(The original text was published on September 14. The author is Greg Swartz in the bleachers. The content of the article does not represent the translator’s point of view)
From those transactions that did not develop completely according to the plan to those that seriously hurt the team, every NBA team has some operations that make them regret. The past three seasons are no exception. Even successful teams like Celtic and Warriors have made some big mistakes in recent years. Considering the short-term impact and long-term consequences, Greg Swartz in the bleachers discharged the five deals NBA teams most hoped to withdraw from the 2019-20 season.
Fifth place: Warriors spent 82.4 million dollars for ubray
Transaction Details:
Warriors get: Kelly-ubray
Thunder got: the first round of signing in 2021 (top 20 in-order protection), and the second round of signing from Nuggets in 2021
After experiencing the disastrous 2019-20 season of injury and body, the warrior trade came to ubray to make up for the loss of clay-Thompson season reimbursement. Clay was in the recovery period of his right Achilles tendon tear. With the core lineup of Curry, Dream Green, Wikins and ubray, the Warriors hope to return to the stage of the finals for the sixth time in 7 years, last season they just set the worst record in NBA history.
At that time, ubray struggled with shooting efficiency and never really adapted to a team that emphasized the transfer of the ball and defense. In the first 19 games of the season after joining the Warriors, the Ubud minefield averaged only 11.7 points, with an overall field goal percentage of 35.9 percent and a three-point shooting rate of 22.1 percent. The Warriors scored 10 wins and 9 losses, and their performance was flat. In addition to giving up two draft tickets for ubray, the economic cost required by warriors who have already faced 66 million yuan tax to introduce ubray is amazing. According to the analysis of ESPN expert Bobby Marks, the salary of 14.4 million dollars in ubray means that the Warriors will pay 68 million dollars more in the light tax, which means that the Warriors spent 82.4 million dollars for ubray in 2020-21 season.
Although Warriors reduced their salaries before the trading deadline, their tax was over $0.117 billion in the end, the highest in the league’s history. Considering that the warrior’s goal difference was 12.1 points less when ubray was present, he did not help the warrior who finally won only 39 wins and 33 losses. It doesn’t matter for ubray to give up the selection right, because the Warriors have been in the range of the top 20, successfully leaving the first round of signing in 2021, and Thunder finally got a round of signing in 2021 from the forest Wolf. However, the economic cost that Warriors pay for ubray, who is not helpful to the team, is huge.
Fourth place: Knicks gave up a first round visa for Reddish, who didn’t have much time to play.
Transaction Details:
Knicks got: Cam-redishi, Solomon-Hill, and the second round sign from basketable nets in 2025
Eagle got: First round signature from Wasp in 2022 (top 18 sequence protection), Kevin Knox
The deal didn’t look so bad at that time, because redishi got 11.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1 steal in only 23.4 minutes in the Eagle’s third season, with a three-point shooting rate. He basically played the role of Eagle the replacements, and a No. 10 show in the 2019 draft could not get a starting position in the Eagles with a large number of flanking players.
Going to the Knicks means that 22-year-old reddish can get more opportunities to play and show great potential at both ends of attack and defense by his former college teammate Barrett. However, sibodu, who was the coach of the Knicks at that time, did not seem to think so. He compressed the playing time of Redish to be present for only 14.3 minutes, and the data also shrank sharply, the average game was only 6.1 points, 1.4 rebounds, 0.8 steals, and unstable role positioning led to the three-point hit rate of redishi dropped. The experienced forward funier still started the Knicks instead of reddish, although the Knicks scored 3.8 points less per 100 rounds when funier was present, only exceeding 30% of the league’s teams (data source: cleaning the Glass website).
The Knicks could have had one more first-round signing to trade reddish to get Mitchell from jazz, and the deal might not have fallen through. On the other hand, the eagle only used two of his first-round signatures to get dezhantai-Murray from Spurs, and there was the first-round visa that the Knicks used to trade reddish in the quotation. This first round of signing is now in the hands of Spurs. 16 sequence protection before 2023 and 14 sequence protection before 2024 and 2025 will be converted into at least two round signing in 2026 and 2027. Knicks still have a chance to save the deal. If they trade funier or put it on the bench, they will arrange a bigger role for reddish. In fact, it is a huge mistake to give up a first-round visa for a part-time rotating player who will become a free agent next summer.
Third place: Bull pays too much for getting Vucevic
Transaction Details:
Bull: Nicola-Vucevic, Ale-Farouk-Aminu
Magic: little Wendell-Carter, little Otto-PROTONIC, the first round of signing in 2021 (later selected Franz Wagner), the first round of signing in 2023 (top 4 sequence protection)
The Bull, who is eager to enter the playoffs, hopes to focus on Lavin, who will become a complete free Player 16 months later, in order to get Vucevic direct shuttle from magic before the trade deadline of 2021, build a team with enough talent to win. At the time of the transaction, Vucevic the experienced center played comprehensive data in the Magic with poor record, with an average of 24.5 points and 11.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1 steals, with a three-point hit rate, the bull found a much-needed attacking partner for Lavin.
