Posted on February 22nd, 2008 by
The Cleveland Cavs are the latest NBA team to renovate, as the team pulled off a monster 3 team trade to get LeBron James some help. In the deal, the Cavs will bring in Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West. Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Shannon Brown and Cedric Simmons will be shipped off to Chicago, and Donyell Marshall is off to Seattle.
In a word, this trade is awesome for the Cavs, whose 30-24 record is good for 5th place in the East. In the West, however, there are 9 teams with more wins. Joe Smith is having a good year, averaging 11.5 ppg, and over 5 rebounds. Ben Wallace has struggled since moving to Chicago from the Pistons, but brings the type of defensive intensity and rebounding that the Cavs can feed on. LeBron will certainly enjoy some of those offensive rebounds Wallace will corral. Szcerbiak is the kind of blue collar player that belongs on a team like Cleveland as well. His outside shooting and 13 points per game will give the team another outside scoring threat.
With the trade, the Cavs become a real threat in the weak East. Boston, Orlando, and Detroit could really have some problems with this new look team, if all the new elements can manage to get on the same page over the last few weeks of the season.
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Posted on February 20th, 2008 by
The Detroit Pistons’ 10 game winning streak is officially over. In their first game after the All-Star break, the Pistons were unable to match the intensity that they had before the break. In fact, in the 103-85 home loss to the Orlando Magic, Detroit was woefully short of any intensity. Orlando was the last team to beat the Pistons before they started on their winning streak.
Although the game started off well for the Pistons, the Magic soon found their hot hands, and in the second and third periods blew Detroit off their own court 63-37. Over the game, the Magic shot 65% from 3-point range and had six players to score in double digits. Rashard Lewis led the team with 20 points 4 rebounds, and 4 assists. All-Star Dwight Howard, fresh off his win at the dunk contest, was held to only 8 points, but did pull down 8 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots.
Both teams are still comfortably in first place in their divisions, with Detroit leading by 10 games, and Orlando by 8.
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Posted on February 18th, 2008 by
Last week, a trade that was to bring Jason Kidd from New Jersey to Dallas fell apart, due to the loose lips of Jerry Stackhouse. The talkative forward was supposed to be included in the deal, but was to be returned in 30 days after being waived by the Nets. The NBA considers this type of deal illegal, and the trade was all but dead. Now according to Sports Illustrated, a new deal is back in the works.
The new deal has Kidd and Malik Allen going to Dallas for Keith Van Horn (who is all but retired), Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, Trenton Hassell, two first round picks, and cash. This deal is a classic case of mortgaging the future for the present. Kidd is almost 35, and surely doesn’t have more than a couple years left.
While Kidd is certainly on the backside of his career, he is still averaging over 10 assists per game, which will serve Dallas well with all the firepower they have on offense. The veteran PG also brings a wealth of savvy and experience to the position that has been lacking in recent years. Is the move enough to get the Mavs over the hump? They are still weak inside, and losing Diop will hurt the interior depth. Erik Dampier is hot and cold, and can’t be counted on every night. The other teams in the west have bolstered their interior, as the Suns added Shaq, and the Lakers by trading for Pau Gasol.
The move is certainly an upgrade at the position, but still leaves the Mavs weak where their rivals are strong. It doesn’t look like the move that will bring a championship to Dallas.
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Posted on February 17th, 2008 by
The Atlanta Hawks are on the verge of making the playoff for the first time in years, and hope their latest trade will be enough to push them over the top. All year, the Hawks have relied solely on Joe Johnson to provide the outside scoring for the team, so the rest of the league was able to throw junk defenses at him to slow the Hawks. With Mike Bibby and his 37% career 3-point average coming to ATL, other teams will have another threat to guard.
In the trade, Atlanta sent starting PG Anthony Johnson, Shelden Williams, Tyronn Lue, and Loranzen Wright to the Kings, as well as a second round pick in 2008. The Hawks still hold onto Acie Law III as their back up PG, and must feel that he is the future at the position. In addition to his outside shooting abilities, Bibby has averaged over 6 assists per game over his career, and brings a wealth of post-season experience to Atlanta. The Kings were one of the more powerful teams in the league just a few years ago, and were certainly one of the most exciting, with Bibby, Webber, Stoyakavitch, and others, although they never advanced to the finals.
The Hawks now have a more formidable team, with Bibby, Marvin Williams, Josh Childress, Josh Smith, and Al Horford. They are young, but Bibby brings a veteran’s leadership to the quarterback position–somthing that the team has lacked recently.
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Posted on February 13th, 2008 by
With the Utah Jazz winning steak over, the Detroit Pistons are currently in possession of the longest running streak after winning their ninth straight against the Hawks last night. There are plenty of losing streaks that are in effect at the moment (Miami and Washington have each lost 7 in a row), but not many winning ones. Detroit is cruising along at the moment, comfortably in first place by 9 games over the Cleveland Cavs, and sporting the second best record in the East. The Celtics are three games ahead of Detroit. Detroit has a better record than every team in the West.
Against the Hawks, Chauncy Billups was simply terrible for three quarters, and the streak was in serious jeopardy of being broken, but the Detroit guard came alive in the fourth to score 12 points, and get the win. In fact, Billups scored 10 straight at one point, and scored the go-ahead basket with 22 seconds left on the clock.
The East race is looking like a snoozer for the rest of the season. Boston, Detroit, and Orlando are all running away with their divisions, while all the Western races are interesting. The question is, will the Eastern leaders start feeling overconfident with the ease of their regular seasons? The West is having to earn their stripes by having to tough out their seasons.
