1) 1st off i'll address the interesting and somewhat surprising trade of charlie villanueva from toronto for tj ford from milwaukee. i know the bucks were shopping the tiny ford because he lacked a big, consistent spark last year and his size made him a liability on defense, but he is more talented, hes quicker, and has more playmaking ability and potential than the other two options at point for the bucks, charlie bell and mo williams. bell came on to end the season and really played hard so i guess he earned the job, but i still question this trade for milwaukee because they lack a real proven long-term point guard now. the bucks still have plenty of young talent and added to that talent pool in a big way with villanueva, he was a huge rookie surprise with toronto and showed off his versatile offensive skills and ability to score. he will be a bright young player and a key for the buck's nucleus, he doesn't fit on the team that well and he doesn't fill any glaring need but he will help with shooting and with shouldering the offensive load, especially when the disappointing magloire is released. so toronto got their point guard of the future and the pass-1st guy that chris bosh desired, which throws mike james way out of the picture, but it's still yet to be seen if ford is the player he can be. i have trust in colangelo though and he knows how to find talent. the bucks got another talented young future-star and villanueva will be a key player for many years.
2) The New Orleans Hornets have been very busy in the offseason and i have really loved all the moves they have made. they lost valuable veteran backup speedy claxton to the point guard starved hawks but he became expendable after they signed instant-offense guard bobby jackson. the hornets did not address their need for a spot up shooter to complement the drive-and-kick chris paul in the draft because their need for big men was greater, but they ended up stealing one of the best pure shooters in the game away from indiana in peja stojakavic. they locked him in for the future and the new environment might be exactly what peja needs to get out of his shooting slump, this is a fantastic pickup for the hornets, peja will be happy because he will get tons of open looks with paul feeding him the ball, and paul finally has a real shooter to make the open shots when he drives. along with the two big men (hilton armstrong and cedric simmons) they got in the draft the hornets addressed every single one of their issues and their talent has greatly improved, i already think that they should be a lock to make the playoffs just because chris paul doesn't have to be superman anymore with his new, deep, and talented supporting cast. now all they need to do is unload the inconsistent j.r. smith, who has yet to pan out and develop and who is not fitting in with the hornets despite all of his talent.
3) other free agent deals going on are between the two teams of l.a., the new and improved clippers and the rebuilding kobe-centred lakers. the clips failed to hang on to offensivley-skilled euro vladimir radmanavic, which isn't a big surprise seeing as vlad failed to give the clippers much energy during the season and didn't come through with points or minutes in the playoffs. he's instead jumped across town to the lakers where his scoring and three point shooting will help right away, the lakers need scoring support and the will probably give vlad the starting job that he's desired for 2 seasons now. the clippers managed to keep veteran leader and clutch ace sam cassell, a very important move for the team seeing as he was a key reason for the clippers improvement in play and attitude and he holds the team together with his all-around play, plus his experience and leadership. this is also a good sign for clippers fans because it shows that donald sterling is taking some initiative and spending some money to fulfill elton brand's wishes and keep last year's team intact. there are also rumors that the clippers made up for the radmanavic loss by picking up tim thomas from phoenix, who's shooting and offensive versatility will be very valuable off the bench, depth was a key concern for the clips and if thomas can do what he did in phoenix last year (which probably won't happen) than he will be one of the best sixth men in the league. the suns also picked up veteran erick piatkowski, a notorious three point bomber whose shot has kept him in the league for a long time, his three point shooting will fit right in with the suns and make up for the loss of eddie house, their instant offense spark off the bench last season, who opted out of his contract with phoenix.
4) Denver has kept their core intact by getting 'melo locked up for the future and keeping their brazilian big man nene around for the long-term, even though he was hurt all of last season. denver still hasn't found that ever-elusive three point shooter they have needed for so long, though. the mavs re-signed jason terry but are still pursuing mike james, they love his toughness and his scoring and would like to play terry and james together in the backcourt, but his old team, my rockets, are going after him as well and they have an advantage in that james lives in houston and would fit right in, the rocket's have big depth issues, especially in their backcourt, and james could fix them and provide the scoring that the rocket's lacked so much last season. the bulls seem to be succeeding in wooing ben wallace from detroit, im starting to accept that maybe moving ben wallace wouldn't be such a bad thing for the pistons. the bulls still need big men and wallace is a proven vet who would be an improvement no doubt, but he provides no offense and the bulls need scoring in the post. the pistons need more energy and depth and they could fix those needs with ease without ben's maximum level contract on their hands, but the chemistry issues that wallace's departure would cause are hard to ignore. you'll have to stay tuned for that one. al harrington wants to go back to indiana and it seems like a great fit for him, he won the sixth man of the year award playing there and has improved since, indiana doesn't have a whole lot of talent in their frontcourt and even if the combination would be undersized, a jermaine o'neal and al harrington frontcourt would be fantastic. don't forget that the league is shifting to small ball either. keep an eye on bonzi wells too, after his dominating playoff performance against the spurs he's bound to be getting plenty of oversized offers.
