NBA News and Notes

The Golden State Warriors probably overspent a bit to keep Andris Biedrins in Oakland signing him to a reported six year deal potentially worth up to $62 million.  The Warriors were in a tough spot here though.  Biedrins was rumored to be the next player in line to spurn the NBA in favor of a deal with a European team and the Warriors needed to do something to hang onto their leading rebounder and shot blocker.  Biedrins has developed into a servicable big man but one wonders if he is ever going to improve upon his numbers over the last two seasons which imply that he is only ever going to give a team 28-30 minutes, 10 points, and 10 rebounds a night.  If he can ever get to where he can play 35 minutes a game and produce 13 rebounds and 2 blocks per game then he will be worth the contract they gave him.

Sounds like New Jersey’s Nenad Kristic will be the next player to go back to Europe.  This comes as a bit of a surprise since his agent had always maintained Kristic wanted to stay in the NBA but the Nets have yet to make a serious pitch to sign Kristic and it had been rumored that the Nets were looking to deal Kristic after they picked up Brook Lopez in the draft.  Kristic has been a bit of an enigma over his career.  He has always tantalized with his ability to score and his numbers had steadily increased over his first couple of seasons in the league until he started having injury problems that limited him to just 18 minutes per game in the 45 games he managed to play.  If Kristic wants to play again in the NBA signing a deal with a European team that will allow him to come back after one season is probably the best thing he can do for himself.  Go overseas and have a strong season and come back to sign a better deal next summer.

Sounds like the Hawks are entertaining sign-and-trade options with Josh Smith.  The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Detroit is the Eastern Conference team being mentioned in trade talks but they walked away due to the Hawks asking for too much in return.  I have not seen anything suggesting who the team in the west might be that is interested in Smith.  I kind of wonder why the Heat have not come calling for Smith.  Why not offer a package of Shawn Marion and their first rounder for Smith?  Smith, Beasley, and Wade is an awfully good core of talent to build around.

The Nuggets dealt for Renaldo Blackman for whatever reason.

More NBA Rumors and News

The Knicks signed free agent guard Anthony Roberson to a two year deal stoking speculation that Stephon Marbury’s days in New York are numbered.  The signing puts the Knicks roster at 16 players, 7 of which are guards, which is one above the league limit meaning they need to trim the roster by one player.  There is some speculation that Jerome James may be the fall guy here.  The Knicks of course are denying there is any truth to the rumor that they are looking to move Marbury.

In other Knicks’ news Danilo Gallinari has a sore back and is being held out of Summer League competition as a precautionary measure.  After missing his first five shots Gallinari settled in to hit five of his last six shots and score 14 points in the second half of the Knicks first summer league game.

Donnie Walsh also denies rumors that the Knicks are interested in acquiring Ron Artest.  While I am sure Artest would love to come back home and play for his home town team the Knicks do not have a lot to offer other than proposing a potential swap for Marbury.  That notion is not as far fetched as it may seem though.  The Kings need to seriously consider moving the enigmatic Artest who has become increasingly grumpy about not opting out of his contract and they are in desperate need of an established point man in addition to a marquee name.

Beno Udrih is a solid player but I am not entirely sold on him being a quality NBA point guard.  Marbury’s career has probably peaked but his contract is up at the end of the year and they could probably force the Knicks to take Kenny Thomas back given they would need addtional salary to make such a deal work under the salary cap.  This, in turn, frees up an additonal 8.5 million in cap space for next summer which would put the Kings a good 25 to 30 million under the cap with some decent young talent to build around.

The Pacers actually offered the Heat Jamaal Tinsley in exchange for Udonis Haslem.  Fortunately for Heat fans Pat Riley is smarter than that.  There is no way the Heat are going to move their only established post player for a middle of the road point guard.  Not that Haslem is anything special himself but he provides the Heat with their only real low post option on offense.

