Yardbarker: Cleveland Cavaliers

USA Massacres Canada 120-65

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:00:12 -0500

If LeBron sat out and USA crushed them by 55 points, how much more would they have won by if he played? When the game was close at 30-24 in the first quarter, USA went on a 90-41 run the rest of the way. Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Michael Redd all went for 20 points, including Redd hitting 6-8 from downtown. Wade looks like he's back to his old self, displaying his athleticism with a spectacular windmill dunk. USA also shot 65.7% from the field but they'll have to work on their long range passing and lack of communication going down the court, leading to turnovers, in order to do well in the Olympics. Other than that, can't wait to see them dominate overseas.

why can't dolan make a trade for lebron james?

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:43:44 -0500

I don't understand why Jim Dolan cannot make a trade for Lebron James. He's obviously the best player in the word and I wonder why Knicks fans have to wait 2 years in order to have a shot at this guy. Absolutely ridiculous! I want LeBron James!

Chiefs Sign First Round Pick Albert

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:38:06 -0500

The Chiefs signed first round draft pick Branden Albert to a five-year contract on Thursday. Albert was selected with the 15th overall pick in this year's draft out of Virginia. The 6-foot-5 offensive tackle played in 37 games over his four-year college career with the Cavaliers. The Chiefs have now signed 10 of their 12 draft selections.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:14:25 -0500

