Winner: Miami Heat

The Heat may have just won trade of the century, or at least the deadline. Miami took advantage of the unbalanced point guard situation in Miami and pried Goran Dragic (and his brother Zoran) from the Suns. Why is this the trade of the deadline? Miami gave up Norris Cole, Shawne Williams, Justin Hamilton, Danny Granger and two future first-round picks (plus a bit of money) to acquire the brothers Dragic.

Put it this way, Goran Dragic was All-NBA Third Team last season, while the players coming in were bench pieces at best. Purely on per-game stats, Dragic has averaged 16.1 points, 4.1 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. Norris Cole was the most accomplished player Miami sent out in terms of stats this season. Cole had the highest per game totals of the foursome in points and assists with 6.7 points per game and 3.5 assists per game. Williams had the highest rebounding totals with 3.2 boards per game.

Let me repeat, Dragic was All-NBA Third Team last season. Miami acquired him for three guys who average 6 points per game, a seldom used center and two first round picks. When are those first round picks? When will Phoenix receive them? 2017 and 2021. The first of those picks is top-seven protected in 2017 while the 2021 pick is unprotected. The Heat will still be good in two years if they can hang on to Dragic, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade, meaning the 2017 pick won’t be gold, but rather fool’s gold. It won’t be at the tail end of the draft, but it won’t be in the lottery either. The pick that goes to Phoenix in 2021 is a different story—regardless of current talent, it’s hard to project which NBA teams will be successful in six years. In other words, that may be the first overall pick or the 28^th.

Did I mention Miami acquired an All-NBA Third Team point guard for some bench fodder and first round picks that may or may not pan out?

Yeah, Miami won this trade—maybe the deadline.

All stats courtesy of http://www.basketball-reference.com/ unless otherwise noted.