Getting Desperate?

The picture above is my view at about 3:30 p.m. today. That's an unusual scene on NBA Trade Deadline day for me. I'm typically at home all day or at least in the afternoon furiously checking Twitter and all sorts of online blogs and columns to find out all the latest rumors and trades. Heck, a couple of years ago, I said this day should be a national holiday. But the combination of just getting back from vacation and being behind at work; a rare Thursday night Wizards game tonight right after work; and the fact that the Wizards weren't going to make any deals (hah!) forced me to work today. So after a 3 o'clock meeting, I caught up on what's really important about today and checked out the damage from a moderately busy day of player movement around the league.

And lo and behold, the Wizards DID make a move. And it's likely not as insignificant as trading Andre Miller to Sacramento for Ramon Sessions last year. Just like a couple of years ago when we took a flier on Marcin Gortat for a year, the team answering the phone on the other end of the line was the Phoenix Suns. Now at the beginning of the day, this is exactly the team I wanted the Wizards to trade with. To me, a Bradley Beal / Kelly Oubre / Kris Humphries swap for the Suns' Brandon Knight seemed like a good deal for both sides. It got the Suns a couple of young players to build around and got the Wizards one of my favorite players who can fill it up on any given night on a future cap friendly max deal. ESPN's trade machine even showed the Wizards picking up three wins this year in the process. Woo hoo!

However, that was not the deal that the Wizards made with the Suns. True, we did send Kris Humphries away along with DeJuan Blair and a (ugh!) future first round pick but got in return Markieff Morris. Yes, the same Markieff Morris that got a technical foul for not being able to choose which side of the lane he was going to stand during a free throw in a game against the Wizards in December. The same Markieff Morris (along with twin brother Marcus) charged with felony aggravated assault. The same Markieff Morris who has fought with a teammate and thrown a towel at his coach this season. The same Markieff Morris who has complained and whined about the discount he and his brother gave the Suns so they could play together only to find out that the team decided to trade Marcus to Detroit without so much as a hug for either of the Morrises.

So now the obvious question for the Wizards is why? Well it's not so dumb as it seems. Yes, Morris is clearly not one of those locker room glue guys. He's been a problem all season in Phoenix and the Suns were reportedly looking for any way to get him out of town. They must be thrilled to get a first round pick in return.

But when playing right, Morris can actually be fairly productive. Last year he played all 82 games and averaged over 16 points and 6 rebounds in a little more than 30 minutes per contest. And he's cheap. At about $8 million per season, that kind of production, if he can leave his baggage back in Phoenix, is a bargain. And he's locked up for three more years after this one. His salary only increases our commitment by a little less than $4 million next year (Humphries was under contract for next season at about $4.6 million) and therefore doesn't affect our offseason Kevin Durant fantasy or our Bradley Beal pending max deal mistake. The team is still sticking to the pie in the sky plan which I have to give them credit for doing.

This is likely a gamble worth taking. The Wizards have some strong locker room personalities to keep Morris in line in addition to two former teammates from their days in Phoenix (Jared Dudley and Marcin Gortat) who can vouch for him. It's a risk for sure but the cheap price tag makes the risk moderate at best. And the upside is significant, even after you consider the lost first round pick.

Considering the Wizards recent draft pick history, losing a first rounder might not hurt that much. And I'm certainly not upset about losing either Blair or Humphries. In a moment of reality show judgement type weakness let me say I was never thrilled with Kris Humphries being a Wizard. As much of a disaster as his public marriage to Kim Kardashian was (which I don't fault Hump for at all), the one episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians that I ever watched (I was working out in my building's gym, I swear), his behavior was pretty deplorable. I say bring on the Markieff Morris era!!!

Now I just wonder how Randy Wittman and Morris will get along...

NBA Trade Deadline 2014

At 3 p.m. today, the annual NBA trade deadline came and went. Of course, instead of being hard at work making some bucks for my employer, I was sitting home watching Twitter for trade news. Yes you read that right, watching Twitter. I stayed at home today because I've learned from past experience that as this day gets closer to 3 p.m., I concentrate in my office less and less on work and more and more on internet trade rumors and gossip. So for the third year in a row, I elected to stay home and log eight hours of Paid Time Off rather than fight the battle to get some work done.

After last year's super slow trade deadline where the biggest deal was J.J. Redick to Milwaukee and the only Wizards action was sending Jordan Crawford to Boston for Jason Collins and Leandro Barbosa who was already done for the year with an injury, I was hoping for something more exciting this year. I mean how could it get any duller? I was not disappointed. There were a lot of Wizards and former Wizards on the move this year.

It all started last night when the Golden State Warriors, who earlier this season traded for former Wizards Jordan Crawford from the Boston Celtics, picked up former Wizard Steve Blake from the Lakers for essentially flotsam. Apparently Golden State is intent on picking up a collection of our former guards and it's working. Although I'm not sure it's helped their franchise yet.

It then continued this morning when the Miami Heat traded former Wizard Roger Mason, Jr. to the Sacramento Kings along with a bag of cash for a highly protected second round draft pick (or essentially absolutely nothing). Poor Roger. If there was one reason to be OK at all with Miami winning another NBA title this year, it was them having Roger Mason on their team. Now, I won't see any silver lining to a third Heat title. Let's go Pacers!!!

Then just before the 3 p.m. trade deadline (and it is possible for trades to be announced after the deadline), news came that the Los Angeles Clippers traded Antawn Jamison to the Atlanta Hawks for I'm still not sure what at the time of this writing. Just like with the Heat (although with less vitriol), there is now no reason for me to root for the Clippers to win it all this year.

