The Grip -- FRI, 2.10.18

The beauty of the blowup

February 09, 2018

2.9.18

LAST NIGHT'S SCORES

Magic 100, Hawks 98Raptors 113, Knicks 88Celtics 110, Wizards 104 (OT)Trail Blazers 109, Hornets 103Lakers 106, Thunder 81Warriors 121, Mavericks 102

Written while listening to Loyle Carner [

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 Your trade deadline primer; your new Cleveland Cavaliers   

Let’s go to the bullet points!

  • Cleveland trades Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye and its own 2018 first round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers for Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance.

  • Cleveland receives George Hill and Rodney Hood; Utah receives Jae Crowder and Derrick Rose; Sacramento receives Joe Johnson, Iman Shumpert and a 2020 second round pick from Cleveland.

  • Cleveland trades Dwyane Wade to Miami for a lightly-protected future second round pick.

  • Orlando trades Elfrid Payton to Phoenix for a second round pick.

  • New York receives Emmanuel Mudiay from Denver; Denver receives Devin Harris and a 2018 second round pick from New York; Dallas receives Doug McDermott and Denver’s 2018 second round pick.

  • Brooklyn trades Rashad Vaughn to New Orleans for Dante Cunningham.

  • In an effort to duck the luxury tax, Portland trades Noah Vonleh and cash to Chicago for the rights to some guy in Europe who will likely never play an NBA minute.

  • Washington trades Sheldon Mac to Atlanta for a convoluted second round pick.

  • Toronto trades Bruno Cabocolo to Sacramento for Malachi Richardson.

  • Atlanta trades Luke Babbitt to Miami for Okaro White.

  • Detroit trades Brice Johnson and a 2018 second round pick to Memphis for James Ennis.

A single first round pick, all day. The NBA is no longer getting loose with assets, like we’ve seen in recent years. A few key names that stayed put:

  • Marcus Smart, Boston

  • Kemba Walker, Charlotte

  • DeAndre Jordan, LAC

  • Tyreke Evans, Memphis

  • Avery Bradley, LAC

  • Cleveland’s 2018 first round pick, via Brooklyn and Boston

(Danny Ainge, after the trade deadline, said the Celtics never came close to trading Smart and hope to have him on the team in the future.)

Isaiah Thomas, basketball’s Jesse Pinkman

A little dramatic, sure; Isaiah Thomas is a good basketball player and a cool guy while Jesse Pinkman is a fictional character and a meth enthusiast, but the tragic figure potential for Thomas is becoming Pinkman-esque.

In about six months, he went from folk hero, elite scorer and all-star, to unproductive, underwhelming and a locker room cancer.

Thomas is still liked well enough around the league, but it’s obvious his mouth got him in trouble again. Last year, he started talking about Ainge shelling out for him once free agency hit this summer.

Then Kyrie Irving became available and Thomas was off to Cleveland.

In a hazy tenure with the Cavaliers, he played 15 games, shot 36.1 percent, was the worst rated defensive player in the league, accused Ty Lue of being an inadequate coach, said no one on the team liked each other, promised a championship once he got back, complained about a lack of practice, and called out Kevin Love in a team meeting. 

Again, Thomas is still a treasure in a lot of ways, but his mouth screams Kobe Bryant while his play screams Steve Francis. A lot of bad, traumatic things have happened to him over the last calendar year. Hopefully he finds a niche in Los Angeles over the next few months, then signs a nice contract somewhere this summer.

(The Lakers already visited Boston this season, so the video tribute seems even more pointless now.)

  • Kyrie Irving was the hero in a Boston win last night, hitting three straight free throws down by three in the final seconds of regulation. He finished with 28 in an overtime victory, then completely shunned all the Cleveland questions postgame: “I’m in Boston.”

  • Detroit is still undefeated in the Blake Griffin era, and Andre Drummond is throwing up 17-point, 27-rebound games.

  • Kemba Walker will replace Kristaps Porzingis in the all-star game.

  • Kendrick Perkins, who was playing with Cleveland’s G-League team, signed with the Cavaliers on Thursday. It has been so long since Perkins was a viable NBA player, but props to him for conning his way back.

  • Greg Monroe is officially a Celtic. He finished with five points, six rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes.

  • This year’s buyout market might include names like Joe Johnson, Derrick Rose, Tony Allen, Marco Belinelli and Shabazz Muhammad. (Buyout market = disgruntled veterans on bad teams who are liberated from contractual obligations with current teams by way of a buyout, who then become free to join any interested contender)

  • Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade’s wife, was pretty beat up about leaving Cleveland:

  

  • Zach Lowe on the rebranding of the Cavaliers [Tap Here]

  • Isaiah Thomas talked his way out of Cleveland.

“I don’t know the last time we got on the floor for a loose ball,” Thomas said after the Cavs got blown by the Rockets, 120-88. “I know that teams I’ve been on, defense is determined on deflections, steals, loose balls, who’s the hardest-working team on that end.”Players don’t usually call out their own teams unless they have the numbers to back it up. Thomas appointing himself the ombudsman of Cleveland is even more fascinating when you consider that that position was already filled by LeBron James.

         To read more, 

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  • A good reaction pod by S.I.’s Andrew Sharp and Ben Golliver on trade day [Tap Here]

 A LOOK AHEAD Here are the must-see games of the weekend. 

Friday, 2/9

The L.A. Clippers (27-25) visit Detroit to play the Pistons (27-26). This is the first game between the two since Griffin was traded to Detroit. 7 PM EST

Saturday, 2/10

The San Antonio Spurs (35-21) head to Oakland to play the Warriors (41-13). 8:30 PM8:30 PM EST - ESPN

Sunday, 2/11

The Cleveland Cavaliers (31-22) head to Boston to play the Celtics (40-16). 3:30 PM3:30 PM EST - ABC