Woah this was a very interesting situation for both the big teams here in the Heat and Clippers and as you will see when I break this down I adore this for both teams in my mind. Simply put I think both got better and i'm really confident in this being true. This was super confusing for the third team involved, the Jazz. I think this is incredibly confusing that they got such a minimal return in this. but I don't want to stall too much there's a lot more that I want to bring up in this in each teams section. So let's get to it!
Grade Explanation Post: https://fanspo.com/nba/s/general/p/epTyDdsSXUgNRK/my-trade-grade-rankings-explained
Heat: B+
I have been critical of the Heat and Pat Riley in particular for a couple seasons now and I was getting fully pissed off with them heading into this offseason. Simply put its too much drama and not enough action for me for a guy who has such a great reputation for his work which he does deserve, Pat Riley has an incredible resumé as the GM of this team and as a general basketball figure but I'd be lying if I wasn't incredibly disappointed recently. Just not paying his star players, a continued feast for mediocrity, seemed like he was further losing the players and especially after what happened with Jimmy. Heading into the offseason the Heat exit interviews of each player was very telling for the overall player opinion of the teams FO, missed out on KD in the offseason nd continued to really make any meaningful moves towards being competitive in a weaker east next year but finally we got something for them. I want to quickly go back to Pat Riley, my opinions are quite strong and have not changed whatsoever in the wake of this trade but I also am not going to lie this is a great deal, one of my first posts was one condemning the actions of Pat Riley close to the deadline and I will continue to be a heavy critic in his work and a sceptic but I'm not afraid to backtrack and celebrate where I would have agreed with someone and here I really do. So enough Pat Riley Yapping, here's why I love it!
Simply put the Heat don't have (Outside of Herro) Someone I can fully believe in to be a consistent scorer for this team, a tough shotmaker and someone who can simply find his own buckets and make some interesting creation opportunities for his teammates. Simply put this Miami Heat team does not have any consistent creator for others on the roster and because of that you need to have guys you feel somewhat comfortable in just going and creating for themselves and are purely positive self creators on offence. And the price you did this at was incredible being Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love, a straight steal of a trade in my opinion. Now lets not lie there are some concerns, Powell disappeared in the playoffs for the Clippers and is probably not the Backcourt partner that fits with Herro so I would likely expect this to be a more short term starting duo, potentially they make him a high minute 6th man instead and start Davion Mitchell which I think I would prefer to starting Powell and Herro. So this trade while it has the downsides you kind of add the needs of this squad and the necessities to have for this teams makeup for a super cheap talent and getting someone of a high caliber I can trust to be a more primary guy if needed and yet downscale if asked and when he is trusted has shown to have all star caliber level play which is always exciting. Just a straight W trade in my opinion good job. One of the highest rankings of the summer, believe a tied 3rd spot in my current rankings?
Clippers: B
I want to say I was pretty close to making this a B-, but I do really love this trade for the Clippers but to less of an extent. I think Powell is just not the right player for this Clippers team, again you don't maximise the abilities you saw from him when Kawhi was out and at his best in a team with James Harden and Kawhi Leonard who are the two guys I think you have to be sharing the ball primarily between I don't think it makes sense with James Harden defensively in the backcourt and your forcing him to downscale as an offensive player. So this is why I found myself really open to the idea of a Norman Powell trade and really I had not got round to deciding what type of players I'd be searching for as a replacement for Powell but honestly Collins is a super good fit for this team as a 4 next to Kawhi and Zubac in the Frontcourt. Collins came off a mega hot season for the Jazz where the team lacked consistency in the rotation with little ambition and his talents felt like they were being wasted as a player. As a Hawks fan myself I know there's a history of John Collins playing alongside a playmaker of the caliber of James Harden with similarities in the play style. You're giving Harden a lob threat and a catch and shoot threat giving him a versatile offensive guy and a decent plus defender on the other end of the court with great size. Not only that but his spacing is needed alongside Zubac who is a non shooter so it's great to keep spacing up. So yeah this is a great landing spot for Collins who is someone I really want to see succeed in this system as a Hawks fan with him as one of our draft picks and someone that meant so much to me in that conference finals run. Now Powell and a second is a steep price, its not cheap at all and thats what holds this back from being a greater trade but I can swallow the value when Powell disappeared in that playoff run and his lacklustre fit for this team in my opinion so I think this is still a good trade.
Jazz: D+
When we have two winners a three team trade like we have seen in my rankings so far, likely I end up ranking one of the other teams really low or around average and in this case, the Jazz get a low grade. John Collins should return more value and thats so simple to me, now how much control over the Collins trade situation they had I'm not aware but although i'm certain Collins probably wasn't going to be looking forward to sticking it out in Utah, the Jazz likely had no real pressure to find a trade option. I do understand and I do agree with them they should have evaluated offers for Collins to increase the amount of minutes they can distribute to the young developing guys like Sensabaugh, George, Bailey etc. and that makes total sense to me I just can't grasp the fact they though this was good value or couldn't find someone else to buy into this trade at a higher price. Just think this is insane general value for Collins and although I do think the general method of the Jazz's FO is correct and smart I do think the outcomes have become underwhelming and disappointing each year I see this roster and the talents around it. It's a weird one but I really think they've been scammed here and its not particularly common I find this to be my opinion on a Jazz trade
OK so I wanted to end this with a quick message. I appreciate the support I've been getting from all of you guys for my posts, I love you all but I do need a break and I have the perfect opportunity Tod etox from the internet in a few days so staring Friday the 11th of July I will be on a 5 day break until the 16th. Does this mean no comment replies or anything? No I may be able to get online and message someone but if you want me on discord or you want a quick question or are expecting posts its likely just not going to happen and im sorry about that.
A series I have been working on was the Hawks film and evaluations on the additions and I dropped the Luke Kennard post and it did reasonably well, if y'all could all read that it would be amazing, its not too far down my recent posts but it does mean we likely won't get a post next week for that, I will be doing a Kristaps Porzingis one this week at some point before I take my break and then we will be back for NAW and Newell and hopefully someone else by then. but the general message is don't hold your breath for some Chees stuff for a tiny bit. I love you guys and I hope you enjoyed what I think is one of the most in depth trade grades i've done this season in one fo the most interesting trades.
P.S. Thanks for the Jay Huff trade grade support, one of the most popular ones and one I poured a lot of time and effort into to develop and showcase the entire story and be opinionated on the trade!