The league is changeable. This season alone has been a chaotic, at times downright messy three-and-a-half months thus far and with the trade deadline looming and the question of finals—namely, who the heck is making them—things stand to get messier.
At the start of the last few NBA seasons the outcome of the year seemed firmly in place. There were minor upsets and here and there but the pendulum swinging from Cleveland as champs to Golden State seemed balanced, predictable. Many would bet—and it would be a safe wager—that the pendulum is jammed firmly in place over the Warriors as the sure champs again this season but being extremely invested in my career as a basketball contrarian, my money’s elsewhere.
Cleveland is a hot, stinking mess. There was the possibility of a hypothetical trade of Kevin Love for DeAndre Jordan, some muscle the Cavs could certainly use in their defence, but it’s 100% off any imaginary table now given Love’s broken hand (and heart?). At least they can’t say he’s faking migraines anymore. Isaiah Thomas doesn’t appear to be buying into Believeland, either. Internal unrest is festering with every loss and criticism of Thomas’s role in the rotation is rampant. The word “redundant” is getting thrown into the mix when describing Isaiah’s function on the team and Thomas, rightly so, isn’t feeling it. When questioned about his shot selection by a reporter this weekend Thomas, as is his won’t, snapped back, “I mean if they’re worried about my shot selection they must not have seen me play the last few years,” he said. “That’s all I can say about that. If somebody’s worried about that, what did you trade me here for? To not shoot? To not find my rhythm?”
I mean, he’s got a point. If Thomas wasn’t so much the active target of a trade as he was the bonus of shrugging Kyrie Irving off the roster and out of LeBron James’s orbit, maybe they didn’t bring him there to shoot, specifically. There is a lot of pressure put on trades, namely making them. It doesn’t mean that every trade, even the big and contentious ones that look on the surface to hold enough weight to sway the scales, is going to work out. The invisible factors of chemistry, a player’s mentality and willingness to produce for a new team, a new roster, and the likeliness of individual slumps coming at the worst times make any trade tenuous at best and a total crapshoot at worst. Just because someone seems to fit the bill of exactly what a team is missing to the T, doesn’t save any organization from taking the L for a move.
The Pistons, for example, got shafted. Tobias Harris was having the best season of his career in Detroit and they lost an elite defender in Avery Bradley. Both pieces, and reliable, gigantic Boban, complemented the ever-improving Andre Drummond and made for dynamic basketball, even if the Pistons have fizzed since they flared out of the gate in October. Blake Griffin is good and will do well in Detroit as an exciting get for the franchise—but he wasn’t worth all that, and the team now holds $70 million in salary just between Griffin and Drummond. It’s unlikely they’ll make much more than a run at this year’s playoffs, which wasn’t really what they could have had in mind when making such a big trade, but without a few more complimentary additions this summer there’s not a lot of longevity here for a full re-tool.
However you feel about Griffin being dropped into the swirling nor’Eastern Conference, there’s no denying that as far as interest and possibility of upset, it’s the more exciting conference. With the destabilization of Cleveland, like some old Colonial power being overthrown, anything seems possible. The Celtics are steady, the Bucks—a bit lost—are out to prove something. Washington remains a deft team that I admittedly don’t want the Raptors to meet in the playoffs, the Heat would be tricky but it would be nice to quell that weird little rivalry that formed from one wild game, and the Pacers and Sixers are playing hungry and contentious. With all the jockeying for position going on in the east past the 1st and 2nd spots, it almost doesn’t make sense to look ahead to the playoffs because the whole conference is pretty ripe for the taking. It’s the kind of basketball that didn’t look possible going into a season where Cleveland was predicted not to do much besides dominate, and it’s great.
The West is a different kind of rodeo but the lariat Steph Curry and co. had around the legs of the rest of the conference is loosening—a little. Upsets like the Warriors losing by 30 to Utah last night and Kawhi Leonard out for the rest of the season could hobble what seemed would be an uncontestable standings order right into April. There’s no chance the Warriors aren’t ending the regular season in first with the lead they’ve got on the Rockets, but they aren’t immune to fatigue, or wild runs from underdog teams and their more competitive contemporaries, is the point.
Trades are a lot of fun as a fan and the upcoming mid-season deadline, if at all on brand with the season thus far, could very well be wild. Even with the Raptors seemingly shaking off the kinks of a never-ending January, they aren’t immune to the siren song of a trade. But when the clamouring for big-moves-or-else hits a fever pitch, I’m so thankful for a thoughtful, patient planner like Masai Ujiri at the figurative wheel. Ujiri plays the long game and seems to genuinely take into account every skill, present or developing, in his players. The beautiful thing of the Raptors right now is they don’t need anybody. The roster is stacked with quiet, skilled players who have gelled into their roles and welcome rotational resets. More than that, they’re having fun. With so many glaring chemistry shortages showing up on other teams this year it makes me feel extremely lucky and yes, a little nervous, that there’s always a chance for a trade that appears too good to pass up to come along. Something will have to happen with the Raptors going into the offseason, given the plethora of young talent and salary weight, but we can deal with that when we get there. ‘Cause for now the Raptors are saddled with the benefit of perseverance, plenty of time, and the pride that comes out of ownership—of everyone playing a part, and the field out in front is wide open.
