[Izulde]

Cleveland Cavaliers receive
PG Major Drayton
Milwaukee Bucks 2024 2nd round pick

Milwaukee Bucks receive
PG Andre Harper

What this means for the Cavaliers
The 36 year old Drayton has always been always had mediocre floor generalship and now he pairs with it atrocious defense. While he's the best passer and ballhandler on Cleveland's roster now, his lack of defense has him buried on the bench.

What this means for the Bucks
Harper, in his second season, is as vanilla a backup guard as you can get. That said, he's 24, plays something remotely resembling defense and is fairly secure a ballhandler.

Winner: Milwaukee
Not an exciting victory as both players are marginal at this point, but still a win for Milwaukee nonetheless.

Los Angeles Lakers receive
C Kevin Bradford

Indiana Pacers receive
Los Angeles Lakers 2024 1st round pick

What this means for the Lakers
In just one and a half professional basketball seasons, Bradford has already suited up for three different teams during the regular season. The former #2 overall selection is already looking a prime bust by all accounts, with no strengths and ugly ballhandling. That said, he'll start at C for the suddenly woeful Lakers while Austin Buller recovers from an injury.

What this means for the Pacers
Indiana's not going to the playoffs and they're currently very comfortable giving Lee McRae all the playing time in the world to develop at C. With the Lakers looking as bad as they are this year, the Pacers sew up another lottery pick for a player that didn't really fit in their plans.

Winner: Indiana
Highway robbery, pure and simple.

Washington Wizards receive
PF Jamarcus Wilson

Philadelphia 76ers receive
PG Charles Diggs

What this means for the Wizards
The 2021 Rookie of the Year gets relegated to a reserve role with Washington, but he's precisely the kind of solid young all-around player with standout rebounding that you want on your bench. The only question is if he'll be upset at the reduction in playing time.

What this means for the 76ers
Diggs is an outstanding ballthief, with some good shooting and offense-running abilities as well. Not the greatest defender in the world, but the second year man looks like he'll flourish in Philadelphia, where he slides into the SG spot and pairs with Corey Westbrooks to give the 76ers a dangerous, young backcourt to build their future on.

Winner: Philadelphia
While we like Wilson's balanced game, Diggs is the perfect fit for the 76ers, who are beginning to put together a nice youth movement and could be in the playoffs sometime soon with the right move or two.

Milwaukee Bucks receive
SG Andrew Bayno

Boston Celtics receive
SG Johnnie McIntyre

What this means for the Bucks
Bayno changes teams via trade yet again and he is what he is, an average reserve guard/SF with some intelligence, but no ability to make a highlight defensive play. He's a 12th man in Milwaukee

What this means for the Celtics
The 25 year old McIntyre has terrific form on his free throws and has some dynamite potential as a passer, ballhandler, defender, rebounder and student of the basketball game, but he has almost no scoring instincts and he sits on the inactives for Boston.

Winner: Draw
A dull trade that would be livened up if Boston gave McIntyre the playing time he needs to develop into the very good reserve he has the potential to be.

Memphis Grizzlies receive
PG Dave Linton
San Antonio Spurs 2024 2nd round pick

San Antonio Spurs receive
PF Ian McClinton

What this means for the Grizzlies
Linton has the ability to be a quality pass-first backup PG, but that's about it. He's a D-Leaguer for the time being.

What this means or the Spurs
McClinton can only play PF, but the rookie has some intriguing upside on the defensive end. That said, he's buried as the 12th man in San Antonio and he'll have a hard time breaking through to any kind of significant minutes.

Winner: Draw
Doesn't really improve either team and Memphis wastes an opportunity to get a legitimately useful player as they clear out their glut of talented young forwards.

Sacramento Kings receive
SF Jerrance Newman
Cleveland Cavaliers 2024 2nd round pick

Cleveland Cavaliers receive
SF Mike Poole

What this means for the Kings
Newman's just an average 34 year old swingman reserve. Nothing special or noteworthy here.

