Pre Trade Deadline Week

It was a very eventful week of transactions before the NBA's trade deadline. There were no Pau Gasol type trades from last, that will probably have an effect on any championship level teams at the end of the year. Yet in still interesting moves were made.

• Orlando Magic acquire Rafer Alston; Houston Rockets acquire Kyle Lowry and Brian Cook; Memphis Grizzlies acquire Mike Wilks, Adonal Foyle and Magic's first round draft pick.
• New York Knicks acquire Larry Hughes; Chicago Bulls acquire Tim Thomas, Jerome James and Anthony Roberson
• Knicks also acquire Chris Wilcox; Oklahoma City Thunder acquire Malik Rose
• Sacramento Kings acquire Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth; Minnesota Timberwolves receive Sheldon Williams and Bobby Brown.
• Kings also acquire Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Michael Ruffin, and Cedric Simmons; Bulls receive Brad Miller and John Salmons.

The Knicks roster will look better. Larry Hughes could possibly have a re-resurrection in his career with the opportunity to play with New York. D'antoni's system should be a great help toward that. Getting out and running similarly to what he did during his stint in Golden State should excite Knick fans. Hopefully it will not stunt the development of Wilson Chandler in the process. Wilcox adds another big athletic body. Wilcox in the fast paced style the Knicks have should be able to finish around the basket and use his athleticism in the open floor while allowing David Lee to be more fresh at the end of games.

I like Sacramento's moves as well. Although they won't be making a playoff run this year, I think they can be competitive with their young talent. McCants off the bench gives them scoring when Kevin Martin is getting rest. Nocioni will get the opportunity to play more without Loul Deng to share time with. Young players Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson will get more opportunity with Miller gone. Drew Gooden is solid and should get more touches with the Kings.

Chicago will benefit with a true center presence in Miller and John Salmons has improved each year he's been in the league, he adds depth to the both guard and forward positions.

The biggest question from the week that was is if Alston will pick up where Jameer Nelson left off. With Nelson's season ending injury, the Magic were in need of a point. They picked up Tyronne Lue, who is a decent backup to assist another solid backup in Anthony Johnson. It will be interesting to see how Alston and the Magic mesh.