i don't think the blazers made a mistake in not making a deal at the deadline.
if the blazers actually could have acquired vince carter, gerald wallace, or caron butler(but not richard jefferson and i'll leave out the guys like prince i didn't really hear or read any rumors about) for a package solely consisting of sergio, outlaw, and raef's contract, then the blazers made a mistake. but i think the blazers would have done any of those deals, so they must not have been on the table.
i mean, why would the bobcats trade gerald wallace just to dump nazr's salary? and it's not like they have been dumping salary in their previous trades this year. they actually took on more salary in both the jrich for diaw/bell and morrison for radman trades.
the nets very likely do what to move vince, but they also likely want more talent back than outlaw/sergio. had simply dumping his salary been their main motivation, i think you would have seen vince dealt to the cavs or blazers.
and then the wizards i don't think would give up caron just to dump etan thomas's salary. they definitely aren't set up well financially, but they've had major injuries and etan thomas's contract expires next year anyway. it makes sense for them to either ride it out until they can get healthy or wait until they can find a deal to dump one of their worse salaries(arenas or jamison) before dumping their best player who is on a reasonable deal.
all three trades would have been great for the blazers and had solely dumping salary been the other teams' main motivation they would have been great for them as well. but clearly that must not have been the case.
and i'm glad the blazers didn't dump one or more of rudy, bayless, or batum along with other assets just because they felt it would be a failure somehow to not use raef's contract in a trade. now the blazers save money and really, could still potentially have the same trade targets(wallace, butler, vince, etc) in the offseason with the cap room they'll have. so if dumping salary does become more of a motivation for those teams, the blazers are still in position to take advantage of it.
obviously it's frustrating that there was so much talk about so many different good players coming to the blazers and then nothing actually happened. and i think it is definitely frustrating for most of us here(though not all of us) that it appears likely that sergio will retain the backup pg spot over bayless for the remainder of the season(in my mind, bayless getting those minutes would have been one of the biggest improvements a trade would have brought). but really, i don't think not making a move changes anything. this team is still likely to make the playoffs and contend for homecourt in the first round and depending on the matchups could advance multiple rounds.