabrine is known as a hustle player and a hard worker and the Celtics want to rub some of the work ethic to its younger players. Still, Scalabrine isn’t worth $15 million. Losing Antoine Walker probably means goodbye to the playoffs for the Celts as Paul Pierce is again left alone with no experienced and reliable post presence. The Celtics’ young core looks promising though, having drafted high school standout Gerald Green to play alongside budding power forward Al Jefferson and point guard Delonte West. With the youth movement in place, it seems unlikely that Gary Payton will stick around. Who knows, maybe Paul Pierce is next to go.

New York Knicks: They lost front court Kurt Thomas, power forward Jerome Williams. They gained center Jerome James and shooting guard Quentin Richardson.

Not only did they trade their most reliable big man for another shooting guard, they replaced him with a center that played well last season for less than 10 games, and overpaid him too. I don’t think there has been a worse GM in the last couple of seasons than Isaiah Thomas. He essentially has five players that have the same game, Allan Houston, Jamal Crawford, Tim Thomas, Penny Hardaway and now Quentin Richardson, and all of whom cost more than they are worth. In an Eastern Conference that is suddenly packed with quality big men, it’s hard to fathom the logic in trading one of the few players who averaged double-digit rebounds last season for another shooter.

Memphis Grizzlies: They lost power forward Stromile Swift, guard/forwards James Posey, Bonzi Wells, power forward Jason Williams. They gained power guards Bobby Jackson and Damon Stoudamire and shooting guard Eddie Jones.

Some might argue that the Grizzlies just unloaded some of their troublemakers and got class acts in return. To some extent that may be true, but they sacrificed an awful lot. All the players they acquired are passed their prime. Bobby Jackson, even at his best, was just a superb sub and now, after being injury-plagued the last few years, his effectiveness has to be in question. Damon Stoudamire and Eddie Jones both were in need of fresh starts, Stoudamire because of his drug-tainted background in Portland and Jones because of his diminishing role in Miami. They gave too much talent in James Posey, who probably is the biggest loss of the Grizzlies. Wells and Williams, often blamed for being uncoachable, were sent away despite being at the prime of their career. With Stromile Swift joining the Rockets and leaving the Grizz without compensation, the trade-off just isn’t balanced. They got rid of their problem children (Wells, Williams), but they still lost too much talent (Posey, Swift).

* * *

Last week, I referred to Bobby Simmons as the Sixth Man of the Year winner. He is, in fact, the reigning Most Improved Player and Ben Gordon is the current Sixth Man of the Year.

For questions, comments, corrections or complaints, please e-mail me at emailcarlramirez@yahoo.com.