Bad Trades in the Past…

I would say the Dirk Nowitzki & Pat Garrity for Robert ‘Tractor’ Traylor has to be up there.

Vince Carter to New Jersey for Aaron and Eric Williams, and Alonzo Mourning who never played, is widely regarded as the worst trade in sports history

 KOBE BRYANT’s draft rights for VLADE DIVAC

The KEVIN GARNETT to Boston trade

Chicago trades LaMarcus Aldridge for Tyrus Thomas on draft day. Imagine Rose-Aldridge-Noah going forward

Clippers trade the 1st pick in the draft for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon lmao Irving-Gordon-Griffin-Jordan going forward

Wow, no Pau to LA? I know his brother Marc is still good, but at the time, did anyone even think he could make a roster, let alone a starting spot on an underdog contender.

 Draft rights to Rudy Gay for Shane Battier.

 Will perdue for dennis rodman…. this trade was just a joke.

because a lot has to do with oppurtunity, styles, and location…  Similar to a NFL QB… I highly doubt Aaron Rodgers would be as good if he went #1 to the 49ers… Everything happen for a reason… 

Bulls GM must was Extremely Ticked Off at Pippen or just PLAIN MAD <<<!!! becuz they GAVE him away for a Singing cowboy…

Bulls sending Pippen to Houston for Roy Rogers and a 2nd round pick…

@ MJBrown — I agree, how the Raptors got anyone to take Vince Carter off their hands still blows my mind. That trade is easily the highlight of Rob Babcock’s career. Not bad for the 2nd worst GM in league history, trailing only his brother Pete Babcock of course.

Here are a few I broke down surrounding how the Magic Johnson lead Lakers, Larry Bird lead Celtics and Michael Jordan lead Bulls came to be formed:

http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/lopsided-moves-made-champions

The Eddy Curry sign and trade where Chicago ended up with the Noah and could have drafted Aldridge was another of Isiah Thomas’s famous misjudged moves.

Kwame & Laron Profit for Caron Butler

The Cavs traded Jamal Crawford for Chris Mihm on draft day 2001. I think you could say Crawford had the better career.

Brandon Roy for Randy Foye in the ’06 draft…UGH

Sam Cassell AND THIS YEARS 1st ROUNDER for…Marko Jaric!? That trade happened like 7 years ago and it STILL pisses me off

It was…but now it’s unprotected as of the 2012 draft. So what you see for T-Wolves now goes to the Clippers on the mock board…RAGE

Indiana Pacers/Portland Trail Blazers:

1981:

Indiana Pacers trade their 1984 first round pick for 32 year old PF/C Tom Owens. Owens averages 10.5 ppg and 5 rpg in his one season with the Pacers (who finished 35-47), than is traded to the Pistons in the off-season for their 1984 second round pick (turned out to be Kyle’s dad, Greg Wiltjer).

1984:

The Pacers, who finished with the worst record in the NBA at 26-56, have to fork over either the first or second pick in the draft to Portland. The Trail Blazers, who at 48-34 finished with the second best record in the Western Conference, lose a coin flip to the team with the worst record in the Western Conference that year, the Houston Rockets. The Blazers, having an All-Star two guard in Jim Paxson and confidence in the development of Clyde Drexler coming off of his rookie year, draft Sam Bowie to be their center of the future. Bowie, who had missed two years of college due to injury in between his sophomore and junior year, has an injury riddled career and never lives up to the hype.

The very next pick went to the Chicago Bulls, who drafted this kid from North Carolina named Michael Jordan. He did pretty well. Going 27-55 paid major dividends for the Bulls. They indeed could have still drafted Jordan second, but even if that had happened, can you imagine the amount of flack that would have saved the Blazers from taking? Being the guy picked in front of Barkley and Stockton is one thing, but Jordan being the pick right after you, that is a sting that has never gone away.

