My grade on Vlade's trade deadline moves is nothing other than A+
Barnes move is borderline genius, and I don't know how long Vlade had been planning it, or if it was just lucky (Mavs getting Pzngs), or what... but Harrison Barnes is probably the best SF we could have hope to attain by ANY means. Not only that, he fits
perfectly into what we're doing, has championship experience, and is a total professional. He'll fit RIGHT in. The W's connection doesn't hurt. We can use the grudge factor he may have against them, similar to the Cousins thing vs. us.
I like the Burks move the more I think about it. Tough losing an emotional leader, but, like many people say, Shump gave his gift here, imparted his wisdom, trained our guys, and, as Buddy said, "I'll have to be that guy now"... great to hear. So talent wise, minor upgrade. Fit wise, definite upgrade as we need his slashing. It's tough losing Shump's defending but our guys can pick up that slack and Burks isn't a horrible defender. Worst case, we picked up another 2nd rounder and imo that alone would make an even swap worth it. And, this may sound counter intuitive, but Shump leaving now is kind of addition by subtraction because it forces these younger guys to take on leadership themselves.
The last little Swanigan move just shows Vlade is trying to improve by any incremental measure possible. It's not a high impact move right away, but it is smart, smart, smart. There could be injury, etc. In that case, we'd need the rebounding more than playmaking.
I second
@Iced Espresso in crediting Vlade accumulating 2nd rounders... and I admit that snuck up on me. I looked it up to verify:
https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/draft/future_drafts/team
Amazing. Now we'll get to see Vlade's real drafting skills. I have a feeling this is going to be where he is really good. And to have so many shots a plucking that diamond from the rough... pretty amazing. It really is literally TEN second round picks in three years, including FOUR next year.
We're making the playoffs. Vlade is running away with gmoty.