8 Under-the-Radar Potential NBA Trade Targets Who Demand More Attention
It's easy to get caught up in trade rumors concerning some of the NBA's more recognizable names. That's certainly been the case through the first half of the 2014-15 season.
Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith, J.R. Smith, Dion Waiters and Jeff Green have already changed teams. Brook Lopez and Lance Stephenson have been bandied about in the league's gossip columns of late and could be joined by other impact players in that regard before the Feb. 19 trade deadline comes and goes.
But the scuttlebutt that drips from front-office phone lines to the front pages of sports websites makes up a mere fraction of the transaction conversations, serious and otherwise, that take place behind closed doors. Likewise, for every player moved and deal consummated, there are scores of others that don't and aren't, respectively.
And then there are those players who, given their current circumstances, seem ripe for the plucking. Think of those guys who've seen their roles shrink on account of competition at their positions but who are still valuable commodities on the market. Think, also, of those whose talents are going to waste on terrible teams and whose services could fetch a decent return.
Chances are, you'll come up with a list that features these players in some form or fashion.
Andrew Nicholson, PF, Orlando Magic
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It wasn't so long ago that Andrew Nicholson looked like he'd become a promising rotation player for the Orlando Magic. As a rookie, the St. Bonaventure product averaged a sturdy 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 16.7 minutes while shooting 52.7 percent from the floor.
Since then, Nicholson's production and playing time have dipped considerably. He played in just 18 of Orlando's first 44 games of the 2014-15 campaign, with minutes even in garbage time becoming more and more rare for Nicholson by the week.
Now that rookie Aaron Gordon is back from injury—and Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris, Channing Frye, Kyle O'Quinn, Maurice Harkless and Dewayne Dedmon are entrenched in Jacque Vaughn's frontcourt rotation—Nicholson appears to be the clear odd man out in Orlando.
As such, inquiring minds would do well to kick the tires on the native Canadian, who's not a great athlete by any means but is crafty enough with the ball to be a solid scorer off the bench elsewhere in the Association.
Nik Stauskas, G, Sacramento Kings
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Remember when Nik Stauskas was the Vinny Chase to the Sacramento Kings' Entourage of crowd-sourced draftniks? Well, maybe Stauskas wasn't the best choice to be the poster boy for a revolutionary marriage of basketball business and Silicon Valley-style technological innovation.
Not in Sacramento, anyway. According to CBS Sports' Ken Berger, the Kings have softened their stance on dangling Stauskas, the No. 8 pick in the 2014 NBA draft, in pursuit of a more ideal front-court partner for studly center DeMarcus Cousins:
"The Kings want to pair Cousins with a frontline player who would fit with his post-up skills -- either a stretch four or above-the-rim defender, sources said. They've fielded numerous calls about Stauskas, whose opportunities have been limited with the steadily improving play of Ben McLemore.
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Indeed, McLemore, another sharpshooting wing whom Sacramento recently snagged out of the draft lottery, has been far better in Year 2 (11.8 points, 57.7 true shooting percentage) than he was in Year 1 (8.8 points, 48.5 true shooting percentage)—hardly an unusual development for a young talent like McLemore.
Meanwhile, Stauskas has become better known for his girlfriend's prom dates than for anything he's done on the NBA hardwood.
The former Michigan Wolverine has struggled to scrounge up playing time for himself (14.1 minutes per game) and hasn't done much therein (3.6 points, 44.7 true shooting percentage). If the Kings are as gung-ho about improving their team right away as they have been since Vivek Ranadive took over as the team's controlling owner, Stauskas figures to be among the next to go.
And, with better luck, could flourish at his next pro stop.
Jordan Hill, C, Los Angeles Lakers
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According to the Los Angeles Times' Eric Pincus, Jordan Hill wouldn't be enough to pry Nik Stauskas from the Kings.
That doesn't mean, though, that Hill wouldn't be an attractive addition to another team in need of some size and energy. And it would not preclude the Lakers from fetching a decently pretty penny for Hill.
After suffering through a rough December, Hill has bounced back in a big way in 2015, with averages of 15.1 points and 8.1 rebounds over his last eight games. Nonetheless, the Lakers have lost seven of those eight, all but pushing L.A. into the seller's column ahead of next month's trade deadline.
As it happens, Hill is one of the few players in purple and gold with any market value of which to speak. The 27-year-old has added a passable pick-and-pop shot to a skill set that, really, had been predicated almost solely on physicality and an impressive nose for the ball as a rebounder.
The Lakers aren't nearly as desperate for a player of Hill's rapport as they once were, now that rookie Tarik Black has joined Ed Davis and Carlos Boozer in L.A.'s frontcourt rotation. That's made Hill expendable, with a $9 million team option for 2015-16 that should draw at least a sniff or two from curious GMs across the Association.
Landry Fields, G/F, Toronto Raptors
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Back in the summer of 2012, in one of the final acts of his...errr...uneven reign as general manager of the Toronto Raptors, Bryan Colangelo signed Landry Fields to a silly offer sheet (three years, $18.75 million).
The thinking was that move would make the Raptors the front-runners to sign Steve Nash, an aging Canadian legend, ahead of the New York Knicks, who would match Fields' deal from Toronto and see their cap space flung out the window accordingly.
Even the Knicks weren't dumb enough to take that bait. And, for what it's worth, neither Toronto nor New York wound up with Nash, who promptly proved too fragile for future NBA consumption shortly after joining the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Raptors were able to dodge that bullet but have yet to make anything of Fields' presence on their roster. He's played in just 96 of a possible 205 regular-season tilts for Toronto, averaging 3.6 points and three rebounds therein. The Stanford grad has been buried behind DeMar DeRozan, Terrence Ross, James Johnson and Lou Williams in Dwane Casey's wing rotation.
Fields won't be found in the dreams of many (if any) NBA GMs between now and Feb. 19, though someone in search of some wing depth could do worse than give him a test drive, especially with his contract set to expire this summer.
Miles Plumlee, C, Phoenix Suns
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The NBA life can be and often is quite fragile. One moment, you're the toast of the town, the surprise of the season. The next, you're an afterthought, knocked from peg to peg in a team's pecking order.
Miles Plumlee knows a thing or two about that. The eldest of the Duke-trained trio of Indiana-bred brothers was, like the 2013-14 Phoenix Suns as a whole, a pleasant story among the league's breakouts. Plumlee averaged 8.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 24.6 minutes while starting 79 of the 80 games in which he played at center.
This, after playing sparingly as a rookie for his home-state Pacers and arriving in Arizona as a throw-in from the Luis Scola trade.
Nowadays, Plumlee's role in Phoenix more closely resembles the tiny one he filled in Indy just two seasons ago. Alex Len, the Suns' lottery pick in 2013, usurped Plumlee's starting spot in mid-December. Less than a month later, Brandan Wright's arrival from Boston bumped Plumlee to third on Jeff Hornacek's depth chart at center.
It should come as no surprise, then, that per ESPN.com's Marc Stein, the Suns are working with Mark Bartelstein, Plumlee's agent, to find a new home for the 26-year-old. Plumlee's not exceptionally skilled for his position, but with his size (6'11") and athleticism, he could be a great get for a team seeking a pick-and-roll big, assuming the price is right.
Terrence Jones, PF, Houston Rockets
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Terrence Jones seems destined for a Miles Plumlee-esque demotion, even though (because?) he hasn't had a chance to fight for his spot. The third-year forward, who looked to be a solid stretch 4 next to Dwight Howard for the Houston Rockets, has been sidelined by nerve inflammation in his left leg since early November.
Good news for Jones: He should be back in action relatively soon. "I am more active than I’ve been in so long," he told the Houston Chronicle's Jenny Dial Creech. "Being on the court feels real good and it’s a blessing to be able to get up and down and finally move my leg a little and jump and do things with the basketball that I couldn’t do two months ago at all."
Bad news: Jones may not have much of a niche to fill once he returns. Since Jones went down, Donatas Motiejunas has seized a starting role in Space City, and Josh Smith, waived by the Detroit Pistons, has stepped in as an overqualified second-stringer.
The Rockets may not have enough time to move Jones before the deadline, if such a move is on their radar. Once Jones heals up, he'll probably have to prove that he's ready to be a consistent contributor again before another team risks much to snag him from Houston. Trouble is, Jones may not have that opportunity, for the reasons mentioned above.
Then again, Jones is still just 23, with an improving three-point stroke and the length to be an impact defender. That could be enough to intrigue other teams and, in turn, ready Rockets GM Daryl Morey to wheel and deal again.
Chris Copeland, F, Indiana Pacers
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The Indiana Pacers have never seemed too keen on bigs who don't rebound or defend. Yet, their roster now sports two of them: Chris Copeland and Damjan Rudez. The former signed a two-year deal with Indy in 2013. The latter came over from Croatia by way of a three-year pact this past summer.
Overall, Copeland's playing about five minutes more per game and shooting about twice as often as his international rookie counterpart, though that script has flipped considerably of late. Copeland has played just 1:10 over his last four games. Over that same span, Rudez has tallied more than 69 minutes of on-court time.
That switch was bound to come at some point. Rudez is under team control until 2017, while Copeland is due to hit free agency this summer.
Copeland, then, shouldn't be too tough to pry from the Pacers' grasp. And, as he showed during his own rookie campaign with the Knicks in 2012-13, Copeland can be an effective floor-stretcher in spot minutes for a good team that understands how best to employ and deploy him.
Dorell Wright, SF, Portland Trail Blazers
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Perhaps Nicolas Batum's ongoing struggles have snapped the Portland Trail Blazers to attention with regard to revving up their wing rotation.
Dorell Wright, for one, has seen nearly as many minutes over his last two games as he had during Portland's previous six. In his last out, Wright came through with nine points to help the Blazers beat the visiting Kings.
Truth be told, Portland will probably need more than what Batum's provided and Wright could at small forward if it's to hang with the best in the West over the long haul. Wesley Matthews can only do so much on his own to contend with the likes of Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, James Harden and Chandler Parsons from night to night.
As for Wright, while he may not be the solution to Portland's problems, his shooting (39.5 percent from three this season) and playmaking ability could be of some value as part of a larger trade for a more substantial upgrade at small forward. And with his contract set to expire at the end of this season, Wright could offer a modicum of cap relief as well.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
