The Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards have made some changes. Not with each other, but through other NBA teams that felt the trades were fair enough to contribute to these two teams.

The first trade that went through was by the Washington Wizards and also included the New Orleans Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies. With Gilbert Arenas out of the line up and the team struggling in the Eastern Conference, management felt it was the right time to acquire some talent at the guard position.

The three team trade brought Javaris Crittenton and Mike James to the Wizards, the Hornets got Antonio Daniels from Washington and the Memphis Grizzlies got a future first round pick.

Not a bad deal all around but not nearly the deal that came later in the day between the Phoenix Suns and the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Charlotte Bobcats sent Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley to Phoenix in return for Boris Diaw, Raja Bell, and Sean Singletary.

Many analysts have already started criticizing the Bobcats and Larry Brown and saying that the Suns walk away the clear winners in this trade. I don’t know. My first though was, oh, here is another Shaq-like deal for Steve Kerr trying to get himself out of the first mistake. Imagine if Marion was still playing here and Porter was coaching this defense first mindset. Don’t you think the team would be playing better than they currently are?

Richardson is a great player but he has never been a true superstar and has never been a real leader. He can play well and at some times really well, but I am not sure he is what the Suns needed. The Suns are really missing a real small forward now. They have the same gap that the Lakers had last year that was finally filled with the small forwards they had that developed into better players.

Speaking of trades and small forwards. Anyone know exactly why Vladimir Radmanovic was benched during last night’s game? Is there a trade on the verge that the Lakers are resting him for and trying to avoid him getting hurt? Hmmmm….