Ken Berger on Trade Deadline and Josh Smith Future

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This is how business is done now in the NBA. No blockbuster trades in February. Few, if any teams are willing to absorb future salary, which would clog up their books and restrict access to tools needed to improve their rosters. Nobody is willing to give up draft picks as incentive to move a contract or rent a player for the stretch run. No more Monopoly money.

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Who your agent is and where you insist on being traded won't matter as much anymore. What will matter is the draft -- picks are more coveted than ever -- not to mention smart, long-term planning, player development and scouting. There's no more running up the credit card bill and then dumping it on the next guy, who will in turn dump it on somebody else. Everyone, every team, has to do the work now -- has to scout well, draft well, develop players and build

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Now, Smith will be a test case for something that has not happened in the recent free-agent exodus, from LeBron to Carmelo Anthony to Dwight Howard: Will someone finally take a shorter deal and less money to go play where he wants? LeBron and Carmelo didn't, and Howard is set up to get his five-year max deal from the Lakers this summer.Smith isn't in that category, but he's an important player who will find a home – a guinea pig of sorts for this new world order in the NBA. 

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