NBA Trade Deadline Winners & Losers

As of 3:00 PM EST on Thursday, the NBA trading deadline has come to a close.  Despite weeks of rumors flying about big names like Dwight Howard, Derron Williams, Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo and Steve Nash, this year's deadline didn't end up involving any of those stars being moved.  That doesn't mean that all was quiet on the trade front though, as several teams did jump into the mix at the last minute to make a flurry of deals just before the deadline.

Of course not every trade is a good deal.  Ideally a trade should benefit both sides, but that doesn't always happen.  Let's break down which teams came out ahead and which ones appear worse off after the deadline.

Winners
Milwaukee Bucks
Traded for: Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh, Kwame Brown
Traded away: Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson

The Bucks kicked off the trade festivities a few days early by acquiring Ellis, Udoh and Kwame Brown's expiring contract.  In exchange, they sent an injured Andrew Bogut and the disgruntled Stephen Jackson to Golden State.  The Bucks are pushing for a playoff spot and Ellis will help with his scoring ability.  He's known as an inefficient gunner, but perhaps a change in scenery and a new team culture can help reel him in and use him effectively.  Perhaps Scott Skiles can even get him to play a little defense.  Ok, that may be asking too much, but considering Brandon Jennings is a better defensive pairing with Ellis than Curry was, plus they have several solid wing defenders, the Bucks should be better able to mask his defensive shortcomings.  Udoh is a useful big man that can give them minutes at the center position, where Drew Gooden has been playing out of place.  This deal also frees up at least $7 million over the next two years (even more if Ellis opts out after next season).  It's a great short term deal, considering the two players they gave up weren't likely to contribute this season anyway.

Manning moving on

For the past 14 years, Peyton Manning has been the face of the franchise for the Indianapolis Colts.  After he was drafted in 1998, Manning took the reigns of the Colts offense from day one and held on through 13 seasons without ever missing a game.  Then came a devastating neck injury, which required four surgeries to repair and cost him the 2011 season.  Now everything has changed.

Now Peyton Manning is being cut by the only franchise he's ever known.

From the Colts perspective, this is a defensible business decision.  Manning will soon be 36 years old and is coming off a major neck injury that he's yet to prove he's fully recovered from.  Had they kept him on the roster any longer they would have owed him a $28 million bonus, which is a steep price to pay for any player, let alone one that may only be a shadow of his former self.  Another factor backing the team's decision is that last season's Manning-less disaster resulted in earning them the top pick in this year's draft, which they are almost certain to use on Andrew Luck.  Most scouts consider Luck to be a can't miss prospect, a future super star and perhaps the best QB prospect to enter the league since Manning himself.  The Colts are making the right choice by moving forward with a new face of the franchise.  One who is younger, cheaper and sets them up as a contender for at least another decade.

Of course, that doesn't make this news any easier to swallow for Colts fans.  For over a decade these fans have witnessed one of the all time greats rack up a boatload of accomplishments.  208 straight regular season starts, 141 career wins, 54,828 passing yards, 399 TDs, 4 MVP awards, two Super Bowl appearances and one championship ring.  If Manning is to add to those totals it will have to come in another team's uniform.

Red Sox Spring Training Questions

You may not be able to tell by looking outside here in Boston, but spring is quickly approaching and with that will soon come the beginning of baseball season.  Players have already migrated South for Spring Training, with exhibition games beginning this weekend.  Before the Red Sox season is ready to begin there are many questions surrounding the team that must be answered.

Here's a look at some of the most pressing questions surrounding this team as we head toward the start of a new season.

1. How will the team bounce back after last year's historic collapse?
Red Sox Nation painfully remembers the devastating ending to the 2011 season.  A miserable 7-20 record in September concluded when a weak fly ball to left fell inches in front of the glove of Carl Crawford for a hit that would drive in the winning run for Baltimore in the season finale.  Moments later, Evan Longoria's 12th inning Home Run gave the Rays an improbable comeback victory over the Yankees.  The result - Tampa was headed to the postseason in place of a Red Sox team that seemed to have locked up that spot a month earlier.  Worst... late season collapse... ever!

At least through the early part of this season, the Sox will have plenty to answer for regarding last year's failure.  All the talk about team chemistry, pitching woes and even the chicken and beer won't go away until the team starts winning.  The added pressure could either cause the team to unravel or provide some added motivation to fuel them.  How they respond to the criticism they brought on themselves last year will go a long way toward their success this season.

