The NBA trade deadline was somewhat overshadowed by the opening day of March Madness. Still, there were a plethora of moves made in the final hours as teams tried to make a last ditch effort to bolster their roster or build for the future. Here are the trade deadline winners.
Orlando Magic
All along it seemed as if Orlando had to either trade Dwight Howard prior to the deadline or more than likely lose him this summer and get nothing in return. Instead, Howard pulled somewhat of a shocker by announcing he wanted to not only stay with the Magic for the remainder of the season, but also opted in on the final year of his contract for 2012-2013. Kudos to general manager Otis Smith for hanging onto Howard and not panicking at any point in the off-season or past few months by dealing his star player. Now comes the challenge of trying to find some better talent to surround Howard with this summer.
Los Angeles Clippers
Brian Cook and a second round pick in 2015 for Nick Young? Yes, please. An injury to Chauncey Billups has left the Clips a little short-handed at the two so they were looking for a true shooting guard. Young knows how to score the basketball and should benefit playing alongside Chris Paul. He is a free agent after the season so this is more than likely just a rental but since it cost so little, it absolutely was a steal.
Indiana Pacers
Leandro Barbosa for a second round pick? Sign me up. Indiana had some free cap space meaning they could acquire a player without having to give anybody up in return. Barbosa gives them some added scoring punch off the bench and will be an asset in the post-season. Plus, he is a free agent at the end of the season so giving up a second rounder for a three-month rental of Barbosa is a great bargain.
Houston Rockets
Daryl Morey is always one of the most active general managers at the trade deadline and this year was no different. Houston ultimately gave up three younger players in Jordan Hill, Hasheem Thabeet, and Jonny Flynn who all have team options for next season and likely weren’t going to be part of the Rockets long-term future for a pair of veterans in Marcus Camby and Derek Fisher. They will give Houston some valuable leadership and post-season experience as the team looks to improve their playoff standing. Houston also picked an additional first round pick meaning they now have three first rounders in the 2012 NBA Draft. Camby is a free agent after this season and Fisher has a player option for next year meaning the Rockets were able to make these moves without hurting their future cap space.
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David Kay is a senior feature NBA Draft, NBA, and college basketball writer for the Sports Bank. He also heads up the NBA and college basketball material at Walter Football.com and is a former contributor at The Washington Times Communities. David has appeared on numerous national radio programs spanning from Cleveland to New Orleans to Honolulu. He also had the most accurate 2011 NBA Mock Draft on the web.
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