5) so it's official, the bulls finally nabbed ben wallace away from the pistons for a reported 4 year deal worth 52 million dollars. big money and i don't think wallace is worth it at this point in his career, wallace fans may not want to hear it but wallace is on the downside of his playing career and showed signs of fading during last season and in the playoffs. he has virtually no offensive game and may be a worse free throw shooter than shaq, but before i sound like too much of a hater i should mention the good things. hes a proven vet and leader who automatically makes the team tougher and feared in the post, hes still a premier shot blocker and all-around defender and one of the game's best rebounders. he will fire up the team and give them playoff experience, should make them a title contender in my opinion. he doesn't solve the bulls problem of scoring a big man but he makes tyson chandler expendable. the problem with the pistons now is the disruption of their chemistry, they are no longer the dominate starting 5 that set records for most games play together, ben was the heart and soul of the team and he kept them together and acted as their leader, who knows what will happen to team chemistry now and if detroit can ever be the same team. if you look at this move on paper it's a good one for detroit however, they have plenty of money to sign more depth and bring in some high-energy free agents, but thats not taking into account wallace's intangibles. maybe it was the money or maybe it was flip, but for some reason ben is gone.
6) minor notes concerning free agency movement on the date of july 4th. matt harpring re-signed with the utah jazz today, hes a valuable role player for them, a hard worker and coach favorite, it was a good move. hes a high-energy athlete who provides good offense off the bench, he is hurt often though. lebron james has yet to sign the maximum contract extension he was offered, the last one of the big 4 drafted in '03 to have no signed yet. it might be a little disturbing to some cavs fans but they should have nothing to worry about, everyone is making a big deal about it because of who lebron is but he will re-sign soon, i don't blame him for looking at the options because the cavs have not been aggressive enough in getting support for lebron. another surprise to me was joel pryzibilla signing a 5 year extension with portland, i thought that it was pretty clear he wanted out of there but i guess his attitude changed after portland's team-makeover draft and after the bulls, the team that was expected to go after joel the most, signed ben wallace. he will be one of the key players on the blazers and important for their future, hes a hardworker and the type of player that the blazers want to rebuild with. nazr mohammed was also plucked from the spurs as he signed with the pistons to fill their big donut at the center position, after rasho was dealt to the raptors it was only a matter of time before nazr was released. nazr will fit right in with the pistons, hes a scrappy team player and hes a good rebounder and defender.
7) pretty big trade business today as the suddenly and surprisingly aggressive hornets have made another move by making their expected trade of pj brown and jr smith to chicago for power forward tyson chandler on wednesday july 5. this deal was seen coming after the bulls got ben wallace because there was no way that chi-town would play two non-scoring bigs on the floor at the same time and tyson hasn't been what they wanted ever since they drafted him. he will fit right in with the young, athletic, and suddenly run-and-gun hornets, tyson is long, lean, and athletic and will fill pj's role on the boards (especially offensive) and with the shot blocks but with more quickness and energy, chandler won't have the locker room presence of brown and he doesn't even supply the offense of brown either, but will be an important young player and a part of new orleans' nucleus along with chris paul, peja, and david west. the bulls have been huge winners in free agency and the draft and they have made themselves title contenders in the span of a week. they land the athletic and high energy tyrus thomas in the draft to fire up their defense in the frontcourt and get a potential star, than they get the proven vet in ben wallace who will bring all the toughness and frontcourt banging you could want, hes got at least two good years on him. now they land pj brown, one of the best leaders and locker room guys in the nba who will be a valuable backup or even starter with his solid banging and defense and reliable scoring. jr smith really fell out of favor with the hornets and hasn't shown the production to match his talent that was expected of him when he was drafted. he will have to work his way up in the deep rotation of the bulls backcourt and small forward positons but he has great talent and could be one of the bulls best young players and a high energy scorer off the bench for now. the bulls are deep, unstoppable on the perimeter, set in the froncourt, and they are a good defensive team, if they don't finish 2nd in the East with all of this talent they will have underacheived.
