NBA Trades Podcast Rafael Canton

Jared Weiss of The Athletic came on the pod to preview the Boston Celtics first round matchup with the Indiana Pacers. The Celtics finished the season 49-33 which fell short of expectations coming into the season. Still, the Celtics have a chance to make some noise in the postseason. We spoke about Marcus Smart’s injury and its impact on Boston’s playoff hopes, Jaylen Brown as a replacement, Gordon Hayward’s effectiveness and the Kyrie Irving situation throughout the season. Download Episode 57

Back in the summer of 2003, the Minnesota Timberwolves made a splash on the trade market, acquiring veterans Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. The two players formed a powerful trio with Kevin Garnett and won 58 games during the 2003-04 season. Garnett won MVP and Minnesota won their first playoff series in franchise history on their way to a Conference Finals appearance. Though the Wolves brought back the same cast for the 2004-05 season, the team fell apart. Coach Flip Saunders was fired and the team missed the playoffs. I had Steve Aschburner from NBA.com on to talk about that successful team and their quick rise and fall. Steve covered the Wolves for the Star Tribune and was there for all of those big moments in that one great season. Download Episode 56

The Indiana Pacers have been one of the pleasant surprises of the NBA season. Despite losing All-Star Victor Oladipo, Indiana’s still in position to have homecourt advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. I had Scott Agness on to talk about Indiana’s surprising season, the Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis conundrum, the solid bench play this season and the expectations for the team heading into the playoffs. Download Episode 55

The Memphis Grizzlies are on a brand new journey after trading away part fo their DNA in center Marc Gasol. The trade happened a couple of weeks ago, but I had Daily Memphian Grizzlies columnist, writer and editor Chris Herrington on to discuss all things Grizzlies. We discussed Gasol’s relationship with Memphis and how it differentiates with the Grizzlies franchise. We also spoke about the bitterness involved in the trade, owing a pick to the Boston Celtics, what Jaren Jackson, Jr.’s future looks like, what’s going to happen to Mike Conley and what direction the Grizzlies are headed in. Download Episode 54

The 2019 trade deadline is a wrap and the NBA Trades Podcast deadline discussion is done. I had the bro Anthony Canton on to discuss the arms race brewing in the Eastern Conference. The Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers all made huge deals to bolster their rotations and the Boston Celtics are in the race as well.  We broke down the deals including Milwaukee’s addition of Nikola Mirotic, Toronto’s acquisition of Marc Gasol and Philly’s move to add Tobias Harris. We spoke about the risk Philly took, as well as the league-shifting decisions coming soon in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes. Also included was the buyout market and winners and losers of the deadline. Download Episode 53

Back in 2004, the Atlanta Hawks were a pretty bad team. With a heavy payroll and a team fading out of any playoff chances, the Hawks made the move to deal Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Theo Ratliff to the Portland Trail Blazers for Rasheed Wallace. The move freed up cap space for the Hawks in the future, but the Hawks had bigger plans, dealing Wallace 10 days later to the Detroit Pistons. I had Michael Lee on the podcast to talk this remarkable moment. Mike covered the Hawks as a beat writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was there when the Hawks made the two trades and saw Wallace’s only game in a Hawks uniform against the New Jersey Nets. For this podcast, Mike and I discussed the two Wallace trades, those 2003-04 Hawks that committed to tanking, his start in journalism, his passion for art, and some of the interesting cast of characters from that Hawks team. This included Terry Stotts, Jason Terry, Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw and more.  Download Episode 52