This year's NBA trade deadline was, in a word, epic. Several All-Stars were moved, which is significant enough -- but just as important, the volume of trades that took place and their potential implications for this season, this summer and beyond made this week unique. Because of this, we can put each team in one of three categories: teams going for it now, teams going for a brighter future and teams that didn't do much. And within each category, we can rank the teams along these lines: Who helped themselves? Who stumbled? And what about the teams that couldn't get something done? We've evaluated each team's execution at the trade deadline, with pros and cons for all 30 teams: From best to worst, in terms of moves made in an effort to win now Positive spin: I think the Cavs are now the odds-on favorite to win the NBA title this year. Antawn Jamison is a perfect acquisition for Cleveland -- an experienced veteran who fits a huge need for the Cavs as a stretch 4 and is a great guy in the locker room. Even better, the Cavs got him basically for free. Yes, they had to give up Zydrunas Ilgauskas and their first-round pick. But the Wizards will likely waive Big Z in time for him to rejoin the Cavs' roster. As for that pick, it's probably going to be No. 30 in the draft. For a chance to win a title, I'd say it's worth it. Negative spin: While the Cavs did a lot to convince LeBron that his present looks very promising in Cleveland, they did less to convince LeBron that his future in Cleveland will be bright. Jamison has two years and a whopping $28 million due to him after this season. And Jamison is no youngster: He turns 34 in June and is expected to start alongside an aging Shaquille O'Neal (who turns 38 in March), meaning the Cavs have done little to assure LeBron this team will stay at an elite level in future seasons. The Cavs believe that if they win a title this season, LeBron will be compelled to stay. Given all the suitors lining up to get their shot at him this summer, I'm not so sure. Unless he's in love with the potential of a supporting cast of J.J. Hickson, Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao, Cleveland could be trumped by teams offering younger, more talented teammates and a brighter future. Positive spin: Thanks to his wallet, Mark Cuban continues to milk more life out of the Mavericks. Getting Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood for Josh Howard and some expiring contracts was a steal for Dallas. While Butler and Howard are similar players offensively, Howard's game had grown stale in Dallas and he was having problems with coach Rick Carlisle. And Haywood may be the key to the trade. With Erick Dampier ailing, the Mavs needed another shot-blocker and rebounder, and when he's healthy, Haywood can be very effective. While I'm not sure the trade puts the Mavericks on par with the Lakers or Nuggets, it got them a lot closer and made them contenders in the West. The Mavericks also acquired assets that could be used in a LeBron James trade this summer. Cuban has been angling for James for years and could offer Butler's expiring contract plus Dampier's non-guaranteed contract to Cleveland if Bron just flat out tells the Cavs he isn't going to sign with them and only wants play in Dallas. It's a pipe dream, but one Cuban is still thinking about. Negative spin: Is it enough? Dallas is spending a ton of money, but I'm not sure Butler and Haywood put them over the top. While Butler is probably a better offensive player than Howard, he's not nearly the defender Howard is. Meanwhile, the Mavericks have just one young prospect, Rodrigue Beaubois, on their roster. If David Stern and the owners get a hard salary cap in 2011 and the Mavs can no longer turn expiring contracts into veterans, the team could be in for a very long rebuilding process. Positive spin: The Rockets fleeced the Knicks. GM Daryl Morey got a premium for taking on the last year of Jared Jeffries' deal. Jordan Hill, a swap of 2011 picks and a top-5 protected pick in 2012 was a lot of bounty just to take on Jeffries for the year. The team also replaced Tracy McGrady with one of the most efficient scoring 2-guards in the league, Kevin Martin. The 2-guard position just moved from a big weakness to a strength for Houston. Negative spin: I was shocked that the Rockets gave up Carl Landry. Not only is Landry having a fantastic year, but he's also one of the most reasonably paid big men in the league. I felt that he was part of the heart of the Rockets. And while Martin is clearly a talented offensive player, he's terrible on defense. The Rockets have been a gritty, hustle-oriented team this season. Martin doesn't really fit that mold. As a side note, the Rockets were in serious talks late with the Suns about an Amare Stoudemire deal. Had they landed STAT (for Shane Battier, Luis Scola and picks), they would've topped the list. Positive spin: The team was desperate for help up front, given the season-ending injuries to Greg Oden and Joel Przybilla. Marcus Camby is a great fit as a veteran shot-blocking, rebounding presence, and he has an expiring