Biggest Flop In NBA History

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Trade Deadline Recap

The trade deadline has passed and many players today are packing up their bags to move elsewhere.  The only winners I see today are the two teams in the tri-state area.  The Knicks for getting Carmelo and the Nets grabbing Deron Williams.  I'm not understanding Boston's move but I'll dive into that in a sec.  Let's go over what has transpired today.

Boston F/C Kendrick Perkins & G Nate Robinson/Oklahoma City F Jeff Green & C Nenad Krstic

I was really surprised that this move by the Celtics.  Yes, you receive a young Jeff Green, but I thought the Celtics were proud that they had the frontcourt which teams feared.  Sorry Nenad Krstic, you're pretty soft.  In my opinion, if Kendrick Perkins didn't go to that knee injury in last year's NBA Finals, the Celtics would have been your World Champions of 2010.  This shows that they believe in Shaq, Big Baby, Jermaine O'Neal, and K.G. will hold it down. To see Perk shipped off though, truly shocked me.

Charlotte F Gerald Wallace/Portland F Dante Cunningham & C Joel Przybilla

This deal just shows that the Bobcats are looking towards the future as they send high-flyer Gerald Wallace to the Pacific Northwest.  Along with receiving Cunningham and Przybilla, Charlotte will receive two future round draft picks.  I wasn't a big fan of Wallace anyways.  Other than dunking or blocking shots, his skill set was pretty limited.

Houston G Aaron Brooks/Phoenix G Goran Dragic

Rockets not only gets Dragic by trading Brooks, but will receive a future first round pick.  Brooks has an expiring contract that Phoenix will gladly take on.

Houston F Shane Battier/Memphis C Hasheem Thabeet

Houston wasn't done shipping expiring contracts.  They deal Shane Battier to Memphis for bench riding Hasheem Thabeet.  What a disappointment Thabeet is.  At UConn, he was a beast. When you're in college and you dwarf everyone, you should be a beast.  When you get to the pros, the competition is waaaaaay different.  Houston also sends rookie guard Ish Smith for a first round draft pick.

Washington G Kirk Heinrich & F Hilton Armstrong/Atlanta G Mike Bibby, G Jordan Crawford, G Mo Evans

The Hawks needed a point guard general and unfortunately Mike Bibby just wasn't it.  So with Heinrich and young Jeff Teague, they'll share backcourt duties.  Atlanta gave up some depth on the bench, but that's the sacrifice you have to make when you need to improve key positions.  Washington will also receive a 2011 first round pick in the deal.

For the rest of today's deadline deals, click here.

Source: NBA.com, NBA ESPN

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Mo Williams Headed To L.A.

According to Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears, the Cleveland Cavaliers have dealt guard Mo Williams and forward Jamario Moon for guard Baron Davis with an unprotected 2011 first round pick.  I saw this one coming.  When you're the worst team in the league, teams will come calling.  I guess Clippers owner Donald Sterling was still tired of watching an out of shape Baron Davis so he sent him to Cleveland.  Cruel man.  That's just cruel. 

Source: Yahoo Sports

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Williams Headed To New Jersey

With the inability to bring Carmelo Anthony to New Jersey, the Nets had the opportunity to land another superstar.  According to ESPN's Marc Stein and Chad Ford they have agreed to deal rookie forward Derrick Favors and veteran guard Devin Harris to Utah for superstar point guard Deron Williams.  They also report that this deal will also include a third team, the Golden State Warriors, to bring multiple picks to Utah.  The Mavericks were interested in bringing Devin Harris back to Dallas but they weren't willing to part with Caron Butler, along with rookie Dominique Jones and a first round pick to get the deal done.  You may remember that Williams was to blame for the retirement of Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan.  So now that Williams is gone, I wonder if the Jazz regrets letting Sloan walk away.

