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!

NO FOULS, NO THREES!!

Kobe took too many shots

Rashard didn't take enough shots

Hedo missed some easy shots

Howard blocked 9 shots (!!)

Fish hit the big shots...

Up by 3, with 11 seconds left, it's very simple: No fouls, no threes. That has to be very clear to everyone leaving the huddle after the time out. Stan Van Gundy might have forgot to make that clear, since he assumed everyone on the team would know, but the key thing is, the player defending Fisher should NOT have been Jameer Nelson. He simply is not in NBA-shape yet (and no one would expect him to be). Let's do the math: When Rafer Alston ("Skip") plays and plays confident, they're 1-0 in the finals. When his coach is juggling his minutes and benching him for large periods of time for a player who hasn't played in the NBA for four months, they're 0-3. Hmmm....

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm very confident that Skip has been playing a lot more crunch time basketball recently, and would know to close out on shooters at the 3-point line in that situation. Skip is also taller, with longer arms, and stronger legs (Jameer clearly isn't getting off the ground like he was months ago). The Magic want anything but a foul, or a three in that scenario. The time it takes for Fish to dribble around Jameer, and shoot the layup, is even better in that scenario since it leaves the Magic up 1 and turns into a free-throw battle.

But instead it was a night of choking for the Magic. Howard choked on crucial free throws, Hedo choked on crucial free throws, and the worst of all SVG choked with, again, shuffling his starting PG spot, killing his starting PG's confidence, and taking away the Magic's best shot at another victory (it was Skip who was the necessary contributer in their only win). We haven't even mentioned Anthony Johnson, who might as well not even suit up, hasn't played a minute yet. I know AJ is closing out on that 3, and I know AJ has proved in the past to have some BIG playoff games (see: Indiana/NJ last year's 40-point performance). Jameer should barely be in the rotation at this point, and certainly not relied on to play the entire fourth and OT. (duh) It's not just me, Chris Broussard has another quote from a Magic player saying those decisions are "eye-popping."

Funny enough, last night, the Lakers were more worried about how to handle Kobe Bryant than the Magic. The Magic have their game plan, but the Lakers are still adjusting to Kobe's unique (selfish?) ways. Often, you could see Pau's confusion during the game. "Do I screen for Kobe?" "Do I get in the triangle?" But mostly, it was "Do I get the hell out of the way??" Yup, that's the one. Even Phil Jackson said of Fisher after the game, "[He's] not afraid to go away from Kobe when sometimes Kobe is asking for the ball and he knows better, and I need a guard like him to do that." Basically a guard to tell Kobe we should stop playing one-on-five and start playing like a team again.

Another big story for Game 4 was the flagrant foul that Pietrus put on Gasol in the closing minutes. Ken Berger says a suspension is in order. I totally disagree. First of all, there's nothing wrong with upgrading it to a Flagarant 2, fining him 25K, and calling it a day. If this was a repeated incident with a trouble-maker, then i can understand. Was it a stupid play? Of course, but it's the NBA finals and you don't want the last game of the year (possibly) to end with controversy, and that's what you'd get if you suspend Orlando's "Kobe-stopper" for Game 5.

UPDATE: No suspension for Pietrus. No fine? Yet...

Regardless of how they won, the Lakers won and they're up 3-1 in the series. No team since 1966 has come back down 3-1 in the Finals, and I'd suspect the same result this coming week. Phil's about to get ring #10 (wow), and Kobe #4 and his first Finals MVP.

Oh, and thanks to SLAM for the highlight of the night:

Kobe's Accuser on the Mic??

Do You Believe In Magic? - Thursday Breakdown

I'm not really sure. One thing I know is that every time I think of the Magic, I think of Stan Van Gundy being the 'master of panic.' I can't help but feel like his demeanor trickles down and effects the confidence of his players.

Nonetheless, tonight the Magic got the win. It wasn't pretty, but I'm sure they'd rather take off to Boston than stay in Orlando for good.

*What's this? It's May and the Knicks are actually in the news? We're hearing rumors of a Tracy McGrady to New York trade, sending Larry Hughes and Cuttino Mobley's contracts to Houston in the offseason. I'm not exactly sure why the Rockets would do this. Perhaps they just want to ensure a healthy body at the 3 (and they might not resign Artest, and need to replace his D)? The rumors started over with Frank Isola, and then I got a little confirmation from David Thorpe at ESPN on his chat:

Evan (NY): Coach There is a rumor of TMac to Knicks x Hughes, Mobley contract.. I really like it for both teams, your view?

SportsNation David Thorpe: I think it could happen.

*Dirk Nowitzki was engaged to a con artist, she got arrested at his home mid-playoffs, and this isn't supposed to effect his game?!?! Interesting and still developing story.

*Awesome Elias Stat I saw on the Daily Dime. Chauncey Buh Buh Buh Billups is the man: Denver's victory means that Chauncey Billups will be playing in the conference finals for the seventh consecutive year. Since 1970, only four men have played for their conference's championship in each of seven or more straight playoff years, and all of them did so for the Lakers. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper and Magic Johnson had eight-year streaks (1982-1989), and Kurt Rambis had a seven-year run (1982-1988)

*Lotta chattin goin on over on ESPN. Picked this up out of the conversation. We heart LeBron.

Brian (SF, CA): John, can you put Lebron's playoff PER in perspective? It seems he is almost too far ahead of the pack, is there a specific reason his PER is so high?

