Image via WikipediaAs you have likely heard by now, a fairly substantial NBA trade went down earlier today:
The New Orleans Hornets acquired Trevor Ariza Wednesday in a four-team, five-player trade that also sends point guard Darren Collison to the Indiana Pacers, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
The deal also sends Pacers forward Troy Murphy to the New Jersey Nets and Nets guard Courtney Lee to the Houston Rockets. In addition to landing Collison – the young point guard they’ve been searching for all offseason – the Pacers also have to take on forward James Posey, who has two years and $13.5 million remaining on his contract.
Collison made a lot of fans within the fantasy community and around the NBA last season while he filled in for an injured Chris Paul. In his 37 starts, Collison averaged 18.8 points on 49-percent shooting, 1 three, 85-percent foul shooting, 9.1 assists, 4.1 turnovers, and 1.4 steals in 40 minutes. He immediately becomes the point guard for the Pacers and makes a leap into fantasy’s top 10 at the position – he was a top-40 player after Paul’s injury and warrants being drafted ahead of his significantly hyped peers Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook. That is, if it’s the nine-category numbers that you are looking at.
Ariza had trouble adjusting to his significant offensive responsibilities with the Rockets last season, shooting just 38 percent from the field and 30 percent from three before the All-Star break. Things changed significantly after Kevin Martin showed up (44% FG, 41% 3PT), and less was definitely more for Ariza from a fantasy perspective. He’ll be the fourth option on offense in New Orleans and should benefit tremendously from an efficiency standpoint, albeit with less volume, and will still provide those excellent defensive stats (1.8 steals, 0.6 blocks in 09-10). I’ve got him pegged as a solid Round 7 pick, and he’s an even better head-to-head target when you are ignoring free-throw percentage.
Murphy will hold down the fort at power forward until the exceedingly raw Favors is ready for significant minutes. It’d be silly to play him against other teams’ starting units from the outset, and there’s no guarantee that he’ll be truly ready at any point this season, although Murphy’s expiring contract does represent a valuable trade piece. The Lopez/Murphy tandem will be an effective one – Murphy’s 3-point range is an excellent complement to Lopez’s post game; and Murphy dominates the defensive boards, while almost 40 percent of Lopez’s boards came on the offensive glass last season. Things are a bit unsettled at the two and three, but Williams’ dynamism and Outlaw’s two-way potential make them the odds-on favorites to start right now. I know there will be plenty of you calling for Morrow to immediately start and shoot non-stop threes, but he’s looking like a better fit as a main cog in the second unit.
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