Source: ESPN New York

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It's Official

Ladies and Gentlemen, Carmelo Anthony is officially a New York Knickerbocker.  It only took five months, but nonetheless he's headed to the Big Apple. Along with Melo, the Knicks will get Chauncey Billups, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter and Renaldo Balkman. Denver will receive Danilo Gallinari, Timofey Mozgov (The dude that Blake Griffin posterized), Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, 2014 New York's 1st & 2nd round picks.  Lastly, Minnesota will get Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry.  Now will Deron Williams or Chris Paul join the Amare/Melo duo?  Who knows.  What I do know is that somewhere New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov is swearing loudly in Russian.


Source: Denver Post

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Parker Grabbing Bulls & Celtics Attention

According to the Sporting News, the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics have their sights set on Cleveland Cavaliers guard Anthony Parker.  This comes to no surprise seeing that the Cavaliers hold the worst record in the NBA.  Boston will try to replace Marquis Daniels who sustained a spinal cord injury against Orlando a few weeks back.  Chicago will to try to answer shooting guard questions by landing him at the Feb. 24th trade deadline.

Source: The Sporting News

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Sloan To Retire

Reports out of Utah is that the longest tenure coach in the NBA will step down.  Jerry Sloan, head coach of the Utah Jazz for 23 seasons, will retire effectively today.  Assistant coach Tyrone Corbin will take over head coaching duties.  According to ESPN's Marc Stein, Sloan was very angry with point guard Deron Williams when he decided to call his own number for a play on Wednesday night.  That led to a blow up at halftime.  Then a meeting with general manager Kevin O'Connor following.  Sources close to the situation told Stein that this was one of a few blow-ups between Sloan and Williams.  The relationship between the two has pretty much run its course.  As of today, Hall of Fame head coach was third all time in coaching wins of the NBA behind Don Nelson and Lenny Wilkens.

Source: ESPN

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Lakers And Nuggets Talking Melo

As if this Carmelo Anthony trade dilemma hasn't been crazy already, it may have gotten a little more crazier.  According to ESPN's NBA insider Chris Broussard, the Lakers and Nuggets has started in preliminary discussions to land Carmelo in L.A.  He broke this developing story during the 11am SportsCenter on ESPN this morning.  The deal would send Andrew Bynum to Denver for Carmelo possibly straight up because it works financially under the current CBA (Collection Bargaining Agreement).  Because of that, this deal would not require a third team like the proposed trade involving Denver, Minnesota, and New York.  Denver is not interested in Ron Artest seeing that they would want to get younger not older.  Also, Lamar Odom may not be part of the deal because of his salary of $9M next season that Denver would not want to take on.  Again, this is in the early stages so Denver may want to get more players involve so they can shed more salary off their books.  Sources close to Anthony told Broussard that he wouldn't mind going to L.A.  Really?  You don't say.  I'm sure weather and the chance play with future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant has nothing to do with it.  But best believe Denver can use this as leverage with the New York Knicks.  Man, this soap opera is getting good!

Source: ESPN SportsCenter

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Varejao May Be Traded

Anderson Varejao of the Cleveland Cavaliers is set to have surgery on his injured ankle which has sidelined him for the rest of the season on February 12th.  That's not discouraging teams around the league from inquiring if the Cavs are willing to part with Varejao.  According to Hoopsworld.com, sources told them that there is still a great interest in Andy regardless of his season ending injury.  It shouldn't come to any surprise.  Andy does the intangibles that don't show up in the stat sheet.  He brings energy and hustle that appeal to other franchises.  Teams around the league understand that the Cavs are unable to put the same price tag on Andy now, than if he were healthy.  Along with the Cavs owning the NBA record for consecutive losses, they are going to have to rebuild sooner or later.  So why not see if they can get him on the cheap. 