contract. Assuming Oden and Przybilla are healthy next fall, the Trail Blazers can walk away without having to continue to pay Camby, who meanwhile should secure the Blazers' position in the playoffs as a fourth or fifth seed. Negative spin: The Blazers had to give up two key assets. Blake was the team's backup point guard, and it remains to be seen whether Jerryd Bayless can pick up the slack. Travis Outlaw has been injured this season, but he has a lot of upside and was a tough asset to lose. Positive spin: Charlotte coach Larry Brown wanted another frontcourt player, and the Bobcats got Tyrus Thomas cheaply. Thomas has All-Star potential but has struggled to put it all together. If Brown can get through to him (he's had luck with Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace in the past), this could be a monster pickup for the Bobcats. Negative spin: The Bobcats had to give up a protected first-round pick for Thomas. If he's a dud, or if they can't re-sign him this summer, they blew a pick for a 30-game rental. Also, the team stumbled at the finish line on a deal that would've landed them T.J. Ford. It would have been a good deal for the Bobcats, but they couldn't make it happen. Positive spin: The Bucks are trying to be a playoff team and needed lots of help at the 2. While John Salmons isn't a franchise savior, he's a big upgrade over Charlie Bell. The team also picked up the right to swap picks with the Bulls, should Chicago fall into the lottery from losing Salmons and Thomas. Negative spin: Salmons might push the Bucks into the playoffs. I stress "might." He makes $5.8 million in salary next season, and if he doesn't get them to the playoffs, the Bucks wasted the cash. Other GMs around the league aren't happy that the Bucks gave the Bulls more wiggle room to sign a big free agent this summer. If the Bulls use it to land Dwyane Wade, the Bucks may have really hurt their chances of winning their own division in the near future. Positive spin: Nate Robinson is full of energy. He can be a dynamic scorer off the bench and should punch a little life into what's been a pretty lifeless Celtics team this year. Negative spin: I'm not sure Nate's going to be enough. The Cavs got significantly better. The Magic and Hawks also appear to be better positioned. Not moving Ray Allen (the Celtics did try) could haunt them. They may not be able to make another significant trade to start rebuilding until 2012. From best to worst, in terms of moves made to clear cap space in an effort to land a top-tier free agent this summer Positive spin: Give this to Donnie Walsh: The guy has stones. The Knicks went all-in on Thursday on their bid for LeBron James, trading away draft picks and prospects to get far enough under the cap to sign two superstars this summer. The Knicks cleared $9.4 million off the 2010-11 payroll by sending Jared Jeffries and Jordan Hill to the Rockets. That means the Knicks are looking at between $31 million and $32 million in cap space this summer. That should be enough to get a max contract and another contract very close to the max. If the Knicks land LeBron because of this, Walsh is the executive of the decade. Negative spin: The Knicks gave up a lot for the chance to woo LeBron and a free agent of his choice. They gave up this year's lottery pick (Hill), agreed to swap picks with the Rockets in 2011, and gave up a top-5 protected pick in 2012. If they sign LeBron and another superstar, no one will care. But if LeBron, Wade and Bosh all say no and the Knicks are stuck overpaying for Joe Johnson and David Lee to play alongside Danilo Gallinari with no point guard or center to speak of and zero depth, Walsh's decision could devastate the franchise for the next three or four years. I've never seen a GM take a bigger risk. Positive spin: The Bulls had cap space this summer, but not enough to make a run at a max free agent. Moving John Salmons for expiring contracts accomplished that. The Bulls now look to be between $18 million and $19 million under the cap this summer -- enough to pay Wade, LeBron or Bosh. With Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah as a supporting cast, the Bulls should have a very persuasive pitch. The team also salvaged a protected first-round pick from Charlotte for Tyrus Thomas. Negative spin: In the short term, the Bulls hurt themselves. Currently, they are in the playoff hunt. After the trade of Salmons and Thomas, I wouldn't be surprised if the Bucks pass them. The trade of Thomas was also a painful admission that the Bulls made the wrong selection in the 2006 draft -- they picked Thomas over Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay. Positive spin: What looked like yet another random Clippers salary dump Tuesday suddenly became a semi-serious pitch for LeBron on Thursday. The Clippers were able to clear enough cap space (around $16 million) to make a run at LeBron or another elite free agent this summer. Think it's impossible that LeBron would say yes to the Clips? On the surface, sure. But the team will have Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon, Baron Davis, Chris Kaman