From ESPN.com:
“The Charlotte Bobcats have agreed to trade forward Gerald Wallace to the Portland Trail Blazers for a package that includes two first-round picks as owner Michael Jordan cuts payroll and eyes the future. ‘Cats also get center Joel Przybilla and reserve forward Dante Cunningham.”
The Trail Blazers get an all star and are suddenly quite dangerous out west as the Bobcats continue to dismantle their team. Things are interesting suddenly in Portland, while the Bobcats need to really make intelligent moves.
The Trail Blazers Outlook:
Nic Batum may be the starting 3, but Gerald Wallace is more than capable of coming in for big minutes at the 3 and moving Batum to the 4 and the absolutely incredible LaMarcus Aldridge to the 5. That along with Andre Miller at the 1 and Wesley Matthew, Rudy Fernandez or, frighteningly, Brandon Roy at the 2, is an incredibly effective unit in every way but shooting. With the return of center Marcus Camby, the Blazers are, surprisingly and all of a sudden, actually a reasonably deep squad. Considering Aldridge is now a franchise level player, a team that seemed dead when Oden and Roy went out can actually be really dangerous come playoff time and subtracted no current core pieces to make this great deal and, somehow, have become an elite rebounding team.
Charlotte Bobcats Outlook:
Three expiring deals, although they may keep Cunningham, a decent shooting 4, and 2 mediocre draft picks (the Blazers 2013 and the Hornets this year) isn’t a lot for their lone star, but Larry Brown got this team overspending during his tenure and the books had to be cleared. This accomplishes that book clearing and gets some picks in the process. The ‘Cats had to cut Dominic McGuire, Derrick Brown and Sherron Collins to make the deal work. Brown is a useful player and there’s no reason he shouldn’t be picked up by a team looking for an athletic 4 like the Knicks or Celtics.
Final Thoughts:
The Bobcats pay the price of previous fiscal irresponsibility and the Blazers continue to be one of the best run teams around. If their lack of shooting doesn’t kill them, they and the Grizzlies make for nightmare round 1 playoff matchups.
