Things I want to say

Has anyone else noticed this offseason has been ridiculously long? I mean, as far as stories go, there's something new every week. over course the big story was always LeEgo, but after his talents were taken to Dwyane Wade's Miami Heat, it looked like the major interest driver for the big O (offseason, c'mon) was gone. Think about it though, from day one, this offseason has been filled with great stories: David Khan being terrible, teams paying players way too much, key players moving around, David Khan again, the list goes on.

What I want to do is talk about some of the things you may have missed. A lot of behind the scenes action, players emerging from random places and just plain attention grabbing storylines to keep the NBA relevent in an otherwise dull period for American sports fans (That's right baseball, I went there).

So here is something that should not go unnoticed:

 The Lakers are stacked!
 Wow, I thought the Lakers were pretty solid last year at the beginning of the regular season. Well, somehow, they have gotten better. This is ridiculous. Everybody is so enamored with D-Wade and the fellas that they have failed to notice that the TWO-TIME DEFENDING CHAMPS have lost pretty much nothing and somehow gotten better.

Let's take a look at what the Lakers have done. How about this to start, Steve Blake joins the squad. To the average fan, this means nothing. Yeah, they probably saw Blake run point for the Clippers or Blazers a few times and he probably didn't do anything spectacular. Great. Well, to somehow who pays attention to the regular season, they would know that Steve Blake is a great pick for the Lake Show. It was basically a trade for Jordan Farmar. If I could make this an easier to understand, think of it as trading in a fairly new, fast, but not very useful car for an older, yet very reliable one which you know will perform well.

In short, with Blake you know what you're getting. He's going to make smart plays, pass well and defend the types of PGs D-Fish can't. Farmar was too streaky. At times he'd come in and play well, other times he'd just attack the basket for no reason at all. Blake will make the offense flow and Phil Jackson will be very happy.

As if that was not enough, Matt Barnes has signed on to win a ring too! Matt Barnes is probably best known for his Denver Nuggets-esque tats and being a Golden State Warrior. Last year with the Magic, he didn't gel so well, but he did make an impact and further solidify his worth on any top-tier roster. Who knew that roster would turn out to be the Lakers. Look at the few guys who can effectively slow down Kobe Bryant: 1) Shane Battier; 2) Ron Artest; 3) Matt Barnes 4) Tony Allen (Probably not without Celtics D behind him). In the last two years the Lakers have gone out and signed two of those guys. Artest turned out to work well and now they have Barnes?! This guy can bring it, offensively, defensively, energy-wise, whatever you want.

The Lakers made this two pick ups and added veteran Theo Ratliff, a big body with playoff and All-Star experience. All this to lose: DJ Mbenga, Farmar and Adam Morrison. Because at this point it even looks like the Lakers can bring back Shannon Brown.
How good are the Lakers:
PG: Derek Fisher, Steve Blake, Sasha Vujacic (Brown)
SG: Kobe Bryant, Vujacic, Brown
SF: Ron Artest, Barnes
PF: Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom
C: Bynum, Gasol, Ratliff

That's a deep ass team. Wow. The Heat are going to be good and probably have way more highlights, but I expect the Lakers to win. Win in the West, by the way. The East still has something to prove.

CP3 O-U-T?

Word on the skreet is that Chris Paul may be on his way out of New Orleans. Of course this is all wild speculation and propoganda. Some guy who claims he knows CP3 has leaked some info which basically says Paul wants out of the NO unless something good happens.

This really shouldn't be big news. Why? Because we've known Paul has been asking for talent in New Orleans so that they can be a contender. He wants to play alongside another star, aka not David West. He's been saying this for a while, just because someone else that claims to have knowledge of the situation comes out and says the exact same thing does not mean we're any closer to a deal.

If anything, we should look at it this way: Kobe Bryant. A couple years ago, Kobe Bryant was in the same position in the summer. He was frustrated, his team sucked and no one was doing anything about it. Well, the day was full of drama as people reported that the Lakers organization was scrambling to make some kind of deal happen and that Kobe was well on his way out. No. That was all stupid. By the end of the day, Kobe said he wanted to be a Laker for life and that he was just frustrated by the lack of help on the court.

Flash forward to now. CP3 has not even SAID anything outright like Kobe did and we're all freaking out. The Hornets don't want to trade Paul at all, but at this point, I think it's bound to happen.

The Man With Two First Names is now determined to leave NO. The Hornets can make something happen and I think it will actually make them better. For instance, they could package Emeka Okafor's mega-contract with the star PG and clear up some cap room, get a solid young player AND create playing time for Darren Collison. Sound good? Huh? Well, good enough for a situation like this. I mean, go back to that Kobe situation. It led the Lakers to begin intense negotiations and eventually get Pau Gasol. Now people usually like to point out that it was a steal for the Lakers. Yes, yes it was. But look at the Grizz now, solid young core. A decent young point guard in Mike Conley, great young SG in OJ Mayo, a potential All-Star at SF in Rudy Gay, Z-BO Randolph playing amazing at the 4 and Mar Gasol is an amazingly efficient center. If the Grizz were in the East, they are a 4 seed. So yes, they gave up Gasol, but now they are playing at the highest level in franchise history with room to improve.

Back to Paul, Chris. He's looking at a few teams right now, but I think the Knicks are going to be the number one team. Amare Stoudemire wants him there, the Knicks want him there, let's make a deal. I mean, even with Okafor, the Knicks would win in this trade. Say they send newly acquired Raymond Felton to NO. They have CP3, maybe Wilson Chandler at the 2, Gallinari at the 3, STAT at the 4 and Okafor at the 5. Not bad, not bad at all.

Interesting thing is, CP3 had his meniscus removed last season if I'm not mistaken. Pretty sure most doctors said that would cause some sort of future problems. Well, we shall see.

Free Agent Gems!

You know what's bothering me guys? It's not that LeBron has been acting like a prick, or that the Minnesota T'Wolves are allowing one man to destroy their franchise. No, the only thing that is bothering me (besides the fact that David Stern is still in power after letting Clay Bennet steal the Sonics from a faithful, awesome fan base) is that two NBA players that are proven champions are still floating around the FA market.

I'm talking of course about Brian Scalabrine and Adam Morrison.

Look at the numbers. Between the two men we have three NBA rings. That's more than Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined. Let's look at some two man groups that have failed to get on the Scals/Stache level: Deron Williams/Carlos Boozer, McGrady/Yao, Stockton/Malone.

I'm just saying, there is a lot of talent between these two players and what if, now bare with me, WHAT IF some GM out there thought outside of the box and SOMEHOW brought these two powerhouse players to a city near you?! There are a lot of struggling teams out there that have cap room. With Scals and Morrison, they would immediately become championship contenders. In fact there is an awesome article by Trey Kirby of "Ball Don't Lie" on Yahoo! here. He brings up a good point on Scals:

"After a rough first two years that saw the Celtics win just 57 combined games, Scalabrine really righted the ship in 2007-08. Selflessly surrendering half of his minutes while in the prime of his career, Scalabrine helped lead the Celtics to the best record in the NBA. Eventually, Boston would go on to win its first championship in 22 years, mostly due to Scalabrine's contributions as the Celtics' No. 1 option for bench cheering. The next two seasons saw Boston win almost 70 percent of its games and go deep into the playoffs.
Before Scalabrine arrived, the Celtics hadn't even advanced past the Eastern Conference finals in 20 years. In his five seasons with the team, Boston has made two NBA Finals. Coincidence? Not likely."

Yup, the facts are all there. Scalabrine created a winning atmosphere and confidence throughout the Celtic's organization. The result? Multiple finals appearances and and a championship. Enough said. 

After a devastating ACL injury, many people thought that it was the end for Adam Morrison. But the former Gonzaga star's road to glory had just been laid out. Morrison was picked up by the Lakeshow in a Feb, 2009 trade. All I have to say is: Two Seasons, Two Championships.

So what's going on in the NBA? We have a player announcing his free agency decison on TV like he's the Pope, yet he hasn't even touched what Scals and Morrison (or should I say SCORE-isson) have done. You make the decision. Proven NBA ring caliber players or prospective talent? 

Ya, that's what I thought. 

Making Moves

Today has been a great day for Free Agency. Signings, rumors and trades abound as teams scramble to make sense of the aftermath of the big signings. A few things I want to discuss here: 1) D-Fish and Udonis Haslem. How important those signings were and what impact they'll make. 2) Trades, specifically the Suns. 3) Clearing the air on the big teams that didn't land big players.

