NBA Rumors: Jerry West Speaks the Truth About Trade Deadline

Jerry West knows as well as anyone what it's like to make moves this time of year. He's served as the general manager for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies, and he's currently serving as an adviser for the Golden State Warriors.

The March 15 trade deadline is fast approaching and the rumor mill is cranking out fresh rumors seemingly by the minute, but West told Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated that things might be working a little more slowly behind the scenes. 

According to West, there's one fundamental problem about the 2011-2012 season that is making things tough:

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I think you're probably going to see very little player movement for a while, right until the trade deadline. Because the way the season has been condensed, I think people in the front office are really at a disadvantage when you're trying to add players of caliber who can make a significant difference in your team.

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West doesn't go into further detail about why picking and choosing players to integrate is so difficult this season, but Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk offered a legit point, writing, "Less practice time will make integration of players harder, and anything that messes with team chemistry can make GMs gun-shy."

It's a valid point. The games are all bunched together this season. Days off are relatively rare for an NBA season, and back-to-back days off are even rarer. You can see the effect this is having when you sit down and watch a game, as there are a lot of teams out there that seem to be making it up as they go along.

The other issue is that the condensed schedule has resulted in—let's face it—pretty lousy play across the league. We've seen a lot of ugly games, and we've seen a lot of players struggle to get into a rhythm. Others have just plain sucked, and it's unclear if there's light at the end of the tunnel.

So in addition to having to worry about how to integrate players, it's reasonable to believe that GMs around the league just aren't quite sure which players are worth targeting. There's no shortage of players on the block, but picking out which ones are actually worth a trade must be difficult.

Teams will figure it out, but West is suggesting that they mean to take their time to get the lay of the land. Teams still have more than a month to evaluate not just what other teams have to offer, but what kind of changes are necessary in their own neck of the woods.

So if you're hoping to see some trades in the next couple of days or even the next couple of weeks, it's not a good idea to hold your breath.