What this means for the Cavaliers
Poole can play SG, SF and PF, but none of them very well and while he's only 22, there's nothing to suggest that the second year former Sooner will be anything other than a bench scrub for as long as he hangs on in the league.

Winner: Sacramento
The Kings not only get the better of the two players, they get a free 2nd round pick on top of it.

Houston Rockets receive
PF Al Jefferson
Memphis Grizzlies 2024 2nd round pick

Memphis Grizzlies receive
SG Jason Pettaway

What this means for the Rockets
Jefferson can still bring some points, rebounds and defense, when the 38 year old isn't turning the ball over via dropping it or making a laughable attempt at a pass. In spite of his ballhandling woes, we dare somebody to find a 38 year old who converts 63% of his shots from the floor.

What this means for the Grizzlies
Pettaway's an average backup guard whose most notable attribute is a nasty 3 point shot. He's also 27, giving Memphis a major infusion of youth relative to the departed Jefferson. On the other hand, he's merely a 12th man.

Winner: Draw
If Pettaway was to get more minutes, this one would tilt Memphis's way, but with a passel of guards and swingmen on the Grizzlies' roster, he's just not going to get it without another trade.

Boston Celtics receive
PG Scott Miles

Los Angeles Lakers receive
Boston Celtics 2024 1st round pick

What this means for the Celtics
Miles, a 21 year old rookie taken 8th overall in the most recent draft, is a much better passer and ballhandler than starter Jon Costello, but he slots in as the 6th man, where he'll give a huge boost to the Celtics' bench as their best all-around guard in a young backcourt.

What this means for the Lakers
The Purple and Gold recover the 1st round pick they traded away, but while the Lakers are lottery-bound, Boston has a very real shot at making the playoffs and at absolute worst should be a late lottery pick, the #13 or #14 type.

Winner: Boston
The question boils down to: Is Miles worth a mid-1st round pick? We say yes, particularly given the horrendous quality or lack thereof of recent draft classes. He also fills a void for a good all-around guard on the C's bench.

Memphis Grizzlies receive
PG Jeremy Steele
Los Angeles Lakers 2024 2nd round pick

Los Angeles Lakers receive
SG Fred Bradley
PG Mike Conley

What this means for the Grizzlies
Memphis caps off a ridiculously busy trading month with the acquisition of a probable high 2nd round pick and Steele, the kind of veteran backbencher, high quality reserve that every team needs as the Grizzlies fight for a playoff spot.

What this means for the Lakers
Even at 35, Conley is a fantastic passer with a good shot and okay defense. But does that matter to the Lakers? No, because they shove him down in the 11th spot, where he'll barely see the light of day or the court. All you need to know about 2nd round pick Bradley is that he's shooting 38.1% in the D-Leagues.

Winner: Memphis
Conley's talents are wasted on the Lakers, who seem hell-bent on giving the Pacers the #1 overall pick next year, whereas Steele strengthens the Grizzlies and Memphis could have the 31st pick in the next draft.

Los Angeles Clippers receive
SF Prokopios Vadeki
Seattle Supersonics 2024 2nd round pick

Seattle Supersonics receive
SG Austin Forte

What this means for the Clippers
Second year man Vadeki could one day develop a wicked outside shot and scoring instincts, but he'll strictly be a role-player in that regard. There's nothing else to suggest that the Greek and former #3 overall pick is anything more than a colossal bust, especially since he's a 12th man on a talented Clippers roster.

What this means for the Supersonics
Forte's trade has long been rumored, with the Denver Nuggets repeatedly mentioned as a possibility. Instead, he lands on another Northwest team, where the burgeoning sharpshooter and defensive zero not only fits in perfectly with Seattle's tradition of great scorers who can't play D, he becomes the first PG/SF off the bench as the 7th man.

Winner: Seattle
Forte is a much more polished player, defense issues aside and he'll actually make the Supersonics a better team. The Clippers could've gotten a lot more for him than the ill-fitting Vadeki and a 2nd rounder.