8) the dallas mavericks made the expected move and traded versatile forward marquis daniels to indiana for austin croshere, who i thought would be a pacer for his entire career. marquis somehow fell out of favor with avery johnson and surprisingly hardly got into any games during the nba finals, i didn't agree with this at all and i think marquis is an underrated player, i thought he would would be a key member of the mavs nucleus. he had a big contract and dallas got tired of him so i guess they made the smart move, mo ager, the rookie from msu, could be just as good of a player. im more surprised at austin croshere leaving, hes been with the pacers his whole career and has been a very solid and skilled role player and hardworker, a good locker room guy as well. marquis is very quick and athletic and he was the best defender on the mavs, he has a very poor jumpshot but he can definitly score. marquis should fit in with the pacers thanks to his versatility and will probably become one of their key bench players, maybe even a starter someday, while croshere will have more trouble getting into the mavs deeper and more athletic rotation, keith van horn will probably be out in dallas because a team shouldn't have more than one offensively skilled white guy. the utah jazz acquired a good shooting veteran guard in derek fisher, something they needed, he will be key as a leader and veteran presence and with three point shooting off the bench, which the jazz severely lack. utah also traded their underacheiving young big man project, kris humphries, to the raptors so toronto could get their huge draft bust, rafael araujo, off their hands. this is not a big trade by any means but a good one by colangelo in toronto to get the stigma of the araujo draft off their hands.
9) lebron james finally quieted cleveland fans fears by signing the big contract extension saturday. everyone made it a much bigger deal than it really was because he was the last member of the 2003 draft class "big 4" to not agree to his extension, following 'melo, chris bosh, and d-wade. cavs fans had reason to worry because they have been disapointed in professional sports and with promises many times before, and they have not had much to be optimistic about in a long time. if lebron left for a bigger market like new york or chicago it would have been a crushing blow that the cavs or even the nba might not be able to recover from. king james will now be with cleveland for the future and will guide them to a championship someday, though not next year unless the cavs an get more scoring support for james. al harrington still seems to be leaning towards indiana but its getting hard for other teams to get him because the squads with cap space that are left on harringtons list still have to do a sign and trade with the hawks, and the hawks can only do one-year contracts right now because of ownership issues and that's not too attractive to most teams. someone will pick up the versatile and talented al though. mike james has houston, dallas, and minnesota on his small list of teams and is expected to make a decision any day now, dallas seems out of the picture unless james has a love for mark cuban and minnesota would have to do a sign and trade, but james has expressed interest in playing with KG. houston is still the front-runner because james lives there, played there, and has been outspoken about returning.
10) mike james finally made his decision between the mavs, my rockets, and the t-wolves, and he selected minnesota, much to my distress. i was really hoping that james would bring his scoring help to houston and give them the backourt presence they needed, but i guess the 4-year deal that minnesota offered (dallas and houston only offered 3-year deals) and the allure of playing with kevin garnett was too much to pass up on. houston had the advantage of mike living in houston and the fact that he was outspoken about returning to play there after they, sadly, traded him, and dallas had the advantage of avery johnson and mike being friends. he will really help the wolves though, along with ricky davis and randy foye they will have tons of scoring around kevin garnett, but james better replicate his numbers from last year and foye better be good right away because KG is 30 and the timetable for winning a title with him or rebuilding without him is running out. i guess james is just gonna have to become a villified player to me, but houston should not have traded him in the 1st place, even though i'm by no means a rafer alston hater and i think his pass-1st tactics could complement tmac and yao well and hopefully contribute to houston winning a title soon.
