To Milwaukee - Corey Maggette, 2010 2nd round pick
To Golden State - Dan Gadzuric, Charlie Bell
I'm a closet Maggette fan, have been since he entered the league and he's someone I have lobbied for the Mavericks to trade for seemingly every off season. He's a knucklehead, for sure, but I honestly don't think that's all his fault. He has been on losing teams his entire career and I think that fact gets underestimated. When you lose 50-60 games a year, you develop a mentality wherein you just try to make your stats look good because really, it doesn't matter how much of a team player you are, you're still losing 50-60 games. So while he can DEFINITELY be a ball hog and a loose wheel on defense, I think his positives potentially outweigh the negatives.
Mags is a FREAKISH athlete with one of the most physically imposing bodies I've ever seen on a swingman. He drives hard and finishes with contact and at times in his career he's been a decent outside shooter, though he doesn't focus much time on that part of his game. He rebounds well for his position and has the tools to play good defense. Most importantly he is a free throw waiting to happen. Some guys have a knack for getting foul calls and Maggette is the king of this. He can absolutely fill it up on any given night. I love this trade for the Bucks. A team that had next to no offensive fire power and no one to take shots besides Brandon Jennings now has a tried and true scorer who fits in perfectly. And Scott Skiles, as much as he beats me down, is known for forcing players to play defense and that may be exactly what Maggette needs to turn himself into a legit defender. Plus, this move costs the Bucks absolutely nothing. NOTHING.
On the flip side, Maggette was never a good fit for Golden State. A bad team that has no discipline and a coach who never has cared about defense or effort is a recipe for disaster combined with Maggette. The Warriors were pretty much trying to trade Maggette from the moment they signed him to an overpriced contract (seriously, they were looking to move him within two months). So while Gadzuric and Bell bring very little in the way of on court contribution, their contracts expire a year earlier. I'm never a fan of a team making trades just for the sake of saving money. It's the worst thing about the NBA right now in my opinion (safe for the officiating, of course). But in this case, the Warriors are simply riding themselves of a mistake they made several years ago and trying to start over.
Milwaukee Grade: A+ Golden State: B
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