Garbage Time: Trade deadline edition

Garbage Time, theScore's NBA roundtable series, continues. We're talking trade deadline - it was most exciting.

Blake Murphy: Well, that was a crazy hour or so. What appeared to be a painfully slow deadline at 2:30 p.m. ET became the busiest ever.

With 22 teams within two games of a playoff spot, Thursday wasn't about buyers and sellers so much as it was about roster balancing and dice-rolling.

I was a little surprised the Suns didn't call Goran Dragic's bluff, and their day as a whole is tough to evaluate given all the moving pieces. Surrendering the Lakers' top-five protected pick could be tough to swallow, especially if Brandon Knight is overpaid as a RFA, but the Suns clearly felt they needed a culture shock.

That shakeup probably leaves the Suns on the outside of the playoffs looking in, especially with the Thunder solidifying their depth in a serious way. Moving on from Reggie Jackson was hardly surprising, but landing Enes Kanter in return certainly was. He's not Brook Lopez, but he's a better economic fit, even after he earns an RFA payday this summer.

I'm not a big Jackson fan, but the Pistons made out pretty well to improve their playoff odds and get matching rights on him this summer for a few second-rounders and depth pieces. The Heat landing Dragic would have made them a big threat in that race, too, but losing Chris Bosh for the season obviously hurts a great deal.

I wasn't surprised with the inactivity of some of the league's best teams. With so few true sellers shopping needle-moving players, it likely wasn't worth it for teams like the Hawks, Warriors, Spurs and Raptors to risk chemistry and stability for a marginal upgrade.

Chris Toman: A lot of smart trades were made during a wild deadline day, but the Minnesota Timberwolves' seemingly emotional decision to part with Thaddeus Young - whom they coughed up a first rounder to get - for a reunion with aging veteran Kevin Garnett was not one of them.

They weren't alone in the surprise department, though.

The 76ers cutting ties with K.J. McDaniels and Michael Carter-Williams - two young, useful pieces that appeared to be part of Philadelphia's rebuild - in an effort to hoard more picks and once again take their chances in the draft was unexpected. Point guard is a deep position, and Carter-Williams has major flaws, but he seemed a safe bet to run the offense at least during his rookie contract. But this probably does nothing really in setting the 76ers back further.

The Portland Trail Blazers did well to add solid wing depth and snag Arron Afflalo for a playoff run, while the Milwaukee Bucks secured a nice haul for restricted free agent Brandon Knight. Milwaukee was realistic that keeping Knight around was unlikely to help them do anything in the playoffs, and received assets for a player the organization clearly didn't think it was going to retain. The Bucks received a cheaper, albeit worse, point guard in Carter-Williams, in addition to 7-foot rotation piece Miles Plumlee, while taking a flyer on 2014 first rounder Tyler Ennis. Milwaukee did well to acquire that trio for a player it could could have lost for nothing, in a season in which the team has been a pleasant surprise, but looks like a one-and-done squad come playoff time.

John Chick: The most underrated move was Afflalo to the Blazers. Portland got some necessary wing depth and didn't really give up much. In purely the sense of a Western Conference team adding a need, he was their Jeff Green or Rajon Rondo. There's a natural instinct to bash the Suns and the 76ers for their moves, but given their track records, both were pretty much par for their ridiculous courses - the Suns turned their three point-guard mistake into an RFA point guard in Brandon Knight, and the Sixers stuck to their guns on the 19-year rebuilding plan.

At first I wasn't crazy about the Celtics adding Isaiah Thomas alongside Marcus Smart, but I'm warming to it. Perhaps I had been assuming the Celtics would add another point guard through the Goran Dragic rumors, which would have been a bad fit. Dragic is a good fit in Miami, though. It's just too bad for them about Bosh. The Bucks are taking a gamble with chemistry by replacing MCW with Knight.

William Lou: The biggest surprise was the Bucks-Suns-76ers trade. In a vacuum, it makes sense for every team. The Suns nab a replacement for Dragic, the Bucks get three assets including a potential Jason Kidd protege in Carter-Williams and the Sixers get a lottery pick.

But it cuts against every team's trajectory. With Dragic forcing his way out of Phoenix, the Suns looked to be revving up a delayed rebuild, but grabbing a soon-to-be restricted free agent in Knight runs opposite to that. Similarly, the Bucks had good chemistry with a surprisingly upstart group of long-armed defenders, but swapping Knight for MCW midseason could potentially sink their playoff chances. Finally, the Sixers just rebuilt their rebuild, which must really test an already tortured fanbase.

Elsewhere, a few contenders could have made a few additions. The Bulls, for example, could have picked up a solid 3-point shooting wing. Same with the Raptors. But there are still buyout candidates up for grabs, which might have been the more cost-effective route for potential contenders.

The most underrated deal, and I'm not joking: the Kings grabbing Andre Miller was a great move. It cost Sacramento nothing and it gives head coach George Karl a coach on the floor. For a team wracked with locker-room issues, acquiring a consummate professional in Miller will pay dividends that transcend the boxscore.