The NBA trade deadline passed on Thursday after a late flurry of activity that was more akin to Spring cleaning than teams fine tuning for the playoffs. Dumping salary and making room for off-season moves seemed to be the main motivation for the moves made before the deadline.
The Pacers benefited from this scenario, using available cap space to help the Raptors move a veteran scoring guard in Leandro Barbosa. The Raptors opened up some cap space along with some minutes for young guards on the roster to finish out the season.
Speaking of cleaning house, the Portland Trail Blazers essentially shut it down for the season, moving Gerald Wallace and Marcus Camby, while also waiving Greg Oden. Then they mercifully fired Nate McMillan which seemed like the right move for all involved after seeing their last two games.
The Blazers put up little fight against the Pacers on Tuesday night and then were drubbed in New York by the Knicks the next night. Young assistant coach Kaleb Canales will take over which seems fitting since he stuck out like a sore thumb on Portland's bench during the second half against the Pacers as the only person, player or coach, showing an interest and the energy to keep the Blazers fighting to the end.
Check out the links after the jump.
- PACERS: Caught in the Web Indiana Pacers blog: Barbosa deal could have big impact on lineup, rotations
- Pacers add a scorer off bench in Barbosa | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com
- Raptors Reportedly Moving Barbosa for Second Round Draft Pick - Raptors HQ
- NBA Trade Deadline: Raptors send Leandro Barbosa to Indiana Pacers - thestar.com
- Not flashy, but a solid pickup by the Pacers | Pacers Insider | The Indianapolis Star | IndyStar.com
- Poll - Raptors' Barbosa to Indiana for Second-Round Pick - Like? Disklike? - Raptors HQ
- Pacers G Paul George making name for himself with acrobatic dunks, shutdown defense - The Washington Post
- The Point Forward " Posts Pacers land guard Leandro Barbosa "
- Eye On Basketball - CBSSports.com Pacers trade pick for Raptors G Leandro Barbosa
- NBA Preview - Indiana Pacers at New York Knicks - Mar 16, 2012 - CBSSports.com
- Blazers move on, waive former No. 1 pick Greg Oden - NBA - SI.com
- Blazers fire Nate McMillan as coach - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
- The Point Forward " Posts The Blazers tank, the Rockets go big, the Lakers say goodbye "
- Lakers make moves, but inactive Magic, Celtics make biggest statements - Ian Thomsen - SI.com
- The Point Forward " Posts Wizards, Nuggets pull deadline stunner "
- Recapping a crazy day in Portland, where the Blazers began to clean house | ProBasketballTalk