Official Trade deadline 2016 thread

[rimrocker]

Originally Posted by Melonhead

Insome cases, Cuban values players too high...this is not one of those cases.

I thought the Mavs might make some type of move with Felton to net a bench scorer and possibly a draft pick...for instance Nick Young and Lakers 2nd rounder (if they even have one).

But I do admit that I was kinda hoping to see one of our PGs get traded because I'm getting tired of watching so much small-ball.

[Thebo]

Originally Posted by rimrocker

I thought the Mavs might make some type of move with Felton to net a bench scorer and possibly a draft pick...for instance Nick Young and Lakers 2nd rounder (if they even have one).

But I do admit that I was kinda hoping to see one of our PGs get traded because I'm getting tired of watching so much small-ball.

I was hoping for it purely so that Justin Anderson would gain some playing time.

[spreedom]

After some time to reflect (also because I'm very bored), here are my trade deadline thoughts:

• I went into this deadline with very low expectations, thinking we'd at most shed some long-term salary (Devin or JJ) or do something to shuffle pieces at the end of the bench to see if it could spark our second/third units.
• We didn't have anything approaching a very valuable asset so our best hope this deadline would have been to take on an undesirable contract if we wanted to bring in a real difference-making player (and to be clear, I would have been willing to sacrifice cap space this summer if it meant trading for an upgrade at PG, C or bringing in a quality 6th-man type). It's pretty obvious that we weren't ever really in the running for the guys like Horford, Ryan Anderson, or even the mid-tier deadline pieces being dangled like Ben McLemore. There are about 15-20 teams that were reported to be active at the deadline that could have offered more than we did. So I don't think the deadline was necessarily a failure because we didn't land a big fish.
• We have absolutely zero chance at winning the championship this season, that much is clear. That said, there are two different ways to approach that reality: you can do everything you can to close the gap or you can punt on the season and hope your veteran players can get you some sort of long-term building blocks (young players or draft picks) in hope of competing a few years down the line.
• That said, if we had the chance, we should have traded Zaza since he's probably our most valuable trade asset right now, next to Justin Anderson. I know he had been a revelation as a starter and is already possibly the second-best center the team has ever had, but with that over-achievement comes a steep price: If the Mavs want to keep him beyond this season they need to be ready to pay him eight figures (I'd guess $10-12M per season). It wouldn't surprise me to see Zaza get a higher annual salary than Tyson this coming summer with the cap blowing up like it will. To me, Zaza is a VERY good backup center at this point of his career and with the game evolving like it is, but he just can't be starting for you if you're trying to win a championship. And since I don't think he's worth $10M+ and I don't think he is a guy we should be giving a multi-year contract to, I really wish we would have traded him. With Jeff Green yielding a first-round pick (and Mozgov yielding TWO just a year ago!) I feel like the Mavs probably could have gotten a first or at least two quality second-round picks for Zaza... and we should have done that, even if it meant starting Mejri or JaVale for the rest of the season.
• Just about any piece on this roster (besides Dirk) that could have gotten us a decent first-round pick or multiple quality second-rounders probably should have been on the table as long as we weren't taking on bad salary to make it happen. The fact that we didn't do this probably means that there wasn't a ton of interest in some of the most easily-moved players on our roster, which is just the reality of the trade deadline sometimes.
• All of this in mind, I'm also glad that our front office, for all of its faults, isn't as bad as say Sacramento's. The fact that the Kings were trying to trade for Pau Gasol this deadline tells you everything you need to know about that disastrous clusterfuck.

Here ends the rant...

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by spreedom

The fact that we didn't do this probably means that there wasn't a ton of interest in some of the most easily-moved players on our roster, which is just the reality of the trade deadline sometimes.

Apparently there was interest in Felton, but teams were offering "peanuts" (I'm guessing either second-rounders or spare-ier spares than Felton...)

[spreedom]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Apparently there was interest in Felton, but teams were offering "peanuts" (I'm guessing either second-rounders or spare-ier spares than Felton...)

