A Player To Be Named Later

fuckyeanba:

MORNING LINKS TO WAKE YOU UP

Kevin Durant bulked up a bit over the off-season, and now he’s looking to develop his post game and play more minutes at power forward. Scary to think he’s just getting better. [Oklahoman]

Not only is Durant going to be spending more time down on the block, but so will Monta Ellis. Monta Ellis is 6’3” without a Barkley butt. We’ll see if it’s really a possibility. [San Fran Chronicle]

Marc Gasol “didn’t want a lot of drama” during his contract negotiations with the Grizzlies and other teams. [Commercial Appeal]

Columnist Bill Dwyre at the Los Angeles Times talks about the Clippers shedding their “bumbling label,” when they got Chris Paul in the deal last night. [Los Angeles Times]

Blake Griffin exclaimed “Yeah, it’s gonna be lob city!” when Fox Sports West cameras caught him, DeAndre Jordan and Caron Butler hearing about the news. [USA Today]

Newly acquired power forward David West probably won’t be in Pacers camp until next week. [Indianapolis Star]

A “mystery ailment” is keeping Jeff Green out of practice for the Boston Celtics. He’s missed the last four days of training camp. [Boston Herald]

All the back and forth with Dwight Howard about his new contract with Orlando, or a sign and trade to another team (has to be one of the four he’s approved), or a straight-up trade and then Dwight signs an extension, can all be a distraction says Columnist Dave D’Alessandro. Yuh think? [Star-Ledger]

Jerry Stackhouse is really taking on a leadership and mentorship role with the Atlanta Hawks. He’s described as the “Alonzo Mourning” of the Hawks. I wonder if he’s hit anybody yet? [Atlanta-Journal Constitution]

The Chicago Bulls picked up Richard Hamilton after he cleared waivers. Columnist David Haugh tries to figure out which Hamilton will show up for the Bulls. The one who was offensively efficient on the way to a title and another trip to the finals, or the Piston who helped sabotage two coaches? [Chicago Tribune]

Can winning more in Orlando keep Dwight Howard from leaving? That’s the question Brian Schmitz tries to answer for Magic fans. [Orlando Sentinel]

pic via

fuckyeanba:

Reactions to the Chris Paul trade from writers who know what they’re talking about or found a unique take:

• Howard Beck of the New York Times talks about how the Chris Paul Trade creates a crosstown rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers. Except, Jerry Buss can screw as many failed actresses as he wants and he’ll always be 10x better a human being when compared to Donald Sterling. [NY Times]
• Royce Young at CBS Sports’ Eye on Basketball offers us the perspective of Eric Gordon (via Twitter and other sources) when hearing news of the trade. Apparently Gordon was involved in a Clipper fan bus tour as promotion for the upcoming season. My stomach drops when envisioning being a fan on that bus. Gordon seems like a really great guy ON TOP OF THE FACT he’s an incredible player who plays insanely aggressive, top-level defense and averaged 23 ppg (top 15) last year. OK. </rant> [EOB]
• Ian Thomsen of SI gives Stern Due Credit for brokering the Clippers-Hornets trade. I have strong feelings about Stern and the NBA botching this whole thing, but I’ll save those for another time. You should read Thomsen anyway because he’s Ian Fuckin Thomsen—even if I don’t agree completely with his piece.  [SI]
• Zache Lowe thinks the trade makes the Clippers relevant again ( mos def[initely]) and puts the Hornets in position to rebuild with the addition of Gordon and the Timberwolves’ 1st rd. pick (um, well, if you jus—, I—no.). [SI’s The Point Forward]
• Scott Carefoot at The Basketball Jones explains why David Stern is “not only more stronger-willed than everyone he takes on, he’s also smarter, more experienced, quicker-witted, and… and here’s what I think almost everyone fails to understand about him… he also loves the NBA as much as anyone on the planet.” While I agree with all of Carefoot’s characterizations of Stern (basically an OG with one of the most nimble minds in all of the professional sports on the planet), I still think he’s been horrible during the lockout and during free agency. I know Demps didn’t make this deal and that means the NBA is actively colluding with a franchise all their businesses compete against. It’s a fuckin’ ownership oligarchy where the most charismatic demagogue in the hotel suite controls the room and also the team. If not this, then they’ve got a shadow owner guaranteeing $350 million if they handle the Chris Paul trade a specific way.</rant></NBAconspiracytheories> You should really read the piece though. [The Basketball Jones]  
• David Stern says the Clippers deal was a “‘better for Hornets.’” [Times-Picayune]
• Oh yeah, and the Lakers are pissed (I don’t blame them).

pic via

nbaoffseason:

Honestly, when you think about the LA Clippers, and their past, and their owner, and their spending, and their rep…this…this is just crazy, right?

