2007 NBA Draft: Assessing the Biggest Trades a Year Later

As the 2008 NBA Draft approaches, NBA fans are bombarded by trade rumors.  Though most never happen (Warriors' fans are praying that Ford’s Brandan Wright and the No. 14 pick for Yi is one of those rumors), there seem to always be a few that do. 

I thought I would take a look back at the three biggest of draft day trades of last year and try to find a winner and a loser for each deal.  The draft saw three 20-plus per game scorers switch zip codes, so let’s get this started.

The Deal

The Charlotte Bobcats trade the rights to the No. 8 pick (Brandan Wright) for Jason Richardson and the rights to the No. 36 pick (Jermareo Davidson).  The Golden State Warriors receive a $9.9 million trade exemption.

Why the Bobcats did it:

Michael. Jeffery. Jordan.  Jordan’s track record for personnel decisions is about as good as Kwame Brown’s career has been.  Besides drafting uber-bust Brown No. 1 (and subsequently killing his confidence by verbally abusing him in practice), he also traded a first-round pick for the mediocre, immature Brendon Haywood. 

It also includes trading for an aging Jerry Stackhouse at the expense of an up-and-comer named Rip Hamilton.  Let’s not forget about him drafting Jared Jeffries and Juan Dixon in the top 20 of the 2002 draft. 

Before the draft, Jordan made it clear that he had no interest in waiting around for a project.  So, he bit on the first offer for a proven veteran, even though it cost him a blue chip talent (from his Alma Mater). 

Did I forget to mention that Richardson is owed roughly $40 mil over the next three years?

Why the Warriors did it:

As popular as Richardson was in Oakland, Mullin’s poor decisions to invest big money in Mike Dunleavy, Adonal Foyle, Troy Murphy, Derek Fisher, and Jason Richardson seemed destined to keep the Warriors in salary cap hell until, at least, 2010. 

With promising young players Andris Biendris and Monta Ellis about to demand big contracts, Mullin was determined to open up the salary cap space necessary to resign them. 

Amazingly, Mullin was able to move the contracts of Dunleavy, Murphy, and Fisher, but he knew that the only way he could stay under the cap and re-sign Ellis and Biendris was to move Richardson (and the $50 million he owed him).  

He also felt Ellis and Kelenna Azubuike could fill the 20 ppg that they would lose without Richardson.

How the Deal looks a year later: 

Michael Jordan was quoted as saying that he thought that Richardson’s “clutchness” would help the young Bobcats win the close games necessary to make them a contender for the Eastern Conference Playoffs.  A closer look at the statistics shows that Richardson was below average in “clutch” situations (under five minutes, neither team ahead by more than five). 

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