[Izulde]

Milwaukee Bucks receive
SG Larry Bannister

Orlando Magic receive
SF Louis McNeish

What this means for the Bucks
The 28 year old Bannister is an absolute lockdown defender with some good shooting abilities. He can also rebound pretty well for a guard and steps in as Milwaukee's new 6th man.

What this means for the Magic
McNeish is a great rebounder, but it says something that he can't even get past a 35 year old Corey Brewer on the depth chart. He's a 12th man, with absolutely no scoring instincts and nothing else of value outside his rebounding.

Winner: Milwaukee
The Bucks net themselves a significant upgrade without having to give up anyone of any importance.

Philadelphia 76ers receive
PF T.J. Roberts

New Jersey Nets receive
SF Rodney Carney
Philadelphia 76ers 2022 2nd round pick

What this means for the 76ers
Roberts is a versatile shooter with some rebounding ability, but his greatest asset is probably his locker room personality. Still, $8.9 million and a three year commitment is a steep price to pay for a 6th man.

What this means for the Nets
Sure, Carney can play four spots, C his only omission, but he's 37 years old and has no skills. The reason he's in a Nets uniform is because of his $9.2 million expiring contract.

Winner: New Jersey
Roberts is nowhere near good enough to make up for the financial flexibility the Nets just gave themselves. Excellent salary dump by New Jersey here.

Charlotte Bobcats receive
SG David Chambers
New Jersey Nets 2022 2nd round pick

New Jersey Nets receive
PG Sveto Lepinat

What this means for the Bobcats
Chambers may be shooting over 55%, but the 22 year old third year man (18th overall, Cavaliers, 2019) is lazy, the most undisciplined player in the league and completely sags on defense. A puzzling acquisition, though he'll slot in as the 7th man.

What this means for the Nets
The 19 year old Slovenian Lepinat, in his second season, has the ability to develop into a respectable passer and scorer, but he'll get lit up for 20+ points a game on a regular basis; he's that bad on the defensive end.

Winner: New Jersey
Neither player is anyone to get excited about, but Lepinat's potential trumps anything Chambers offers.

Detroit Pistons receive
SF Andre Iguodala

Boston Celtics receive
SF Rudy Gay

What this means for the Pistons
At 37, Iguodala is little more than an average bench player and worse yet for the Pistons, they're actually sacrificing $700,000 in expiring money to get him.

What this means for the Celtics
Gay's a lot like Iguodala. 37 years old, average bench player. But Gay's got a bigger expiring contract, is a better ballhandler and much more disciplined. He also ranks as Boston's 7th man, much higher than Iguodala's mid-bench burial.

Winner: Boston
Detroit gives up money and gets back nothing for it. Moves like that never make good business sense.

Los Angeles Lakers receive
SG Marcus Harrell
Charlotte Bobcats 2022 2nd round pick

Charlotte Bobcats receive
C Micholau Asprilla

What this means for the Lakers
The rookie Harrell is completely non-descript and he won't see much playing time, even on a team as underwhelming as the Lakers are this season.

What this means for the Bobcats
21 year old Spainard Asprilla has the potential to turn into a decent reserve big man, but he's so raw right now, he really should be playing in the D-leagues, rather than gathering dust on the end of Charlotte's bench.

Winner: Draw
Harrell's much more developed, but Asprilla has the much higher ceiling. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear Charlotte's willing to do what it takes to get him there.

Talk about a busy last couple seasons in the trade market. We'll be doing the same ourselves come the deadline, I'm sure.

Nigel Abel comes back this month. In 19 days, to be exact. Getting him is going to be a huge boost to our team and I just hope we don't keep playing as wretchedly as we have without him.

Sweeping the opening doubleheader helps a lot. Mateen Yeaton scores 27, Martin Beerbohm has his first decent game for us with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Carlton Goree adds 14 bench points in our 107-99 win over the Spurs. We slaughter the Rockets 115-86 as Jonte Jones runs wild for 34 points and 12, Louis Mertens snags a double-double of 11 points and 13 assists and Carlton Goree scores 11 off the bench.