As the Cavaliers Struggle To Re-Sign Restricted Free Agent Delonte West, We Look At A Changing Market That Is Bending Under The Pressure Of Impending Change A lot of assumptions have been made regarding the Delonte West free agency. Reasonable assumptions they may be, but they're assumptions none the less. I've yet to hear anyone voice any kind of doubt as to whether or not the Cavaliers would be able to sign Delonte. That is, until I read Bob Finnan's latest article for the Morning Journal, in which he discusses the negotiations, "The Cavs continue to negotiate a contract with West's representatives. Sources say the two sides are not real close to an agreement at this time and a couple sign-and-trades have been discussed. The Cavs definitely want him back. If things break down completely, West has the option of accepting the Cavs' qualifying offer of $2.76 million. He would then become an unrestricted free agent after the 2008-09 season. After details of Gibson's contract have become available, West's agents are expected to ask for more money since he's the Cavs' starting point guard." This is interesting, because I had been under the assumption that Delonte's deal would be easier to get done than Gibson's. I thought this for 2 main reasons. 1, I thought West had more motivation to sign quickly than Gibson did (meaning, I incorrectly assumed Gibson would try harder to negotiate with other teams than Delonte would), and 2, I felt like West's role on the team and his skills are easier to define than Gibson's. Again, this was obviously an incorrect assumption. So here we are now, a player trying to get more teams interested in him to drive his price up to force the team that controls the ability to match any offer for him to pay him more money. This is where things start to get tricky, and this is where fractures in the perceived serenity of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement are starting to show up. This all ties in with what happened recently with Josh Childress, and believe it or not, I believe it's possible this could have an impact on Cleveland directly. Now, to be clear, I am not suggesting Delonte will use Europe as a bargaining move or even consider it as a serious option. Delonte has not said anything about such a move and nobody has written anything about him. This isn't so much about Delonte West as it is about the NBA in general. For those who don't know what happened, here it is in a nutshell. Josh Childress, an important part of the Atlanta Hawks, was a restricted free agent. After some negotiations with Atlanta, Childress was offered a rather lavish contract from a Greek professional team, Olympiacos. After heading to Athens to check out the team first hand, Childress accepted the 3 year contract. How could this happen, you might ask, and how might this impact the Cavaliers? Both are good questions, and both have weighed heavily on my mind since this was first announced. The answer to the first question is easy. Sekou Smith of the Atlanta Journal Constitution lays out the differences between the 2 offers Childress had, "— Olympiakos offered three years and $32.5 million, which after taxes paid by the club becomes a net of salary of about $6.7 million a year for Childress. — The Hawks offered five years and $33 million, which after taxes paid by Childress becomes a net salary of about $3.4 million per year for Childress. — In addition to the double-stuffed salary Olympiakos also pays for all of Childress' living expenses, including luxury accommodations, a car and driver and maid service. — Childress also has an annual opt-out clause in the contract that will allow him to weigh his NBA options, as a restricted free agent provided the Hawks tender a qualifying offer to him, every summer. — There is no buyout clause in the contract, meaning Childress won't have to negotiate a compensation package for Olympiakos if he were to return to the NBA before the end of the three year deal." When you look at it like that, it's actually easy to see how this could happen. As we have previously pointed out, the global economy has made location less relevant than ever before. For the same reason we feel that LeBron can prosper in Cleveland just fine thanks to the smaller world created by technology and global marketplaces, so too can a player go to Europe, prosper, and not feel so disconnected from his home country. We're not the only ones who have noticed that this move not only makes sense, but could send waves of impending change throughout the NBA. The Hawks blog Impending Firestorm wrote an interesting bit of perspective on this, writing, "The move for Childress probably paves the way for plenty more American players to do the same. A handful of other big names have also bolted to Europe, and with the Euro doing better than the dollar right now it doesn't seem like such a bad option to be a superstar overseas. Childress would instantly become one of the highest paid players in Europe and would basically become one of the star players in his league. Instead of playing for a franchise that doesn't seem to care about him in a league that sometimes doesn't realize he exists, Childress will now become a star and will be paid like it." Henry Abbot of TrueHoop takes it even a step further. You need to set aside 15 minutes of your time and read his whole post on this topic, because it offers outstanding perspective on the whole thing. The part that particularly caught my eye, though, was when Henry wrote, "The NBA's collective bargaining agreement includes a ton of complicated clauses. Each serves a purpose, and you can make a case that, all told, it's a good and fairly fair system. But regulation is always burdensome, and this league, famously run by lawyers, is knee-deep in legalese. In this instance, those rules created a really weird deal. According to Josh Childress, there were championship-contending NBA teams that were willing to pay him more than the Hawks would. A sign-and-trade couldn't be worked out, so Childress was stuck. But that makes a situation where here's an employee, a place that wanted to employ him, and an agreed upon price. In normal human life, that's all you need to make a deal. You can only tinker with the free market so much before it starts depressing normal economic activity. This is one of those cases. A rule (essentially, the salary cap) designed solely to keep NBA teams competitive with each other now ends up helping a whole different league. Will the NBA change the salary cap in some profound way to address that? Babby, for his part, says that he would "never underestimate the capacity of the NBA to respond to market trends."" Wow. Let that sink in for a minute. Could this set a trend so dramatic that it could even destroy the current Collective Bargaining Agreement that tries to protect smaller market teams? If Josh Childress is to be believed here, that's what's going on. If you look at the Championship-contending teams in the NBA, none of them have any real cap space left. What this means is that the most any of these teams could offer to Childress straight up would be the MLE ($5.8 million for 2008-09), a number the Hawks would obviously match if they really offered 5 years, $33 million, which is above the MLE anyway. So what we're looking at is a situation where the system technically did its job and limited the offers other teams could make, thus protecting the Atlanta Hawks. But when players show a willingness to enter a completely different market to buck this system, it puts a lot of strain on the Salary Cap as it currently exists. So is this the beginning of a trend? Micah Hart of Hawks BasketBlog isn't so sure. Micah seems to think this is more of a move fitting