NBA Free Agent Frenzy

Wednesday marked the first day teams could officially sign free agents and execute agreed upon trades as the moratorium on roster moves was lifted as of 12:01 this morning and there some major transactions going down on Wednesday.  The most notable of which was Elton Brand officially become a Philadelphia 76er.  Corey Maggette accepted an offer from the Warriors reported to be worth $50 million over 5 years which is what Maggette was probably wanting all along.

The other major transaction that went down Wednesday was the official execution of the agreed upon trade between the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors.  Indiana receives T. J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston and the rights to Roy Hibbert in exchange for Jermaine O’Neal and the rights to Nathan Jawai.  This deal does not make a ton of sense.  In T. J. Ford the Pacers finally get someone who should be able to unseat Jamaal Tinsley whom they have been looking to displace for a couple of years now.  But, to do so, they give up the only real post scoring presence and best rebounder they had which kills any chances they may have had at making any kind of a playoff run.

From the Raptors stand point Ford was expendable as the franchise has become enamored with the idea of Jose Calderon being the starting point guard.  Jermaine O’Neal, however, has seen better days and by trading for him the Raptors now have little to no cap flexibility for the next couple of summers.  O’Neal is still owed over $40 million on the remaining two years of his contract and the Raptors are going to have to decide what to do with Andrea Bargnani by the time O’Neal’s contract expires.  O’Neal can still give a team quality minutes when he is healthy, the problem is he is rarely healthy enough these days to give a team more than 30 minutes a night for 50 or so games.  I have a feeling the Bryan Colangelo may live to regret taking on O’Neals contract for the next two years.

NBA Free Agency Update: Monta Ellis Sweepstakes is Heating up

The Heat and Cavs are interested in Monta Ellis while he claims to have an interest in playing for the Knicks. Unfortunately for those teams Ellis wants $10 million per year and none of those teams have any cap space to be able to sign him outright.  They would have to do some kind of a sign-and-trade deal and it is debatable whether any of those teams have anything Don Nelson would be interested in that would be available.  The Knicks have some tradeable assets though I don’t know the Warriors have any interest in them.  Stephon Marbury and Malik Rose’s expiring contracts are available and David Lee is available for the right deal.  The thing of it is is you do not trade a young up-and-coming talent like Ellis away for expiring contracts and David Lee does not really fit into Nelson’s style of play.  Cleveland really has nothing of interest to offer either other than expiring contracts of mediocre players.  With Baron Davis having jumped ship to Los Angeles Golden State ultimately cannot deal Ellis without getting a starting point guard in return.

Switching gears to Corey Maggette.  He is rumored to be considering the Celtics after a conversation with Doc Rivers.  I still don’t see how Maggette fits into the equation in Boston with Pierce and Allen still in the mix.  Meanwhile Maggette talks as though he is done with the Clippers and with some extra cash to spend now that Baron has jumped ship the Warriors are expected to show interest in Maggette’s services along with the Sixers who are likely hedging their bets in the event they cannot come to terms with Andre Iguodala.  The Warriors interest is probably stronger than the Sixers at this point.  If they retain Ellis and move him over to the point as is expected to happen they will then have an opening at shooting guard and Maggette could fit right in there.  The Sixers are likely using Maggette as a bargaining chip with Iguodala.  Otherwise if they re-sign Igoudala then they have no real use for a guy like Maggette with Thaddeus Young already in place as the small forward of the future.

Initial Thoughts on the ‘08 NBA Draft

The Bulls still need to make some moves for the Rose pick to work for them.  I still think Micheal Beasley made more sense from a need perspective.  They need to leverage Hinrich or Gordon to get some frontcourt help otherwise they will continue to be a fringe playoff team at best.  The frontcourt of Deng, Gooden, Nocioni, Noah, Aaron Gray, and Tyrus Thomas strikes fear in the hearts of nobody.  As it stands right now they are looking at their top 3 paid players being bench players and now have a logjam at the guard position with Hinrich, Larry Hughes, and Ben Gordon and unless they do something they will be counting on someone like Noah, Gray, Cedric Simmons, or Thomas to step their game up and be able to give them 30-35 productive minutes a game.