The Kings smash us 111-98 in Sacramento as we can't do much outside of Jonte Jones's 16 points and 20 rebounds and Tzvetan Kishishev's 10 bench points. We snap back the next night at home to destroy the Lakers 131-98, avenging our New Year's Eve loss. Jonte Jones puts up 28 points and 16 rebounds, Mateen Yeaton has himself a 33 point shooting clinic and Jeremy Bellairs and Carlton Goree headline the second team with 13 and 11 points a piece.

Vinston Henry's moved back to his native SF spot and rewards us with 22 points in our 124-118 victory against Minnesota. Jonte Jones repeats his 28 point, 16 rebound performance, Mateen Yeaton scores 26 and Louis Mertens scores and passes his way to 17 points and 16 assists. At this stage in the game, we're taking every win we can get, no matter how close.

I'm stunned in a good way when we take both games of a road doubleheader. The Warriors can't counter the dual threat of Jonte Jones (29 points, 19 rebounds) and Mateen Yeaton (23 points), and Carlton Goree finishes it off with 14 bench points in tthe 105-87 victory. Seattle's been completely lost without Scott Palmer and Jonte Jones pounds them for 32 points and 17 rebounds as we beat them 106-93. Martin Beerbohm breaks through for 22 points and Carlton Goree continues to be a terrific reserve with 10 points.

In the last game before a certain someone's debut, Jonte Jones throws down 37 points and 13 rebounds and Mateen Yeaton scores 26 to carry us to a comfortable 108-77 win over the Grizzlies. I'm very happy with how we handled the run, but to be honest, we had the advantage of a ridiculously soft schedule. The one good team we played during this stretch was Sacramento and the Kings kicked our asses.

Now it's time to see what happens with Nigel Abel in the lineup. We get him just in time for a nasty five game road trip against the Mavericks and all the Central teams but Cleveland.

...Well, Nigel Abel scores 27 in his Nuggets debut and Jonte Jones has 25 points and 17 rebounds, but we shoot worth crap and the Mavericks beat us for the first time since Marcelino Augusto came to Dallas. In fact, they stomp us 108-88 and they're celebrating like they just won the damn championship trophy. Whatever.

The doubleheader against Chicago and Detroit gets mixed reviews. Nigel Abel erupts for 40 points, Mateen Yeaton scores 23 and Tzvetan Kishishev pulls down a surprising 13 bench boards as we beat the Bulls 110-103. But then Detroit drops us 118-107 the next night, despite Nigel Abel's 37 points and Louis Mertens's 15 bench points. It doesn't help that Jonte Jones bruises his sternum and is at 80%. We also need to get Vinston Henry moved back to SF. He's been getting killed on defense. And of course, I'm not even going to talk about that other jackass.

We salvage the road trip with a pair of victories in the last back-to-back. Milwaukee goes down 101-92 on Nigel Abel's 26 points, Martin Beerbohm's 17 points and 11 rebounds and Louis Mertens's 11 points and 10 assists off the bench. Indiana surprisingly gives us hell the next night and we have to make a furious fourth quarter comeback to win 102-99. Jonte Jones bails us out with 26 points and 24 rebounds, Jeremy Bellairs a capable second with 10 bench points.

A nasty doubleheader test awaits us at the end of the month. Jonte Jones gets the second-ever triple-double in my tenure with 28 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists to power us 114-104 over the Knicks. Nigel Abel scores 30 and Carlton Goree adds 12 off the bench as all five starters score 13 or more. But even 30 points from Nigel Abel and 28 points from Mateen Yeaton can stop a 107-95 road loss to the Traiblazers. Neither of our forwards can shoot with any consistency, I've noticed and that really hurts us in a game like this.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Jonte Jones breaks his toe and is gone for exactly two months.

