The Trade Deadline had come and come and gone and I think I called it. It was not a frenzy, it was more like a soft breeze than a tornado and I think the only team that came out much better than they were before the storm is the Detroit Pistons.
I’ve been telling you, if the Pistons make one more good move, they’ll be set for the future. They then go and get Tobias Harris, beautiful.
This trade deadline was more about what could’ve been. I said there were more buyers than sellers and not many teams would actually dive into the deals. One team that were rumoured a lot but ended up not doing much were the Boston Celtics. Danny Ainge, C’s GM, apparently spent two days straight on one deal and according to him, they were very close. As you know now, that deal never happened.
We were very close. One story I can probably share with you is – I can’t tell you the team or the name – but it was very close. It was something we had been deliberating on for two days straight. The other team was doing that. And we were wrapping ourselves around a big package to do a deal. And at the very last minute, they just said they did not want to do it. They just backed out. So, it was a deal that was talked about, thought about. And that was probably the closest that we came.
We were willing to do one deal, and it just didn’t happen. Both teams weren’t ready to go. And it was a really, tough close deal. And it was certainly not a no-brainer. There was risk on both sides’ part. But at the end of the day, both teams were not ready to do it.
This is just a classic case of two teams that wanted a lot but didn’t feel like giving a lot at the end of the day.
It’s fine considering doing it. But the guts is when you shake hands on a deal. Ainge has been great building the team he has now and he clearly didn’t want to screw it up with one deal that could either propel them or destroy them. Guess we will never know what that deal could’ve been.