11)adrian griffin decided to sign with the bulls, basically just a move to clear out j.r. smith so they could send him to the nuggets for howard eisley. the bulls did not want smith from the time they traded for him and pj brown from new orleans, and smith should be a key player and major contributor for the nuggets. smith has a sweet stroke but he is not the sharpshooter he was supposed to be coming out of high school, hopefully his three point shooting will improve because the nuggets need that bad and all the athleticism and scoring talent that smith brings is already filled on this team. griffin will help the bulls with his experience and leadership, because they are a young team, and will make the hustle plays and give them some hard work off the bench and depth on the perimeter. darius songaila left the bulls and went to the kings, he is a flawless midrange shooter with good size but he cannot do much else except provide some needed depth in the king's frontcourt and give them another big body and versatile offensive option. marcus banks signed with the phoenix suns, he is a perfect fit in their uptemto and lighting quick style, the suns have been looking for a solid backup to steve nash and they found a perfect one. banks is not a true point guard and has not played well over a consistent stretch of his career but he is super-quick and great with penetration, he likes to shoot threes even though he is an average shooter, and he can run the fastbreak. flip murray signed with the detroit pistons to give them some much needed backcourt depth and scoring off the bench, he is undersized for his poisition and an average shooter but he can really score and i think this is a very underrated pickup for detroit, i think the cavs will miss his scoring. dallas got involved with the pacers again in a 4-player trade to get indiana's veteran overacheiver anthony johnson. johnson played incredibly well in the playoffs against the nets last year and he played well when all the pacers were suspended for the brawl at the palace two seasons ago, but the pacers were looking for a true long term point guard (unless they are sticking with tinsley) and johnson is an average veteran who is not as good as he has looked before and has not played consistently good or consistently played many minutes in his career, his scoring talents and leadership will fit right in with the mavs though so it's a pretty good move for them. the pacers got 38 year old darrell armstrong, who won't play much but who will provide much needed depth at point guard, an iffy position for indiana, and he will give them a great locker room presence and leader and a tenacious defender off the bench whenever they need one. i really like the two young players the pacers got, josh powell and rawle marshall. they both have the potential to be very good and i'm kind of surprised that dallas let them go. powell is a strong big man with impressive size and nice shot blocking and defensive ability, but his skills are raw and dallas already has three of the same type of player at center. marshall really impressed me whenever i saw him play, he has great length and athletcism, basically guaranteeing nba success, and his scoring/playmaking ability along with his immense potential as a lockdown defender make him like a younger, rawer, and skinnier shawn marion. both of these guys could be vital pieces of the pacers team someday and i like this trade more for indiana.
12) the spurs surprised the knicks by stealing away their big man project of the future, jackie butler, who is only 21 and came out of high school a few years ago. the knicks were kind of counting on him to return and while this is not a crushing blow it is another tough one for new york, because at least butler is better than jerome james. this is a great move by the spurs, he could finally be the big guy they need, popovich knows what he is doing, butler has a big body and could post-scoring skills, and in san antonio he will onl improve and stay in shape as well. the hornets made their signing of bobby jackson official and they also re-signed vital sharpshooter rasual butler, who really came through for the hornets in key moments last season. the kings signed the somewhat-disappointing john salmons away from the 76ers, after salmons denied an offer from the raptors. the 6-7 swingman was a good player and a good scorer but he never became the type of player or the scoring support that he was supposed to be and he was not a good draft pick by the 76ers organization. he will fit in with the kings and give them yet another versatile and athletic scoring option on the perimeter and maybe he can find a good role here. the raptors signed overrated athlete fred jones away from indiana, jones played pretty well after the artest-brawl 2 seasons ago but his overall game and impact on the team was really overblown and he is not that great of a player. he is a freak athlete with great hops and will give the raptors a spark off the bench, and like i've said before, colangelo knows what he is doing. al harrington is supposed to sign with the pacers any day now, that frontcourt of harrington and jermaine o'neal will be one of the most versatile, athletic, and dangerous in the league and it would be a good move for harrington and for the pacers, harrington is also comfortable and familar with the organization, as he won the 6th man of the year award there. the boston celtics signed another undrafted rookie when they got sharpshooting west virginia big man kevin pittsnogle, kind of a surprise after pittsngole's poor summer league showing, especially shooting-wise. boston is getting some good young players who were left out of the draft though, and pittsnogle will help with shooting thanks to his super-quick release and confidence, he just cannot do much else to get many minutes. the nets landed veteran mikki moore from the sonics, he is like a less athletic and older josh boone, but new jersey needs that type of player and they need frontcort depth desperately so this is a decent pick-up. the raptors keep on signing all these euro and spanish league superstars, i guess they are pulling that strategy where you pick a lot of unknown guys up and hope that one of them pans out. colangelo loves international players and has had success with them in the past so he knows what he is doing, and a lot of these players are getting signed for cheap contracts so if they become contributors it will be a good bargain. the new york knicks have reportedly offered wizard's swingman jared jeffries a 5 year and $30 million deal to come to new york, i don't even know what to make of the knick's moves anymore because there team is filled up with so many players and every position is stacked so much that i don't see how everyone, and especially all these headcases, are going to get playing time. they already have 4 guys at jeffries' position that all want playing time ,so this whole team is just a chemistry mess right now, but a talented mess. jeffries is lanky and athletic and a matchup problem with his lockdown defense but didn't give washington a consistent effort in the playoffs against the cavs and he isn't much of a shooter or offensive player.
