With less than two weeks to go until the NBA’s regular season begins, the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics have exchanged role players in a rare one-for-one trade.
Detroit sent longtime backup point guard Will Bynum to Boston for reserve center Joel Anthony, who went to the Celtics in the January multi-team deal that landed Toney Douglas in Miami and Jordan Crawford and MarShon Brooks in Golden State.
Bynum was a Piston since 2008, and since Rodney Stuckey joined the Pacers earlier this offseason, Detroit is without its last two holdovers from the playoff days of last decade. Clearly, Stan Van Gundy’s team is handing its backcourt completely off to Brandon Jennings and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Meanwhile, Anthony spent less than a year with the Celtics, and may not stick around very long in Detroit, which has an overload of big men. Also, Bynum might not spend a ton of time on the floor, or roster, for Boston as he enters a stocked backcourt with Rajon Rondo, rookie Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley and Phil Pressey to name a few.
This trade has the looks of a salary swap and probably nothing more. There is no doubt that Will Bynum is a serviceable player who can be useful as a backup in a team’s rotation that is lacking an experienced point guard.
Anthony, on the other hand, does not have that much to offer anymore. He has averaged less than 10 minutes per game the last two seasons after four years of double-digit minute playing time for the Heat, during which he won two NBA titles.
Not much intrigue with this exchange, but still a little interesting to see the Pistons dump Bynum for less than pennies on the dollar. He can score off the bench and be effective in 15-20 minutes per game. Even if he doesn’t stay with Boston, I’m sure he’ll latch on to some team, maybe in the NBA and maybe overseas.
