Welcome to Oklahoma City Thunder: The Rich List, Volume Seven, a weekly breakdown of the five best players (well, Russell Westbrook plus four), as well as the highlights of the week, and some weekly awards. This week’s list is for the week of February 6, 2017-February 12, 2017.
The All-Star Break, much like winter in the fabled land of Westeros, is coming (so is Oklahoma City Thunder: The Rich List, Volume Seven.) The day before the beginning of the All-Star break begins, however, is the trade deadline for the NBA, and the trade rumors have begun to pick up. To date, we’ve had two trades, both of which have the potential to affect how the playoff picture plays out:
Jusuf Nurkic – Mason Plumlee:
The Denver Nuggets traded Jusuf Nurkic and a top- protected first round pick (via Memphis) to the Portland Trail Blazers for Mason Plumlee and a 2018 2nd round pick. This isn’t the flashiest trade in history, however, it still can be a big (every pun intended) move for both teams. Nurkic provides much needed rim protection for the defensively inept Blazers.
Also, his time in Denver had gone sour as of late, as Nikola Jokic has emerged as a potential superstar, and their fit together was abysmal. Also, it gives Portland a third first round draft pick in this year’s draft, which is considered to be one of the deeper drafts in recent history. This is significant, as Portland has over 120 million dollars committed to salary already on the books for next season and Plumlee was entering restricted free agency at the end of the year.
As for Denver, they acquired a very nice upgrade to be the backup center to Jokic, or perhaps Plumlee can slide into the starting lineup next to Jokic. Plumlee is one of the more versatile bigs in the league, as evidenced by his averaging four assists per game. Denver is going to have issues protecting the rim, however, as Plumlee is one of the reasons the Blazers are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA this season.
Must Read: Dispelling the myths and appreciating Russell Westbrook for who he is
As an added benefit of this trade, more minutes should become available for Juan Hernangomez, who had a 27 point and 10 rebound double-double in a victory against the Warriors on Tuesday night. This is more of a win-now move from Denver, who are currently the 8th seed in the Western Conference.
The other trade is slightly splashier, and significantly more one-sided:
Serge Ibaka – Terrence Ross:
The Toronto Raptors acquired Serge Ibaka from the Orlando Magic for Terrence Ross and a 2017 first-round pick (via the Clippers.) Oh man, where to start? The Raptors, who are currently in the midst of a horrible free-fall, just stole Serge Ibaka. The power forward position was the only position of weakness for the Raptors this season, and Ibaka fills that void completely. Despite dwindling defensive numbers in the past few seasons, Ibaka is still an above-average defensive rebounder and rim protector.
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More importantly, he is a capable three point shooter, averaging a career high 38.8% from the three point line thus far this season. As a result, spacing next to Jonas Valanciunas shouldn’t be an issue for the Raptors. With the devastating news coming out of Cleveland this week (more on this in a minute), the number one seed in the Eastern Conference is suddenly wide-open.
As for the Magic, I have no idea what they’re trying to do. Sure, the chances of retaining Ibaka after this season were slim to none, but they just essentially traded Victor Oladipo, the number 11 pick of last year, and Ersan Ilyasova for Terrence Ross and a first round draft pick that is going to fall somewhere in the 20’s. Orlando is nowhere closer to playoff contention then they were when they started this rebuild after Dwight Howard left.
Walking Wounded:
In other news from the NBA this week, Jabari Parker tragically suffered another torn ACL in his right knee and is out for the remainder of the season. Parker was enjoying a breakout year next to Giannis Antetokoumpo, and the two were quickly emerging as one of the most promising young cores in the NBA.
In addition, All-Star Kevin Love will be out six weeks for the Cleveland Cavaliers, after a knee scope. The Cavs are already frightfully thin, and this comes as a pretty significant blow for the defending champions. Cleveland will still be making the playoffs, however, the number one seed (and home court advantage) that was all but guaranteed for them this year is now very much up in the air.
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, Volume Seven of The Rich List, AKA Russ Plus Four. As is tradition, we start with the man himself..