http://www.yardbarker.com/users/JohnPaulsen Recent Yardbarker Articles: JohnPaulsen en-us In what is a major blow to the Atlanta Hawks and the NBA, Josh Childress has agreed to terms with Greek powerhouse Olympiakos. "Former Hawks swingman Josh Childress has signed with Olympiakos of Greece, a three-year, fully guaranteed contract worth far more than the $20 million initially believed to be his prize. Could there be a more stunning turns of events for fans who thought Childress was destined to remain in a Hawks' uniform for at least the next four or five years? It's a groundbreaking move for all sorts of reasons, none of them terribly thrilling for the Hawks and their tattered reputation." (Read the rest after the jump.) Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:25:10 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294411 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294411 So far, Marcus Williams has been a bust. The former first-round pick (#22 overall) clearly hasn't panned out, as he's averaging just 6.4 points and 3.0 assists and shooting 38.9% from the field in his brief career. That didn't stop Golden State from trading a future first round pick for him. From the NY Post blog.... " The trade will be announced later today. The pick is lottery protected for 2011, so the Nets get it if the Warriors are in the playoffs. If it goes to 2012, the pick is protected 1-11. It's protected 1-10 for 2013. If it is not conveyed by 2013, the Nets get second-round picks in 2013 and 2015." When he came into the league, Williams was supposed to be a pass-first point guard, but he now has a rep for firing up a lot of bad shots. It will be interesting to see if Don Nelson and his staff can turn him into a legitimate NBA point guard. The pick is lottery protected, so there's limited downside for the Warriors. As for the Nets, with the acquisition of Keyon Dooling and last year's trade for Devin Harris, the writing was on the wall for Williams. Sometimes a player just needs a change of scenery. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:13:31 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294011 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294011 In what would be a stunning move, Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Childress might be taking his game overseas. (Read the post after the jump.) Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:46:35 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293460 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293460 More and more, teams are utilizing a Running Back By Committee (RBBC) approach. Some teams are trying to keep their main back fresh, some want to keep the defense off balance, while others simply do not have a back on the roster capable of carrying a full workload. Typically, it's wise for fantasy owners to stay away from these situations on draft day, as it's difficult to predict who will emerge as the main back in a RBBC (if one emerges at all). With that in mind, here are five running games to avoid like the plague during the draft. (See the list after the jump.) Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:06:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293272 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293272 A couple of weeks ago, Chris Paul re-signed with the Hornets. Now it's Deron Williams' turn. "According to league sources, Williams agreed to a three-year extension with a player option for the fourth year. The deal will pay Williams the maximum allowed by the NBA's collective bargaining agreement and the earliest he can become a free agent would be the summer of 2012..." (Read the rest after the jump.) Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:29:51 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292200 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292200 Until a friend mentioned his name to me a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't heard of Brandon Jennings or his unique situation. He is the top point guard of the high school class of 2008, and he recently announced that he would be signing with Pallacanestro Virtus Roma (in Italy) instead of going to play for Lute Olson at Arizona. Jennings has had trouble with the SAT; he failed to become eligible after taking it once, and when his second score was suspiciously higher, the NCAA flagged it and made him take it a third time. It was then (with advice from hoops marketer Sonny Vaccaro) that he started to contemplate the possibility of playing in Europe for a season as an alternative to playing in college. Even before his third test score became public, Jennings announced that he would indeed play overseas next season. So now, the basketball punditry is predictably on fire debating the merits of the NBA's age-limit rule... (Read the rest after the jump.) Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:51:50 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291849 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291849 ESPN's Mark Stein covered all sorts of topics in his "Vegas Chatter" column, but the thing that jumped out at me was this blurb about Dallas/Sacramento trade talk involving Ron Artest. "Yet the Kings continue to insist that the team that ultimately gets Artest will have to take Kenny Thomas' contract as well. NBA front-office sources say the Mavericks were told several days ago, for example, that an offer of bruising power forward Brandon Bass, veteran swingman Jerry Stackhouse and $2 million to cover Stackhouse's guarantee in the 2009-10 season would not be enough to reunite Artest with new Mavs coach Rick Carlisle. (Dallas has no interest in a Josh Howard-for-Artest swap in any incarnation.)" While the Kings just drafted Jason Thompson (who has looked promising in summer league play), they are still rather thin at power forward, and the possibility of adding Brandon Bass and his 15.95 PER has to be appealing... (Read the rest of the post after the jump.) Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:31:35 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291840 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291840 The New Orleans Hornets signed 31 year-old James Posey to a four-year deal worth $25 million. From ESPN.com... "Because of future luxury-tax concerns, Boston was apparently reluctant to offer Posey, 31, more than a two- or three-year deal starting at the league's mid-level exception (just under $5.6 million) in spite of Posey's considerable contributions to the Celtics' first championship since 1986. Getting Posey would be a huge coup for the Hornets, who are coming off a breakthrough season and increasingly billed as a future power in the West with quality starters such as David West, Tyson Chandler and Peja Stojakovic surrounding face of the franchise Chris Paul." In Posey, the Hornets have a good option to turn to when Stojakovic's jumper isn't falling. He can play either forward position and can knock down the three. I just hope the signing doesn't hurt the development of Julian Wright. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:28:14 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291254 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291254 There has been some debate about the appropriateness of posting of sexy pictures here at YB, so if you want to see Ashley Harkleroad's Playboy Cover, click the link below. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:02:29 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291179 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291179 The Cleveland Cavaliers can check off their biggest item on their offseason "to do" list. They signed Daniel Gibson to a five-year deal, but terms were undisclosed. As an aside, I always feel like a team is hiding something when they elect not to disclose the terms of a contract. The Bulls still haven't told us the total value of Andres Nocioni's contract. Shouldn't NBA rules stipulate that all contracts need to be fully disclosed? (Read the rest of the post after the jump.) Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:37:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291166 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291166 Let's see, how much is a seven-footer worth? Not much, you say? What if that seven-footer is a still-productive center and a former Defensive Player of the Year? What if he averaged at least 3.0 blocks per game in each of the last four seasons? How about a minimum of 11.6 rebounds per game over the last three? Did I mention his amazingly affordable contract (two years, $15.7 million)? So, how much is he worth? Well, the Nuggets have decided that Marcus Camby is worth the right to swap future second round picks. WHAT?!? That's right, the Nuggets have traded Camby to the Clippers, and that's all they got. There are trades that are head-scratchers and there are trades that are simply mind-boggling. Like the Pau Gasol trade earlier this season, this particular trade is the latter. (Read the rest of the post after the jump.) Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:56:47 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290977 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290977 I hate to say I told you so, but I told Ron Artest to opt out. Of course, I was thinking that Artest would have his pick of five-year, mid-level offers and he'd be able to play deep into the postseason for the rest of his career. But he decided to play out his contract because he thought he was in the Kings' long-term plans. Now that he knows that he's not, he wants to be traded. There is the ongoing rumor of the Lakers giving up Lamar Odom, but lately the rumblings are that the Lakers aren't so sure they want to give up Odom for Artest. The Heat have come up as a possibility (with Shawn Marion as trade bait), and Miami would probably be a good fit. The good news is that Artest has decided to act as his own agent, much to the surprise of his actual agent, so at the very least this should be entertaining. The downside is that the crazier he acts, the less interest he'll draw. It's a double-edged sword, I'm afraid. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:57:16 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290826 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290826 Does the sun seem to be shining a little brighter today? Do the flowers smell a little sweeter? Is the summer breeze just a little more refreshing? If so, you have CBS to thank. They finally replaced Billy Packer. (Read the rest of the post after the jump.) Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:02:47 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290212 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290212 It seems that there has been one burning question that has haunted me ever since this whole Brett Favre business started… Why are the Packers so against the idea of Favre coming back? Mentally, it's clear that they want to move on with Aaron Rodgers, but they have a Hall of Fame quarterback who wants to come back and play. Why the resistance? Well, it might have something to do with a late-March meeting between Favre, head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson... (Read the rest after the jump.) Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:01:43 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289647 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289647 So I'm watching SportsCenter this morning and they're talking about all the NBA happenings, and the SC guy (I forget his name) asked Ric Bucher about the five-year, $72.5 million contract that Andrew Bogut signed. Bucher makes a good point that it's probably a big number for Bogut - I estimated his value at $12.0 M - $12.5 M per season - and that the other GMs around the league are likely angry at John Hammond for skewing the pay scale for big men. He mentioned restricted free agents Emeka Okafor and Andris Biedrins as two guys that will probably look at the contract that Bogut signed and think they deserve something similar... (Read the rest of the post after the jump.) Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:59:13 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288784 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288784