supposedly the bucks are bout to finally trade center jamal magloire to the trail blazers for point guard steve blake and centers ha seung-jin and veteran brian skinner. from a casual view this trade doesn't look like much for either team, but it's good for the bucks because they got some needed point guard depth, a tough veteran presence in brian skinner which always helps with a young team like the bucks, and most importantly, they cleared room so that andrew bogut, their center of the future, can move to his more natural position of the 5. magloire was not the answer to the bucks problems at getting over the postseason hump like everyone thought he was and he had an overall poor year, and he is gonna have an even tougher time playing consistent minutes and matching his all-star year production of '04 in portland, where they already have a wealth of post players such as joel pryzibilla, lamarcus aldrige, and zach randolph. they are gonna be in trouble at point guard too if jarrett jack struggles because they don't have anyone backing him up right now except for spanish rookie sergio rodriguez. steve blake is a solid player but portland should have kept him because of the on-court chemistry he shared with juan dixon, blake might get trapped on the bench in milwaukee but at least he is there for insurance now that tj ford is gone. seung-jin is a huge project and it looks like his time has come and gone to prove that he can be a good nba player, he cannot even do much in summer league and he looks like a wasted 7 footer, i doubt a fresh start will change much and i expect the bucks to put him in the d-league or waive him. the addition of skinner is an underrated pickup, he was valuable with the kings as a banger with experience and will contribute with this callow squad.
13) the wizards made jared jeffries expendable by signing free-agent deshawn stevenson from orlando. stevenson will be cheaper and much more enthusiastic and ready to play hard than jeffries, who thought he deserved much more money than he did. stevenson came out of high school a few years back and is still young, but he has not developed into the offensive player many thought he could be. he is a great athlete and high leaper who is an impressive defender as well, could have lockdown-defensive ability in washington. if he can improve his long-range shooting consistency than he will be not only a solid pickup but a great one. the wizards then let jared jeffries go to new york, where he might get more money but will probably get a lot less playing time (good luck getting a smell of the starting lineup) on this crowded roster, where his athleticism and defensive ability can already be filled by numerous others. dallas had added to depth and experience with laker veteran devean george, a good leader and outside shooter who was a key member of the laker's title teams, and with undrafted george washington rookie pops mensah-bonsu, who should fit in with his high-energy athleticism and shot blocking. greg buckner should also make a moderate impact with his toughness, defense, and decent all-around game. lorenzen wright also adds some nice size and toughness to the improving frontcourt of the atlanta hawks, a good pickup for them. the spurs have recently grabbed some more frontcourt help by snatching up denver free agent francisco elson, who is a long and athletic big man with some nice skills, but he is raw and not too polished offensively, the spurs need all the center help that they can get after losing nazr and rasho, and he is an improvement over rasho at least. the nuggets also traded ruben patterson to the bucks for veteran joe smith. smith, most known for being a number one pick the year KG was drafted, wanted to be a starter and he might get his chance in denver with kenyon martin having some turmoil and looking likely to leave. smith is solid in all areas of the game and he brings nice size and experience, but he would be best as a backup and as some high-quailty depth instead of as a starter. ruben didn't give the nuggets much in the playoffs and he wasnt what they wanted from him when they acquired him from the blazers midseason, but he wil be a valuable backup with the bucks. he is an aggressive perimeter defensive stopper and an athletic slasher, can be out of control and has had temper tantrums in the past but he at least brings experience to this young team and he will be a good player, i think denver got the better fit in joe smith though because he could fill a vacant hole and be a better contributor than ruben. the nets won the battle recently to get eddie house, the quick shooting three point bomber who was a successful bench player with the uptempo suns last season. house is instant offense but he cannot do anything but shoot the basketball and shoot it really fast. he will help with a key fault in new jersey, offense off the bench. the al harrington deal with indiana finally went through after months of talk, it was really getting out of hand and tiresome with all the waiting because we knew it was going to happen, even when they said it wouldn't. harrington got sent back the pacers along with young, raw, and unknown big man john edwards for a draft pick. this will be very good for the pacers, like i have already said, because al is one of the most versatile and athletic frontcourt players in the league and pairing him with jermaine o'neal will make that frontcourt unstoppable, while edwards will replace the spot left by 12th man scott pollard, who left to cleveland to provide some needed post depth behind zydrunas and varejao. atlanta lost a talented and valuable player but they still have a promising young nucleus and could make the playoffs in the near future, and while i don't think harrington will push the pacers over the top to a championship level he will be a great contributor and at least improve their win total and make them much better and consistent with post scoring, and it doesn't hurt that he's very comfortable in indy, where he won the 6th man of the year award.
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