and a lottery pick and will be able to hire the coach of LeBron's choosing in the NBA's second biggest market. In other words, they'd have a lot going for them if their owner weren't Donald Sterling. Negative spin: The Clippers' owner is Donald Sterling. That alone puts any talk about LeBron bolting to the Clips in the "ridiculous" category. The team gave away a couple of assets in Marcus Camby and Al Thornton and really got only one other thing besides cap space in return -- the right to overpay Travis Outlaw this summer, if they want. Positive spin: The Kings were going nowhere and needed to find a way to get an asset for Kevin Martin before everyone in the league got off K-Mart 2's bandwagon. Tyreke Evans is the new alpha dog in Sacramento and wasn't meshing with Martin. The fact that the Kings got both cap relief and Carl Landry is pretty amazing. Landry is perfect for Sacramento. The Kings were one of the softest teams in the league a few years ago. Now with Evans, Landry, Andres Nocioni and Omri Casspi, they have some real toughness. Plus, the Kings should be sitting at something like $15 million to $17 million under the cap (depending on where they draft) next summer. If they want, they could be real players in the free-agent market, too. Negative spin: Not much to scoff at here except one thing: I thought the Kings should've offered to take on Jared Jeffries' contract and reaped the benefits (Jordan Hill plus picks). I think it would've been more valuable to them in the long term. Maybe they had no choice, but they may have been taken a little advantage of there. Positive spin: The nightmare is starting to end. The Wizards were going nowhere and needed to rebuild from scratch. Caron Butler was struggling. Brendan Haywood's contract was expiring. Antawn Jamison, at 33, wasn't going to be productive much longer. GM Ernie Grunfeld did the right thing by pulling the plug. The team slashed payroll dramatically, getting under the luxury tax this season and getting nearly $20 million below the salary cap next year. Josh Howard is still a good player who may just need a change of scenery. They did pick up a young prospect, Al Thornton, and the Cavs' first-round pick (likely No. 30) in 2010. Negative spin: The future is still very much in doubt in Washington. The team is still on the hook for the remaining four years and $80 million of Gilbert Arenas' deal. And it appears they will not buy out his contract and expect him to be back with the team starting next season. Also, the Wizards didn't get any serious prospects back for three of their best players. Unless JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche or Nick Young really breaks out, they don't really have any great building blocks. I doubt the Wizards will be a hot free-agent destination this summer. In other words, Wizards fans, the pain may not be over for a while. From best to worst, in terms of small moves made Positive spin: The Grizzlies picked up Ronnie Brewer for the price of a protected 2011 draft pick. Given the protections, the Jazz may not see it for a few years. In other words, they didn't give up much to get a guy who should help them right now. Negative spin: I'm still not sure it will be enough to propel Memphis into the playoffs. But there's more bad news, Grizzlies fans. With so many teams getting under the cap, it almost guarantees that one of them will panic this summer and overpay for Rudy Gay. (The Knicks, Nets, Clippers and Wizards all like him.) Will Michael Heisley really pay the max for Gay? If not, chances are they lose him this summer. Positive spin: Many coaches and GMs have tried to rehabilitate Darko Milicic. The only team with any success was the Magic. The Knicks made up the difference in contracts in the trade, so they get to try him out for free for the next two months. Coach Kurt Rambis thinks he can reach Darko. If he can, it would be a steal. Negative spin: Larry Brown, Flip Saunders and Mike D'Antoni couldn't get through to him (though in fairness, I'm not sure any of them really tried). Do you really think Kurt Rambis can? Word is that Darko doesn't even want to make the trip to Minnesota. This experiment may end before it begins. Positive spin: Jodie Meeks is a nice young prospect who really knows how to score. Negative spin: I'm not sure he was worth a second-round pick. Positive spin: The Spurs saved a little money. Negative spin: It felt as though the Spurs needed to be much more active at the trade deadline. The team is getting too old. I was looking for San Antonio to shake things up more. They explored deals for Amare Stoudemire and Corey Maggette but couldn't make things happen. 5. UTAH JAZZ Positive spin: Once the luxury-tax savings are factored in, the Jazz saved millions by moving Ronnie Brewer. They were made whole by a protected pick from the Grizzlies down the road. Negative spin: Brewer was a good prospect. Not sure what happened to him this year. If he excels in Memphis, they may regret letting him go. • Click here for Ford's rankings of the 13 teams who didn't make a deadline moveGoing for it
Going for LeBron
Minor players
