Big Trade Going Down

And the Grizzlies are a small part of it.

New Orleans is trading former Grizzlies player Bobby Jackson and Adam Haluska to Houston for former Grizzlies player Bonzi Wells and Mike James. Houston also has the option of switching 2nd rd picks. To make the deal work Memphis is taking Marcus Vinicius from New Orleans.

When was the last time ANYONE can remember that three teams from the same division did a trade together? Has it ever happened before? Even back when there were only 4 divisions I don't remember such a thing happening.

Seems like every time the Grizzlies are involved in trades it is something no one thought could happen before the deal was announced. A 5 team trade three years ago, Gasol for future considerations earlier this year and now a 3 team inter-division deal?

What's next? Memphis trades their entire roster with the Milwaukee Bucks just to see if anyone notices? Okay, I am being funny with the last one but it is strange to see three teams from the same division, two of whom are very hot and competing with each other right now, do a trade.

Anyway, Memphis is supposed to receive Marcus Vinicius from New Orleans and possibly the draft right to Senegalese Malick Badiane or a 2nd rd pick or some other unsigned player. It is all still very vague and may be a false rumor but everyone is reporting it so I have to assume it is true.

Vinicius is the interesting player. The Brazilian native is supposedly a great offensive player who doesn't play defense well and hasn't been able to crack the lineup in New Orleans so no one really knows much about him. So why is he interesting? Well how many Brazilians have you heard of that aren't interesting?

Maybe he can give some tips to Grizzline! A little Brazilian flair should be nice. Maybe the dance team can do a Brazilian number. I bet that would get some fans back in the stands.

The obvious gain here is a SG/SF player who can shoot from outside, supposedly, and run up and down the court in case Miller's back continues to give him troubles. He adds some size and can play the 3 behind Rudy as well. Who knows, maybe he turns out to be the lightning Chris Wallace is trying to catch in the bottle. If not he will just be a cloud passing through this dreary season as his contract expires at the end of the year.

From Ryan over at Hornets 24-7:

Vinicius hasn't played a lot as a Hornet - mostly in garbage time. When he's been on the floor he's shown good hustle, and a decent three point stroke on a somewhat slow jumpshot. The slowness of his shot isn't so bad though, because he shoots it almost behind his head, making it near impossible to block.

He's a bit thin, and his rebounding hasn't been that great, but he's shown a surprising dribble drive to his left once or twice that gets him to the basket. He's about an average finisher.

In the D-League last season he averaged about 15 a game, with 6 rebounds.

He's got a reputation as a malcontent, having been one of the leaders of a team revolt against the Brazil National Team Coach in last years tournament of the Americas, (It got REALLY ugly) but for the Hornets, the team loves him and Byron has always said good things about him.

My final evaluation - from the meaningful minutes he played for the Hornets, I'd rate his ceiling to be a 7th or 8th man on a good team. Of course, I would have said Brandon Bass would be a 9th man on a good team - and he's been a decent rotation player for Dallas.

Update: Chris Herrington has some thoughts on the trade on Beyond the Arc.