to a guy with the demeanor of Josh Childress, as he writes, "Not to go all Harvard, but today's global economy is much different than it used to be. The euro is much stronger than the dollar, making it very easy for European teams to make competitive (or in this case, far superior) financial offers to NBA players. The top European teams are making more and more money every year, giving them large enough budgets to handle contracts of this size without even blinking. This was going to happen eventually, it just took the right kind of player to take the bait, and frankly, I think Childress is that guy. Chills is not like most NBA players (afro aside). Every time I've chatted with him at the start of seasons past he's raved about his trips abroad over the summer, including trips to China and Africa as part of the NBA's Basketball Without Borders program. He realizes there is a much larger world out there, and he's experienced a good bit of it. Right off the bat, the idea of playing in a foreign land was going to be much more palatable to him than most. Josh is also a guy who, though dedicated to his craft, maybe doesn't see basketball as the end-all be-all of his existence. He has continued to work towards a business degree over the past few summers and spoke often of wanting to be as successful off the court as he is on it. Therefore I can absolutely see where playing in the NBA, just because it's "the NBA", might not be enough of a reason on it's own (the way it would be for many of his peers) to keep Childress stateside. Maybe the money, coupled with the opportunity to travel and see the world, was enough to make him happy - regardless of what it meant to his NBA stature. I think that's entirely possible, even if it's hard for us to understand. I don't know if Chills' move is a sign of things to come (in the same way Kevin Garnett ushered in the era of prep-to-pros players) or is more the random actions of a single player (think Ricky Williams retiring from the NFL). Only time will tell." So what does any of this have to do with Cleveland? Well, to put it as simply as possible, the current system is designed to create a competitive balance whereby a team like Cleveland can keep its superstars like LeBron James. But what happens is some of the more marginal role players, key as they might be to a team's success, are stuck in the margins. A player like LeBron is going to get paid max dollars no matter where he plays, and there will be no shortage of offers for him when he becomes a free agent. But what happens to players like Daniel Gibson and Delonte West? The system as it is currently setup actually hurts these kind of players. Some agents were a bit miffed by the deal Daniel Gibson signed with the Cavs, as Bob Finnan wrote, "There was never any question whether Gibson would return to the Cavs. His agent, Lewis Tucker, was unable to find any teams willing to sign Gibson to an offer sheet. Other teams figured the Cavs would just match the offer. Some other agents scoffed at Gibson's contract. Sure, $21 million is a lot of money. But some agents thought Gibson should have gotten a lot more, especially if he's one of the Cavs' "core" players."" And that's precisely the point. It's all about creating a competitive marketplace for your client. The more offers you can get for your client, the higher his price will be. But under the current system, there are no offers available for mid-level players. There's no point in teams making an offer when they know the original team will just match them. To be clear, I am not saying this is necessarily bad. I do feel it is somewhat un-American to limit any marketplace, but I also understand the benefits of this limited marketplace approach. After all, its this limited marketplace approach that's going to give the Cavaliers a leg up in the race to sign LeBron 2 years from now (strictly from a salary standpoint….obviously other factors will come into play). After all, the NBA seems to be becoming more and more of a small market league. They just moved a team from the 14th largest media market (Seattle/Tacoma) to the 45th largest market (Oklahoma City). The league's current dynastic franchise resides in the 37th largest market (San Antonio). There are franchises in New Orleans (53rd), Memphis (47th), Salt Lake City (35th), and Milwaukee (34th). I'm sure people in the mega markets of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Dallas will scoff at this notion, but obviously this system has served the league as a whole quite well in building a diverse portfolio of cities and markets where their product can exist in and in some cases thrive. If players leaving for Europe becomes a trend and forces dramatic changes in the salary cap system, this will have a serious impact on both mid-market (Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Miami, Cleveland, Denver, Orlando, etc) and small market teams alike. A simple lifting of the salary cap altogether will create a system much like baseball where a small, select handful of teams are the only players in the free agent market every year. Smaller market teams will be forced to operate under a much different methodology, relying much more heavily on the draft and trading stars for "prospects". Again, it can be debated whether this is a good thing for the NBA or a bad thing. One question that can be asked is whether simply eliminating this idea of restricted free agentcy would suffice as a fix. The logic being that by eliminating the ability of any team to match offers, that more teams will get involved and make offers, and the price of the player will thus go up and the market will self correct accordingly. It sounds like a nice fix in theory, but the problem that will still remain is that most teams will only be able to offer the MLE due to the Salary Cap. I would argue, then, that perhaps the best fix would be to remove restricted free agency and remove the hard limits on max annual increases. What this means is that in this proposed system, a team could sign a guy to the MLE for the first year, but then if said team has an extra $10 million in expiring contracts for the following year, the team could use that expiring money as the basis for the 2nd year increase. No team would be able to give a player a raise that would put the team above a projected salary cap for future years, though. What this would do is create a system whereby teams could get creative and make competitive offers without fear of having them simply matched right away. It would increase the number of offers being made, but by keeping the salary cap and the Qualifying Veteran Free Agent exemptions (Bird Rights) it would still allow the smaller market teams the ability to offer the maximum amount of money to their own superstar free agents. Without a flux of players leaving the NBA to accept offers from European teams, none of this will matter. The system will likely stay in place, mostly as it currently is setup, and life will go on. We've already seen the likes of Juan Carlos Navarro, Carlos Delfino, Primoz Brizac, andBostjan Nachbar leave the NBA to play overseas, though, and now the most well known player yet in Josh Childress has fled the NBA. If this continues, the NBA will need to make changes to remain the most appealing and the most luxurious league in the world, and it's entirely possible these changes will not be friendly to teams like Cleveland. It will definitely be interesting to watch future negotiations with our mid-market goggles on and observe what trends may be pushing the NBA into a different direction regarding the Salary Cap and the Collective Bargaining Agreement and monitoring what affects these changes will have on Cleveland. Stay tuned.

