This week in the NBA

[Brett Favre 0]

Ron Artest may be heading to San Antonio. It probably depends on whether or not Denver wants to give up Linas Kleiza.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Ron Artest may be heading to San Antonio. It probably depends on whether or not Denver wants to give up Linas Kleiza.

 

That's certainly unexpected, but a good move nonetheless. I still think Denver needs him more, and should make the deal if it's only costing them Linas Klieza and Najera's expiring contract.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

According to Chad Ford, the Cavs are close to a deal that would send Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Kyle Lowry to Cleveland for Ira Newble, Donyell Marshall, Shannon Brown, Cedric Simmons and Dwayne Jones along with cash and at least one first-round pick from Cleveland.

 

Miller with Lebron... Artest with the Spurs... shit could get a whole lot more interesting if these deals go down.

[Brett Favre 0]

Kyle Lowry is good too. Dude is tough.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Kyle Lowry is good too. Dude is tough.

 

 

Give Lebron a real point guard and a shooter on the outside and I think the Cavs have as good a shot as anyone of coming out of the East.

 

I was thinking about the Cavs today. If Carlos Boozer didn't sleaze his way out of his deal and Michael Redd or Ray Allen took the contract they offered Highes, this team could already have a title and be well on their way to a couple more.

[Golgo 13 0]

I really hate the idea of a short term rental who we may not be able to keep and has a chance of not fitting in at all and eventually becoming a disruption. The guy is just a question mark going to a team with two main guys, multiple dominating personalities and a lot of questions themselves, who's going to want his own touches and be more than the defensive stopper the Nuggets need. Perhaps it was overblown and not that big of a deal, but we saw what happened in Sacramento after the honeymoon. The only thing I can say is that the guy may shut up and play hard in these last few months if it's for a contract somewhere else, and if it helps Denver get out of the first, that's all the better. As for Kleiza, he's not a great defender, but he already gets along with the team and fits very well into the system, and should be a cheaper option who would help the Nuggets for years to come.

 

Like I've said before, I think we need to try and deal with Memphis. If not on defense, we at least have a chance of dealing with our secondary issues. Hell, I wonder what the chances of getting Andre Miller back is, which would address both defense on the perimeter and the point guard thing.

[Brett Favre 0]

Kurt Thomas got traded to San Antonio. Not sure for who.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Kurt Thomas got traded to San Antonio. Not sure for who.

 

For Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and a 2009 1st round pick

 

Guess that takes them out of the Artest sweepstakes.

[Ripper 0]

I say SO. I don't see why the East should be penalized because there is more parity there.

Parity? How is there parity? You've got two awesome teams, another very good team, two more pretty good teams, and 10 teams playing like shit (although Washington would be better if healthy). That's not parity, that's just a bunch of teams playing like shit. Parity would be if everyone was around .500.

 

personally don't buy that some of the west teams records would be as good if they played in the east. Basketball is about matchups. Some of those damn near 50 win pace teams might just be worse if they changed coast and had to matchup with the more forward heavy East instead of the guard heavy west.

Given that the ten playoff contenders in the West have a .679 winning percentage against the East, I kinda doubt that's the case.

 

That doesn't matter. the winning percentage against the East...doesn't matter. First off you have one or two teams carrying that perentage (I think the Suns have only lost to one East Coast team this year, and there is another with this outrageous record against the east)

 

Second you still can't say a team would be better just by moving to another conference. Playing a team twice a year is alot different than playing teams 4 times a year. The two conferences are just built differently. Out west you have incredible guard play, not so much at the forward and pretty much the only bigs left in the league. In the east you have these freakishly good forwards who can play multiple positions. Keep the same team make up of a west coast team, put them in the East and you might be suprised to actually see them lose more.

 

Say, if the Suns were in the East full time. I think they would have a harder time because everyone in the east pretty much plays small. Dallas would have issues because the East is full of forwards that can defend Dirk.

 

Its easy to just look at a record, and say if so and so was here their record would be whatever, but at the end of the day, I think the last few championships have been Spurs, Miami, Spurs, Pistons, Spurs. Not exactly like the West are sending out these monsters that the east can't beat. the titles go 2-3 for the last few years. And for all the Pistons are the only good team crap, the east has sent the Nets, Heat, Pistons and cavs to the finals over this run.

 

There has only been 7 teams to win the championship in almost 30 years now. Pointing at any one coast as being weak is ridiculous.

[Guest]

Yeah, Artest to the Spurs is dead. JA Adande said that the Kings wanted those expiring contracts.

 

Who knows why, a team (who will be when done trading) that bad in that market isn't going to attract free agents, I'm sorry. They might not be terrible on paper, but they sure will be awful playing out here without two really good players.

[Ripper 0]

They aren't terrible right now in reality. They play well with or without Artest and Ubrich has played really well for them so they could afford to move Bibby.

 

But still...free agents ain't signing to Sacramento.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Of course not; why would it be any different from the first 22 years of the franchise's Sac-era history? Even when we were good, free agents didn't want to go there... because it's fucking Sacramento. In fact, since moving to California, the Kings have signed exactly two significant free agents, three if you count John Salmons, which I don't. That's why we need the cap space: the only way we're going to get a significant player is via trade or the draft, and teams that are under the cap don't have to take back equal salary in a trade.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

According to Chad Ford, the Cavs are close to a deal that would send Mike Miller, Brian Cardinal and Kyle Lowry to Cleveland for Ira Newble, Donyell Marshall, Shannon Brown, Cedric Simmons and Dwayne Jones along with cash and at least one first-round pick from Cleveland.

 

Miller with Lebron... Artest with the Spurs... shit could get a whole lot more interesting if these deals go down.

