NBA Offseason Thread

[Brett Favre 0]

Yeah, they're not trying to trade Crawford. But they are trying to trade Q without any luck.

[Precious Roy 0]

Crawford has easily got the most trade value of those 4, but he's also the one I'd be least interested in moving. He's a good off-ball defender, good ball handler, and when he gets hot he can match shots with anyone in the league.

 

Francis would be the next easiest to move, but I hate the idea of not giving him and Marbury a proper chance to play together. I thought at the time of the trade (and still do) that in the right environment they could be effective together. Whether or not this is the right environment remains to be seen, but we need to give them a shot.

 

Q-Rich's back is a constant issue, and combined with his contract nobody will take that risk. We're stuck with him. He's almost exactly like Larry Johnson, except he doesn't have a magical gold tooth.

 

And Marbury will never be traded. Which is fine by me, because as frustrating as he can be I can't help but like the guy. Kind of like Malcolm X.

[alfdogg 0]

Here are the remaining free agents. In parenthesees are teams which have shown interest and/or where they're expected to go

 

Atlanta: Donta Smith

 

Boston: Michael Olowokandi

 

Charlotte: Melvin Ely ®

 

Chicago: Randy Livingston, Luke Schenscher

 

Cleveland: Alan Henderson

 

Dallas: Keith Van Horn (Den)

 

Denver: DerMarr Johnson

 

Detroit: Kelvin Cato

 

Golden State: Calbert Cheaney

 

Houston: Rick Brunson, Maciej Lampe

 

Indiana: Eddie Gill

 

LA Clippers: Vin Baker, Walter McCarty, Boniface N'Dong

 

LA Lakers: Devin Green ®, Jim Jackson

 

Memphis: Antonio Burks

 

Miami: Shandon Anderson, Gary Payton (expected to re-sign)

 

Milwaukee: Reece Gaines, Jermaine Jackson, Ervin Johnson, Toni Kukoc (Chi)

 

Minnesota: Anthony Carter

 

New Jersey: Lamond Murray, John Thomas (Min)

 

New York: Qyntel Woods

 

Orlando: Stacey Augmon

 

Philadelphia: Matt Barnes

 

Phoenix: Dijon Thompson

 

Portland: Voshon Lenard

 

Sacramento: Bonzi Wells (Den)

 

San Antonio: Nick Van Exel

 

Seattle: Mike Wilks

 

Toronto: Darrick Martin

 

Utah: Milt Palacio

 

Washington: Awvee Storey

 

 

Any info I've left out, feel free to add.

[alfdogg 0]

George signed with Dallas today.

[Ripper 0]

I'm not even going to bother with Oliver Miller Jerome James.

 

 

Hey dammit, Oliver Miller was a incredible shotblocker, great passer and a adequate rebounder. Jerome James is...well...Jerome James.

 

And the reason you have to move two of those guys is that almost all of them need major minutes to contribute anything. Nate RObinson is streaky, so is Q, and both offer basically nothing in the way of defense. Francis and Crawford both have to get some major minutes to contribute well also. Add Jeffries into the mix and there just isn't enough minutes to go around.

[Precious Roy 0]

BEIJING (AP) — NBA star Yao Ming pledged Wednesday to give up eating shark's fin soup, a Chinese delicacy, as he joined a campaign to promote wildlife protection. "Endangered species are our friends," Yao said at a news conference organized by the London-based conservation group WildAid.

 

The group said China is the world's biggest importer of shark's fins, which conservationists say are cut from sharks that are thrown back into the ocean to die.

 

"As the human population increases, many wildlife species are decreasing, and the primary reason is that humans fail to treat animals as friends," said Yao, who played for the Shanghai Sharks basketball team before moving to the Houston Rockets.

 

WildAid cited U.N. estimates that more than 100 million sharks are caught annually for fins and other body parts.

 

"China alone can save the sharks," said Steve Trent, president of WildAid. "If sharks are to survive we need to see a decline in shark fin consumption and new actions by government to control imports and consumption."

 

Accurate figures on China's shark-fin imports are hard to obtain because of poor monitoring, conservationists say.

 

Hong Kong imported 11,662 tons of dried shark fin in 2003, most of which were shipped to mainland China, according to TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring group.

 

Yao also is to appear in a conservation advertising campaign for wildlife other than sharks.

 

A television commercial shown at Yao's news conference features the 2.16-meter (7-foot-1) center jumping up from a basketball court to block a bullet fired at an elephant.

 

The commercial will be shown on Chinese state television and other broadcasters, WildAid said.

 

Gymast Li Ning, an Olympic gold medalist, and musician Liu Huan signed a petition with Yao for wildlife protection.

[Gert T 0]

Won't other animals eat the shark's meat as they are dying, after they are dead?

