Zhang Yang: "That should be about right, big brother Yao, come take a look!"
Yao Ming stopped what he was doing and came over... "Damn!"
On December 23, 2007, at noon, the Hawks team completed two trades in one go.
They sent out Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, Speedy Claxton, and Salim Stoudemire, and received Paul Pierce from the Celtics.
They sent out Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Lorenzen White, and Shelden Williams, and received Mike Bibby from the King.
These two trades were quite sudden and shocking!
The trade with the Celtics was somewhat acceptable.
22-year-old Josh Smith had been averaging 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.5 steals, and 2.6 blocks per game from the start of the season; 21-year-old Marvin Williams averaged 13 points, 5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1 steal per game.
Paul Pierce, who had just turned 30, was averaging 26 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1 steal per game this season.
For this trade, ESPN, TNT, and Fox Sports gave the Hawks a grade of B or B+, ranging from good to excellent. Yahoo Sports gave the highest rating to the Hawks, an A.
Yahoo Sports’ evaluation — The Hawks traded two potential stocks for a peak All-Star, forming one of the strongest small forward and shooting guard combinations in the league, while also getting rid of Speedy Claxton’s remaining 3-year, 17.5 million US dollar trash contract, freeing up salary cap space for another trade.
The Yahoo Sports columnist Wojnarowski differed from other media covering this trade in one aspect — he believed Josh Smith’s talent wasn’t as outstanding as it appeared.
Wojnarowski commented, "Smith has been in the NBA for just over three seasons, and his play style is indecisive, his role unclear, and his basketball IQ not high enough. It seems like he can do everything, but he doesn’t excel in any area."
Other media had very high praise for Josh Smith, saying he was a defensive version of LeBron James... It was unclear whether they were boosting Smith’s or lowering James’s stock.
However, the media ratings for the Celtics were consistent - C or D.
TNT sports commentator Kenny Smith’s evaluation received widespread approval from fans — "The return the Celtics got from this trade exceeded my expectations; I thought they would at most swap for a young talent. Ainge showed excellent trading acumen, he guessed what the Hawks wanted, acted decisively, and secured a return that satisfied both the management and Boston fans in the Pierce trade."
But the outcome of the trade wasn’t good for the Celtics, it made their frontline even more bloated. They couldn’t develop so many young talents, and the trades became more challenging, decreasing their trade value because of this move.
After this trade, the Celtics had a total of six rookies, each touted as a ’genius’ - Al Jefferson, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams, Jeff Green, Ryan Gomes, and Adam Morrison.
Fans, seeing the Celtics’ lineup, thought they had read the wrong team name and were looking at the Hawks’ forwards, a bunch of young players between 203-208 cm.
The ’Where’s Pierce going?’ soap opera finally ended. The topic was highly discussed among fans, though the trade wasn’t that surprising. The biggest debate was ’How talented is Josh?’
The real shock both for the media and fans was the trade between the Hawks and the King.
Anthony Johnson, who only returned to play in December, played 10 games, averaging 4 points and 2 assists.
Lorenzen Wright, a veteran from the golden 1996 draft class, was nearing the end of his career, averaging 1.2 points and 2.8 rebounds this season.
Tyronn Lue was averaging 6.8 points and 3 assists, the lowest since he became a main rotation player.
Shelden Williams was the only valuable chip — a 2006 lottery pick, but this lottery ticket also had nearly scratched off a ’thank you’.
With these four players, they actually got 29-year-old prime Mike Bibby!
These four players, if you have to say they’ve got value, consist of three expiring contracts plus one rookie deal. The Hawks ate up part of Bibby’s salary using their cap space, and the Kings immediately cut down their payroll by more than 3 million US dollars, with another 6 million US dollars reduction possible next summer.
The media uniformly praised this trade, perfectly playing the role of the fans’ spokesperson—the Hawks get an S, the King get an F.
With these two trades, the Hawks essentially swapped Josh Smith and Marvin Williams for Pierce, while also clearing space to take on part of Bibby’s salary. They were airborne on the spot, forming an outfield trio of Bibby, Joe Johnson, and Pierce.
Although they lost two talented power forwards, causing their strength in the paint to plummet, their frontcourt was still well-staffed. Rookie third overall pick Al Horford was averaging 9 points and 8 rebounds since the start of the season, showing good potential and readiness for battle, while Pachulia had averaged 12 points and 7 rebounds over the past two seasons, with strong low-post defense and a gritty, blue-collar playing style.
This quintet was highly competitive in the relatively weaker Eastern Conference!
Popovich came out for an interview once again to give his take, "This is more like a robbery than trading Gordon for Yao Ming."
However, Popovich was all smiles this time when he made that comment.
Both were robbery trades, but Popovich’s attitude was markedly different, something neither the media nor the fans found surprising.
The emergence of a single powerhouse team in the East was disadvantageous for the Spurs, who aimed for the championship. But with a powerhouse team already in the East, the more first-tier and top-tier teams there were, the better it actually played out for the Spurs!
Moreover, there was another crucial point—the Mavericks had been chasing Mike Bibby, offering Devin Harris as the trade piece.
Giving the Mavericks a steady, clutch performer like Bibby, capable of handling tough games, would surely split Popovich open.
Last season, if Harris had been replaced by Bibby to control the game, the likelihood of the Mavericks crumbling would’ve been far less.
The Kings still maintained a ’championship contender’ mentality in their trades... Regardless of whether the Kings had the capability, they had the heart, otherwise they wouldn’t wave around a quartet including Bibby, Kevin Martin, Artest, and Brad Miller to recruit a superstar for the frontcourt during the off-season.
Although the Kings’ management moves were puzzling, they knew how much stronger another Bibby would make the Mavericks, absolutely refusing to hand Bibby over to a ’direct competitor’ in the West.
Now that Bibby landed with the Hawks, it was no wonder Popovich looked so happy. Although the Kings held firm in refusing the Mavericks’ trade pitches, not having settled the matter meant Popovich certainly couldn’t rest easy.
The Hawks forming a super outfield trio became the current focus, while over in Charlotte, Zhang Yang and Yao Ming had lost their interest in gaming, glued to their computer refreshing the news.
The happier Popovich looked, the sourer the expressions became on Zhang Yang and Yao Ming’s faces.
The Hawks, currently the third last in the East, with this lineup and over 50 games left, were fully capable of pushing into the playoffs this season, and they were bound to be in the lower half.
The three powerhouses of the East, the Bobcats, the Chicago Bulls, and the Pistons, dominated the top three spots, unshakable.
The positions from four to six, held by teams like the Magic, the Toronto Raptors, and the Cavs, were also quite secure.
Thus, if the Hawks were to surge into the playoffs, they would likely land in seventh or eighth place.
Ironically, isn’t it? The leading stars of the first and second teams in the East were sitting together at the same computer, scrolling through news of the Hawks’ trade.
After hanging up with Hinrich, Yao Ming asked Zhang Yang, "What do you think about this trade by the Hawks, Yangyang?"
Zhang Yang looked at Yao Ming for a couple of seconds and replied, "Big Yao, you haven’t retired or gained weight yet, don’t ask like that."
Zhang Yang: "Cough cough, pretend I didn’t say anything just now. The Hawks’ trade, it’s like they finally turned all those years of accumulated potential into real strength, right? Now, five of their starters, only Horford was their own pick; the rest were all traded for using young talents.
The Kings and the Celtics... I think they just had too rough of an off-season and are taking it out on society!"