Well, two teams are very happy today and they honestly haven't done much. The Lakers and the Heat continue to have a brilliant offseason as they retained two key role players in their quests for gold. Both these resigning are huge. The Heat wanted D-Fish and let's not kid ourselves, Fish was thinking about it. At the end of the day, I think loyalty to his team, the organization and the city of LA kept the vet PG there. Here's what Fish had to say on Twitter: " I have decided to continue with Kobe, continue with our teammates and the fans of Los Angeles." In one of the best statements I've heard all off season, Fish brought us a very personal look into his decision and showed us why it's not always about money in the L. "At the end of the day, there's one person I could not turn away from. Kobe Bryant asked me to stay but supported whatever decision I made."
Kobe always seems to help sway players one way or the other. Remember Lamar Odom last season? LO was exploring options and guess what? Kobe didn't like the fact that the Lalers' X-Factor could leave. So what did Kobe tell Mr. Kardashian? "If you leave, I'll kill you." Haha,  I do like Kobe's control over the Lakers. Say what you want about him, but he is a true leader. Much like Jordan did with the Bulls, Kobe is very vocal, always strategizing and telling people where they should be; giving death stares and whatnot. All this wouldn't work, though, without D-Fish. Because much like Scottie Pippen with the Bulls, D-Fish is the guy to walk over to a teammate right after they were yelled at by Kobe and say, look, here's how to fix this. D-Fish knows the Lakers' intricate Triangle offense extremely well. He does make clutch shots and he rarely makes ballhandling mistakes. He might not be a sexy pick for a point guard, but for his role in that offense, he is perfect. I'm a fan of the Lakers. I wanted them to win everything this year and they did. But you don't know how many times I had to yell, "D FISH NOOOOOOO!" or "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" when D-Fish threw up an errant shot or decided to drive right into the heart of a defense like he was LBJ6. Welcome back D-Fish. Let's get another ring.

On the other hand, we have another key player re-signing. Udonis Haslem has been a key role player for the Heat for over 7 years. With the Heat making major moves this offseason, there were questions about bringing the big U back and whether Miami could afford him. Well, in another good move for basketball, the undersized PF has come back to Wade County after considering offers from Dallas and Denver. Here's what Lebron had to tweet: "Happy UD is staying put in Miami. Wouldn't have felt right if he wasn't apart of this. Congrats fam." Don't know why he went with "UD" instead of UH, but hey let's face it, it's LeBron; he hasn't done anything good off the court for at least 3 years.
Haslem is great for the Heat. He has a ring already and has been a very reliable player alongside D-Wade. It will be interesting to see how he is used now that Bosh is there. Bosh should not be matching up with guys like Bynum, Howard and Perkins at the center position, so Haslem might have to be first man off the bench. Either way, we're looking at a solid rebounder and a guy that can contribute on offense.

Now I'd like to move on to trades. Some teams are scrambling to make things work, while others are staying content and watching the T'Wolves comically run a team. The Suns are going to aquire Hedo Turkoglu in a trade with the Toronto Raptors, and not only that, they are going to pick up Josh Childress. All this for Leandro Barbosa and Dwayne Jones. Needless to say, the Suns are slowly recovering from the Amare hole. Childress is going to be good in the Alvin Gentry offense and if Turkoglu actually tries, he will be dangerous for a year or two. Well done PHX.

The other players moving around that were involved somehow with this trade are pretty boring and I really don't care about them. Check back soon as I analyze the Nets and how they are reeling, yet recovering from this years' FA debacle.

Wade, Bosh and James

So the dust has settled on the biggest part of the offseason (by that I mean the Nets signing Johan Petro) and we can somewhat begin to argue about what's going. Whatever you may think about this new superteam forming or LeBron's "Decision," the league has been shaken up and is now set for a very exciting season. One of my favorite things to do is make lists. Ranking things, giving them a sense of self-importance, making myself seem like an expert; lists and rankings are FAAAANtastic.

Concerning Miami

There are a lot of questions surrounding Miami to go along with the buzz. We know that it's going to be a fun season to watch, but let's try to encompass eveything from "The Decision" to the end of next year's season.
  
5) Can these guys play with eachother? Have you seen them play on the International stage? How about in All-Star games? Ya, these guys have great chemistry. It will be a joy to watch Chris Bosh outlet to Wade who will fast break down the floor and throw an oop behind the back to LeBron for a reverse windmill. 

