Sunday Shootaround

Two weeks ago no one would have imagined that DeMarcus Cousins would be in New Orleans or that Paul George’s future would represent the most dramatic subplot of the deadline. But that was before new realities began to appear on the horizon.

Start with the new collective bargaining agreement that goes into effect this summer. As with all CBAs, the NBA sought to give small market teams an increased hometown advantage in keeping their players. And as with all CBAs, it didn’t take long to figure out that what appears to be on the surface doesn’t bear itself out in the details.

At issue is the Designated Player Exception, a mechanism that would allow teams to sign their homegrown stars to massive extensions provided said stars reached certain levels of achievement. The list of players it will serve is more narrow than it first appeared. Only those who have an MVP, a Defensive Player of the Year, or made an appearance on an All-NBA team the season prior to signing an extension are eligible, provided they were drafted by their team.

George, for example, wouldn’t qualify for the DPE unless he somehow managed to make an All-NBA team ahead of one of the following: LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Anthony Davis. There may be others ahead of PG in the pecking order, but that’s already a formidable list.

He could still reach that threshold next season and at his age that certainly isn’t out of the question. But that’s a tight gamble when you’re playing with franchise money. The bottom line for George and the Pacers is that without an All-NBA performance there’s no DPE, and with no DPE, there’s no massive extension on the table.

The Pacers could still offer George more than other teams, but with the franchise running in neutral the last few years and the siren song of Los Angeles beckoning, the likelihood of retaining him is less certain than it might have initially appeared. So George was in play on Thursday. Sort of.

The Nuggets reportedly made an offer that was described as monstrous, although it didn’t include their main monster in Nikola Jokic. The Hawks were said to have offered a bushel full of draft picks, although a cursory examination of Atlanta’s assets reveals a whole lot of middling choices. And then the Celtics, armed with their cache of goodies loomed in the background as they did over everything else on Thursday.

Nothing came of any of it, except for George’s wounded pride. Fittingly, he offered the most Emo quote of the deadline to reporters in Indianapolis.

"I kind of was on the ropes, just like you guys were, on what was about to happen," George said. "It was kind of a dark moment of uncertainty. That was the frustrating part. You want me to be your guy here, thought I would have been in the loop a little more on (trade talks)."

A dark cloud of uncertainty is what has hovered over Cousins since he came into the league. But what did appear certain, until last weekend, was that the Kings intended to offer that DPE and Boogie was inclined to accept it.

Whether it was the reality of forking over $208 million to a player who has cycled through coaches and never tasted the postseason, or the fever dream of an impatient owner, Cousins is no longer a King. What seemed preposterous at first, quickly became a reality as Cousins was dealt to New Orleans in a hasty, thrown-together transaction.

The ramifications of this deal will last years. For the Kings, who gave up Cousins for pennies on the dollar, it represents a quickie divorce from the player they had tied their franchise to for six and a half years. For the Pels it signals a drastic change in direction for a franchise that was floundering. Now they have to figure out a way to make their massive frontline work in a league that’s gone smaller and sleeker.

Cousins, meanwhile, is now in what should be a much stronger situation playing alongside Anthony Davis. But he’s out a significant sum of money and there’s no guarantee this pairing will be anything more than a fascinating experiment.

On a much smaller scale, the 76ers finally paid the price for amassing all those centers in the draft. It was hardly the return their fans envisioned. In trading Nerlens Noel for a wing player who has never made a dent in the rotation and heavily-protected first-round pick that will likely yield a pair of second rounders, Bryan Colangelo sold low on what should have been a position of strength.

The issue is that Colangelo waited too long to move Noel and he never got a full picture of whether he could play with Joel Embiid. Throw in the idea that Noel should thrive in Dallas playing for Rick Carlisle and this has the potential to look very bad in a few years. This wasn’t the worst move at the deadline — Justin Anderson does have some upside — but it was curious in its execution.

Then there were the Bulls, who have vacillated between full scale teardown and a retooling effort that has left everyone scratching their heads. The latest was an odd trade that sent out longtime stalwart Taj Gibson along with second-year forward Doug McDermott to the Thunder for Cam Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne, and Anthony Morrow. That a second-round pick was attached to the cost of the deal only made it feel stranger for the Bulls, who gave up a ton of draft assets to move up and take McDermott less than two years ago.

Unless Lauvergne suddenly blossoms into a capable big man, this deal was all about acquiring Payne, who has only shown flashes of being a capable point guard. This is the latest gambit in solving that positional quagmire that has so far yielded Rajon Rondo, Michael Carter-Williams, and Jerian Grant. For their sake, Payne had better be the answer to a question that has vexed the Bulls all year.

Left unsettled by the deadline was the status of Jimmy Butler, their would-be franchise player who has emerged as not only an All-Star, but a bonafide All-NBA performer under less than ideal circumstances. The obvious play here would be to build around Butler, but the Bulls continued to play semantic games with their efforts.

"I’ve always felt this way about team building and a team in general: There are very few guys who you build around," vice president John Paxson said. "This is a team game. You build with players. We are building with Jimmy (Butler) right now. Maybe outside of a handful of guys who ever played this game, you build with players, not around one.’’

Butler is arguably one of the 10 best players in the league. If you’re not building a roster with him at the forefront of your decision-making process, then what, exactly, are you doing?

Hovering over all of this were the Celtics, who made a play for Butler during last year’s draft and explored deals for Noel in the past. They were never in on Boogie, but they could have presumably had him if they wanted. They were also involved with George, although to what extent remains unclear.

In the end, Danny Ainge didn’t want to break up his team and lose his precious draft picks at the same time. So the C’s stood pat. Again.

We’ve been over this a million times, and you can talk yourself into circles debating whether Ainge should have pulled the trigger on a blockbuster. That assumes there was a blockbuster move to be made and it also assumes that the cost wouldn’t have been so prohibitive that it would have short-circuited the present at the expense of the future. For the Celtics and everyone else, it’s not just a question of getting better, it’s a matter of beating LeBron James in the spring.

By doing nothing, the C’s still have a shot at a top seed in the East, a top pick in a loaded draft, and cap space to maneuver this summer. That’s not terrible. Timing is everything and while patience may be running thin for some, time is still very much on Ainge’s side.

Back in 2007, Ainge went to the draft lottery hoping to position the franchise to select Kevin Durant. When the draw turned up the No. 5 instead of a top-two choice the mood in the Celtics’ room turned dark and morose. According to several people who were there, the only person who maintained a positive outlook was Ainge.

Within a month he had traded the pick and a handful of assets for Ray Allen. A month later he cashed in his remaining chips to land Kevin Garnett. Wouldn’t it be something if history repeated itself a decade later?