2. How will the leadership void be filled?

The roster lost veteran Tim Wakefield and team captain Jason Varitek to retirement.  The team is looking to get younger, but at the expense of valuable leadership.  Varitek in particular was a guy that led by example, having an enormous impact on the development of the team's stable of young catchers.  There are few catchers in the game that are as good as Tek was at handling a pitching staff, so the rotation will surely miss him as well.  What the team lacked last year was a guy capable of standing up to the team in the face of despair and demand better results.  It's unclear if the team this year has that type of player.  Adrian Gonzalez is on record saying that after a year in Boston he's ready to step up and assume more of a leadership role, and new manager Bobby Valentine won't be shy about talking to his players.  Kevin Youkilis has shown an ability to get in a guy's face if they get out of line or aren't doing what they should be (just ask Manny), but sometimes his methods can be to the detriment of the team, such as when he publicly called out Jacoby Ellsbury a couple years ago while the young outfielder was recovering from a rib injury.  Having a leader that is respected by his teammates and can set a good example is essential to ensure that history doesn't repeat itself with another disappointing season.

Time to blow up the Celtics?

It's been a great run these past few years.  A title in 2008, another Finals appearance where they came within minutes of winning it all again in 2010 and the pleasure of watching a trio of future Hall of Famers on the court together.  It's been an amazing ride.  Yet all good things must eventually come to an end.

The Celtics have come to that end.

Boston enters the All-Star break at the halfway point of the season with a disappointing 15-17 record that has dropped them to the 8th seed in the playoff race.  Injuries have ravaged the team, but given the age of the players on this roster, there's little reason to expect that won't continue.  We knew that coming into the season.  We knew that the condensed schedule of a lockout shortened season would be brutal for a veteran team, but we didn't expect things to be this bad.

Right now we are realistically looking at a 7 or 8 seed in the playoffs, which sets us up for an ugly first round exit against Miami or Chicago.  Best case scenario appears to be stringing together enough wins to leap to the 6th seed, which gives us a chance to at least make it out of the first round.  Another semi-final exit against one of the East's elite teams is a likely outcome though.

You can make the argument that if they can manage to be healthy enough come playoff time, the leadership and experience of their veterans will carry them in the postseason and at the very least, make them a tough out with a puncher's chance at making a surprise title run.  After all, nobody gave an aging squad like Dallas much of a chance last year and look how that turned out.  The Celtics still play championship level defense, ranking third in Defensive Efficiency, Opponents Scoring and Opponents FG%.  The problem is, they're too inconsistent on offense.  Their point guard is too often afraid to attack the rim for fear of being fouled and he lacks a jump shot worthy of keeping defenders honest, while the rest of their key players have essentially become jump shooters.  If the shots are falling, they can get hot and compete with anyone, but it's not an efficient way to run an offense (23rd in Offensive Efficiency).  They also turn the ball over far too much (28th in turnover rate) and are a poor rebounding team because most of their players play so far away from the basket (25th in Rebound Rate).

Break it all down and this is not a contending team.  Recent seasons have proved that picking up spare parts off the scrap heap late in the season have little chance of having a positive impact, while the team is too far over the cap to make substantial upgrades.  So where does that leave them?  At the moment it appears the Celtics are doomed to end up in perhaps the worst possible position for an NBA team - no man's land.  They're just good enough to cling to a lower seeded playoff spot in a top heavy Eastern Conference, which takes them out of the draft lottery while leaving them with little chance of being a title contender.  For a team that will be forced to rebuild after this season anyway, one and done in the playoffs with a mediocre draft pick is the worst case scenario.

Linsanity takes over NY

The New York Knicks entered the season beaming with optimism.  Having signed defensive anchor Tyson Chandler in the off-season, the Knicks added the final piece to assembling their own "Big Three," along with Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire.  However, they would soon find their high expectations deflating as the team got off to a troubling 8-15 start.  Stoudemire seemed like a shadow of his former self, while he and Anthony struggled to run a cohesive offense together, despite their individual scoring talents.  The real issue behind their struggles though may have been that the team lacked a point guard capable of running Mike D'Antoni's offense.

Enter Jeremy Lin.

The Harvard graduate has come out of nowhere this month to take the league by storm.  After being planted on the bench for the majority of the season, Lin was finally given a chance to shine in extended minutes in a February 4th match up with the Nets.  Since that time, Lin has joined the starting lineup and averaged 26.8 points and 8.5 assists, while leading the Knicks to a season best 6 game win streak.  He's currently 7th in the league in PER (24.67), ranking him amongst the league's elite players.  The team still hasn't lost a game since Lin became a mainstay in the rotation, which is especially impressive given that this streak has come mostly without the services of Stoudemire and Anthony.

The legend of Lin grew further last night when he led the team to a comeback victory in Toronto, sealed by a game winning three pointer by Lin at the buzzer.  Stoudemire's return to the lineup surely helped, but this was yet another game that clearly belonged to Lin.  Ignoring the fact that his counterpart that he matched up against in the game, Toronto's Jose Calderon, essentially matched his production, Lin was the hero in the end thanks to his game winning shot.  So his magical run continues.