That injury news takes quite a bit of the shine off the fact that we're 32-14, back in front of the Northwest by 2 games despite the loss to Portland, who stand in second place. There's three teams all bunched up top, as the Mavericks are 32-12 and the Kings are 32-13. Dallas has a digusting 12.5 game lead in the Southwest, while Sacramento's fending off the Clippers by the same two games that we are the Traiblazers.

In the East, Orlando's the current #1 team in record at 32-13, 4.5 ahead of the Hawks in the division. 28-16 Cleveland has a 1.5 game lead on the Bulls in the Central and the Knicks are still ruling the Atlantic at 30-15, though the Raptors are making up ground in a hurry and sit just 1.5 games back.

Miami's still the worst team in the league at 8-39 and I'm loving the feeling of that lottery ticket in our pockets.

Here's the starting lineup with Jones out.

PG Mateen Yeaton
SG Nigel Abel
SF Vinston Henry
PF Jeremy Bellairs
C Martin Beerbohm

And remember all that potential Bellairs supposedly had? Turns out it's a complete mirage.

Fortunately, help is just a phone call away.

Denver Nuggets receive
C Victor Gipson
Los Angeles Clippers 2022 1st round pick

Miami Heat receive
PF Jeremy Bellairs

What this means for the Nuggets
Gipson was miserable in Miami and demanded to be shipped somewhere else as soon as possible. After the injury to Jonte Jones, GM Jestor was only too happy to re-acquire the big, accurate shooting shotblocker specialist. The first round pick is going to be a late one, but the Nuggets once again have 3 first rounders in next year's draft and 2 first rounders in 2023. Although Gipson will initially start back at the 3, don't be surprised if he moves to C, should Martin Beerbohm struggle in Jones's absence.

What this means for the Heat
Bellairs becomes the new 6th man and heir apparent to Mike Vines at PF. He won't suddenly turn Miami into a winning team or indeed even drag them out of the cellar, but he'll give them a solid all-around, consistent 6th man forward who won't be furious like Gipson was.

Winner: Denver
This trade between the two most deal-heavy teams in the league certainly favors the Nuggets. Jestor gets one of his original draftees back in the lineup, where the monster can be a mismatch and he parlays it into an extra first round pick besides. Miami paid far too much to get Bellairs. This should've been a straight up trade.

Victor's so happy to be back in Denver, he comes in person to the office to ask me for a contract extension. I ask him to wait because we're $21 million over the cap as it is and as of right now, we're going to be well over the $15 million limit next season, too and the ownership isn't going to stand for that.

He's disappointed, but says he understands.

Martin Beerbohm -has- to go. That's all there is to it. Not only do I absolutely despise him as a player, but if I can deal him at the deadline for an expiring contract, we can free up the money we need to have some flexibility. That's not saying we'll manage to extend Gipson, because we've still got three first round draft picks coming down the pike, but anything we can do to give us some wiggle room will help.

The comparisons, belatedly.

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

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: 46 games/46 starts - 23.3 PPG 3.0 APG 4.2 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.2 SPG

It'll be interesting seeing how much Mateen's stats are affected by the shift to PG. He's not a real 1 and it's not the system I prefer to run, but having him and Nigel Abel as a backcourt is going to go a long way to making up for our lost firepower with Jonte Jones out of comission for two months.

Marcelino Augusto
2020 Stats: 63 games/63 starts - 26.7 PPG 9.1 RPG 3.1 APG 2.1 BPG 1.0 SPG
2021 Stats: 44 games/44 starts - 23.8 PPG 10.3 RPG 2.9 APG 2.6 BPG 0.8 SPG

Jonte Jones
2020 Stats: 66 games/66 starts - 22.2 PPG 12.2 RPG 2.7 APG 1.3 BPG 1.4 SPG
2021 Stats: 46 games/46 starts - 20.2 PPG 13.2 RPG 2.6 APG 1.5 BPG 1.2 SPG