Detroit Pistons/Memphis Grizzlies:

1997:

The Detroit Pistons trade the rights to Otis Thorpe, who had turned 35 two days before the deal went through, to the Memphis Grizzlies for a future first round pick. This pick was indeed protected, but as time went on, it received less and less protection. Come 2003, the only way the Grizzlies could have kept the pick was if they won the draft lottery. That’s right, the pick was Top 1 protected. Otis played 47 games with the Grizz, averaging 11.2 ppg and 7.9 rpg while the team compiled a 13-34 record. He was traded with guard Chris Robinson midseason to Sacramento, for Bobby Hurley and Michael Smith. Hurley played 27 games for the Grizz before being waived and retiring, while Michael Smith played in 78 games for the team before being part of a huge trade that basically traded the draft rights of Steve Francis.

2003:

The Grizzlies, under new GM Jerry West, still were kind of struggling. They had picked number 2 in the draft from 1998-2000 (Mike Bibby, Steve Francis and Stromile Swift), picked 6 in 2001 (Shane Battier, plus they traded Shareef Abdur-Rahim for the rights to Pau Gasol, the 3rd pick in that draft) and had picked Drew Gooden in 2002 at #4. Now, they were praying for the first pick in the draft, which they would spend on LeBron James, after finishing with the 6th worst record in the league at 28-54. That, unfortunately, did not happen, as the Cavs won the lottery and the Grizzlies traded the highest pick the possibly could have had otherwise to the Pistons as part of that 1997 Otis Thorpe deal.

West, had to be fuming about the deal his predecessor, Stu Jackson, had made. The draft was loaded and while Darko looked like the probable #2 pick in the draft, with the way the Grizzlies roster was shaping up (They had Gasol, Stromile Swift and Drew Gooden at the time of the 2003 draft), they may very well have selected Carmelo Anthony at #2. They did have Shane Battier, but I am thinking they would have looked at Carmelo and seen a guy who could carry the team to the next level. Still, they did not have that choice, which instead went to a Pistons team that had finished 50-32 in 2001-02. Seeing a possibility of landing an intriguing and possibly dominant young center, the Pistons selected Darko Milicic with the 2nd pick in the draft. The next three picks were Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Darko barely played during their championship run that next year. The Pistons made a trade mid year that landed them Mike James and Rasheed Wallace, but Darko never lived up to expectations. This trade, in essence, was pretty much a wash, which was the best case scenario for the Grizzlies and worst case for the Pistons.

6-22-87

Seattle traded the draft rights of Scottie Pippen to Chicago for Olden Polynice

9-25-97

Seattle trades Shawn Kemp to Cleveland for Vin Baker

Bucks trade Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers, and Junior Bridgeman in 1975

New Jersey Nets sell Dr. J to Philly for 3million

New Orleans Jazz Trade First Rounder to Lakers for Gail Goodrich (1976)…pick turned out to be Magic Johnson

Lakers trade Caron Butler to the Wizards for Kwame Brown

Hawks trade Dominique Wilkins to the Clippers for 22 games of Danny Manning

New Orleans Hornets trade Baron Davis to Golden State for Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis

Orlando Magic trade Tracy McGrady to the Houston Rockets for Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, and Kelvin Cato

76ers traded Charles Barkley to the Suns for Andrew Lang, Tim Perry and Jeff Hornacek

These trades are interesting, especially when you get to look back after enough time has passed. Some of these trades probably look much worse in hindsight, but the thing that gets me is how so many teams are still willing to give up picks, even 2nd rounders since teams have been able to find a lot of nice players in recent time in that range. I’m hoping that what has happened to a lot of these teams, happens to the Bulls with the pick that they own from Charlotte and the Tyrus Thomas trade. Charlotte has been bad all of except maybe one year and they just got rid of probably their best player. As the protection sheds they get closer and closer to a top pick in my opinion.

Anyways, these ideas are great. The only one that I do not completely agree with is the Brandon Roy for Randy Foye trade. Foye hasn’t done as much as Roy. That is no contest. Some could even argue that Foye hasn’t been afforded the same opportunities to succeed and I can understand that. My biggest thing is with Roys high risk of injury and prior injury status, along with his contract makes him much less desirable. Would you rather get saddled with a guy that ends up being a role player and paying him a couple million or a guy that you pay 15 million or more a year for 5-6 years and he can’t get onto the court because he’s battling with knee issues?