Celtics Advance

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:50:23 -0500

In the "Keep Your Picks" Playoff, the Boston Celtics have defeated the Golden State Warriors 97-82. C Al Jefferson was named MVP of the game. The Celtics will play the winner of the Cavaliers/Clippers game in round three. For complete game stats, check out the NBA DraftNation page.

THE AFTER PARTY

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:18:45 -0500

ESPN Personality Trivia
LeBron Guarantees Gold For Team USA
The Seattle Cavaliers?
From Nooorrrttthh Carrrrolina..Long Wang?

Of Cleveland Browns, Dreams, and Biblical Prophets
Browns Owner, City Disrespected
Why do we keep giving EA money for Madden football?
Iowa and Kirk Ferentz should be in big trouble
CC Sabathia is Back and Better Than Ever

MLB's Big Dippers
Wait! What? Parity is a Bad Thing?!?!
Blue Bomber cheerleader coach resigns after saucy photos appear on Internet
MLS All-Star Game tonight!

LeBron James Guarantees Gold; Not a Good Move

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:50:17 -0500

A quick cut to the chase. Per the Associated Press: James made his guarantee in a Time magazine story that hits newsstands Friday. The Cavaliers superstar is featured on one of the covers of the Olympic preview issue. After comparing the feeling of receiving a gold medal on the podium to opening a prized gift on Christmas morning, James was asked if that meant he would lead the Americans to the title. "Absolutely," James responded. Asked if he guaranteed it, he repeated, "Absolutely." Now we will follow up with some thoughts. One, guarantees are a very dangerous tightrope to walk. If Rasheed Wallace were to guarantee what he was going to have for breakfast the next day, someone would be bound to say something about it. Gilbert Arenas had some lofty expectations during last season's playoffs, and we know what happend there. What James did by guaranteeing a Gold simply laid the gauntlet down to his teammates without their prior knowledge, and anything short of epic prosperity will be ridiculed - and rightfully so. Look, Lebron James is easily my favorite player in the league. I come to his defense in almost every situation, ranging from his mother rushing the floor to getting cheapshots from Brendan Haywood. However, he has an injured ankle and was on the same team that was an epic failure in the 2004 games. Granted, Larry Brown is no longer here to mess with James' playing time, but who is to say that something drastic doesn't happen? To guarantee something before the games even start? I'm all for confidence, and frankly as the favorite to win it all, I do think that the U.S. will win the Gold. But to speak for the rest of your team - a team full of All-Stars and world class players that could have their own opinion - in a matter that would promise something that has a chance to not be delivered is a rough move to make. There are several members of the current team that were there in 2004, and you can bet than they're keeping their thoughts to themselves. If any other member of this team were to "guarantee" anything, there would be some sort of backlash. Alas, I'm fully willing to accept the same for the pride of Cleveland basketball. Feel free to disagree below.

Lebron doesn't pass up a chance to dance with Paris Hilton

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:32:23 -0500

While soccer stud Cristiano Ronaldo resisted the advances of socialite Paris Hilton, Lebron James was impervious to her powers.

R to the motherfuggin E!!! (Rotoworld vs. RotoEvil, Pt. 2)

