Trade Deadline

by Adonal Foyle

The clock is ticking and teams around the league (particularly in the Eastern Conference) are making some last-minute deals to make that serious playoff push.

As of this post, there have been two blockbuster deals that went down in just as many days. The New York Knicks picked up the star player they wanted, acquiring Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups from the Denver Nuggets. And even though they're not in the playoff picture right now, the New Jersey Nets are looking toward the future, making a deal with the Utah Jazz for point guard Deron Williams.

After seeing all of this go done in the past two days, one thing that is clear about these deals - the East is getting stronger and stronger every day. As you know, we had a series of trades earlier this season when we picked up Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu from Phoenix and Gilbert Arenas from Washington. But we are always looking for ways to make us better. It's no secret that we are in need of another big man to back up Dwight Howard. At the same time, we're not going to do something just because. If we make a deal, we are going to do it because it will be in the best interest of the team and it's going to make us better down the road.

Otis Smith has been amazing with this process. He always says if a deal doesn't help the team, he's not going to do it for the sake of doing it. Other questions must come into play, such as what are we willing to give up to get what we need. That particular question is something you always struggle with when you're in the front office because sometimes the pieces you currently have are good pieces.

At the end of the day, when you're looking to make a move, you have to do what you have to do in order to make the team better. But we're not going to do something if it doesn't make sense for the team, regardless what our need is.

By the trade deadline, we will have a better idea how this team will look. So stayed tuned.

- Adonal