 

(Gotta go find my F-you PETA! picture made out of deer legs.)

[alfdogg 0]

Maybe Pamela Anderson will break off her wedding and get with Yao instead

[alfdogg 0]

The NBA officially announced the change in the playoff format today. The three division winners and the next best record will be reseeded 1-4. Which still, Denver's not a top 4 team in the West, but at least they did *something* about it.

[nogoodnick 0]

Paul Allen decided today that the Blazers are no longer for sale.

[alfdogg 0]

Suns sign Barbosa to a five-year extension worth $32 million.

 

Wizards sign DeShawn Stevenson for two years at the minimum salary, but he has an option for the second year, so I'd say he'll almost certainly opt out.

 

And a few more rule changes:

 

-If a team has two full timeouts in the last two minutes of a game, one of them will be changed to a 20.

-In overtime, teams will have two full timeouts and one 20, as opposed to three fulls.

-Teams will no longer be able to carry over a 20 from regulation to OT.

-Teams will be able to carry 15 players on their playoff roster, as opposed to 13.

[alfdogg 0]

Dallas signs Pops Mensah-Bonsu to a two-year deal.

[Precious Roy 0]

-Teams will be able to carry 15 players on their playoff roster, as opposed to 13.

 

I don't understand that rule. Does that mean they have 15 available at all times? Or does it mean that if one of the 12 or 13 (whatever it is now) gets injured they can be replaced?

[alfdogg 0]

12 active and 3 inactive, just like the regular season.

[Ripper 0]

Wizards sign DeShawn Stevenson for two years at the minimum salary, but he has an option for the second year, so I'd say he'll almost certainly opt out.

 

I would like to note he turned down 3 years 10 mil because he wanted 3 years 12 mil from Orlando.

 

and ended up making league minimum. as if he is going to get a better deal next year.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Wow. The Suns held onto Barbosa for a lot less than I thought they'd have to pay. I think he's absolutely worth the $5-6 million a year they'll be paying at the beginning, and at that low salary he's always going to have a lot of trade value if they do need to move him. Great re-signing.

[Guest Felonies!]

Edwin, are you a Suns fan? Just wondering. Never caught your rooting interest in these threads.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

They're my favorite team, but yeah, I don't really have much of a rooting interest. I generally only tune in regularly once the NCAA Tournament is winding down. I really like the NBA playoffs, but overall it's probably sport #3 or #4 on my list.

[alfdogg 0]

It's looking like Wilcox is going to sign the one-year tender sometime next week, and become an unrestricted FA next summer.

[alfdogg 0]

The Wizards aren't going to match for Jeffries.

[Ripper 0]

Has there ever been another overall number 1 pick that ended up playin in Europe....because we are a couple of months for Kandi man to become the first.

[alfdogg 0]

What's Derrick Coleman doing right now? I never heard of him retiring.

 

EDIT: Actually, that's probably not fair to DC, since he actually was an All-Star at one point. So no, none in recent memory.

[Precious Roy 0]

Has there ever been another overall number 1 pick that ended up playin in Europe....because we are a couple of months for Kandi man to become the first.

 

Joe Barry Carroll, but for different reasons than Kandi

[Ripper 0]

What's Derrick Coleman doing right now? I never heard of him retiring.

 

EDIT: Actually, that's probably not fair to DC, since he actually was an All-Star at one point. So no, none in recent memory.

 

 

And he did retire. He owns a bunch of clothing stores. Yes...DC is a fashion designer now.

[alfdogg 0]

Apparently Harrington's switch of agents has opened the door for other teams to get involved again, including GS, Denver and Minnesota.

 

Of course, the deal could have been done before the fact if we'd just given the Hawks the extra $3 million that just would have been used on some other scrub 6-9 forward from overseas. Instead, Bird's trying to offload Jeff Foster on them, apparently. Because really, who needs a guy who busts his ass and crashes the offensive glass?

[alfdogg 0]

Milwaukee trades Joe Smith to Denver for Ruben Patterson.

[Precious Roy 0]

I like the deal for both teams. Joe Smith is good insurance for Camby/Nene/K-Mart, at least one of which will be hurt at some point, and they didn't really need Patterson as Melo can play 40 a night. And Patterson is a great fit for Milwaukee, an athletic, defensive minded slasher off the bench at the 3 spot.

[alfdogg 0]

Eddie House has agreed to a one-year deal with the Nets.

[alfdogg 0]

Drew Gooden re-signs with the Cavs at 3 yrs/$23 million.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Drew Gooden re-signs with the Cavs at 3 yrs/$23 million.

 

That doesn't seem too terrible for Drew Gooden. He's not a great player, but is a good contributor at the 4.