NBA Trade Rumors Causing Heads to Spin

Brook Lopez for Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglu?

Even with a couple of high draft choices packaged with Lopez, this just doesn’t seem to add up on the old abacus.

But maybe this does shine a light on pro sports today, especially the NBA.

In pro sports’ early days, a trade was designed to be an exchange of players of comparable skill, the most famous perhaps being the swap of home-run king Rocky Colavito for batting champ Harvey Kuenn back in 1960.

Old-time Knick fans fondly recall the Walt Bellamy for Dave DeBusschere deal in 1968 that led to the only two titles in franchise history.

Hall of Famers Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar each were traded in their prime, Wilt twice. Approximate return value required several players in all these transactions.

The attempt to balance value in a trade has long involved the use of selections in future player drafts, always a speculative proposition.

Of course, talent evaluation in and of itself is a subjective matter and opinions frequently vary—as even a brief glance at Bleacher Report commentary affirms.

Red Auerbach once traded back-up center Rick Robey for Hall of Famer Dennis Johnson.  There were several draft picks involved as well, but get this…Boston ended up with the only No. 1 that was moved. (Hmmm. Where was Mr. Stern in 1983?)

As salaries and profits in our “games” skyrocketed and dealings between labor and management grew more complicated, that fuzzy concept of “trade value” seemed to grow more tentacles than an octopus, even something called a trade exemption.  The jargon alone, not to mention the logic of it all, is intimidating.

Let’s go back to the Howard deal for a second.  Here’s how it really lays out.  The Magic will get (a) Lopez, (b) draft picks and (c) rid of an unwanted player making too much money.  New Jersey’ll get (a) Howard and (b) stuck with said player.

Most of all, Orlando (like Denver and Utah last season) gets something rather than nothing for its superstar in this Age of Free Agency.

Unlike a certain Mr. Gilbert in Ohio, who now appears to have a problem with the trade of another elite player eligible for unrestricted free agency.

Normally, the opinion of an owner regarding the business of other clubs is, at most, a nuisance.  But it just so happens that Dan Gilbert (and 28 others) owns about three per cent of the New Orleans Hornets.

But if Gilbert attempts to exert influence in the business of the Hornets, how does this not constitute a conflict of interests?

For whom does New Orleans GM Dell Demps truly work?

And here’s the most important question:  What does it say about the National Basketball Association when they’ve been unable to find a viable owner for a franchise without any owner at all for over a year?

For the time being, the Hornets need an interim-CEO with the freedom and flexibility to compete.

In the long run, it appears that the system is still in need of repair, and that the most significant skirmishes will be fought on the owners’ side of the negotiating table.