Yeesh. Talk about making up for lost time. A ridiculous amount of trades in December.

Tim Butler will be back in a little over a week, so he'll miss our first three games, possibly our fourth as well.

Justin Cherry builds on his developing stardom with 20 points off the bench, Mateen Yeaton scores 31 and Andrew Bynum nets 11 points and 12 rebounds, but the rest of the team and our defense take the night off as the Spurs shock us 102-88 in San Antonio to put a surprising stop to our winning run. We snap back the next night for a 119-117 win over the Rockets, but we need OT to do it. Justin Cherry scores another 20 points off the bench, Mateen Yeaton puts up 28, Andrew Bynum hauls in 21 points and 12 rebounds and Zelipe Gama is an assist machine with 17 points and 24 assists.

Our play improves drastically as we sweep the next doubleheader. Tzvetan Kishishev gets a start at SF in place of the injured Jermaine Trask, but the real reason we obliterate Sacramento 122-106 is because of Mateen Yeaton (37 points), Andrew Bynum (22 points, 10 rebounds), Zelipe Gama (14 points, 21 assists), David Jackson (23 points) and Justin Cherry (11 bench points, his lowest total thus far). A fourth quarter rally gives us the 114-111 victory over the Lakers the next night, Justin Cherry returning to obscene form with 19 bench points, Mateen Yeaton scoring 25 and David Jackson putting up his second straight 20+ point game with 21. I think that's the first time that's happened in 50 Ninja's career. Timmy B scored 17 in his first game back.

We try to come back again in the fourth quarter, but our efforts fall just short in a 99-97 loss to the Timberwolves. It's amazing how much better Minnesota is with Branko Starcevic running the offense. Mateen Yeaton scores 23, but Justin Cherry is finally held in check, with just 4 bench points, the first time in his 8 game NBA career he's not reached double-digit points.

Despite Tim Butler's 24 points and 14 rebounds in our next game, I'm getting the sense we don't play as well with him in the lineup as we lose 117-104 to Golden State on the front end of a back to back. Or maybe it's Zelipe Gama's horrible shooting night that belies his 10 points and 11 assists. Just don't blame Justin Cherry, who rebounds for 14 points off the bench. An ugly defensive battle sees us come out 89-66 winners in Seattle, Andrew Bynum the best of the slugging men with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Tzvetan Kishishev adds 12 points off the bench.

Majorly retooled Memphis gets handed a 116-102 loss, Tim Butler soaring for 28 points. Mateen Yeaton scores 22, Zelipe Gama hands out 12 points and 16 assists and Jermaine Trask takes his turn to be best supporter with 15 bench points.

Five game road trip up next and I'm iffy on how we'll do. Our first one's in Dallas, which is sold out months in advance, of course. Devone Allen dazzles with 40 points and Marcelino Augusto puts up 25 points and 13 rebounds, but at the end of the night, we're holding a 121-112 win as all five starters score 13 or more points. Mateen Yeaton puts on fireworks of his own with 36 points, Tim Butler pulls down 20 points and 15 rebounds, Andrew Bynum clears a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds and Zelipe Gama is briskly efficient with 17 points and 19 assists.

Our Central journey wipes out all the good feeling of the Mavericks win as the Bulls and Pistons make us look stupid in back-to-back losses. 128-104 loss in Chicago to shrug off Mateen Yeaton's 34 points, Tim Butler's 23 points, Zelipe Gama's 16 points and 10 assists and Justin Cherry's 10 bench points. Detroit humiliates us 114-86 and the best we can do is Jermaine Trask's 20 bench points. Justin Cherry has the worst shooting night of his young career, finishing 1 for 6.

The skid hits four straight losses, the Bucks and Pacers knocking us off as well to finish the road trip a miserable 1-4. We lose 104-96 to Milwaukee, discarding Zelipe Gama's 22 points and David Jackson's 20 points. Mateen Yeaton and Tim Butler are a combined 4 for 24 on the night. Although Mateen Yeaton and Tim Butler snap back for 22 and 20 points the next night, Indiana still kicks our asses 95-76.

