Fadeaway Friday: NBA Trade Deadline Roundup

Fadeaway Friday usually focuses on the NBA D-League, but given that the NBA trade deadline was on Thursday, "Fadeaway Friday" this week will be a quick recap of all the deals that happened at the NBA trade deadline. Also, there was no Wednesday Windmill this week due to all the uncertainty that comes with the next day being the trade deadline. So just a quick heads up on that. Anyways, without further ado, below is a recap of all the deals that happened with proper citation. *Note: Deals announced by Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical are cited as "The Vertical" for simplicity.

#1.  ICYMI: The Kings traded DeMarcus Cousins to the Pelicans. I wrote more about that here.

#2.  ICYMI: The Magic traded Serge Ibaka to the Raptors. I wrote more about that here.

#3. Per The Vertical, the Nets traded forward Bojan Bogdanovic and forward Chris McCullough to the Wizards for a 2017 lottery protected first-round draft pick, forward Andrew Nicholson, and guard Marcus Thornton. The Vertical also adds that the Nets intend to waive Marcus Thornton.

#4.  Per The Vertical, the Lakers traded guard Lou Williams to the Rockets for a 2017 first round pick and forward Corey Brewer.

#5. 76ers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo confirmed that the 76ers traded Ersan Illyasova to the Hawks for Tiago Splitter, a second-round pick, and the option to swap a second round pick.

#6. The Grizzlies decided to sign Toney Douglas for the remainder of the season according to Real GM.

#7. The Pelicans signed Hollis Thompson to a 10-day contract. Marc Stein of ESPN reported this.

#8. Per The Vertical and Marc Stein, the 76ers traded Nerlens Noel to the Mavericks for Andrew Bogut, Justin Anderson, and a 1-18 protected 1st Round pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. Zach Lowe adds that the 76ers will get two second round draft picks (one in 2017 and one in 2018) if the 1st Round pick remains protected. Keith Pompey of Philly.com adds that the 76ers waived Chasson Randle to help facilitate the trade.

#9. Per The Vertical, the Rockets traded K.J. McDaniels to the Nets for cash considerations.

#10. Per The Vertical, the Thunder traded Cameron Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne, and Anthony Morrow to the Bulls for Doug McDermott, Taj Gibson, and a 2018 2nd Round pick.

#11. Per The Vertical, the Bucks traded Roy Hibbert to the Nuggets for a heavily protected 2019 2nd Round pick.

#12. Per The Vertical, the Hawks traded Mike Scott to the Suns for cash considerations.

InsideHoops.com posted an update to the deal: The Hawks traded Mike Scott, the draft rights to Cenk Akyol, and cash considerations to the Suns for a top-55 protected 2017 2nd round pick.

#13. Per The Vertical, the Raptors traded Jared Sullinger and two future second round picks to the Suns for P.J. Tucker, whose contract expires in the summer. Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic adds that the Suns will waive Jared Sullinger and Mike Scott and sign Ronnie Price for the remainder of the season.

#14. Per The Vertical, the Rockets traded Tyler Ennis to the Lakers for Marcelinho Huertas. The Rockets are expected to waive Huertas.

InsideHoops.com posted an update to the deal: The Rockets traded the draft rights to AEK Athens small forward Brad Newley and Tyler Ennis to the Lakers for Marcelinho Huertas, who is expected to be waived.

#15. Per Justin Verrier of ESPN, the Pelicans waived forward Terrence Jones as a byproduct of the DeMarcus Cousins deal.

#16. Per the Vertical, the Mavericks are expected to waive Deron Williams. David Aldridge reports that the Cavaliers are the front runners to land him.

#17. Per Marc Stein, the 76ers are expected to buy out Andrew Bogut's contract. The Rockets are expected to go after him. The Vertical, however, has learned that a loophole in the NBA's collective bargaining agreement allows the Warriors to sign Bogut since the "last trade" rule only applies to the previous team that had him.

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Wednesday Windmill: Will Monta Ellis make the Pacers better?

     Monta Ellis is perhaps the greatest player in NBA history to never make an All-Star team. He has averaged 19.3 points per game over the course of his career and has certainly been on several Sports Center highlight reels. But for whatever reason, he hasn't ever found a permanent home or been able to play on a championship caliber team.