It would be ironic if the Clippers traded away a number 1 pick one year and then got one back next year with the pick due from the T-Wolves.

The Tyrus Thomas pick unprotected in 2016 could come back to hurt Charlotte and maybe give D-Rose MVP a top young running mate as Double Dribbler rightly points out.

Who was that bad for? They both had All-Star years on Cleveland and Seattle respectively and than substance abuse sent both for huge crash landings. Also, Vin Baker was traded from Milwaukee, and it was a three way trade involving Terrelle Brandon leaving the Cavs and going to the Bucks. In the end, none of the teams got much out of any of the main players who unfortunately seemed to have their careers come crashing down after this trade took place. I guess it was a "Bad Trade", in that the players involved in it got worse, but it is not even close to Pippen for Polynice. Know you did not say that, but those two trades are incredibly different in their definition of "Bad Trade".

Kareem forced his way out of Milwaukee, so the Bucks sort of had to take the deal they were given (interesting article by Peter Vescey in the link, plus my blurb which just is a summation):

http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/kareem-abdul-jabbar-la-were-old-days-different

It was funny how Caron for Kwame came full circle. First off, let’s start with the trading of Shaq for Caron, Lamar Odom and Brian Grant. BG was pretty much done and had one mediocre year on the Lakers and was cut (Always loved the Rasta Monsta, wished he would have signed with the Lakers instead of ultimately signing with the Heat in the first place). I have to be honest, I remember Caron not working out that well, but he actually had a decent year with the Lakers. Kwame Brown was still only 23 (though Caron was only 24), and I guess they felt like a change of scenery would help him flourish. Well, that didn’t really happen. 

Still, I think the Pau Gasol trade, thus far, has been a monumental steal for the Lakers. Marc Gasol has been all that you could ask for, and is the only thing that makes that trade semi-tolerable. But, the fact was, at the time, the trade seemed to focus around Kwame Brown. It also involved Javaris Crittenton and two late first round picks that turned into Donte Greene and Greivis Vazquez (which is why I always seem to shoot down trades from awesome teams of draft picks as meaning anything). The Lakers got one of the best PF’s in the league and a 2nd round pick who turned out to be Devin Ebanks. Regardless of what people say about Pau, that guy is still the better Gasol brother. Until Marc wins a title, it will be hard to say otherwise. Two would probably help as well.

Here was another thing I wrote back last year, about the ramifications of that Shaq trade all those years ago:

http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/ghost-shaq

2-1-08

Grizzlies Get: Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Marc Gasol, a 2008 1st-round draft pick (Donte Greene) and a 2010 1st round draft pick (Greivis Vasquez)
-Lakers Get: Pau Gasol, 2010 2nd-round draft pick (Devin Ebanks).

The Pau Gasol trade is still quite scary when we consider that no-one knew how well Marc Gasol might turn out as he was only a 2nd round stasher for the Lakers.

The funny thing might have been Memphis having got Bynum and Marc Gasol and picks remaining at LA, if Marc had stayed there and had his current NBA career to now then the Lakers would have not been much weaker.

 Actually Mikey, Marc was a huge part in the deal when it actually went down. They had already known about him through Pau and had even been asked countless times by Pau to draft his younger brother. Moreso at the time, Crittenton looked like an absolute stud with sick handles, terrific size/athleticism, and potential through the roof. Kwame just had the ending contract they coveted. Looking back they saw themselves getting a potential Steve Francis, Marc who they knew could become a terrific big, cap room, along with multiple draft picks. Wasn’t a terribe deal. Not even then, simply the fact that a lot of people weren’t looking at the big picture. 

Funny thing is that the call that got the deal going was actually involving L.O. for Mike Miller and ended up with Pau. I remember reading that the trade was going to happen a night before it all broke lose through the media, because a local Memphis radio host had bogged about asking fans what they thought Kwame would look like in a Grizz uniform to be prepared in the coming days. Next evening he was officially announced.

BTW, how about Cleveland landing Mo Williams after coming off of a 17,4,6 season in a 3 way deal for Damon Jones. Nobody ever talks about how lopsided that ish was.