I think a big part of the problem is that Justin Cherry hasn't been getting the minutes he was during our hot streak. Standing in his way is Jermaine Trask, who's also been wildly inconsistent and not much of a points producer.

Now I know I should be having patience with Trask and allow him the time to grow into his abilities, but he's impeding Justin Cherry's progress and development, so, much to my regret, we'll have to deal him.

Denver Nuggets receive
PF Andy Sola
San Antonio Spurs 2024 1st round pick
San Antonio Spurs 2026 1st round pick

San Antonio Spurs receive
SF Jermaine Trask
PG Aaron Brennan
PG Ron Morant
Dallas Mavericks 2026 1st round pick

What this means for the Nuggets
Sola is a jumper specialist averaging 20.8 points a game this season. Although listed as a PF and able to play C, he's most comfortable playing SF, which is where he'll start for Denver. An excellent shooter with an uncanny knack to draw fouls, he's able to convert free throws unlike a certain 50 Ninja. Extremely solid defender and defensive playmaker as well. His arrival means David Jackson moves to his much more effective 6th man role and the departures of Brennan, Morant and Trask mean Justin Cherry as the 7th man, with the revelation rookie getting more minutes again. The 1st round picks are a terrific bonus, with the 2024 bid a potential lottery selection.

What this means for the Spurs
The Spurs are building for the future with this deal. Trask will be the 7th man and give San Antonio excellent versatility as he works on fulfilling his massive potential. Brennan, a major disappointment with the Nuggets, gets a reset in San Antonio, but just as he did in Denver, he'll have to battle Morant for coaching favor and playing time. Neither one will supplant Ameirin Qipani as the starting PG, however, either now or in the future. Sola's leaving creates an opportunity for 7', 294 lb Brendan Mickeal, a big 26 year old who is a more natural choice for C than Sola was, as the new starting five.

Winner: Draw
The move benefits both teams and arguably, it's the domino effects on the roster that will better the Nuggets and Spurs most significantly. While Denver appears to have improved the most overall, they're now playing with a 12 man roster and that's with the still-injured Joem Layne included.

And unfortunately, we're -just- shy of being able to sign a player to fill the hole created. Fortunately, we're able to swing a trade to change things up.

Denver Nuggets receive
PF Lawrence Smiley

Cleveland Cavaliers receive
SF Jason Tackett
Denver Nuggets 2025 2nd round pick
Los Angeles Lakers 2025 2nd round pick

What this means for the Nuggets
Smiley plays solid defense and is an offensive upgrade over Tackett, averaging 9.8 points a game and converting 52.3% of his field goal attempts. He'll cut a little into Justin Cherry's playing time, but it shouldn't be too drastic an imposition.

What this means for the Cavaliers
Tackett's one of the best guys in the league to have in the locker room and he plays the kind of lockdown defense the Cavaliers really need. But he's a terrible shooter, a career 36.6% from the floor and it's that inability to convert that'll keep him bound more towards the end of Cleveland's bench.

Winner: Denver
Their personalities may be as opposite as night and day, but the ironically named Smiley gives Denver some offensive firepower insurace on the bench and he's not going to be that much of a dropoff on defense.

With the money, we're able to sign street free agent PG Mike Walton to be a 23 year old 12th man. The former 2nd round pick of the Supersonics (6th pick in 2nd round - 2023 draft) actually isn't all that bad, all things considered.

On the other hand, we now have no bench point guards really capable of running the offense. That could come back to bite us in the butt, but we'll see what happens.

Jim O'Brien reverses his decision and starts David Jackson at SF again against the Knicks and 50 Ninja pours in 14 points and 10 rebounds in our 108-93 win. Tim Butler scores 28 and Zelipe Gama gets 11 points and 11 assists. But the month ends on a sour note as we lose 117-98 to the Traiblazers in Portland, in spite of Tim Butler's 27 points, David Jackson's 15 points and 10 rebounds and Justin Cherry's 10 bench points. I should also mention that Andy Sola has gone 1 for 13 in his first two games with us and is pissed about not starting.