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:09:24 -0500

Roto Evil is: Real and Exotic and Really Entertaining like Russell and Erving, Rising and Elevating a Roto hoops Expert doing Research and Evaluating Rarely making Errors, accurate Ratings Emanating ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Respected and Established like Robinson, Eddie so Recklessly Eccentric, i Refused an ESPY a Rebel for Equality, Ready for my Enemies Reaching Equilibrium via Raw infinite Energy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ you Reckon my Ego is Really Exceeding? i'm Robbin' your Eggos and Rebuking your Eating now you're Rambling Endlessly, a disgraced Rogue Entity for Robertson and Elgin, i'm Representin' Especially ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ your Reality is Erroneous, your Rationale is Erratic your Repetition is Exhausting, my Randomness is Ecstatic you Recycle Excrement, you're Ruining Expectations my winning Record is Excellent, thus Receiving Exaltation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ my References are Esoteric, from Radja to Ekezie thanks to Revelatory Experiences this is Relatively Easy you're a Rude Emasculator a la Reggie Evans your Reach Extends to ten, but mine Roars to Eleven ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ i Rotate and Evolve, spreading Roots Externally Rhymes so Exquisite you'll Remember Eternally this is Roto Evil, and if you Respectfully Enjoyed say R to the motherfuckin' E homeboy!

Malice in the Palace (Original Version) starring Ron Artest

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:52:44 -0500

In the wake of the WNBA version of Malice in the Palace, here's revisiting the original :

Team USA News

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:29:45 -0500

The hype is in full effect for Team America. Redemption, revenge, whatever you want to call it, Team USA is in the mood to dominate. And they're not just going to spank you. LeBron's holding a ball gag and a paddle and Kobe may have just thrown away the piece of paper with the safe-word... [continued]