I am intrigued by the moves Boston made.  Ainge is either going to come away looking like a genius for grabbing J. R. Giddens and Bill Walker or a fool for taking a wildcard like Giddens in the first.  Giddens is an amazing talent but he comes with a ton of off-court baggage.  Walker comes as a second rounder so there is nothing to lose on him and I think he has the chops to be a quality player if he stays healthy.

I don’t understand Memphis’ thinking at all unless they are going to be flipping someone for a big man.  Kevin Love may never be anything special but he is probably, at the very least, an upgrade over Darko.  Darrell Arthur is a nice talent but he is not much of a rebounder and Memphis needs someone who is going to hang and bang under the basket for them and Arthur is not going to be that guy.  Between Gay and Miller the Grizz had plenty of perimeter scoring and with plenty of point guards in the fold already I am just not sure how Mayo significantly improves this team.  They basically gave up an elite 3-point shooter and low post help for another scorer.

On the flipside I love the move for the Wolves.  Sure neither Love or Jefferson is the ideal size for a center but it gives them the opportunity to let Jefferson play some at the PF slot where he is more suited to play and they pick up Mike Miller who gives them the elite perimeter shooter they have been lacking for a few years now.  Minnesota was going to have to figure out what to do with the 3-headed monster of Foye/McCants/Mayo so moving Mayo solves that problem as that may not have played out so well if McCants or Foye are healthy and losing minutes to Mayo.

NBA Draft: Some Early Thoughts on the Top 5

With the NBA pre-draft camp going on in Orlando this week and as we head into June it is that time of year to start looking at the NBA draft.  As we get closer to the draft the general consensus seems to be that Derrick Rose and Micheal Beasley are the top two players in the draft with O. J. Mayo and Brook Lopez fighting it out for the 3rd slot.

Rose seems to be gaining momentum as the #1 guy, but, based on who the Bulls currently have on their roster Beasley makes the most basketball sense because the most glaring need Chicago has is a guy who can hang and bang and provide scoring and rebounding in the low post.  Adding Rose to that roster makes the Bulls look more like the Knicks than anything else.  Chicago currently has oodles of talent that can score and handle the ball at the 1,2, and 3 positions right now. 

If Paxson decides Rose is the guy then he needs to move some other guys around to accomodate him and try to sure up the interior game that has been keeping them from making a serious playoff run the past few years. Rose makes sense from the standpoint that he is a local product and arguably the best talent in the draft this year and if the Bulls take him he will keep butts in the seats and sell merchandise.

NBA Draft: Is Rose the One?

Since the NCAA basketball tournament ended there has been a lot of talk about Derrick Rose being the top prospect in the draft.  But, is he the right guy to take if you think there is a dominant/elite big man in this year’s talent pool?

There is a reason why Greg Oden was drafted ahead of Kevin Durant as the top pick last year. You stand a better chance of winning with a dynamic/dominating big man than you do with a dynamic/dominating perimeter player. Just look at recent history. Who has won the lion’s share of the NBA Championships since Jordan hung them up? Of the last 9 NBA Champions 8 of them featured either Tim Duncan or Shaq in a prominent role. The last 3 Spurs Championship teams featured Tony Parker at the point who is a very good but not an elite player at PG and Avery Johnson captained the first championship run and he was just a facilitator for guys like Duncan and Robinson to do their thing.

Shaq’s teams have never featured an elite PG either. He has by-and-large won with teams featuring a dominant combo guard like Dwyane Wade or Kobe Bryant.

As one goes back over the history of the league really only Isiah and Jordan are the only two players to win multiple championships without the services of an All Star caliber low post player and of the two Isiah is the only PG and those Bulls teams merely had someone who could hit open jumpers at the point and help bring the ball up the floor.