http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/4451 Recent articles about Francisco Elson en-us On the day that James Posey was introduced in New Orleans and vows to do whatever the coach asks of him for a team he sees poised to make a run at the title, the Celtics officially re-signed Eddie House and Tony Allen. On Sports Tonight, Tony said that the math was simple. If Posey signed, he and Eddie would have had to find a home elsewhere. It was one or the other. Danny said that Doc was worried about letting Tony go because he feels that Tony is going to have a break out year after watching him practice at the end of last season. Another player who would have fit nicely on the Celtics is off the market. The Rocky Mountain News reports that Chris Andersen is returning to the Nuggets. The Birdman had visited Boston for 2 days early in the free agency period and Danny seemed to have interest in him and vice versa. Now, Andersen has agreed to a one year contract with the Nuggets and will continue his NBA comeback in Denver where he was a fan favorite from 2001-2004. I was hoping the Celtics would sign him, even though they already signed Patrick O'Bryant to back up Perk since O'Bryant may be more of a project than immediate help and Andersen would come in with athleticism and energy off the bench at the center position. Good signing by the Nuggets. Denver was reported to be seriously considering signing Francisco Elson to replace the recently departed Marcus Camby. With Andersen signing in Denver, that leaves Elson out and looking for another team that may want him. Depending on how quickly Patrick O'Bryant develops, a one year league minimum contract to Elson might make sense for the Celtics. Although, it would remain to be seen how KG would feel about playing with a guy who called him gay. Another player who had been linked to the Celtics as a possible Posey replacement was Maurice Evans. Mercury News reports that the Warriors have signed Evans to a three-year, $6.4 million deal. This means that the Warriors will not match the offer that their restricted free agent Kelenna Azubuike signed with the Clippers. Evans would have made sense to replace Posey because he is an athletic swingman who's known as a solid defender and good three-point shooter and would have filled those roles left vacant by Posey's departure. The Clippers and Jazz have swapped point guards. The Clippers will receive Jason Hart from the Jazz and will send Brevin Knight to Utah. Last season, when the Celtics were in the market for a back up point guard, Knight was considered a serious candidate but signed with the Clippers instead while Sam Cassell was bought out by the Clippers and ended up signing with the Celtics. This is starting to feel like a game of 6 degrees of separation. In David Thorpe's chat on ESPN.com, he was asked what he thought about JR Giddens and whether he will amount to anything or if Danny wasted a pick on him. Thorpe's response was that his athleticism could be a help off the bench. And when asked which 3rd year guy he sees improving the most from his sophomore season, Thorpe mentioned that Rondo should improve his game overall for next season. The Portland Trail Blazers signed guard-forward Nicolas Batum on Wednesday. Batum played the past three seasons in the French ProA League. He was the 25th overall pick in the draft by Houston who traded his rights to Portland. Leading up to the draft, Batum was a popular choice on the mock drafts for the Celtics with the 30th pick. The OC Register reports that the Lakers are no longer pursuing a trade for Ron Artest. Instead of the Ron Ron rumors in Laker land, there is talk that the Lakers have joined a list of teams interested in signing Luol Deng. The Bulls and Deng are having a hard time coming to an agreement on a deal and so rather than risk losing him, they may resort to a sign and trade and the Lakers are interested in making an offer if it comes to that. I can see a pattern to the players that the Lakers are pursuing this off season. Both Artest and Deng are known for giving Paul Pierce a hard time on defense. One of the problems the Lakers had in the Finals was trying to stop Paul Pierce. Getting either Artest or Deng would assure them of having a player who has given Pierce problems in the past. Now, if they only had an answer for KG, Ray Allen and Leon Powe, they would be all set. The Sixers have reached an agreement with Royal Ivey, who spent last season with the Milwaukee Bucks. Ivey will not officially sign the minimum-salary contract until Monday, which is believed to be for 2 years and include a significant guarantee. Ivey will come off the bench to complement Lou Williams, that is, if the Warriors don't lure Williams away from Philly. That will give the Sixers 9 players under contract. Now that Josh Childress has made the leap to play in Europe next season, there is a lot of talk going around about other's following suit. Perhaps the most interesting is Jason Kidd talking about going to Europe when his contract is up. Playing in Europe could extend a player's career by a few years because they don't play the physical game that is found in the NBA. This is also why many European players have trouble adjusting to the NBA as they aren't used to the physical play that they run into when they come here. Carl Landry is also considering a jump to Europe if he can't get a satisfactory offer from an NBA team. Nenad Krstic is also considering joining fellow Nets free agent Bostjan Nachbar in accepting an offer to play overseas if he can't get the right deal from an NBA team. On the other hand, Bobby Brown, who made a big impression with his summer league play, rejected several offers to play overseas and is set to sign a 2 year deal with the Sacramento Kings. It seems that Brown was in demand as the Hornets pursues him along with Israel's Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Spanish giant Barcelona before he decided to accept the Kings' offer. Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:37:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294826 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294826 Assessing 5 possible replacements for the now departed Marcus Camby. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:32:09 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292287 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292287 Part 4 of a 4 part series assessing the future of the Washington Wizards is hosted on Bullets Forever. Part 4 is actually broken up into 3 parts, 4a focuses on free agent big men. Sun, 11 May 2008 14:18:30 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/265751 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/265751 The Celtics will be playing the Sixers on Monday night and I started thinking about why the Sixers are inexplicably playing so well. They have won 3 in a row and are in the thick of the playoff race, currently in 7th place. So, what is the secret of their success? I think I found the answer. Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:47:26 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/188309 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/188309 So with the trade deadline passing at 3PM yesterday and a flurry of blockbuster trades and signings in 2008, it is time to look at the winners and the losers. Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:32:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/161756 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/161756 We breakdown the fantasy implications of the trade which sent Kurt Thomas to San Antonio. Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:10:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/155267 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/155267 I understand trading Barry, but why Elson? Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:51:37 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/154959 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/154959 We've already seen this current formula the Phoenix Suns have prior to the Shaq Trade. It's an exciting tempo style with sexy scoring averages, and quite frankly the funnest track meet the regular season has to offer (p.s. if 'funnest' can't be a real word, then I don't want to ever use real words… ever). But when it matters, it's not enough. The other elite Western teams know how to ratchet it up to play 'Suns' ball when they are in must win, Playoff games, or more accurately they can make the Suns slow down, but can the Suns play slow it down ball? Looking at the pre-Shaq roster, one has to wonder how many versatile swingmen does one team need? If you ask John Paxson or Isaiah Thomas, they think you need somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 dynamic wings. But if Steve Kerr wants to field a Championship Western Conference team, then he is probably going to need to use one of his starter potential wings to go get someone aside from Brian Skinner to join Amare in the front court. Otherwise, Amare will be very lonely in the Post-Season efforts to defend teams that can throw: Bynum and Gasol, Chandler and West, Boozer and Okur, Yao and Scola, Camby and Martin and Nene, Duncan and Bonner/Elson, or even Harrington/Biedrins and Webber. And Nash will be very obligated to use transition ALL the time as the equalizer. So if Phoenix offers Grant Hill or Boris Diaw in a trade, what could that fetch? Oh, nothing remotely relevant? Okay, what if they offer the SF that they're losing at the end of the year anyway? Look, Shaq might not be an MVP anymore, he definitely won't be able to average the Mike D'Antoni mandated 52 minutes per game from his current starters, he won't run the floor with Marion-like speed after every defensive stop, and he won't be able to replicate the NBA's worst shooting form that the Matrix so proudly boasts (Now that Juwan Howard no longer carries the torch that Reggie Miller held for so long), but he what he will do in his pivot dominating style is get them over the hump. Nash doesn't need all 4 guys on the court to finish a fast break and maintain the pace of play advantage over Dallas, Utah, New Orleans, Golden State, San Antonio, Portland, Houston, Los Angeles or Denver. But now they have the option of dumping the ball to Shaq for a 2-man game in the post with Amare. Grind it out is a splendid option when you have the games most prolific foul drawer (Free Throw deficiencies be damned). Matter of fact, having ANYTHING as a second option is better than using Really Fast as your change of pace from Really Fast. Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:04:48 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/128588 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/128588 We Odenize the San Antonio Spurs, all straight-faced, cold-blooded and final. Our guest odenizer is Spurs expert Mike Monroe, who provided us with an EXCLUSIVE email about what the team might end up doing. Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:41:05 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/81294 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/81294 Spurs center Francisco Elson had played three-plus games without his protective facemask, but a forearm to the face from Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay prompted him to don the custom-fitted clear plastic device for the second half of the Spurs' game on Saturday night at the AT&T Center. Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:59:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/38442 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/38442 Spurs center Francisco Elson is going to have to give his coach, Gregg Popovich, a lesson in pop culture. Elson, who underwent surgery on Aug. 30 to repair a fractured orbital bone around his left eye, has been cleared for all activities when the Spurs begin training camp today at their practice facility. He will have to wear a protective facemask, which prompted Popovich to compare him to an infamous goalie mask-wearing character from a popular 1980s horror film. Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:34:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/29319 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/29319 On Episode 65 of the Spurscast, we talk about the two games on the Europe Live Tour against Adecco Asvel and Macabbi Tel-Aviv, observations about the Spurs new players and Beno is in the dog house…again! http://projectspurs.com/podcast/download/sc101806.mp3 Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:23:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/3644 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/3644