The Hornets will receive guard Eric Gordon, center Chris Kaman, forward Al-Farouq Aminu and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ unprotected first-round pick. The Clippers will also receive two future 2nd round picks.

nbaoffseason:

The NBA God Trades The Point God.

Chris Paul is finally going somewhere as the Clippers decided to trade everyone not named Blake Griffin to the Hornets in exchange for the Point God.

Was he worth the price? Of course he was. Donald Sterling would have had allow 10 Haitian immigrants to live in his own mansion in order to land a talent like Chris Paul.

The Clippers still have a lot of questions left to answer, like how to undo the logjam at point, if one of the hot dog vendors at Staples can play Shoot Guard for them, or how they can possibly kill Vinny Del Negro without anyone noticing. But all of those are after thoughts, everything will seem blissful when Staples is filled with magical rainbows sprouting from the endless stream of CP3-to-Griffin ally-oops. 

But the Clippers aren’t the real story here.

The real story is how great of a deal David Stern got for the Hornets. Eric Gordon probably has the best value-to-skill contract of any tradeable player in the NBA. Still on his rookie deal, top 15 scorer last year and plays both sides of the ball like a cottdamn honey badger. Stern also managed to land the corpse of Chris Kaman, who he can flip to a contender for a pick or two at the deadline and Minnesota’s unprotected 1st round pick in what’s going to be a loaded draft this coming summer. By the way, good luck to the Wolves this year if the league still owns the Hornets throughout. I’m not saying anything but, you know, we’re all thinking it. Just remember, when the Wolves can’t buy a single call and Kevin Love is ejected for grabbing too many rebounds, don’t say I didn’t sort-of-wink-wink-but-not-really imply that some kind of conspiracy might transpire. 

This is exactly what the Hornets needed, young cheap talent that can still win a few games and put fans in seats yet keep the costs low enough until some one (who doesn’t want to move the team) buy the Hornets. And with the new increases in revenue sharing, chances are the Hornets won’t have to move. 

Stern might have temporarily ignited riots across the country by vetoing the original trade with the Lakers, but this move proves what we’ve all suspected for years. NBA owners and GMs are idiots when it comes to trade negotiations. David Stern robbed the Clippers blind. In a one-team market, Stern convinced the Clippers to bid against themselves. And even after the Clippers pulled out of the CP3 fiasco, he got them to come back in at the same exact price. The man is brilliant and probably deserves GM of the year. 

It’s sort of not fair, if you think about it. Stern helped create all the rules. He enforces all the rules. Sometimes, he pulls out rules that we didn’t even know existed. He has hand in everything. He knows everyone on every team including every member of all the front offices. He knows who is smart and who is lacking in that capacity. He knows what team is hurting for cash and which ones are raking it in. He knows everything about everyone and now they all had no choice but to sit across the table from him. In a way, he’s the God of the NBA. He’s omnipresent, omnipotent, omnibenevolent. Okay, maybe he’s not omnibenevolent. 

So, New Orleans, what do you think of David Stern now? Not so bad, right? Maybe you guys should retire his number once the franchise is sold. ‘666’ would look fantastic up in the rafters.

@Suga_Shane

Photo via FYNBA

fuckyeanba:

Dwight Howard is the other NBA superstar demanding/inquiring/imploring/hoping for a trade to any team, so long as he isn’t remaining with the Orlando Magic. Or maybe he wants to stay a Magic—who knows with all the doubletalk surrounding him these days.

As such, a few NBA writers I enjoy have chosen to write about the developments in a trade sending Howard to New Jersey and elsewhere. Let’s highlight them for you, shall we?