However, the bull paid too much. Little Wendell-Carter was the No. 7 show in 2018, and he performed very well after being traded to magic. So far, he has played 84 games with an average of 14.2 points, 10 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.7 cap, field goal percentage 51.7%. The cost-effective four-year 50 million-dollar contract he signed last year is about to start. The starting salary for the new season is 14.15 million dollars, while the final year of the contract is only 10.85 million dollars in the 2020-26 season. On the other hand, the contract of Vucevic is also in the last year. The salary of the new season is 22 million dollars. He will become a complete free agent next summer, which makes his future in the bull in danger.
The bull also gave up two first-round signatures with no protection clause for vucevich, one of which was the 8th signature in 2021. Magic used this sign to select Franz Wagner, who just finished his rookie season and seemed to have the potential to become an all-star. The first round of the bull’s signature in 2023 is also in the magic hand. Only the first four orders will be protected, and it is almost certain that it will reach the magic hand. Since the current bull does not seem to be a real champion contender, the first round of signing in 2023 may fall in the middle of the first round, which is still of great value to magic.
Vucevic is an offensive center with good talent, but his performance in the basket and overall defense are poor. The Bull’s defense this season is only the 23rd in the league. This season, 37 centers have defended at least 250 shots around rim, while Vucevic has made opponents hit 63.8 percent, ranking 30th. On the contrary, Wendell Carter, who was traded for magic, performed much better in this respect, limiting his opponent’s hit rate to 57.4, ranking 19th.
Magic got little Wendell-Carter, Franz Wagner and the first round signing from the bull in 2023, while the bull got a center mainly attacking when it needed to protect the basket hand. At that time, the deal was not reliable for the bull, and it would only get worse and worse in the future.
Second place: Celts give up Bain in order to evade tax
Transaction Details:
Grizzly bear: Desmond Bain
Celtics got: round signing in 2023 and 2025
The Celtics held three first-round signatures in the 2020 draft conference. They wanted to strengthen the young core lineup that had reached the Eastern finals three times in the past four years. So the Celts chose Aron-neismith in the 14th order and Peyton-Pritchard in the 26th order. If Celts join another contract for the first-round show, they will face the problem of tax.
Although the Celts finally chose Bain in the 30th place, they soon sent him to the grizzly bear and exchanged two rounds of signing through a three-party transaction, saving some salary space. The deal now looks like the grizzly bear has made a lot of money. Bain ushered in a big outbreak in the second year. He can score 18.2 points 4.4 rebounds 2.7 assists 1.2 steals in the position of the starting point guard. Bain ranked 7th in the league with a 3-point hit rate of 43.6 percent, while his 90.3 percent free throw hit rate ranked 6th in the league.
Obviously, the Celtics left the wrong rookie. If Bain stays with the Celtics, it is likely to be the key for them to defeat the Warriors in this year’s finals, and neismith has been packaged and sent to Pacers for Brogden. The Celtics are still one of the strongest teams in the east in the new season, but if they keep Bain, they may have won the first championship trophy since 2008.
First: The Lakers are for the sake of David Soha
Transaction Details:
The Lakers got: Russell-Westbrook, 2023 & 2024 & 2028 round signing
Wizards got: Kael Kuzma, kentavios-Caldwell-pop, monterez-Harrell, 2021the first round of the 22th sign (selected the Saiyan-Jackson)
If you can get some key players from a champion team and add a first round signing package, at the same time, you only need to send out one who needs to control the ball, has no shooting ability, with the worst contract in the league and the point guard who has passed the peak period, you will definitely not hesitate. The deal that will bring Wei Shao to the Lakers is not only the most regrettable in the past three years, but may even be the worst deal since the failure of basketable nets in 2013.
The Lakers have not recovered from this deal so far. Weishao’s salary in the new season is as high as $47.1 million, second only to Curry, ranking second in the league. It is almost certain that the Lakers must give up a first-round visa if they want to make a deal, even without any return of real value. For a team with James and Davis, how bad the lineup is will not be regarded as a threat to the championship team. However, after a season of 33 wins and 49 losses, they are indeed not the winning team. If weishao focuses on organization and defense, he can still become a useful NBA player. However, Wei Shao is 33 years old, and it is hard to imagine how much his play will change, especially last year, we did not see any sign of changing the play.
The new season in the Western division has become stronger, especially after the Clippers and Nuggets all recovered. The Lakers who served as the starting point guard seemed to be a playoff play-off team at most. They were risking another year of James’s few remaining brilliant career. The general manager of the Lakers, Pelinka, closed his team’s window to win the championship with his own hands in a way of less deals. James, 37, may have a hard time competing for the championship.
Original: Greg Swartz
Compile: Li Taibai
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