But the biggest news Wizards-wise hit between noon and 1 p.m. this afternoon. I'd been reading rumors for a few weeks about the Wizards being interested in exiled Denver Nuggets' point guard Andre Miller but it didn't seem possible that we could grab Miller since he has a non-guaranteed contract next year and presumably the Wizards would want to send colossal disappointment off season signee Eric Maynor back in return. And honestly who the hell wants Maynor after his production this year?

But apparently lightning CAN strike twice. Two years ago, the Wizards sent away JaVale McGee to Denver in a trade deadline day deal for Nenê, a move that was decried as a huge mistake on Washington's part by a lot of people who watch the NBA but which anyone around the D.C. franchise saw as a first step in dramatically changing the culture here. This year, we did it again by taking Miller off the Nuggets' hands. Not only do we get a dependable backup point guard, but we traded him for two guys who rarely play (Maynor and Jan Vesely) while reducing our payroll this year, opening a roster spot and decreasing our guaranteed salary commitment next season (assuming Maynor would have picked up his option next year). How on Earth did we fleece the Nuggets twice in three years?

OK, so we gave up a New Orleans Pelicans' second round draft pick as part of the swap to the Philadelphia 76ers but who cares? Can anyone name a Wizards second round draft pick in the last 12 years that has had a positive impact on our franchise or the NBA in general? I realize that statement may be an indictment of our ability to draft and also may be a little unfair to Steve Blake who has had an astonishingly long career. And don't start with me on Andray Blatche. 

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Jan Vesely. I so badly wanted him to prove that Blake Griffin was in fact the American Jan Vesely. I'll be sorry to see him go, although I won't miss cringing any time he touches the ball on the offensive end or steps to the free throw line. I won't miss Maynor. I can't remember being more disappointed in an off season free agent signing. This trade should make the Wizards better this year without sacrificing any future flexibility whatsoever. I see it as completely positive. We'll see if Andre Miller can make any sort of difference.

The NBA Trade Deadline Should Be A Holiday

After spending all last week roaming around Texas in search of D-League basketball and barbeque, I'm off work again today because today is the NBA trade deadline day. I'm serious. Incredibly, I cannot take this day as one of the 96 calendar days my company offers as a floating holiday so I'm dipping into my Paid Time Off bank for a day of sitting at home in my Eames lounger with ESPN on the TV and Twitter up on my iPad Mini waiting for the latest NBA trade rumor that may or may not morph into an actual swap of players.

This is the second year in a row I have taken the trade deadline day off. A couple of years ago on this day at work, I closed my office door at about 1 p.m. and just surfed the internet endlessly in search of trade news. The actual trade deadline is 3 p.m., although trades just have to be submitted to the league for approval at that time so trades can be reported and confirmed after the actual deadline. It doesn't matter if the Wizards make a trade or not, I cannot work on this day from this point forward.

I do some silly things as a Wizards fan (insert any number of smart ass lines here...) but none is perhaps as silly as taking this day off. I mean, watching the NBA Draft either in person or on TV is as un-exciting as hearing a bunch of names read out loud sounds but at least there is a show or event to watch. On trade deadline day there's nothing to watch: no program, no in studio analysis, nothing. It's just waiting for something to happen and reacting to every speculation by every pundit connected in any way to the NBA out there. Nonetheless, I'll be attached to the TV/iPad the whole day today and each future trade deadline day.

Last year the Wizards pulled off a stunner of a trade which first came to light right at about 3 p.m., sending dead weight and perennial knucklehead JaVale McGee to Denver for Nenê, who went a long way to instantly changing the culture of the organization. Despite the team's recent surge, going 11-9 over their last 20 games, there's no doubt some more tweaking this year might seem in order. The big speculation for the Wizards this year was possibly moving Jordan Crawford, who started the season strong on a depleted roster but who recently has not seen a whole lot of time on the court.

The biggest deal of the day was the Orlando Magic sending J.J. Redick to the Milwaukee Bucks involving multiple players from both teams. Yep, that's it. The second biggest deal is debatable. Not a whole lot of action today. The highly anticipated deal (to anywhere) for the Atlanta Hawks' Josh Smith didn't go down. Nor did Dwight Howard get traded (no suprise there). Definitely a quiet day.

The Wizards did end up moving Jordan Crawford to Boston for Jason Collins, who is on a one year deal, and Leandro Barbosa, who is on a one year deal and is also, by the way, done for the year with a torn ACL. This deal doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, unless somehow Jordan was a problem in the locker room when not playing, which I have never heard (doesn't mean it isn't true). We do get a little more than $2 million of salary off the books next year for trading the last year of Jordan's rookie deal for nothing but since we are already over the salary cap for next year anyway that doesn't help the team a whole lot, unless we are willing to exceed the salary cap next year. I hope we are not just shedding salary in this move, although I'd applaud the move if it allows us to wrap up Martell Webster for the next few years, which it might.

It's too bad we had to part with Jordan from this fan's perspective. I thought Jordan carried our offense a lot in the first couple of months this season and never got the credit he deserved. On the other hand, he's clearly not Bradley Beal and suffers at the defensive end of the court so if we lose a guy who isn't playing right now who we wouldn't have re-signed anyway, I'm not sure I'm losing any sleep over this decision. This season's trade deadline is clearly different than last year's. Last year, I unfollowed Nick Young and JaVale McGee on Twitter as soon as the trade was confirmed. I won't be doing that with Jordan.

Looks like I need to take Jordan Crawford's picture off my Wizards wall.