     Some say that this is due to Ellis' selfish play and his inability to play "winning basketball." I personally have always found this criticism of Ellis to be harsh since he never has been on teams that gave him much support. That being said, results don't lie and as of right now, Monta Ellis doesn't have much to speak for in terms of playoff success.

     This season, Monta Ellis once again finds himself wearing a new uniform in Indiana with another opportunity for a fresh start and a new beginning. Given his stature and All-Star worthy abilities, it's surprising that more people aren't asking the following question: "Will Monta Ellis make the Pacers better?"

     Last season, the Pacers missed the playoffs with a 38-44 record largely due to Paul George's ghastly injury and his lengthy recovery. With Paul George now healthy and Monta Ellis aboard, the Pacers should automatically be better, right? Barring some other serious injury, the answer is likely yes. But, let's not forget that with Paul George healthy, this Pacers team was a team that made the Eastern Conference Finals with the #1 overall seed in the conference just two seasons ago.

     What we really should be asking is whether or not the Pacers are now serious threats to win the Eastern Conference by getting Monta Ellis. Upon looking at the Pacers' roster, while it's clear that they've gotten better from last season, it is far from clear that they have what it takes to dethrone the Cavaliers in the East.

     A big reason for this is that two of their key players from their previous run to the Eastern Conference Finals are now gone, namely David West (Spurs) and Roy Hibbert (Lakers). Both of those guys, even with Roy Hibbert's mental lapses, were really solid in the paint. With those guys gone and Monta Ellis now present, the Pacers suddenly have turned into a team that will try to win by beating teams with speed and quickness as opposed to size and strength.

     The Pacers' whole style of play is undergoing a drastic change that includes Paul George playing a lot of his minutes at the power forward position. Undergoing such a change isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just that at this point, we don't know how it will all work out.

     Perhaps the change to smaller and quicker lineups led by Paul George and Monta Ellis will benefit the Pacers and make them more dangerous than they've ever been. It's certainly possible. However, it's equally if not more possible that while being perhaps more entertaining on the court, the Pacers won't replicate the same success they had prior to Paul George's injury.

     Some of this inability to replicate that same success will of course be due to the departure of Hibbert and West as well as the fact that the Cleveland Cavaliers are really good. Still, even with those as excuses, that doesn't change the answer to the question of this article, which is "Will Monta Ellis make the Pacers better?" At the moment, the answer appears to be no. The front court is much thinner and outside of Monta Ellis, Paul George, and George Hill, the Pacers don't have a lot of guys who they can rely on to score the basketball.

     Now, what I want to make clear is that Monta Ellis is a nice addition to this Pacers team. It's just that I don't think he's enough to make them "better" than what they've been in years past. He'll help them score the ball and all, but he simply cannot make up for the fact that the front court is thinner and that a lot of core pieces from Pacers teams of yesteryear are gone. I guess what I'm saying is this: Don't expect Monta Ellis to make the Pacers better, but at the same time, don't use that as a reason to think that Monta Ellis isn't as good as other people think he is.

     Look at Monta Ellis as a plus that simply doesn't outweigh the negatives of losing Roy Hibbert and David West. If the Pacers still had those two guys, we could seriously be talking about Monta Ellis perhaps being the missing ingredient to an Indiana Pacers championship run.

The Pacers are in a hole, but they aren't dead as they trail the Heat 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals

The Indiana Pacers currently trail the Miami Heat 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals with Game 5 happening later tonight in Indiana (8:30 PM ET on ESPN). Things no doubt look bleak for the Pacers right now. After taking Game 1 at home against the Heat, things have quickly swung in favor of the Heat, resulting in 3 straight wins for the defending champs. The key problem for the Pacers is that Roy Hibbert has slowed down a little bit after appearing to have found his groove against the Wizards, and Lance Stephenson has virtually disappeared in the last two games of the series, averaging just 9.5 points per game in Games 3 and 4. Stephenson's struggles have been due to foul trouble and a lack of aggression. If the Pacers can get Hibbert and Stephenson to wake up the rest of this series, the Pacers do have a chance, albeit a slim chance. How is that possible? The answer lies in the simple fact that the Pacers have Game 5 and Game 7* (If Necessary) scheduled in Indiana and also the fact that it's really hard to hold serve against a team like the Pacers for an entire series.
     I picked the Pacers before the playoffs started to get to the NBA Finals and I picked them to beat the Heat in 7 games once the series began. The reason was simple: Home court advantage. In the NBA, playing at home is more important than in any other sport. The refs give you the calls, the fans get into the heads of the road team, and role players always play better at home. Those three reasons make it really difficult to win on the road in the playoffs, and  I think should the Pacers force a Game 7, they will win this series.
     As for the Heat, they just have to take care of business at home to beat the Pacers and the series is theirs. But can we really expect the Pacers to go down to Miami for a third time and come up empty handed? I don't think we can. The Pacers have been fantastic on the road this post-season, which means one has to think they get at least one game down in Miami. I think odds look fairly good that this series still goes to a Game 7, and if it does, the Pacers will have home court, which is huge for reasons I just mentioned.
     Now, if the Pacers want to force a Game 7 and walk away winning this series, they have to do two things: Get Lance Stephenson going and get easy buckets inside. Paul George may be the engine of this Pacers team, but Lance Stephenson is what fuels the engine. His hustle, passion, and toughness has been the X-factor for the Pacers all post-season. He doesn't necessarily need to score a lot of points for the Pacers to win this series, but they do need him out on the floor scrapping for loose balls and hustling. If he gets into serious foul trouble early in any game going forward, the Pacers are probably cooked. As for getting easy buckets inside, this is pretty self explanatory. The Pacers aren't a great three point shooting team, but they do possess good low-post scorers. Roy Hibbert and David West have to get a lot of touches going forward and beat up the Heat's vulnerable inside. If the Pacers succeed in the paint, then their odds of winning this series go up dramatically .
     I know that statistically speaking the Pacers look doomed when you look at numbers that say "Only 8 out of 217 teams down 3-1 have come back to win a playoff series" but I still think there is great hope for the Pacers. I think they should win Game 5, and I also think their odds of winning Game 6 aren't crazy low. I think that the third time can be the charm in Miami, which brings us to a Game 7 in Indiana, which I think they would win if they get to that point. I may sound overly optimistic, but all I'm saying is that there's a chance the Pacers win this series, and a chance is all the Pacers need.

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord for NBA news. My personal twitter handle is @slamdunk406

No More Excuses For Dwight Howard In Houston

These past couple of seasons, Dwight Howard has been the center of the NBA free agent world thanks to his indecisive and bizarre behavior. One minute he loves where he's at, the next minute he hates it. One minute he loves his coach, the next minute he wants him canned. All this time, Dwight Howard has viewed other people around him as the problem, and all this time we have somewhat given him the benefit of the doubt. He didn't have the right team around him in Orlando; Kobe Bryant was selfish and  Mike D'Antoni was incompetent in Los Angeles, etc. But now that he is a member of the Houston Rockets and is away from the circus of Los Angeles and has surrounded himself with better talent than he had in Orlando, it is time for Dwight Howard to look at himself in the mirror and demand that he makes his situation better and not other people. 

What I'm really saying is he needs to become a better basketball player. These past three seasons, we've seen his scoring average go from 22.9 to 20.6 to 17.1 points per game as well as his rebounding average go from 14.1 to 14.4 to 12.4. That means that his numbers in the 2009-10 season (18.3 points per game/ 13.2 rebounds per game) were actually better than they were this year (17.1 points per game/ 12.4 rebounds per game). In other words, he has regressed since that time, and he hasn't gotten any better. 

                                            image from ksat.com

Now while it may be true that Dwight Howard is still the best center in the NBA ahead of Roy Hibbert and Andrew Bynum, it is not true that being the best center is all that he is supposed to be. He is supposed to be the centerpiece and leader of championship teams like Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O'Neal. But so far, it doesn't look like he is capable of being that player thanks to his whining and lack of responsibility for his own actions. He instead looks like he's on the path to becoming one of the most squandered talents in NBA history. 

That being said, he is in a fresh place now in Houston, which is a place he chose to be in. He chose the Rockets and the Rockets welcomed him in to their fold, expecting him to be their leader over the coming decade. He has the pieces around him to win a title with James Harden, Jeremy Lin, and Chandler Parsons around him. Now all that needs to happen is he needs to step up and become the franchise changing center that many have thought him to be. Excuses and whiny behavior won't save him this time. It's time for him to produce and bring home the titles or just admit he isn't what he's all cracked up to be. 

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord