Thursday, June 25, 2009

Breakin' Down the Trades, Rumors, Draft and more...

The "Big" news of the day, I'm sure you've already heard. Even if you go to CNN.com for your news, you'll see the "Big Shaquisition" (aka Shaquille O'Deal, aka the Big Cavtus, aka...well, you get the point).

Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James are now on the same team, at least for the 2009-2010 season. Will it extend past that? Doubtful, but at least they have a year to make one "Big" run (okay, I promise to stop that). More on the details here, here and here.

Other trades in the last few days....The Wiz sent scrubs and the 5th pick to the Wolves for Randy Foye (sucks) and Mike Miller (can shoot, but is he coming off the bench?)

Not a fan, but I expect this to be just the beginning. They have way too many guards and no big man to count on. Can they get into the playoffs, and even take home court for round one? Yes, with a healthy Arenas, I believe so. But if they're going for a chip, which is what this trade says they're shooting for, then they'll need better than the Haywood, Blatche, Mcgee poo poo platter in the front court (especially after the Cavs picked up Shaq!). Also, if for some reason Ricky Rubio gets dropped to 5th in the draft, this is an awful mistake. Not because I believe Ricky will be successful with that crew in DC, but because that 5th pick would get a ton more trade value, and can easily get a hell of a lot more than Randy Foye (sucks) and Mike Miller. I know Flip Saunders is known as an offense coach, but as Hollinger agrees, this is not nearly enough defense to get deep into the playoffs.

The Spurs made a big splash by getting Richard Jefferson from the Bucks for Bowen, Oberto and Kurt Thomas. The move was financially based for the Bucks, and for the Spurs, a bit of a surprise that they'd take on that contract in this economic climate (same for the Wiz above). Oberto got flipped again, and Bowen made some suggestions that he's considering retirement, but if I had to bet on it, I'd say they'd both be on the Spurs roster come playoff time.

To try and do a Mock Draft at this point would be nonsense. First of all, not even the "experts" around the league have any idea whats going to happen (after #1 of course). It's the most uncertain draft in many years. There are guys projected to go 6th and 20th, 8th and 21st, etc, etc. That's bananas. Tonight should be a lot of fun, between picks and trades, so make sure to tune in.

Other news around the league and NBA blog world:

*Basketbawful, takes us through the 2008-2009 worst moments (hilarious).

*K-Berg says the Wolves are now in the drivers seat for the draft, after securing both the 5th and 6th pick. Hopefully David Kahn (protege of Donnie Walsh) can throw us a bone and get us in the mix for Steph Curry who is clearly a match for D'Antoni (and LeBron!). However, the Wolves need to start thinking about getting some more guards, since at this point, they have 10 forwards and 2 guards on the roster, which clearly is a problem.

*D-Wade is a twitter maniac.

*Speaking of twitter....Shaq wants to play this guy in HORSE for a G (good luck). JA Adande gave us this great press conference mix/video/rap, and most importantly, FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER FOR UPDATES AND MORE!!

*Someone explain to me Danny Ainge's thinking on totally bashing his champion point guard. I'm gonna go ahead and say that's probably not great for trade value nor the relationship for next season. Good luck with all that...

Enjoy the Draft!

4 Comments:

willie said...

my money is on the knicks to do something stupid again.. like taking gallanari instead of brook lopez last year..
i bet they move up to 2nd and take rubino.

nice reading you today..

welcome back,, d miz

willie

Sports Chump said...

Speaking of Shaq... I'd love your take on this.

sportschump.net

Unknown said...

bring the blog back for this season. when is first post?

Anonymous said...

this blog is wack--and u know what they say, once u go wack, you never go back. Prove em wrong dmiz