Fear of future shock was factor in lack of trades

Sporting News, The, March 6, 2000 by Ira Winderman

In the end, it was nothing more than a trivial pursuit. Your final answer was Anthony Johnson. That's it, just Anthony "I'm hereupon to be known as the only player dealt at the 2000 NBA trading deadline" Johnson.

In a league whose hot stove has burned second only to Major League Baseball among the major sports, the NBA's 1999-2000 regular season produced four trades:

Dale Ellis from the Bucks to the Hornets for two second-round draft choices; Ron Mercer, Johnny Taylor and Chauncey Billups from the Nuggets to the Magic for Chris Gatling, Tariq Abdul-Wahad and a first-round draft choice; the three-way move that sent Toni Kukoc to the 76ers, Larry Hughes to the Warriors and Bruce Bowen, John Starks and a first-round draft choice to the Bulls; and the deal that sent Johnson, a third-string point guard, from the Hawks to the Magic for a second-round draft choice.

And that's it.

A sport that has spawned myriad fantasy leagues, fueled a rumor industry for months and excelled in producing radical makeovers, simply took February 24 off. This is not baseball, where the dealing can continue beyond the deadline it players clear waivers. This is it. For the season.

There are simple answers, such as the explanation from Timberwolves vice president Kevin McHale: "There are people in our business who think change is great. But I've said it before, I married my high school sweetheart. The grass isn't always greener somewhere else. It's the same weeds. You just don't see them until you walk in their grass."

But there also are more complex reasons why so many general managers looked but never leaped. Foremost, according to many general managers, was the luxury tax that will come into play for the 2001-2002 season.

Basically, the newest twist from the NBA's most recent collective bargaining agreement states that teams well above the team salary ceiling will have to pay, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, an additional fee to the league.

That kept all the big-money possibilities safely in port as the deadline sailed past.

Says Washington's Michael Jordan, who is learning these rules are not quite as bendable as, say, his playing-days interpretations of palming or traveling, "I think everybody's being very protective of their dollars, which is very wise. You've got to watch how you spend your money with the luxury tax scheduled to come in."

In addition, few wanted to take a different risk, that potential free agents might not agree to stay. It is why the futures of Tracy McGrady, Maurice Taylor, Derek Anderson and others will be decided during the July negotiating period and the August signing period.

Heat coach Pat Riley, for example, says his team earlier had looked into acquiring Kukoc from the Bulls and Mercer from the Nuggets but balked because of uncertainty over their free-agent intentions.

"Those things were very active, and we were very active in both of them," Riley says. "But we're not going to give up the ship to get some player who could leave us in the throes next July. I'm not going to take that kind of risk."

Neither, apparently, was anyone else.

As for those who attempted to unload spare parts, such as the Hawks with Isaiah Rider and the Bulls with John Starks and Hersey Hawkins, the salary-cap options were limited severely. The Hawks and Bulls wanted to take on only expiring contracts; few suitable options were available.

"People are capped to hell," Bulls vice president Jerry Krause says. "It's very hard to move players for players because teams don't want to take multiyear contracts."

With the salary cap expected to rise from $34 million only to $35.5 million next season, flexibility is as limited as it has been for years.

"It's so hard now to trade people," Timberwolves guard Malik Sealy says. "It's got to be a three-way deal, pretty much. We'll see how many trades go on from now on.

"They tried to limit free agency, and they did a good job. They locked everybody fight where they're at."

In the offseason, with teams allowed to use $2 million middle-class and $1 million veteran exceptions, there are more options at teams' disposals. Factor in the ability to exploit sign-and-trade transactions beginning August 1, and there is almost no comparing the league's prime trading periods.

"In terms of trying to make a trade before the deadline, teams were not willing to operate as quickly in the middle of the season, or disrupt chemistry," Jordan says. "The end of the season is a different matter."

The Clippers appeared close to a three-way deal that would have eliminated their headache regarding forward Maurice Taylor, who vowed not to return as a free agent. But, like most things Clipper, it fell apart in the end, Vancouver first stepping aside and then New York unable to get anything done.

"I was kind of pressing my luck, relying on the Clippers to get something done," Taylor admits. "There's no love lost. I can play for the final eight weeks."

So the league trudges on, just as it had before the date that was supposed to reshuffle the deck.

"The savior needs to come from this locker room," Pistons guard Jerry Stackhouse says, his team unable to land Taylor or even Ike Austin. "That's how I see it. Everybody who's saying, `We need to do this, we need to do that,' just needs to shut up and do what they're supposed to do."