The Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat kicked off the trade deadline season in earnest on Friday by finally completing the much-rumored and discussed Jermaine O'Neal, Jamario Moon and a conditional pick for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks trade.
Miami seemed to be the ones that delayed this trade and it's value for Toronto would have been much greater a month ago when being five games out of the eighth spot isn't so daunting with three months left in the season instead of two.
Marion is the defensive, slasher forward that the Raptors needed and he should be closer to the Phoenix version than the Miami version when playing with a healthy Bosh and Calderon. But he will be a free agent this summer and with every piece of the organization focused on keeping Bosh, there is no certainty that he will re-sign. O'Neal's $23M expiring contract would have been tremendously valuable in the 2010-obsessed culture of this coming summer and next February's deadline.
Even though O'Neal has had some monster point/block performances over the past couple of weeks, it reaully wasn't resulting in wins. He wasn't a very good fit and this will free up Andrea Bargnani at the five and creates one of the best frontcourts in the NBA with Bosh and Marion.
Banks was a salary dump for Miami and will not eat up any of the minutes now going to Roko Ukic.
Catching the eighth seed will be extremely difficult albeit not impossible for Toronto, but the ideal scenario as I see it would be to play encouraging and impressive ball while still ultimately finding themselves with a solid lottery pick to target a Tyreke Evans or Jrue Holiday; an athletic guard that can actually beat his man off the dribble from the perimeter and get to the basket.
From Miami's perspective, there is little risk involved on any level. Marion wasn't winning or losing games for Miami and there was virtually no chance of him re-signing over the summer. Michael Beasley will now get more minutes and he will prove very capable of filling that time, as will Moon, who shouldn't be relegated to an afterthought by any means.
O'Neal is much more of a fit in Miami's system on both ends of the floor than he ever was for the Raptors. His All-Star days are effectively over because of the lingering injuries, but I expect a legitimate resurgence for him. Playing beside Dwyane Wade will help his offense and his defensive abilities will be particularly useful in the playoffs.
Miami is still not on the level of Boston or Cleveland, but I think they are now every bit as dangerous as the Jameer-less Magic.
This is a trade that clearly benefits both teams though probably not enough to get over the top in either case (playoffs for Raptors, Conference Finals for Miami).
Grade for Toronto: B+
Grade for Miami: B-