SportsNation John Hollinger: (3:16 PM ET ) I can't put it in perspective, actually. It's completely off the charts. As for a specific reason, other than "he's awesome," I can't offer one -- he's just been exceptional in every category. I expect his numbers to come back to earth a little in the next two rounds, obviously, but these last eight games have been among the best eight-game stretches you'll ever see.

Some really funny LeBron Kobe commercials!!

Defense Wins Championships; Tuesday Breakdown

Liked what I saw in today's Daily Dime from Coach Mike Brown. "Sometimes you have to win ugly like this, and it's good to know that you can,...I'm sure Atlanta feels like they didn't play their best. I know offensively we didn't play our best. But the way we defended tonight allowed us to make some mistakes."

Fact of the matter is, even when the shots aren't falling, you can still rely on getting stops.

Over at TrueHoop, they have similar thoughts..."You can go through nearly twenty clips of defensive possessions before witnessing a single blown rotation. Every Cavalier closes out on every shooter, and contests every shot. The Cavs move around the court mindful of every open space, chasing guys off their spots, and walling off anyone with the temerity to drive or cut to the basket. "

In other news...

*One of the big stories so far this week is Mark Cuban yelling at KMart's mom, screaming that her son is a thug, etc. etc. Well, I'm glad my man Ken Berger calls out Cuban for what he is: an idiot. How many times has this guy done something bone-headed and then issue an apology and think everything is OK?

*Practice makes perfect right? Right. Ballerblogger has some great stuff about LeBron's practice habits.

*One of the best GM's in the game, Rocket's Daryl Morey goes one on one with ESPN.

*Pretty awesome summary of Mavs/Nuggets Game 4 from SLAM Online.

BDTG is NOT DEAD!

What's up people. I'm getting a lot of hate mail and posts about BDTG being dead. As I mentioned in an earlier post...we just didn't quite make the playoffs this year. Next year, without a doubt, we're going to be back and better than ever. But until I quit my day job (not likely anytime soon), I must prioritize and good ole "40 games in 40 nights" has also taken it's toll. If you have something to say, write a post, send it over, and I'll put it right up!

Quick summary of where we're at right now?

Amazing stuff so far this year in the playoffs. We have LeBron and Co completely dominating almost every minute of every game against the Hawks thus far. Hawk fans rejoice; you've gotten to the second round and that'll be that. Maybe next year it'll be the ECF. Speaking of dominating...how bout them Nuggets?! JR Smith is passing the ball better than I've ever seen (or thought possible). The Birdman, Anthony Carter, and JR off the bench has easily made for the best bench in the NBA Playoffs (easssssily!). The Lakers struggled in their first game of Round 2 against the Rockets, but after a crazy Game Two, with blood, sweat and tears (Scola's bullshit flopping counts for tears right?), the Lakers regained control.

Round one brought us a reedunkulous Boston/Chicago series that went to 7 games and about 25 overtimes. The Celtics are now up against a much better Magic team, who could definitely have had something special....and then you have the dumbass play of the year, with Skip to my Lou (Rafer Alston for the NY-challenged) smacking Eddie House across the back of the head, which seemed playful, but is a clear 1-game suspension. No choice; he swung at the head, and made contact: suspended.

The East is done. The Cavs will go to the Finals, and there's even a chance at this point they don't lose a game until they get there. The West, is not so set in stone anymore. Kobe and the Lakeshow were the easy favorites, but you can NOT ignore Denver any longer. They're the most exciting team in basketball, with a Finals MVP running the point, the best bench in the playoffs, a seasoned coach, and this guy Carmelo Anthony who is probably the best pure scorer in the game. Add to that their high altitude home-court advantage, and the Denver crowd being louder than this outfit, and Denver is a clear contender to the Lakers...and that's if the Lakers get past a very difficult Rockets team with not one, but two perimeter defensive specialists in Battier and Artest (one who got chopped in the face by Kobe, and one who got elbowed in the neck by Kobe....NBA, where Kobe is allowed to do whatever he wants happens...).

If i had to pick a Western winner today, I have to pick Denver. My reasoning is simple...how the hell is Aaron Brooks or Derick Fisher going to contain Chauncey "Big Shot" Billups for a series? It all starts at the point (this is why the Suns always suck), and i think a Finals MVP and Championship ring might be the deciding factor (not even Kobe has both).

So that leads us to...."the bet." A few years back, my man Doc J and I put a Benjamin on the line. I have LeBron, he's got Melo. First to get a chip wins. Go Cavs!!

Monday Breakdown

Okay, okay, okay...let's break it down...

*The 2009 Hall of Famers were announced, and somehow Michael Jordan squeezed into the pack. He's joined by Jerry Sloan, David Robinson and C. Vivian Stringer. Scoop Jackson makes the case that Jordan should have his own induction; it's only fair.

(Forgot John Stockton, thanks Bert).

*News just in, Manu Ginobili is done for the year, playoffs included. Ken Berger says you can stick a fork in the spurs.

*Another argument that defense wins championships. Basketball-Reference breaks down "Go To" guys and their effect on championship success. Interesting stuff.

*From Truehoop; Seven reasons to fear the Orlando Magic, and a look at who the hall of famers of today resemble most in today's NBA. After the whoopin the Magic put on the Cavs a few days ago, I think that's enough to worry about them come playoff time.

via Ball Don't Lie: LeBron does it again...



and The best thing the Wizards have made all season:



via Dime Mag: Von Wafer's Crazy Dunk (good name)