The Rotation: Plenty of Big Names Traded, but Few Will Help Their New Teams

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Edwards.

The NBA has seen an unprecedented amount of player movement this season, including three deals which can only be described as flat out blockbusters. But as the choke-time Mavericks and suddenly atrocious Suns are learning, bringing in new, big name talent doesn't necessarily make your team better. It just makes it different, and different isn't likely to get you to the Finals. Now that the hype has blown over, it's clear that the Lakers have built themselves for a title, while the Suns and Mavericks are worse off than before they started. But why?

The trading-for-a-superstar craze began of course with the Celtics. Boston's off-season acquisitions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett -- along with the team running out to a fast start and the league's best record -- "proved" a couple of things to general managers everywhere. One, teams that aren't going anywhere are willing to move their superstars, for the price of young unproven talent and/or some players with expiring contracts. This creates immediate flexibility for future moves under the salary cap, and/or buys the GM years of job security while waiting for the young players to come into their own. And two, guess what? When you have a team stocked with All-Stars, there's a good chance that you can compete for a title.

If the Celtics piqued GMs' interests, the Lakers' moves seemed to convince them that they needed to make moves during the season. As their young center Andrew Bynum developed ahead of schedule, it was apparent that the Lakers' window of opportunity had sprung open again. When Bynum went down with a knee injury, the Lakers' GM scoured the league for available big men. What he found was a fire sale going on in Memphis, which allowed him to all but steal Pau Gasol for ... you guessed it, an expiring contract (Kwame Brown) and some young unproven talent (rookie Javaris Crittenton).

Pau Gasol stepped in and played as if he'd been a Laker from day one. He had 24 and 12 in his debut against the Nets, and the team has won 12 of 14 since he joined. You could feel the pressure ratcheting up around the West with each of those Gasol-backed wins. And so the Suns and the Mavericks violated the age-old rule about not going shopping when you're hungry.

Both teams thought that bringing Hall-of-Famers in at the twilight of their careers would get them to the Finals. But neither of the arriving superstars fit like Gasol. Instead, it looks like they've actually made their new teams worse.

The Suns have played an admittedly tough schedule since Shaq has arrived, but it's clear that Shawn Marion was a much better fit to play alongside Amare Stoudemire. Marion is a slasher who can play inside, hit three-pointers, and actually defend a key player on the opposing team. Shaq, on the other hand, has basically become a glorified version of Ben Wallace, putting up low point and high rebound totals, while simply clogging up the team's half court sets and preventing Nash from being the distributor that he was in his two MVP seasons. Shaq was supposed to allow Phoenix to match up with Bynum and Gasol in the playoffs. The way the club looks now, there's a good chance their season will end before they ever get the chance. And a year or two from now when Shaq is long gone, they'll have given up a versatile player in Marion (who still has several good years left), and will have nothing to show for it.

The Mavericks' pickup of Jason Kidd got off to a decent enough start, but in the team's three games against playoff teams, they ended up with three losses. In one of those losses (against the Spurs), Kidd was benched due to his poor shooting in crunch time, and in another (against the Lakers), he missed a critical free throw when he was left in the game down the stretch. Yes, Dirk's shooting percentage has picked up since Kidd's arrival, but again, that's against teams like Memphis, Chicago, and Minnesota: not exactly the league's elite. And the fact that they gave up their only depth at center in DeSagana Diop -- along with a rising star like Devin Harris -- not only weakened the club for a playoff run against tall teams like the Lakers, Suns, and Spurs, but also made the future look pretty bleak once Kidd's playing days are done.

The other teams that attempted to improve their rosters for a playoff run (Cleveland, San Antonio, Atlanta) had the sense to resist mortgaging their futures. That may have something do with the fact that the Spurs and Cavs are postseason overachievers and the Hawks are a franchise on the rise. None of them showed the desperation that the Suns and Mavs did. Now, after years of failing to match their regular season hype, you can almost hear their championship window of opportunity slamming shut.

Watch or Die: Judge for Yourself

The blockbusters made the headlines, but there were several role players that moved to contenders as well. Following are key dates left on the regular season calendar that should give us an indication of who helped (or more importantly, hurt) their team's chances of advancing deep into the playoffs.

Pistons at Celtics, 3/5: Detroit will likely see two players that they didn't see the last time these two teams met. P.J. Brown is already in place, and there's a good chance Sam Cassell will be a Celtic by the time this one goes down.

Spurs at Suns, 3/9: In what will be Shaq's 10th game as a Sun, we'll see if he's acclimated to the team's style (or vice-versa) yet. Tim Duncan and the Spurs' new acquisition, Kurt Thomas will be equally tested on the national stage.

Mavs at Lakers, 4/4: If Andrew Bynum's coming back this season, he should be back for this one. Which means Dallas will see if Kidd's playmaking skills outweigh Eric Dampier and Jamaal Magloire likely struggling to contain Bynum and Pau Gasol.

Mavs at Suns, 4/6: With 10 days left in the regular season, this will be the test to see if either of these teams have been able to make things work. The Suns have size, Dallas has little ... should be a good day for Shaq.

Spurs at Lakers, 4/14: With both teams at full strength and wanting to send a message for the upcoming playoffs, this should be an absolute war.

Cavs vs. Pistons: 3/19, 3/29, 4/16: You read that correctly, the Cavs face Detroit three times in the last month of the season. Normally the lesser team here (Cleveland) might lament their unusually tough schedule, but not in this case. The Cavs had the biggest roster shakeup in terms of bringing new players into the fold to play alongside LeBron James. They'll take as many tests like this as they can to make adjustments and fine tune their club for another run at the Finals.