On Monday afternoon, the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets completed a major trade involving overpaid All-Star guard Joe Johnson and a set of make-weights and scraps. Almost immediately, conventional wisdom developed that the Nets had dealt themselves into, as our Kelly Dwyer argued, a couple years of middling playoff appearances (and losing out on Dwight Howard) while the Hawks had given themselves the flexibility to make a big splash in the future, either for Howard, Chris Paul (the man they famously passed on in the 2005 draft), or both.
In other words, the Hawks probably won the trade, especially after ridding themselves of two seasons of Marvin Williams for just one year of Devin Harris. Yet, whenever we analyze a trade, it’s important to remember that they’re concocted and carried out by general managers and personnel men operating in different work environments. In the case of this trade, the circumstances of new Hawks GM Danny Ferry and two-year Nets GM Billy King affected what looked like a good trade for both men.
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