Did anyone enjoy the NBA's Trade Deadline?

Aaaaaand just like that I’m out on this year’s version of the NBA Trade Deadline. I know, I changed my mind (AS IS MY RIGHT). Thursday’s deadline was a dizzying exercise. But, it amounted entirely to a league-wide accounting exercise. What a nightmare. 97% of transactions were purely financial and I could care less watching teams shuffle debt to avoid taxes. More to the point, does anyone in this league know what they’re doing? Let’s walk through the Clippers. They managed to ship Ivica Zubac to Indiana in exchange for a weirdly protected first round pick and Benedict Mathurin. They got a few extra parts but that’s beside the point. LA sent their starting center packing in exchange for a pending free agent two-guard. The only reason they have a whole at shooting guard is because they sent Norm Powell packing last summer to bring in pending free agent PF John Collins. Collins has entirely underwhelmed this season and won’t figure into LA’s long term plans. Powell is a fringe all-star (also heading into free agency). So Powell, Harden and Zubac (who took Denver to Game 7 in last year’s playoffs), have become Darius Garland, Benedict Mathurin and an upcoming pick. Is that progress? Or is that also just financial gobblygook sold as “flexibility”? Half the league performed the same exercise. Who asked for this? Why are teams so convinced they can’t win with their current group if we haven’t seen back to back champs since the 2018 Warriors? How destined is the NBA to become a league of reshuffled groups every 2 seasons? At this point, GMs are more adept at roster gymnastics and financial engineering than they are at pursuing a collection of 9-10 individuals building the strategic and practiced proficiency necessary to defeat 29 other groups.The NBA has stripped the Team from the sport because a few teams seemed inordinately strong. I’ve died on the “roster continuity as a competitive advantage” hill for a few years and at this point, I’ll just keep watching the Thunder cling to their 3 stars.

Tomorrow: a Super Bowl post. Enough of the NBA’s bullshit.