NBA: The Winners And Losers Of The NBA Trade Dud-Line

Detroit Pistons – WINNERS

Moves: Trade Ersan Ilyasova, Brandon Jennings To ORL for Tobias Harris; Trade First-Round Pick And Joel Anthony To HOU For Donatas Motiejunas And Marcus Thornton

If there was an MVP award for the NBA Trade Deadline, I think it would go to Stan Van Gundy. He had a mission of what he wanted to do at the deadline and he accomplished almost everything.

He added a shooter for a team that struggles with shooting, adding a nice (potential) stretch player that can be groomed next to Andre Drummond and took a chance on a player that, if nothing else, will be a free agent this summer – Donatas Motiejunas.

The criticism of SVG, if any, will be that he threw in a first-round pick in order to snag Motiejunas and Thornton from the Rockets. But that’s just how he operates. If he believes in a player, he’ll make the necessary sacrifice in order to get said player.

After the moves that the Pistons facilitated this past week, you have to think that Detroit is a shoe-in to make the playoffs.

Next: Houston Rockets