Rumors and Free Agent Updates - Options are Dwindling Edition

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:51:04 -0500

Options are dwindling for both teams and free agents as teams continue to make moves. Here is what is going on around the league today: Josh Childress has indeed left the Hawks to play in Greece. The Journal Constitution is reporting that Childress has agreed to a a three-year, fully guaranteed contract worth far more than the $20 million originally proposed. It will remain to be seen how this affects NBA free agency in the future. Any player not getting what they want can flaunt a European contract at their team and will have to be taken seriously. But, there are still many players who want to be in the NBA even if they are making far less than they could in Europe. Josh Smith, the Hawks' other big free agent, was wined and dined by the Sixers and then they signed Brand. Then, he was wined and dined by the Clippers before they got Camby. Now, the only team under the cap that could offer him more than the MLE is the Grizzlies but they are in cost cutting mode. So, it seems that Josh Smith is stuck with the Hawks unless they can work a sign and trade with someone. Sources say that the Hawks are offering Smith a six-year deal worth $60 million. The Journal Constitution is reporting that this isn't true, however and that the Hawks have never offered anything near that. The San Antonio Spurs re-signed 36 year old Kurt Thomas on Tuesday. Thomas joined the Spurs last season in the trade that sent Brent Barry and Francisco Elson. In a rather fishy move, Barry was released by the Sonics and went back to the Spurs to join new teammate Kurt Thomas. Thomas' return could put in question the return of Robert Horry and Michael Finley's to the Spurs. When the Nets acquired Keyon Dooling, Marcus Williams vowed to fight for his job as the Nets' point guard. He may be fighting for his job, but not with the Nets as they traded him to the Warriors for a future first-round pick. The Warriors are going to give Williams a chance to start along side of Monta Ellis, who is more of a shooting guard than a point. First Camby was traded to the Clippers for a second round pick and now Williams traded for a first round pick. Must be nice to be under the cap and able to pick up players for peanuts (and draft picks). The Warriors pick has plenty of strings attached, though. The pick is lottery protected for 2011. If it goes to 2012, the pick is protected 1-11. It's protected 1-10 for 2013. If they still haven't received the pick by 2013, the Nets get second-round picks in 2013 and 2015. ESPN reports that Detroit has offered to trade Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince twice this off season already. The first time was to try to pry Carmelo Anthony away from Denver. The second offer was to Houston for Tracy McGrady. Both offers were rejected. With the rumors that Detroit is considering making a bid for Artest they could be making a 3rd attempt to trade Billups and Prince. There seems to be some smoke here and there may be some fire behind it. It would be interesting to see the crowd react to Ron Ron being introduced to the Palace crowd for the first time as a Piston. Talk about mixed emotions. Personally I wouldn't want Artest for anything. The guy has been a cancer and a distraction everywhere he has gone. Ryan Gomes is such a classy person. The Star Tribune reports that Gomes is participating in the Wolves' summer promotional caravan. He doesn't have a deal with the Wolves but is on their promotional tour. "I made a commitment at the end of the season to do this," Gomes said from Mankato. "They (the team) asked me if I'd like to do this and I'm a community guy, so I said yes. I don't know where I'm going to be yet. I made a commitment and stuck with it." Gomes is looking for the full MLE but chances of getting it are dwindling. It seems unlikely that the Wolves wouldn't match anything less. I would really like to have him back in Celtics Green but all the Celtics could offer is half the MLE and unless Danny has incriminating pictures of McHale, the Wolves would probably match any offer we could afford to give. At this point in his career, he is looking for some security and possibly accepting the qualifying offer and then seeing what he can get as an unrestricted free agent next season could be his best move. As hard as Gomes works, his value should only improve. Mark Bartelstein has said that several teams, including the Celtics have inquired about his client, Devean George. In his interview on WEEI, Danny said that he hasn't had any talks with George. So, either Bartelstein is floating rumors to try to get other teams to make an offer before another team snaps him up or Danny is not wanting to tip his hand. I remember Danny being interviewed on WEEI another time as the trade deadline approached when he said that the Celtics had nothing in the works and nothing even close. Four hours later, the Celtics traded for Wally Szczerbiak. So, you can't trust what an agent says or what Danny tells you for that matter. The News Herald reports that Bartelstein is also in talks with the Cavs concerning George. Now that the Celtics have signed House and Allen, Danny says that he is taking some time off. He may make another deal, or he may roll the dice with the team we have. The Celtics lost Pollard, PJ Brown, Cassell and Posey. The Celtics have 2 promising rookies who could fill in the blanks. Gabe Pruitt should be able to fill in at the Point along with House. Tony, if healthy, can replace Posey's defense. Giddens and Walker may get a chance to prove themselves. Danny may go with what we have now and then save space to pick up someone if there is a need later on. The Charlotte Observer reports that negotiations with Emeka Okafor are at an impasse. He has one more year left and if they don't agree on an extension, he can walk after next season as an unrestricted free agent. Rather than let him walk for nothing next season, the Bobcats may try to arrange a sign and trade. Some possibilities for a sign and trade swap are Shawn Marion, Anderson Varejao, Andris Biedrins, Al Harrington, and Luol Deng. Delonte West is still unsigned. The News Herald reports that the Cavs want to sign him but that they aren't close to an agreement at this point. Other teams are interested but have been scared off by his restricted tag, figuring that since the Cavs do want him, they will just match any offer made. Daniel Gibson signed a 5 year contract with the Cavs that starts at $3.7 million and West is looking for more since he is the starting PG and Gibson is the back up. Of course, if they can't reach an agreement, Delonte could just accept the Cavs' qualifying offer of $2.76 million, play out the year, and the become an unrestricted free agent next year. That could be good or bad for him. If he has a great year, he will demand even more money next season. If he continues to be nagged with little injuries and struggles, then as a restricted free agent, he may not get as much as he would now. It's a gamble that may or may not pay off. The Express News is reporting that it appears that Robert Horry's days with the Spurs are over. Big Shot Bob has won 7 rings in his 16 seasons in the league. He has said that he wants to play another season in the league but the Spurs don't seem inclined to bring him back. Unless he gets an offer from another team, he may be forced to retire. Could Big Shot Bob be the next aging veteran to come on board the Celtics? Danny loves these guys who seem to be on their last legs but who have tremendous experience and can help a team in little ways. Horry fits the profile. The Portland Trail Blazers signed first-round pick Nicolas Batum on Tuesday. Batum was actually drafted by Houston with the 25th overall pick and then traded to the Blazers for two draft picks. This brings the team's roster to 14 players. They still have not made a decision on whether to sign Petteri Koponen. They don't feel he is ready for the NBA this season, but if they don't sign him now, he will likely sign a long term contract in Europe. If they sign him, he could spend some time in the D-League and accelerate his development. The Clippers signed Golden State forward Kelenna Azubuike (8.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg) to a three-year, $9.3 million offer sheet last week and the Warriors have until Friday to match the offer, but according to sources they won't match it because they signed forward Maurice Evans to a three-year, $6.4 million deal. We are about to enter into the quiet (read completely dead) part of the season for Celtics fans. Danny is going to take some time off. He lost one free agent and brought back 2 others. He still has to deal with the Celtics 2 draft picks and possibly pick up another free agent or even make a minor trade. But keep in mind, it wasn't until the end of August that Danny signed Posey last season and so he may wait until the dust settles to make another move. Reports are that Bill Walker is working hard to come back from the knee surgery and depending on how he looks, Danny may not make another move. If ready to contribute, Walker could be the back up at the 3 that the Celtics still need. I like the kid and think he could prove to be the steal of the draft.