First, lets get this out of the way. The totally unbiased folks at the Cleveland Plain Dealer feel Orlando should trade him before he inevitably bolts this summer. They obviously place the blame for his imminent departure squarely on Dwight’s ample shoulders rather than on GM Otis Smith and coach Stan Van Gundy. There isn’t even a hint of objectivity from what I can tell.

According to breaking news man Adrian Wojnarowki at Yahoo! Sports,

New Jersey and Orlando are working toward a core deal that would send center Brook Lopez and another significant player obtained elsewhere to the Magic for Howard and Hedo Turkoglu, sources said.

Zach Lowe at SI’s Point Foward Blog, believes the Nets can’t put together enough in a package to acquire the big man.

New Jersey’s Lopez-centered trade offer is not enough for Orlando, which has publicly put on a brave face and said it would like to persuade Howard to stay by winning a bunch this season. The Magic remain one of the league’s better teams, and with some good luck and internal development, it would not be totally implausible for them to re-enter the championship-contention picture this year. Lopez is a creative scorer who should mature into a very efficient point producer, but he’s a so-so rebounder and not even close to being in Howard’s league as a defender. And depending how early New Jersey would get Howard in this trade scenario, it’s likely neither 2012 first-round pick would land in the lottery. So the Nets are trying to bring in a third and perhaps fourth team to provide Orlando with more.

With Tyson Chanlder, Nene Hilario and Marc Gasol all signed as free agents, the only person left for New Jersey to sign is Dwight Howard. According to Tom Ziller at SB Nation,

So it’s all on the Dwight Howard chase, with reports suggesting that the Nets have re-doubled efforts to land the eternal Defensive Player of the Year. I’m not exactly sure what the Nets can do in addition to what they’ve already offered — that’d be Brook Lopez and two draft picks — but there is talk about swelling it into a four-team deal that would get Orlando another useful player.

[…]

The other variable is time. The Magic seem far less rushed than the New Orleans Hornets when it comes to pawning off their superstar. Orlando might even think it has a chance to save its relationship with Dwight. That’s a problem for the Nets, considering that the season can get out of hand quickly and New Jersey would seem to have no other serious options for improvement. The Nets need to put this thing on rails.

Ken Berger at CBS Sports has a bunch of updates, mainly centering around the Magic’s reluctance to lose their big man and repeat the past mistake they made when they shipped off Shaquille O’Neal to the Lakers. Also, how the CP3 saga has changed the landscape for Howard. 

UPDATE: A league source told CBSSports.com that the Magic are “not in a rush to do anything,” and that the team’s first priority is to keep Howard. The scenario as currently constructed with Wallace joining Lopez in Orlando as the primary pieces is not enough to persuade the organization to move forward with the deal quickly, the person said.

“If people think things are imminent, then they’re being led down the wrong path,” the person said.

The organization is determined, however, to avoid another Shaq scenario — when Shaquille O’Neal left Orlando as a free agent in 1996 and the team got nothing in return. If the only option is to trade Howard, sources said the team will be take its time to find the right deal. GM Otis Smith will not, and has not, limited himself to exploring deals with the three teams Howard has signaled he’s willing to sign a long-term deal with — the Nets, Lakers and Mavericks, sources said.

The NBA is a free-wheeling Dixie band with a Quaalude problem these days.

PHOTO: Flickr/Keith Allison

[UPDATE: Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski is claiming the Magic are ending trade talks involving Dwight Howard. So, now you know.]

fuckyeanba:

NBA LINKS THIS AFTERNOON

After seven years in the league where he’s won two MVP awards and zero NBA titles, LeBron James is finally comfortable backing opposing players down in the post. He’s 6’8” and 250 lbs frame goes a long way towards exposing the mismatches his every opposing defender faces. Let’s all extend a hearty hand clap for a hard-working global brand unwilling to burn himself on a Gulf of Mexico pyre known as not working hard in the off-season. Except, who is gonna rent out the club? [Miami Herald]

The NBA is taking over the Chris Paul trade negotiations. This after slowly castrating Hornets GM Dell Demps over the last two weeks. [Times-Picayune]

