SAN FRANCISCO – When the clock struck 3 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, it had appeared that the NBA’s trade deadline had come and gone with a series of minor, mostly inconsequential trades that did little to shake up the landscape of the league heading into the stretch run.
But then, about thirty minutes later, came the news that the Eastern Conference leading Pacers had struck an agreement with the 76ers to send Danny Granger and a future second round pick to Philadelphia in exchange for forwards Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen. A move that, in concert with the signing of Andrew Bynum last month and the pieces the Pacers already had in place, makes Indiana the clear favorite to dethrone the two-time defending champion Heat and emerge from the Eastern Conference this spring.
The biggest issue the Pacers have had, going back to last season, is getting scoring punch from their bench. They tried to improve that by going out and getting both C.J. Watson and Luis Scola this offseason, upgrading over D.J. Augustin and Tyler Hansbrough. The dramatic improvement of Lance Stephenson this season has helped, as well.
But the big piece that was supposed to help that unit was Granger, the former All-Star swingman who was coming off knee issues that limited him to just a handful of games last season. After the Pacers made it to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat without him, it was thought that if Granger could give them any kind of punch off the bench, it could be enough to lift them over the Heat and into the Finals.
It appears, however, that the knee issues Granger has endured have robbed him of the ability to be a true difference maker. The 6-foot-9 forward, who turns 31 in April, has career averages of 17.6 points, 43.5 percent shooting from the field and 38.2 percent from 3-point range, but this season had put up 8.3, 35.9 and 33.0, respectively.
So the Pacers decided that they needed to upgrade Granger’s position, especially given his $13 million price tag and the fact that he wasn’t likely to be re-signed by them as a free agent this summer, both because of his diminished production and the fact that Stephenson is set to be an unrestricted free agent.
So enter Turner, the former second overall pick by the Sixers back in 2010 who has never lived up to the promise he had coming out of Ohio State. Turner is in the midst of his best season, averaging 17.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists, though all of those numbers are inflated because of the Sixers’ frenetic style.
But Turner is someone who can put the ball on the floor and create shots for others, something that only Stephenson does currently with that second group, and could potentially give the Pacers another option to play with a smaller lineup of George Hill, Turner, Stephenson, Paul George and then either David West or Roy Hibbert if they ever want to match up with the Heat.
But more than anything it adds another layer of depth, something they already improved when they took a flier on Bynum last month after he was traded from the Cavaliers to the Bulls for Luol Deng and then released by Chicago. Since the end of last season, when the Heat were only a razor’s edge better than the Pacers, Indiana has gotten significantly better.
The Heat, on the other hand, have gotten worse. While LeBron James is still the best player in the game and Chris Bosh is having another outstanding season, Dwyane Wade has dealt with knee issues all season long, and it remains to be seen how much he’s going to have in the tank when the Eastern Conference Finals roll around. Then when you factor in the absence of Mike Miller, who was amnestied to save money this summer, and the decline of aging veterans around The Big Three like Shane Battier and Ray Allen, and it’s easy to see why the Pacers feel confident about their chances of dethroning the Heat this spring.
Warriors bolster backcourt
None of the other moves made in the days leading up to the deadline will have the kind of impact that the Turner trade did. But of them, the most consequential move will likely be Golden State acquiring Steve Blake, giving them a competent backup point guard to play behind, and at times alongside, Stephen Curry.
The Warriors have missed the presence Jarrett Jack, who signed with the Cavaliers in the offseason, gave them in the backcourt last year. After Toney Douglas and then Jordan Crawford were given cameos in the role, the Warriors were smart to get a tough, veteran guard like Blake to give them a steadying presence in the backcourt.
The other potential impact move could be the Wizards landing Andre Miller from the Nuggets in exchange for Jan Vesely, as well as Eric Maynor and a pair of second round picks going to the 76ers to help make the money work.
Miller is a cagey veteran who will give the young, dynamic Wizards backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal some guidance in what it takes to win, as well as presumably giving coach Randy Wittman, who has been riding his starting five too hard all year long, someone he can count on to take away some of Wall and Beal’s minutes.
The question will be whether Miller is ready to play after spending the last month sitting out after a blowup with Nuggets coach Brian Shaw. Given the fact the Wizards are right in the middle of the muddled Eastern Conference playoff race, they can’t afford to have him take too long to get used to his new surroundings.
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At the other end of the trade spectrum, the team that made the most noise were the Sixers, who came away with a ridiculous five second-round picks in upcoming drafts, and now have an even more ridiculous five second round picks in this year’s draft alone – not to mention the two lottery picks they are likely going to have, assuming the Pelicans don’t end up in the top-5 protecting the pick acquired Jrue Holiday trade.
All of those picks will allow first-year general manager Sam Hinkie all kinds of flexibility moving forward, either to draft a whole slew of young players or to use those picks as ammunition to acquire players in trades.
Things are pretty rough in Philadelphia right now, where the Sixers are 12-40 after their stunning 3-0 start. But with Michael Carter-Williams, Nerlens Noel, tons of cap space and all of these draft picks, there may be no team better positioned than the Sixers to improve dramatically over the next two or three years.