Impact of the Pistons-Grizzlies-Raptors trade

One in ten isn’t too bad. Of the ten players I predicted may find themselves on new teams before the trade deadline, Rudy Gay is the first to go. I’m still absolutely convinced that this trade wouldn’t have happened if Rudy had not missed the playoffs last year and allowed Memphis to get a taste of what it is like to play without him. Surprisingly they discovered that they are still a playoff caliber team without him. And his huge contract was something they wouldn’t mind getting their hands off of too. Rudy Gay is owed $37.2 million over the next two seasons.

In a eleven player, three team deal, Rudy Gay was sent over to Toronto Raptors. Here’s a glance at the teams and players traded-

MEMPHIS

Incoming: Tayshaun Prince, Ed Davis, Austin Daye, an undisclosed second-round pickOutgoing: Rudy Gay, Hamed Haddadi

TORONTO

Incoming: Rudy GayOutgoing: Jose Calderon, Ed Davis

DETROIT

Incoming: Jose CalderonOutgoing: Tayshaun Prince, Austin Daye

There were rumours that Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics were also in talks about being in this trade. But Dallas were reluctant to part ways with Vince Carter. And the Celtics missed out on getting Calderon.

Here’s a look at the teams and what their new their new additions mean-

Memphis Grizzlies

“Wow,” Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley tweeted.

There is only one playoff team in this trade, and that’s Memphis. How much better did they get with the addition of Prince, Davis, Daye and a second round pick? Prince is still a talented player, even though it’s been ten years since he won the championship with the Detroit Pistons. He is still tall and lanky, he can still knock down shots and he can still play good defense. He is averaging 11.7 points and 4.6 rebounds this season. Tayshaun Prince is owed $7.2 million this season and $7.7 million next season. This is the second major move the Grizzlies have made this week. They just sent Marreese Speights, Wayne Ellington and Josh Selby to Cleveland in a move which cleared $6.4 million in salary cap and $4 million in luxury tax.

The Grizzlies got also Ed Davis, who has been averaging 9.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in 24.2 minutes and Austin Daye is averaging 5.1 points and 2.6 rebounds. The Grizzlies are fourth in the Western Conference with a record of 29-15 and this move may not necessarily be an improvement on the court for them.

“Wow that was 1 crazy trade today,” Oklahoma City center Kendrick Perkins tweeted. “Are you serious Rudy Gay is right there under KD, Lebron, Kobe, and Melo. (hashtag)badtrade.”

“We are excited to add three players who bring with them a tremendous amount of value to our team and have achieved incredible success on the pro, college and Olympic levels,” Memphis GM Chris Wallace said in a statement .“In these players, we welcome NBA Champion and Olympic gold medalist Tayshaun Prince, as well as up-and-coming athletic forwards Ed Davis, who won an NCAA title at North Carolina, and Austin Daye.”

What Wallace left out was- “Yahoo!! $$$$” . This was more of a money-saving move by the Grizzlies. In between the two trades which Memphis made, they save almost $40 million over the next three years, and are now about $8 million under the tax line.

Detroit Pistons

They got a $10.6 million expiring contract in the shape of Jose Calderon and have positioned themselves in a good spot to make a major signing in the next free agency. Calderon is none to happy about this. “It’s been my home for eight years,” Calderon said. “I’ve done everything possible for this team. It’s tough. The fans have been with me since Day 1. It’s tough.” Calderon has been averaging 11.1 points and 7.4 assists this season. “Hopefully this team is back to the playoffs as soon as possible,” Calderon said.

The Pistons sent out Tayshaun Prince, who tried his best to sound diplomatic- “I didn’t find out until I got here,” he said. “Shocked, but like I’ve told you guys before, business, man. You never know what’s going to happen. Definitely a tough, tough time, but now it’s time to move on to the next page, next chapter, and make the best out of it. … It hasn’t really sunk in. I’m pretty sure it will once we get on the floor. It was just a culture shock to everybody in the locker room, but it will once I put that uniform on. I’m excited at the same time.”

What he meant was, “Goodbye Detroit! Playoffs, here I come again!” He’s going to the Grizzlies, not to a bottom feeder team.

Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors are 16-29 for this season thus far. They are two and a half game behind Philadelphia 76ers for the 8th playoff spot. They were a fledgling team without a concrete identity. They have now, for better or worse, committed themselves to Rudy Gay as the face of their franchise. Rudy Gay is set to make $16.4 million this season, $17.8 next season and with a player option in 2015, $19.3 million. He is shooting 40.8 percent from the floor overall and 31 percent from deep, and in the last five seasons he has averaged almost 18.9 points per game. Rudy is also a effective defender, averaging 1.3 steals per game. Rudy Gay was averaging 17.2 points per game while averaging 5.9 rebounds this season. While in Memphis he had Gasol and Randolph, here he is undoubtedly the top dog and Andrea Bargnani will defer to him more than those two, allowing Rudy to make the push from great to awesome if he has it in him.

One may accuse the Grizzlies of being short nearsighted as they have effectively locked their future with the huge contract of Rudy Gay. But they see a lot of immediate value in him.“Players like this don’t come along that often in terms of their availability,” Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo said of Gay. “This was a very unique circumstance. We feel like we took advantage of it.”

The general consensus is that they got taken advantage of. If Rudy Gay exercises his $19.3 million player option in 2014, the Raptors will owe him, Bargnani, Fields and Johnson a combined $47 million. By no stretch of imagination does that seem remotely justified for those four players. But only time will tell.