Golden State has been looking to add depth behind Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson all season — the offense has been down just slightly this season, and Warriors missed the spark Jarrett Jack brought off the bench last season (not to mention wanting to get Curry some reduced minutes in the second half of the season, he’s played more minutes than any starting PG in the league). Toney Douglas has not been that guy (shocking, I know).
The Warriors may think they’ve found it in a trade with Golden State — Jordan Crawford and MarShon Brooks are coming to Golden State in a three team trade that involves Toney Douglas going to Miami and Joel Anthony going to Boston, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.The Warriors will send guard Toney Douglas to the Miami Heat, and Miami sends center Joel Anthony and a future first-round pick and second-round pick to the Celtics, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Miami will send a first-round pick it owns from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Celtics, but that pick becomes two second-round picks should the Sixers miss the playoffs in 2013-14 and 2014-15. The Heat will save nearly $10 million in salary and luxury tax with the unloading of Anthony’s contract.
To clarify, the Heat will save $7.7 million in salary and taxes this season plus the $3.8 million Anthony makes next season. And that first round pick headed to Boston likely isn’t a first round pick — it’s from Philadelphia in a prior deal and is lottery protected the next two seasons. So unless the Sixers make the playoffs this season or next (not likely, not impossible), that pick becomes a second rounder in the third year.
It was Golden State who pushed this trade and in the short term appears to have gotten what they wanted... that or it sets up another deal down the line. Either way, with all the injured point guards around the league demand for Crawford’s services was likely to go up, so the Warriors were smart to move fast.
Crawford is having his best season as a pro, averaging 13.7 points and 5.7 assists a game while starting 35 games for the Celtics (who are getting Rajon Rondo back and don’t need Crawford as much). He assist percentage was up to 31 percent (he assisted on 31 percent of teammates field goals while on the court) while he reduced his turnovers. That said he is shooting just 41.4 percent overall and 31.8 percent from three.
Those are better numbers than Douglas (3.7 points a game on 37.2 percent shooting) because Crawford is a better player (he’s an average to slightly above average NBA guard, although he’s not much of a defender). This is an upgrade for Golden State — and since these are guys on rookie contracts Golden State did it without having to pay the tax
That said, through Crawford’s career he does well when asked to step into a larger role (starting for Boston, for example) but has struggled to stay focused when asked to take a smaller one. And he’ll have a smaller one in Golden State. Plus, Crawford has some history of being a disruptive locker room force (remember the feud with Carmelo Anthony?). This is a great situation and opportunity for Crawford, but his fit is something to watch.
For Boston… Tankapalooza 2014 is in full effect. They get a big body in Joel Anthony who can block shots but basically they are paying him this season and next ($3.8 million next season) for the three picks they get in this deal.
Miami has wanted to dump Joel Anthony for a while, sacrificing second round picks was the cost to save that money.