Anyone else think the 2016 Trade deadline will be a snoozefest?

[heyvik]

Kinda thinking that there won't be much trading going on because of the following:

• a lot of teams in the East are bunched together -  only 3 games separating teams 3-12. Therefore everyone thinks 'they' have a shot to go go deep into the playoffs
• There really hasn't been any major injuries to star/key players

AND

• teams are saving cap room, $$$, for the 2016 free agency class

I kinda think we'd hear MORE rumors as we are LESS than 50 days to the trade deadline date.  I know someone will write that real rumors only start after ALL-Star break but not always the case - see Rajon Rondo in 2014

Thoughts>

[Hemingway]

I don't think teams are not making trades to save money for 2016. The Cap is going way up and most deals end up being close to even in terms of money.

Teams that are just over the cap or apron or whatever we are calling it might want to make a deal to save a bit for this season's taxes.

[BitterJim]

It could go either way.  There are some players that could be big targets (like Noah)

I figure there'll be one fairly big trade and a few smaller trades.  Plenty of rumors will be flying around.  I think it'll be less active than last year, but not necessarily a snoozefest

[Csfan1984]

I think it's going to be a very busy off season but not deadline. All things point to teams riding out the season. No team with a decent lottery pick is about to pass on a shot at Simmons. No team with a star is about to deal him with cap space coming to most the teams. Makes more sense to wait things out unless you are a bottom 5 team and want to stay bottom 5. 76ers, Lakers, Wolves, Suns all need to stay at bottom so they can sell.

[slamtheking]

I think that if the East continues to be bunched up and the West continues to look the the weaker conference, I would be surprised if there weren't a moderate amount of trades where Eastern teams acquire established players from the West.  Not necessarily All-stars being moved but solid rotation players that may shore up some holes on Eastern teams looking to climb in the standings.

I'd be very surprised if the C's don't swing some sort of deal at the deadline for just that purpose.

Key example -- Brandon Bass.  Solid backup PF.  everyone knows his game and what he brings.  playing for a crappy LA team so they have no reason to keep him rather than look to move him for a very late 1st or multiple seconds

[Kane3387]

Yeah

[saltlover]

Yeah, I think it'll be lighter this year.  Everyone's eyeing free agency, and everything is so bunched up.  No one will want to take on long term salary, and few teams will feel out of it enough to trade away players.

[CroCorvus]

I don't care for others as long as we do something to get better

[obnoxiousmime]

I think that this year the dominance of the top three teams (GS, SA, and CLE) will probably make some of the 2nd-tier "contenders" a little gunshy. Why lose assets in a futile attempt to overtake on of those teams? They're so good that it's not going to be as simple as just adding a solid role player. Neither do some of these teams have the assets required to get a real star.

I guess conversely you could say that the top-heavy nature of the league this year will trigger a sell-off from some of the teams that have used up their bullets and now have to start admitting to themselves a title isn't possible anymore. A team like Memphis comes to mind. I know they love Gasol and would probably keep him if told them he wanted to stay, but if they dealt him now they could really set up their team's rebuild. Conley would also fetch something nice, but he's still young enough that maybe Memphis re-signs him and keeps him around like the Blazers are doing with Lillard.

The Rockets also look like sellers when it comes to Dwight Howard. This year has proven there's something wrong with this core and since they can't give up on Harden, Dwight is expendable. Chicago looks like they want to take a slight step-back and build with a core that is closer in age to Jimmie Butler, and that means saying goodbye to 30+ year-olds Gasol, Gibson, and Noah.

[BudweiserCeltic]

It can go either way, but in generql I see little incentice for many teams to trade away their good players.