Yesterday in the NBA we saw movement that could shift the league with new contenders for a championship. The NBA trade deadline closed yesterday, February 6 at 3:00 p.m. ET. This means no more trades can be made this NBA season until after the NBA championship has been crowned.
The NBA saw a shift in talent from team to team as three blockbuster trades were announced. The first trade was D’Angelo Russell was trade to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins and multiple future picks. This has no effect to the Indiana Pacers as both teams reside in the Western Conference. Another trade with no significance was Andre Drummond to the Cleveland Cavaliers for John Henson, Brandon Knight and a pick. Neither of these teams are contenders in the Eastern Conference playoff race making this trade less significant.
The third trade was between the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Clippers who exchanged Marcus Morris and Maurice Harkless and some future picks which is significant for the Clippers: they are a Western Conference team. This could be relative to the Pacers in the future because of the picks New York received but will most likely not effect the standings this season.
The one trade that happened this deadline that could effect the Indiana Pacers now and in the near future was the four team trade between the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets, and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now much of this trade is not important to the Indiana Pacers with three of the four teams being in the Western Conference but the Atlanta Hawks did make a splash by acquiring Clint Capela from the Rockets. This will be a huge pickup for the Hawks as they have struggled to find a big man to pair up with All-Star point guard Trae Young. Capela is a force in the middle with a good offensive game, but will likely solidify the defensive end of the floor for the Hawks. The Hawks are a very young team and with the addition of Capela could start to move up the standings after the All-Star break even though their season has not been a great one so far. They are likely to not make a drastic jump into the bottom seed of the Eastern Conference playoff race this season; but coming in the next few years this very young core could begin to show some promise after all.
The Indiana Pacers did not make any moves this deadline and will more or less look to work previous All-Star Victor Oladipo back into the mix for the final streak of the season. With the Pacers sitting in the 5 seed playoff position you could say that this was the right move. Some would say otherwise as the Pacers are guard heavy with the bench consisting of TJ McConnell and Aaron Holiday. Likely, one of the two will have reduced minutes as Oladipo works his way back up into the starting rotation.
Should we have tried to make a trade with McConnell or Holiday?
With Oladipo gaining more minutes as the All-Star break approaches, the bench back court of McConnell and Holiday is certainly going to have to lose minutes as Guard Jeremy Lamb will come off the bench for the remainder of the season. McConnell is a more veteran guard that pushes the pace and is more of a pure point guard with his passing ability out shining his scoring. Holiday is a young and upcoming developing player that has surpassed expectations this year with his passing and shooting, especially from behind the 3-point arc.
Either McConnell or Holiday could have been a solid trade piece to gain more depth at the forward position for the Indiana Pacers this deadline. But with the youth of Holiday, his on-court development over the past year, and his pairing in the second unit with brother and Indiana Pacers forward Justin Holiday; he should stay. I believe that in the future Holiday will have a bigger impact and fits Coach McMillan’s system better than what McConnell does.
With that being said, for this trade deadline, I believe that keeping the both of them was the right option. As seeing them play together this year on the second unit it has worked well and I believe it can still work just as well for the rest of the season. The chemistry in the second unit has been good and will become even better as Jeremy Lamb should add a scoring boost as he begins to come off the bench in the near future. This also allows us to play a few different lineups in the future with our bench playing both point guards and Jeremy Lamb at the small forward for a small lineup, or interchanging the two guards based on who is hot that night in a bigger lineup. I believe that the versatility we will gain off the bench will be a great weapon moving on through the rest of the season for the Indiana Pacers.
Alston Bane 