Saw this in an article about 5 trades that should go down before the deadline.
https://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2013/01/wheeling-and-dealin/2/
TRADE FIVE
Rockets Receive: Paul Millsap, Landry Fields
Jazz Receive: Jose Calderon, Chandler Parsons
Raptors Receive: Donatas Motiejunas, Terrance Jones, Tony Douglas, Cole Aldrich, Marvin Williams
Financial Details: This one’s a doozy. The Rockets aren’t sending out nearly as much as they’re bringing back, but they have some cap space, which absorbs the difference. Meanwhile, the Jazz move about $17 million in contracts and bring in $11.5 million—a nice bonus for a small-market team. The Raptors move roughly $16 million and acquire roughly $16 million.
What’s in it for Houston:
The Short Answer: The best player in the trade.
The Long Answer: The Rockets are giving up some solid pieces here. Parsons has turned into a great find for them. He’s averaging 14 points while hitting 1.7 threes per game, but his production has gone down every month this season after a big November. Jones and Motiejunas were first-round picks in the last two years, but never play for Houston. Losing them does not hurt the team in the short-term. Douglas has been solid as a backup, but it certainly movable. Aldrich came over in the James Harden trade and has made no impact.
This trade would be a fleecing by the Rockets if not for Millsap’s contract status. The forward hits unrestricted free agency at season’s end, making this a slightly risky proposition by Houston. But trading for him now will allow them to go over the salary cap to re-sign Millsap this summer. I can’t imagine Millsap finding a better landing spot or more money than what he’d find in Houston, so this seems like a winning match to me.
It wouldn’t be much fun to take on Fields, who isn’t even slightly worth the three-year, $20 million deal he got over the summer, but he’s not that bad. In limited action this season, he’s shooting 43 percent from the floor and can rack up steals when he gets enough minutes. He can fill in for most of Parsons minutes. Most importantly, Jeremy Lin can finally return the favor and let Fields crash on his couch in Houston until he finds somewhere to live.
Assuming they retain Millsap, Houston will move forward with Lin, James Harden, Omer Asik, Millsap and Fields as starters, with Patrick Patterson, Carlos Delfino, Marcus Morris, and, maybe, Royce White coming off the bench. They’ve always wanted to move their assets for better players, and this trade, as well as the Harden deal, does just that.
What’s in it for Utah:
The Short Answer: Missing pieces.
The Long Answer: They key to this trade is that Millsap and Al Jefferson are headed for unrestricted free agency. With Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter developing behind those two, there’s no way Utah splurges to sign both impending free agents.
They’re going to lose one for nothing if they wait until the summer to figure things out, so moving one before the deadline makes all the sense in the world. Gordon Hayward has developed into a very solid wing player, but they still need one more. Parsons fits the bill perfectly. More importantly, they have a humungous opening at point guard. Mo Williams was playing well before his injury, but at this point he’s better suited to come off the bench in a Jamal Crawford combo-guard role.
When Jose Calderon starts for the miserable Raptors, they’re an un-miserable 14-16. As a starter, he averages 12.5 points with 9 assists and 1.8 turnovers—an exceptional ratio. He’s vastly underrated, and could run the Jazz offense beautifully. They’re a borderline Playoff team that would be much, much improved with a real point guard. No offense to Jamaal Tinsley, but it’s time for Utah to get serious.
Additionally, Calderon’s contract expires after this year, so the Jazz would have a solid chance to bring him back for a few more seasons with a new contract, likely for less than the $9 million he’s earning now.
An added bit to this is that probably means a lot to Utah is that they get to shed the awful contract of Marvin Williams. Marvin is averaging 8.4 points in 25 minutes per game this season, and is owed more than $8 million next year. Certainly the Jazz don’t want to be on the hook for that, and, with this trade, can use that money, as well as the money they won’t be spending on Millsap, to bring back Calderon, Mo Williams and Jefferson.
By assuming what those guys would get paid (say annual salaries of $5 million for Mo, $7 million for Calderon and $12 million for Jefferson) and subtracting the money Marvin won’t be getting paid, it’s easy to see that the Jazz would have big-time spending money. The payroll comes out to roughly $42 million. That should be enough for a max player. Obviously I made some assumptions there, but even if each guy gets more than I predicted they should have at least $10 million to spend.
They’d also have a really nice roster to build on top of. They’d enter next season with Calderon, Hayward, Parsons, Jefferson, Kanter, Favors, Mo and Alec Burks. They also have the Warriors 2013 pick via the Deron Williams trade as well as their own and the $10-16 million to spend. Top free agents this summer include Chris Paul, Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans, Manu Ginobili, OJ Mayo, Paul Pierce, Josh Smith, Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum. An already-good team with money to spend could do very well in that market.
**Thoughts? I see two major Jazz issues with this one. 1. Al is not on the trade list, and 2. Neither is Corbin (related: do we have a system for Calderon to "run beautifully"?).