Source: Hoopsworld.com

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The MeloDrama May Be Over Soon

According to ESPN's NBA insider Chris Broussard, the New York Knicks may have a deal in place to land Carmelo Anthony.  It's in the early stages, but it will be a three team trade that will involve Denver, New York, and Minnesota.  The Knicks would send Anthony Randolph and Eddy Curry, with his expiring contract, to Minnesota while sending Wilson Chandler to Denver.  Minnesota will send Corey Brewer along with a first round draft pick to Denver as well.  And lastly, New York will receive Carmelo Anthony from Denver who will sign his three year, $65M extension that he turned down while in Denver.  This would be bittersweet for the Nuggets.  Yes, they will finally deal their disgruntled star but they won't get as much back as if the proposed deal with the Nets wasn't axed by Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.  I wouldn't say Carmelo to the Knicks this season will make them a title contender but this will shake up the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Source: ESPN New York, New York Post

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2011 Rookie Challenge Roster Are Set

2011 Rookie Challenge roster for NBA All Star Weekend are set.  Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings will lead the Sophomores while Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers will lead the Rookies. Best believe there will be no defense and nothing but alley-oops.  Here's the Rookies & Sophomores rosters:

Rookies
Eric Bledsoe - L.A. Clippers G 6-1 Kentucky
DeMarcus Cousins - Sacramento C 6-11 Kentucky
Derrick Favors - New Jersey F 6-10 Georgia Tech
Landry Fields - New York G 6-7 Stanford
Blake Griffin - L.A. Clippers F 6-10 Oklahoma
Wesley Johnson - Minnesota G 6-7 Syracuse
Greg Monroe - Detroit C 6-11 Georgetown
Gary Neal - San Antonio G 6-4 Towson State
John Wall - Washington G 6-4 Kentucky

Sophomores
DeJuan Blair - San Antonio C 6-7 Pittsburgh
DeMar DeRozan - Toronto G 6-7 USC
Stephen Curry - Golden State G 6-3 Davidson
Tyreke Evans - Sacramento G 6-6 Memphis
Taj Gibson - Chicago F 6-9 USC
Jrue Holiday - Philadelphia G 6-4 UCLA
Serge Ibaka - Oklahoma City F-C 6-10 Brazzaville, Rep. of Congo
Brandon Jennings - Milwaukee G 6-1 Lottomatica Virtus Roma
Wesley Matthews - Portland G 6-5 Marquette

Source: NBA.com

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We May Have To Make A Move

Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak isn't fond of his team's play which may prompt him to shake things up a bit.  Kupchak spoke to the media yesterday at the Lakers' practice facility after the loss on Sunday to Boston.

"Regarding a trade, I may have to. I'm not saying that I've made calls today or I'll make them tomorrow. But I just don't think that we're playing as well as our talent level should allow us."

I do believe that the loss to Boston Sunday was very disappointing.   The effort the Lakers gave was lackluster.  Boston were getting baskets way too easy.  Kobe reverted back to the old Kobe back jacking up shots by himself in the 4th quarter.  Does Kupchak have the pieces needed to make a deal happen?  I don't think so.  They need to focus more on improving the personnel's play rather than a possible overhaul.  Pau Gasol played soft on Sunday.  Ron Artest needs to become that defensive presence that he once was last year.  With Matt Barnes, Lamar Odom, Steve Blake, and Shannon Brown can still be very productive off the bench.  Then veterans Theo Ratliff and Joe Smith,when playoff time comes, may pay dividends.  Again, the Lakers are going through a rough patch right now.  All good teams do.  The Lakers are STILL second in the West.  They are 7 1/2 games back of San Antonio, which is on another planet right now.  Regardless, they are in a nice position.  People need to relax. 

Source: NBA.com

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Mike Brown Frontrunner For Pacers Job

With Jim O'Brien out as Indiana Pacers head coach, a familiar face could possibly be next in line.  That face is former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown.  Mike Brown was an assistant coach in Indiana under Rick Carlisle, the current head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. This is a good look for the Pacers.  Honestly, anyone is better than Jim O'Brien.  O'Brien posted a 121-169 record in his tenure as head coach.  I always believed that Mike Brown in Cleveland while LeBron was there wasn't a good fit.  The offense sets were awful in Cleveland but now that I see what goes on in Miami, Mike Brown wasn't the problem.  Good for Mike Brown.  Hope it works out for him.

Source: New York Post

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