4) Wade and LeBron are very similar, how's that going to work? It's going to be tough. Both these guys are great players and unselfish too. The problem is, they are both slashers.  Neither is a spot up shooter (you know, like Sasha Vujacic) so we can't expect them to be effective hovering around the three point line like Rasheed Wallace. Doesn't matter. LeBron is going to be a distributor. If they run him at point, the Heat will a) create a bigger match-up nightmare than what is already there with three great players. B) Have a dynamic PG with great size, vision and physical ability and C) Have a disgusting pick & roll. It'll work.
 3) Was LeBron's "Decision" ok? No, that was not ok. I don't care if LeBron leaves. Good for him. The front office in Cleveland couldn't get it right. Peace out Cleveland. The problem is, he has become an attention whore. I mean this is just stupid. TO dancing in the endzone or Gilbert Arenas creating all these personas, those are harmless, fun activities (except when Gil goes all "Agent Zero" and brings a gun to the locker room). Cleveland was going to be mad either way, but to buy a slot on national TV and throw it in the face of every fan that's been a Cleveland supporter for the last 7 years. What would have been so bad for you, LeBron, if you had just told the organizations involves that you were going to sign with the Heat? After that you could have chosen to answer press questions, take personal interviews, heck, even written a book. There is all the attention you wanted! Instead you decided to buy a slot on ESPN so you could tell Cleveland that they are screwed for who knows how long. It was just unnecessary. One of the STUPIDEST arguments I've heard for this egotistic publicity stunt. Anybody with enough money could have done this, that's not the issue. It's the fact that LeBron thinks he's so special that he needs to have his own show to announce that he's signing a piece of paper that is so blatantly vain. This wasn't about money, it definitely wasn't to be easy on Cleveland, it was all about LeBron.

2) What now? Well the Heat need to fill out that nasty roster. I mean, yeah they should win a title eventually, but if they fill out their roster with terrible players, this just might not work. Hey, Scalabrine and Morrison (a combined 3 rings) are still available right?

1) Will they win a championship this year? No. Then Spoelstra will "step down" and Riley will take over. Ring. 

LeBron needs to STOP

There are a few things out there that I think should be cleared up, by me of course, because I know everything.

1) Is LeBron signing with MIA: The answer is, who knows and I really don't care. We'll all find out tonight. If he does, fine. If he doesn't then it was all conjecture and hype by his circle of minions that do his bidding. It would not surprise me at this point if they did just make up a whole bunch of rumors to add more attention to tonight's show. What a joke.

2) Can the Heat win a title with Bosh, Bron and BDwyane BWade? Not this year. I mean, I'm not sure yet. I'm assuming that they fill out their roster with Marcus Haislip, Steven Hunter, Kenny Thomas, Maurice Ager, Ronald McDonald, Cookie Monster and somehow Drew Gooden since he always finds his way to a team in need. Point being that the Heat will have nothing besides those three. I mean, we're talking 40+ minutes per game for probably 100 games. You can't put that type of pressure on these guys. What has won championships has been the role players. Fisher, Horry, House, Posey, RICK FOX! haha, those guys surround great players and add so much to a team. There's a reason they get big contracts later on. The Heat can not afford these types of players. 45 wins would be a good mark for this squad.

3) LeBron is just a jerk. I love to watch him on the court (most of the time) and I love the fact that he can go all out and completely dominate. What I am now sick of is the fact that he is turning the NBA into "The LeBron Show." He and his friends have been manipulating the spotlight all offseason and his reputation has taken a hit. Look at Kevin Durant, quietly signing an extension with the Thunder. Yet, LeBron needs a full hour on ESPN to announce his intention of signing a piece of paper. Really? Yeah, we want to know who he signs with, but why can't he just do it? Jordan, Russell, Durant, Kobe even Shaq didn't have this ridiculous, "let's make people come to us and set up all these fancy meetings." Uggghhh. This is just frustrating. The NBA is just not about basketball anymore, especially when you have it's "best player" acting like this. The one thing LeBron has going for him is that he has not gotten into any trouble with the law. He has been a model citizen and I have a lot of respect for that. Hopefully he keeps it up.

Chi-town is Boozed up

If there were ever such a thing as a bandwagon player, it's definitely Carlos Boozer. Booze will jump from team to team, contract to contract without any sort of emotional or physical attachment to his former city or team. Now Booze has jumped ship from Utah to Chicago. Yup, Deron Willams, not a very good point guard I guess. Never got him the ball.
Luckily for Booze, this is a great move. He can play next to Joakim Noah who will rebound and play defense like the crazy man that he is while Boozer scores and quietly averages a double-double. Chicago made an awesome pick up in a guy that's going to bring more energy and toughness to an already tough, energetic team. Not to mention Boozer is a veteran leader with playoff experience. He's going to be comfortable without the constant pressure and doubles now.
Should be a good fit and a fun team to watch. Ya Buddy!