 

They are trading with themselves?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Sacramento may not seem like a huge destination for free agents, but in the NBA's current landscape the players go to the team with most cap room. Boozer in Utah, Lewis in Orlando, Nash to Phoenix and Joe Johnson in Atlanta... they are dozens of examples like this. Granted, the best players usually re-sign with their own squad, but teams with money usually get a good look regardless of where they are located.

[Ripper 0]

Orlando had Dwight Howard and state tax, Phoenix was the only team willing to pay Nash what they paid him and everyone kinda loves living in the Phoenix area, and had Amare Stoudimire there, and Joe Johnson was being a bitch and wanted to lead his own team.

 

Trust me. Landscape or no, free agents ain't signing to Memphis, Sacramento, or Charlotte. Just not going to happen.

 

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I don't know about Memphis or Charlotte, but yes Sacramento is too horrible a city for a NBA star to live in.

[Ripper 0]

Well, win or lose here are my thoughts on this Suns Lakers game.

 

Shaq right now has no idea what to do on the offensive end, and thats fine its his first game.

 

I wish that they hadn't taken Brian Skinner out the rotation. no reason that they shouldn't be going 9 deep right now.

Skinner gives them too much defensively and rebound wise to take off the court.

 

Otherwise this should work out fine once they get the kinks out. I wish Boris Diaw would learn to play consistnatly off the bench. I mean, he is a consistantly good player as a starter but as a bench guy, he just isn't effective at all.

 

Oh. and I love DJ Strawberry.

[Ripper 0]

I don't know about Memphis or Charlotte, but yes Sacramento is too horrible a city for a NBA star to live in.

 

Memphis is a horrible place to live for anyone.

 

I apolgize in advanced for anyone that lives in Memphis...but that fucking city sucks.

[alfdogg 0]

See, I knew the Suns would be worse with Shaq. He's knocking out his own teammates!

[MrRant 0]

Kurt Thomas got traded to San Antonio. Not sure for who.

 

For Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and a 2009 1st round pick

 

Guess that takes them out of the Artest sweepstakes.

 

Barry is back huh?

[nogoodnick 0]

Sacramento may not seem like a huge destination for free agents, but in the NBA's current landscape the players go to the team with most cap room. Boozer in Utah, Lewis in Orlando, Nash to Phoenix and Joe Johnson in Atlanta... they are dozens of examples like this. Granted, the best players usually re-sign with their own squad, but teams with money usually get a good look regardless of where they are located.

Boozer is from fucking ALASKA. I'm sure Salt Like is actually very nice for him. And by all accounts Cleveland is a shit hole.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

I don't know about Memphis or Charlotte, but yes Sacramento is too horrible a city for a NBA star to live in.

 

Memphis is a horrible place to live for anyone.

 

I apolgize in advanced for anyone that lives in Memphis...but that fucking city sucks.

 

I'll vouch for that. I live an hour away, but I've been there enough to know that city is crap. Pau Gasol is lucky to be out of there.

 

Random fact: One of my exes was a babysitter for Mike Miller's kids for a few weeks.

[Guest]

I don't know if this Shaq experiment is going to work out from what I've seen tonight, but as far as the Lakers go, winning 10 of 11 is pretty damn good.

 

It was nice to grab the tiebreak in the Pacific, because I'm pretty sure the division race and fight for the #1 seed is going to be super close. Amare had his great game because Odom was the guy guarding him. Put Bynum on him like on Christmas, and that can be controlled. The Suns played better when Shaq was out, or so it seemed. That's gonna be a problem.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

I thought Shaq looked pretty good. They couldn't D up the Lakers for shit though. Shaq was a "presence" in there which can really benefit the suns.

[Ripper 0]

Come on King, it was the first game ever for them. I mean, you could say the Gasol experiment wasn't going to work for the Lakers after that Hawks game.

 

they looked fine.

[Guest]

It isn't necessarily Shaq's performance that worries me, from the standpoint of the experiment not working out. It's how they have to change their style of play. Shaq was horrendous in the first half. In the second, he was just alright. In both cases, the Suns were able to get better shot selection without Shaq on the court. With him out there, everything gets mucked up. It will probably work. It will probably not get them to the Finals, though. Even though Shaq was good defensively, almost everything was negated on that end by Amare's ineptness. He let Lamar freaking Odom have a field day. You can't get a ring without defense.

 

IF Amare were to shape up on that end...the sky's the limit. But you can't exactly shape up defensively in the span of a few months.

 

I know I'm overanalyzing, but I overanalyze everything.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Raja Bell put up an oh-fer in thirty-six minutes, and they lost by six; I wouldn't wave the white flag just yet, if I were Phoenix.

[alfdogg 0]

The Rockets are close to sending Bonzi Wells and Mike James to New Orleans for Bobby Jackson and Adam Haluska. This from Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports.

Edited February 21, 2008 by alfdogg

[TheOriginalOrangeGoblin 0]

I thought Shaq looked fine in the 2nd half once he got his jitters out of the way (his 4th quarter play was very good). His "presence" was especially huge in freeing up Amare to get boards and to move around. Shaq will work out fine and the Suns are no worse than they were before. Plus atleast now they have someone for put-backs and garbage baskets late in tight games (Amare has a knack for making the easy baskets look very difficult).

 

I didn't like D'Antoni taking Nash out for long stretches like he did. I understand keeping Nash healthy for the playoffs but when a guy is as hot as Nash was to start the game, in a big game like yesterday was, you play him.

[bobobrazil1984 0]

the Spurs picking up Kurt Thomas is such a ridiculously perfect move. It's not a blockbuster, but it gives them exactly what they need for the playoffs - a good big man who can rebound and defend. He can play right alongside Duncan and the Spurs frontline can now at least match up pretty decently with ANY frontcourt in the league, from gasol/bynum, to Shaq/amare, wallace/mcdyess, KG/whoever.