Gift wrapped for Brooklyn: The 2008-2009 New Jersey Nets

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:14:49 -0500

I have always been resistant to change. Even if I knew it was coming a mile away. Last February, I got the opportunity to see the Nets at their best for what turned out to be their last time together against a major opponent. And with the trade deadline looming, there were already some notable changes on their roster as the Nets shipped forward/center Jason Collins to Memphis for underachieving forward Stromile Swift. A few days later, team captain Jason Kidd followed suit when New Jersey sent him back to the very team that drafted him (Dallas Mavericks) for Devin Harris and other players. Change was coming. I just didn't know how fast. Nets Team President Rod Thorn and the rest of the Nets brain trust have been very busy this off-season. Having traded away their franchise's second all-time leading scorer—Richard Jefferson to the Milwaukee Bucks for China's Yi Jianlian and underachieving forward Bobby Simmons. The Nets also did very well for themselves in the 2008 NBA Draft after they bagged Stanford's 7'0'' center Brook Lopez at #10, 6'10'' forward Ryan Anderson at #21, and arguably the steal of the draft at #40—Memphis scoring guard-forward Chris "CDR" Douglas-Roberts. Rod Thorn didn't stop there as he also allowed forward Bostjan "Boki" Nachbar to sign with a Russian team and sent guard Marcus Williams to the Golden State Warriors for a future lottery-protected 1st round pick. With that said, the only Nets left from last season's roster are Darrell Armstrong, Josh Boone, Nenad Krstic, Sean Williams, Vincent Lamar Carter and his $61.8 million dollar extension. Of those five players, only Boone, Williams, and Carter are certain to make the final roster. The New Jersey Nets have certainly positioned themselves well for the unrestricted free agent boon of 2010 that will feature the likes of LeBron James, Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr., Steve Nash, Joe Johnson, Walter Ray Allen, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Manu Ginobili, Tracy McGrady, and for what it's worth, Shaquille O'Neal. This list can further increase if players who hold Early Termination Options (ETO) in their existing contracts decide to exercise them. They are Amare Stoudemire, Michael Redd, Tyson Chandler, Richard Jefferson, Yao Ming, and Dirk Nowitzki. If the Nets don't land LeBron James in 2010. They are not short on alternatives from the wealth of talent on that list. Kudos to the Nets brain trust on their foresight. Brooklyn may not only be getting a team two years from now. But a solid contender. Addendum: - DeSagana Diop and the Dallas Mavericks agreed on a five-year, $31 million deal (the team's full midlevel exception) last July 9, 2008. It will be Diop's second stint with the Mavericks after being a part of the Jason Kidd-Devin Harris deal six months earlier - What exactly did the Nets get in the Marcus Williams deal? Fred Kerber of nypost.com shares that "if the Warriors are in the playoffs in 2011, the Nets get their first round pick. So it's lottery-protected in 2011. He adds "if the Nets are still waiting for the pick in 2012, they get G. State's first rounder, as long as it's not 1-through 11. If they're still waiting in 2013, they get the first rounder as long as it's not 1-through-10. But 2013 is the cutoff. If they haven't gotten the pick by then they get two second rounders, in 2013 and 2015." Sounds as shady as Marcus Camby being dealt for a 2nd round pick, if you know what I mean. - Lastly, at the age of 40, guard Darrell Armstrong won't be back with the Nets for the upcoming 2008-2009 NBA season.

Olympic Hype Could Be Fool's Gold For Team USA

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:23:54 -0500

If you've read anything about Team USA's training camp in Las Vegas this week, you'd think it's a forgone conclusion the Americans will win gold at the Beijing Olympics (see screenshot from today's ESPN.com). But as I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of holes in this year's U.S. squad – particularly its lack of size (Dwight Howard is the lone center) and health (not only is Dwyane Wade coming off injury, but LeBron James went down in Tuesday's practice). For the rest of this entry, head over to http://www.wcbias.com/2008/07/olympic-hype-could-be-fools-gold.html

Olympic Hype Could Be Fool's Gold For Team USA

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:23:16 -0500