That road loss to Portland costs us, as it puts us at 31-15, two games BEHIND the Traiblazers for the division. Dallas is winning despite their bizzare lineup and are 29-15, 9.5 ahead of Memphis, while the 29-16 Kings are fending off Golden State by 2 games.

Chicago's 36-7, 12.5 games ahead of Cleveland, who are back on winning track at 24-20. Toronto's 34-12 mark gives them an 8.5 game edge on the Knicks while Atlanta's discovered their old form, the 28-16 Hawks 2 games up on the Bobcats. Miami, by the way, had a horrible January, plummeting to the conference's worst record at 15-32.

Paulinho Buboltz
2013 Stats: 82 games/77 starts - 17.0 PPG 9.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.2 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.1 PPG 8.7 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.4 SPG
2015 Stats: 55 games/48 starts - 14.1 PPG 8.3 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2016 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 18.3 PPG 8.1 APG 3.3 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.5 SPG
2017 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.1 PPG 8.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.2 SPG
2018 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 20.5 PPG 8.3 APG 3.2 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 SPG
2019 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 20.6 PPG 8.1 APG 3.5 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 SPG
2020 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.8 PPG 7.5 APG 3.3 RPG 0.6 BPG 1.3 SPG
2021 Stats: 44 games/44 starts - 22.3 PPG 7.0 APG 3.6 RPG 0.9 BPG 1.6 SPG (Indiana)
2021 Stats: 36 games/36 starts - 17.8 PPG 8.3 APG 2.9 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.3 SPG (Denver)
2022 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 16.3 PPG 10.2 APG 2.7 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2023 Stats: 45 games/45 starts - 18.3 PPG 9.5 APG 2.6 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.7 SPG (New York)

Mateen Yeaton
2013 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.4 APG 5.2 RPG 1.8 BPG 1.6 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/80 starts - 23.2 PPG 3.6 APG 5.2 RPG 1.7 BPG 1.3 SPG
2015 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.6 PPG 2.4 APG 4.5 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.5 SPG
2016 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 25.0 PPG 3.1 APG 4.5 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.8 SPG
2017 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 24.4 PPG 3.2 APG 4.9 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.6 SPG
2018 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.8 PPG 2.4 APG 4.2 RPG 1.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2019 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.5 APG 4.7 RPG 1.5 BPG 1.6 SPG
2020 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 23.0 PPG 2.7 APG 4.6 RPG 1.8 BPG 1.4 SPG
2021 Stats: 57 games/57 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.8 APG 4.3 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.4 SPG
2022 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 24.3 PPG 2.0 APG 4.5 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.3 SPG
2023 Stats: 46 games/46 starts - 25.6 PPG 1.8 APG 4.5 RPG 1.2 BPG 1.4 SPG

Buboltz is loving it in the Big Apple, really flourishing there. Yeaton's struggled as of late and I don't know if it's his age finally catching up to him or the fact that our entire offense seems to be a little out of sync. That said, he's still 4th in the league in scoring.

22 days until Joem Layne comes back. So the tail end of the short month. Good thing Andy Sola's an expiring $5.6 million contract, which the trade reviewer forgot to mention. He's looking like a problem after his first two games and the money we save by not keeping him will be a major benefit as I'm sure we'll have to tighten the belts next season as well.

If we can get through next year without my getting fired, we'll be in pretty good shap the rest of the way. Mateen Yeaton should come back for less money if he hasn't retired by then and David "50 Ninja" Jackson is willing to sign an extension that will pay him $2.4 million less the first season in exchange for a 6 year deal that stacks up with 9% raises each year.

I haven't decided whether or not to retain him. I probably will, but I want to see how the rest of this year goes.