Anatomy Of A Trade

[ABM]

I found this blurb kind of interesting, FWIW

The Anatomy Of A Trade: There is a lot of confusion about how trades in the NBA get started and where the information some reporters receive comes from. There is a belief that trades are only discussed from one General Manger to the other, and when a GM says "I have never talked to team X" its commonly played off to mean there was no truth to the rumored talks, when in fact most teams employ a President, a Vice-President, a General Manager, an assistant General Manager, a Director of Player Personnel and a litany of scouts. More times than not it's about relationships, one team's assistant GM may have a better relationship with team X, and that guy becomes the point person for "feeling out" the other team. Sometime's it's very casual, "who are you guys looking to move?" Sometimes it's more formal, "We'd offer you player A & B for your guy, Player C". In the end it's about establishing a market, and that's typically done through intermediaries. It's also done through the calculated use of the press to sound off ideas to the fans and to other teams. Once the intermediary finds a deal that lines up with what their team has established as a goal, he'll take it to the GM for his involvement and talks then become trade discussions. League rules prohibit teams from playing players involved in active official trade talks, so intermediaries make the world go round. Let's not even get into the role some coaches have in this process, remember the Knicks cited Larry Brown's talks with other teams about trades as grounds for his dismissal in New York. Some NBA owners get involved as well. In a given trade season, some teams could have as many as a half dozen voices chumming the waters and talking about possible deals, some official, some unofficial. So when you hear Boston made a run at Orlando's JJ Redick, and Otis Smith flatly denied he's talked to Boston. The real question needs to be has anyone on your staff talked to anyone on Boston's staff, you might get a different answer. Dallas' owner Mark Cuban joked in one of his blog entries last May, that there are dozens of people claiming to have the authority to trigger a deal, when in fact most don't. GM's are not the only ones working the phones for a deal.

 

[Boise Blazer]

Somehow, with Portland at least, that doesnt surprise me at all. They seem to come across very much so as a "team" management type of organization. With that said I would LOVE to see the look on KP face and hear how he talks around his answer if he were asked, "Has anyone on your staff talked to anyone on their staff?" Something tells me after a second to consider the answer the reporter would get a short and quick "No comment" or "Im not able to discuss that". Fun article the AMB, thanks for the post.

 

[BatumKaboom]

Cool read!

 

[maxiep]

Good stuff, ABM. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Shooter]

Thanks, ABM. I've always been curious about how trades get done, and this article explains part of the process. What I'd really like to hear is the conversation between two GMs about player X and player Y, and to understand what kind of deal-making goes on, and how the two GMs finally arrive at an agreement. I love the behind-the-scenes part of making trades in the NBA.