[Updated] Grading the Crawford - Barbosa trade

He seems to be happy.
I had already posted some statistics about Jordan Crawford early in the morning because that deal made too much sense, (CelticsLife: always gives you the fastest updates and insights) but now that it's official I would like to delve more into the subject.

First of all, the Celtics have found the almost perfect replacement for Leandro Barbosa. Jordan Crawford is a slightly downgraded microwave oven that comes without the 3-point feature and might overcook your meals sometimes, but it works now, so that's sort of a huge plus. Here are the per 36 minutes stats this year:

Jordan Crawford: 18.4 pts, 3.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.2 steals, .415 FG%, .345 3pt%
Leandro Barbosa: 15.2 pts, 3.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.2 steals, .430 FG%, .383 3pt%

This trade is an absolute win for the Celtics: We've gotten a role player to exactly fill a void as needed. Moreover, he's young and has great upside if he improves his basketball IQ. The player we've traded away has an expiring contract, so if we want him next year, we can still get him (remember the Marquis deal to Sacramento? This is even better because that deal included cash, whereas this one is absolutely free) He's guaranteed an insignificant amount of money for next season ($2.2 mil), so a little bit of tax won't hurt. I give it an A.

The Wizards, well, they weren't playing him anyway and he wanted out desperately. They have saved 2.2 million for next year, so there's that. They could have turned him into something I presume, but they are the Wizards after all, so I'll give them a B.

Now, what lies ahead is a bit tricky. We still have one roster spot open, and that will most certainly be used for a big. If only we could get JJ Hickson since Portland is asking for just a pick, but his salary is unaffordable for us unless we send Terry away, which is not happening. He will wait to see all the free agents available, and then will sign one of them, and despite the lack of interest so far, that big might end up being K-Mart.

Anyway, we have 14 players, our backcourt is deep again and the core is intact. I'm sure we're all happy to some extent.

Update: ESPN Trade Machine doesn't think the deal as reported is possible. We might be sending away another player. Let's wait and see.

Update 2: Yep, the trade machine was right. We've sent Jason Collins to the Wizards as part of the trade.

The Celtics trade doesn't change as it is already an A, the Wizards drop to a B-/C+.

By the way, the Celtics now have two roster spots open. We'll definitely sign two bigs, and we'll keep T-Will. This keeps getting better and better.
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