Betting their basketball lives

Daryl Morey, Mike D’Antoni, and basketball's boldest experiment

BY DAVID THORPE and HENRY ABBOTT

Of the many deals at the trade deadline, almost all of which were discussed in Thursday’s exclusive video chat with TrueHoop subscribers, here are the moves that mattered most:  

• Marcus Morris Sr. to the Clippers makes the most difference to title odds, in the views of David Thorpe and our guest Nevada Smith (who has coached for the Rockets and Heat organizations). Smith now sees the Clippers as the title favorites. Thorpe picks the Clippers to win the West, and then to face a toss-up series against the Bucks.

• The Heat worked magic in dumping big-money contracts of Dion Waiters and James Johnson without giving up any of their coveted affordable young players. And then they gave a ton of money to a 36-year-old Andre Iguodala and still only rank as the East’s fourth-best team, in Thorpe’s view.

• The Grizzlies and Timberwolves now have the young stars on board that they will build around for the long-term. David particularly likes the mix in Memphis.

• The Warrio…