Goran Dragic is a guard for the Houston Rockets. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, doesn’t entirely ignore the inclusion of Dragic in the failed Chris Paul trade that would have sent him to NOR, but he sweeps it under the rug so he can write the standard beat reporters training camp puff piece on a little-used utility guard. Is the timing right? I’d guess no, but I’m not a beat reporter or an NBA point guard. [Houston Chronicle]

Oh Blake Griffin, can you do no wrong? Already a star in his second third year in the league, after winning the ROY award last season, the Clippers forward, ping pong and Jenga aficionado and reigning dunk champion keeps a level head even with all the hype that surrounds him. Ain’t that just precious. Sorry, I’ve been choking on Blake’s awesomeness as a person in this T.J. Simer’s piece. He’s probably lovely. [Los Angeles Times]

“Was there tension? Sure, at times. Is there a feud? Far from it.” That’s the opening to Darnell Mayberry’s piece on the Oklahoma City Thunder’s backcourt pairing of all-star guards Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. If you’re unfamiliar, Westbrook and Durantula have been under intense media speculation about their friendship and chemistry on one of the NBA’s more talented teams. Westbrook shoots too much and Durant gets annoyed is the common storyline. Not so, according to the pair. Consider this fair warning that Bill Simmons will write a 5000 word Avon and Stringer Bell storyline piece about the pair if they stumble out of the gate. [Oklahoman]

PHOTO: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images VIA

fuckyeahrays:

(St. Petersburg Times, 12/14/2011)

Who will stay and who will go?

These three were the top three that have the potential to be dealt to another team. Numbers 4-8 (according to Marc Topkin) were: 4) David Price 5) Alex Torres 6) Alex Cobb 7) Jeremy Hellickson 8) Matt Moore.

sportspage:

fuckyeanba:

Steve Kerr went on the radio and called out Dan Gilbert, the NBA owners, and finally the amorphous “basketball reasons” surrounding the CP3 trade with the Lakers.

About Gilbert’s email, Kerr said:

“It’s such a crock that he would even mention that. That guy is a billionaire, they have been way over the cap while they had LeBron, way over the tax. He’s still upset that he lost LeBron and he needs to get over it. LeBron gave that franchise the best seven years they have ever had. He was a free agent and he decided to leave. Nobody likes the way LeBron left, even he apologized for it the other night on TV but the fact is there is a thing called free agency and if a superstar player wants to leave when they are agents, they can leave.”

Kerr on NBA owners involved in the blocking of the trade sending Paul to the Lakers (for a substantial haul to the Hornets):

“Every one of them is wrong and I don’t know how many there are either but I’ve been angry all day long about this whole thing because I think it was a great basketball trade. There are so many trades made these days that are lousy trades that are made for financial purposes … The problem I have is that this was a great trade for the Hornets. There’s no way they can duplicate that. I thought Dell Demps did an incredible job. You end up with three legitimate good players in (Luis) Scola, Kevin Martin, and (Lamar) Odom. You get a first round pick, you get Goran Dragic who I like and a guy I drafted in Phoenix. He’s a good player. You’re telling me you’re going to deny that for basketball reasons when every single other analyst out there and every GM thinks they hit a home run with that trade. And by the way in seven months if they play it out they are getting nothing.”

Then Kerr uses on of his own trades as the GM of the Phoenix Suns to explain away Stern and CO. absurd assertion they nixed the trade for “basketball reasons.”

I made one of the worst trades in NBA history. I traded Kurt Thomas and two first round picks to Seattle for nothing, to save 16 million dollars for our organization. Where was the NBA then to veto that trade for basketball reasons?”

Steve Kerr is amazing. If I’m an NBA owner that was just dissed, I’d try to hire him. He’s legit, and tells you what’s going on without the glare of a glossy finish. He’s a straight-shooter all the way.

[SportsRadioInterviews; H/T Deadspin; game winning shot pic via]

Steve Kerr was one of my favorite players growing up. He can still drive the dagger.

(Source: docfunk)

sbnation:

James Harrison tweets his response to news of his suspension for a helmet-to-helmet Colt McCoy hit.

sportsnetny:

Baylor University quarterback Robert Griffin III, center, holds the Heisman Trophy after winning the award

PhotoBlog

Robert Griffin III shows off his Superman socks.