TBH if we could get like a top-10 (or top-40, that is) second rounder for him, we should have done it. The alternative is that we lose him for nothing or we have to overpay by quite a bit to keep him... what do you guys think he gets on the open-market-on-steroids this summer? $5-7M? Hard to justify paying him that if we also have new deals to work out with Parsons, Williams, Powell, etc...

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by spreedom

TBH if we could get like a top-10 (or top-40, that is) second rounder for him, we should have done it. The alternative is that we lose him for nothing or we have to overpay by quite a bit to keep him... what do you guys think he gets on the open-market-on-steroids this summer? $5-7M? Hard to justify paying him that if we also have new deals to work out with Parsons, Williams, Powell, etc...

With Harris and Barea under contract for multiple seasons, I think we'll probably let Felton walk this summer... But $5-7m sounds about right.

[Thebo]

Originally Posted by spreedom

I went into this deadline with very low expectations, thinking we'd at most shed some long-term salary (Devin or JJ) or do something to shuffle pieces at the end of the bench to see if it could spark our second/third units.

I was at the very least hoping that if Felton stays, then either JJ or Devin goes. Just to open some cap space. But I'm not that certain that Felton walks after this season. Mavs may have been reluctant to trade him because they own Bird Rights for him.

Originally Posted by spreedom

That said, if we had the chance, we should have traded Zaza since he's probably our most valuable trade asset right now, next to Justin Anderson. I know he had been a revelation as a starter and is already possibly the second-best center the team has ever had, but with that over-achievement comes a steep price: If the Mavs want to keep him beyond this season they need to be ready to pay him eight figures (I'd guess $10-12M per season). It wouldn't surprise me to see Zaza get a higher annual salary than Tyson this coming summer with the cap blowing up like it will. To me, Zaza is a VERY good backup center at this point of his career and with the game evolving like it is, but he just can't be starting for you if you're trying to win a championship. And since I don't think he's worth $10M+ and I don't think he is a guy we should be giving a multi-year contract to, I really wish we would have traded him. With Jeff Green yielding a first-round pick (and Mozgov yielding TWO just a year ago!) I feel like the Mavs probably could have gotten a first or at least two quality second-round picks for Zaza... and we should have done that, even if it meant starting Mejri or JaVale for the rest of the season.

Mavs may have an agenda here, too. It's quite clear that Mavs will have a run at D12 this summer and they will own Bird Rights to Zaza. The question is if Cuban is ready to pay for Howard and then have Zaza as most expensive backup.

[spreedom]

Originally Posted by Thebo

I was at the very least hoping that if Felton stays, then either JJ or Devin goes. Just to open some cap space. But I'm not that certain that Felton walks after this season. Mavs may have been reluctant to trade him because they own Bird Rights for him.

Good call, and potentially cagey move by the MBT. If we're able to do some sort of salary dump on JJ AND Harris, then we could essentially sign Felton using Barea's salary slot. I think Felton's cap hold is going to be about $7.5M this summer, so moving Harris and/or (preferably) Barea would offset that cap hold for sure. That's a great call... I didn't realize we held his Bird Rights and that makes me pretty optimistic that we're going to keep him around. I just hope the roster is such that we're able to use him as a 10-15MPG backup instead of a 30MPG supersub that closes a lot of games. I like Felton's game but he isn't right in that role.

Originally Posted by Thebo

Mavs may have an agenda here, too. It's quite clear that Mavs will have a run at D12 this summer and they will own Bird Rights to Zaza. The question is if Cuban is ready to pay for Howard and then have Zaza as most expensive backup.

Zaza's cap hold is a hair under $10M... it would have to be pretty clever cap maneuvering to be able to sign him to market value AFTER signing Dwight and presumably taking care of Parsons. Parsons' cap hold is going to be about $19.2M assuming he opts out.

Numbers are really starting to add up... I think we probably have to renounce both of Zaza/Felton if we want to have sufficient space to re-sign Parsons and Dwight.