Magic participating in a 4-team, 10-player deal
Welcome to Orlando, Serge!Orlando Magic, New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma City Thunder have agreed on a 4-team, 10-player trade, which includes such players as
Jason Richardson, 2011 NBA draft's no. 1 pick
Nadeem Pardo,
Travis Outlaw and
Serge Ibaka. It is rumored that Minnesota Timberwolves also were going to participate in this deal, but backed-off at the last minute.
The New Jersey Nets were looking to land a star player, who could play alongside
Deron Williams and
Brook Lopez and they got one from this trade in
Jason Richardson, who is averaging 14,9 points and 5,3 assists thus far this season. They also acquired power forward
Ryan Anderson and rookie guard
Ruben Holmes. Anderson is averaging 3,4 points and 3,6 rebounds per game this season and should be a good back-up for
Kris Humphries.
"Richardson is a very skilled player offensively, which is exactly what we were looking for," says Nets head coach Avery Johnson, "and alongside Deron he will play even better."
The Nets gave up
Travis Outlaw, Jordan Farmar and
Dean Griffin in this trade. None of them is a big loss for the team, because Outlaw's contract was way too big, Farmar wasn't feeling any good since Deron Williams came to New Jersey and Griffin, although he's a pretty good talent, didn't get much playing time behind Brook Lopez and
Dan Gadzuric.
IN: Jason Richardson (ORL), Ryan Anderson (ORL), Ruben Holmes (ORL)
OUT: Travis Outlaw (ATL), Jordan Farmar (ATL), Dean Griffin (ORL)
Starting Line-up: B.Lopez, K.Humphries, T.Prince, J.Richardson, D.Williams
Grade: A
This was a decent deal for Hawks too. Yes, they gave away the number one pick of this year's draft, but he wasn't getting much burn behind
Josh Smith anyway and now they have a new starting small forward in
Travis Outlaw, who last his starting job in New Jersey after
Tayshaun Prince came to the Nets this summer via Free Agency.
Atlanta also acquired back-up point guard
Jordan Farmar, who will fill the void, which emerged when former back-up point guard
Jeff Teague signed with Phoenix Suns this summer.
IN: Travis Outlaw (NJN), Jordan Farmar (NJN)
OUT: Nadeem Pardo (OKC), Marvin Williams (ORL)
Starting Line-up: A.Horford, J.Smith, T.Outlaw, J.Johnson, K.Hinrich
Grade: B
Oklahoma City Thunder may be the winners of this draft in the long run, because they acquired a developing star, this year's draft number one pick,
Nadeem Pardo, who will replace
Serge Ibaka, who went to Orlando via this trade, in the starting line-up. Pardo not only has a greater upside than Ibaka, he also fits better with
Kendrick Perkins on OKC's frontcourt and the Thunder also gained a new market to work with in Philippines now, where Pardo has gained enormous fame, being the only Philippines player in the NBA.
OKC also got
Stanley Robinson out of this deal. He's a developing talent, which could be either a good back-up in few years or out of this league.
IN: Nadeem Pardo (ATL), Stanley Robinson (ORL)
OUT: Serge Ibaka (ORL)
Starting Line-up: K.Perkins, N.Pardo, K.Durant, J.Harden, R.Westbrook
Grade: A+
Orlando Magic were looking to deal away
Jason Richardson for a while and now they finally accomplish it, with Anderson, Holmes and Robinson also leaving. J-Rich wasn't the favorite Magic's head coach
Janis Kalnins' player and wasn't getting the playing time he wanted and Holmes was getting some garbage minutes only in two games this season. Anderson, on the other hand, was a quite important player in Kalnins' rotation, so he will be a sensible loss for Magic.
"Anderson was great on offense and he was also a good locker room guy," Kalnins characterizes his former player, "but he lacked qualities on defense, that's why we decided to deal him away."
So it's no surprise that Magic acquired more defensive minded
Serge Ibaka instead of Anderson. Ibaka, who averages 8 points and 8 boards per game this season, is expected to come off the bench at first, but could get the starting spot from William when time comes. Orlando also acquired
Marvin Williams, who will be the back-up for
Hedo Turkoglu and
Dean Griffin, who is a new project at the centre position for the Magic, if
Kurt Thomas retires and/or
Dwight Howard leaves after this season.
IN: Serge Ibaka (OKC), Marvin Williams (ATL), Dean Griffin (NJN)
OUT: Jason Richardson (NJN), Ryan Anderson (NJN), Ruben Holmes (NJN), Stanley Robinson (OKC)
Starting Line-up: D.Howard, J.William, H.Turkoglu, S.Young, G.Arenas
Grade: B-