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Posted on February 12th, 2008 by
Five games after the trade that sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers, things seem to be working out well. The Lakers are 4-1 since the trade, and Gasol and Bryant are starting to figure each other out. Kobe is doing what he always does, which it to fill it up from anywhere past midcourt, and Gasol is becoming a sweet-shooting, sweet-passing force in the middle. In the 5 games since the trade, Gasol has scored 24, 12, 30, 12, and 26 points. In what might have been his most complete game since the trade, Gasol scored 26 points in 9-11 shooting, made 8-12 free throws, to go along with 6 rebounds, and 6 assists against the Bobcats.
The surging Lakers remain just 2 games back from the Suns, who made a big trade of their own last week, picking up Shaq. The drama in the West is as exciting as ever, when LA and Phoenix meet, in the battle of the centers. As far as the Lakers are concerned, they have as good a chance as anyone to win the West this year. Currently, only the Suns in the West have more wins. San Antonio is slipping due to injuries and at this point, can’t be considered a favorite to get to the finals. Someone has to come out of the Western jumble, could it be LA?
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Posted on February 11th, 2008 by
In a battle between what many feel could well be the NBA Finals match-up, the short-handed Celtics defeated the short-handed Spurs, 98-90 on Sunday. Boston was without starting center, Kendrick Perkins and forward Kevin Garnett, while San Antonio is still without the services of PG Tony Parker. Without two of Boston’s biggest players, the good money would have been on Tim Duncan dominating down low. While he did put up 22 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists against Glen Davis, the Big Baby did hold his own, playing Duncan on-on-one, while scoring 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals.
The Spurs have been up and down lately, with each of their big three stars having missed substantial time due to injuries. They have certainly played more games shorthanded this year than with the full complement.
Rajon Rondo was the question mark before the season started. But against the defending NBA champs, the second year player out of Kentucky had 12 assists and 11 rebounds. As far as quick offense was concerned, the Celtics had two spurts when the hot hand helped. In the first quarter, Paul Pierce scored 14 points of 5-5 shooting, and later in the game, Eddy House scored 10 points in under two and a half minutes.
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Posted on February 8th, 2008 by
The Jazz are by far the hottest team in the league at the moment, owners of a 10 game winning streak. The team with the next longest streak is Detroit, who have won 6 straight. It’s not like Utah has been beating up on the Sisters of the Poor either. Among Utah’s vanquished foes are some of the better teams in the league. The Jazz got some revenge against the Spurs, who bounced them from the playoffs last year, by beating them in Utah, 97-91. Against New Orleans, who is tied for first place in the Southwest Division, Utah absolutely dominated, winning the game 110-88. The Jazz did it on both ends of the floor, holding Chris Paul to only 6 points, and forcing 19 team turnovers. Meanwhile, 5 Jazz players scored in double digits. Against division foe Denver, who remains just 2 games behind the Jazz, it took overtime, but Utah prevailed 118-115.
One team that the Jazz have had problems with recently, is the Sacramento Kings. It is surprising, as the Kings have not been a good team for several years, yet Utah has lost 10 of the last 13 games against the Kings in Arco Arena. The Jazz also have not won the season series against the Kings since the 2000-2001 season. The Kings have playing well recently also, and have won 7 of their last 10. The two teams meet tonight in Arco, in which should be a hard-fought game.
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Posted on February 7th, 2008 by
Around this time of the year, just before the trade deadline, there are some blockbuster trades, and then there are some head-scratchers. Phoenix trading Shawn Marion to Miami for Shaq is a head-scratcher if there ever was one. The Suns are in first place in the Western Conference, and have the third best record in the entire NBA. They have gone deep into the playoffs the past few years. What’s more, their fast, aggressive, athletic small ball game is the polar opposite of what Shaq’s skill set is. Even if they were trading for the 2000 version of the Diesel, the trade wouldn’t make sense from a philosophical standpoint.
For Miami, the trade is a godsend. Marion is in his prime, and can team up with Dwayne Wade to create a shooting, slashing type of offense. Marion has wanted a big money contract for sometime now (he’s owed $17 million next season) and Phoenix wasn’t going to give it to him. Maybe the Heat won’t either, but they also won’t have to pay Shaq the $40 million owed over the next 2 years. Miami has now officially blown up, and it won’t be a surprise to see Marion play out the string and then go the free agent route. Adrian Wojinowski has a very good analysis of the trade here, at Yahoo! Sports.
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Posted on February 5th, 2008 by
A few weeks ago the Lakers season looked on the verge of collapse when suddenly blossoming center, Andrew Bynum, was lost to a knee injury for much of the rest of the season. Bynum was just coming into his own this year, and was providing scoring, defense, and the inside presence that allowed the Lakers to challenge Phoenix for the division. Losing Bynum threatened the Lakers’ chance to contend for the division, but LA solved that problem by making a major trade for Pau Gasol.
In getting the big Spaniard from Memphis, the Lakers gave up some future considerations, which will hurt in the coming years. The Lakers sent Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, two first-round picks and the draft rights to Marc Gasol, Pau’s brother, to Memphis for Gasol. Although the two first round picks will certainly sting, Gasol is still only 27 years old, and has averaged 18 points and 8 rebounds in his career. He has three years left on his contract, and could be a player that is more than just a temporary bandage. Gasol is versatile, can hit the mid-range jumper, and is an excellent passer.
The trade makes the Lakers a legitimate contender in the West and a real threat to win it all. When Bynum comes back healthy, the Lakers will have two seven footers, and Lamar Odom at 6′11″. They are now one of the biggest teams in the league, and will give the rest of the league some serious match up problems.
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