You know the deal. You shop around. You look at the prices, and then at some point you find the house you like. 

You make an offer. The offer sounds good to the sellers. You agree to buy the house. You agree on the price, and the house comes off the market. 

Then there's that period between agreeing on the basics, and the closing. That's the day when contracts are exchanged and you get your keys. In between there are inspections, and haggling over little things like whether or not that chandelier will be staying in the entryway.

During this period, there is a nervous and tentative love. Everyone is so excited that this big project is almost done. And everyone knows that there's just some percentage of a chance that something crazy will happen.

The Portland Trail Blazers and Hedo Turkoglu went all the way down that road. They made it through the inspections, and by mid-day Friday, all the important parts of the deal were done. It was nearly celebration time for all involved.

The only question marks were little things, mostly related to hearing the salary cap numbers from the NBA next week, which would inform how the deal would be structured.

Then, according to sources, something crazy happened. Hedo Turkoglu shifted course, deciding late in the day that he wanted a different house. 

The Raptors had been serious in their pursuit of Shawn Marion and Carlos Delfino. Now the most likely scenario is that they'll be renounced or traded, along with Anthony Parker. To clear the kind of cap room that would be required to sign Turkoglu would probably take renouncing every free agent Toronto has, including Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Jake Voskuhl and some cap holds from players overseas. That would give the Raptors room to offer Turkoglu more money than Portland was offering -- although there are plenty of details left to be worked out, especially as Toronto may first try to trade some of those players instead of letting them go for nothing.

Toronto, as a roster and a city, offer an international flavor that Portland does not have. And with similar money, that proved more appealing than anyone had thought it would.

As for the Blazers? Well, no one likes wasting all that time almost getting a deal done. But there are worse thing than being back on the market, with nearly $9 million a year to spend. 

• Raised in a single-parent home, with a rotating cast of father figures.
• No tolerance as a youngster for real coaching. Countless victories are lost to poor strategy.
• Terrible grades and at times a really glaring lack of education.
• Shopping from school to school to find one who will grant a diploma.
  
• A car provided by an unofficial "sponsor."
• Trouble with teammates, family and sometimes the police, including for outrunning the police in more than one high-speed chase.
• Later in life, divorce, dallying with various celebrities, and a child out of wedlock.

Ban the high school players! Instill dress codes! Lecture everybody about this and that!

Here's a little thing to make you think, though. That biography I outlined up above?

Whose is that? Care to guess?

That's the tale of Lance Armstrong's life (as I learned from a new book about him). Yet Armstrong, for many reasons, is generally seen as one of the most dignified, successful and admirable of all athletes. 

So, does that mean pro leagues need to get all wound up about character issues in more sports, or fewer? I can't say for certain. But I can't imagine a league of Lance Armstrongs would be subject to the same kinds of hand-wringing the NBA endures.

But he worked.

And he did something that you seldom see. He entered the NBA with a noted weakness -- shooting -- and has since turned it into his calling card.

The athletic things Outlaw can do -- finishing on the break, catching alley-oops, getting the occasional spectacular block -- now take a backseat to his ability to get off a high quality shot just about whenever he wants. He can catch and shoot from downtown, or drive and show off the high point of release in his mid-range game.

Travis Outlaw is noted for the high point of release on his jumper. "I feel," he says, "like I can get my shot off at any time." (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

That last quality has made him Portland's Option 1b (behind Brandon Roy) as a crunch-time shooter.

He is also noted as a lynchpin of the Portland lockerroom -- when things were frosty between Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, it was the smily Outlaw who bridged the gap.

The main criticism of Outlaw is that he is not noted for his defense, and he has been accused of being in the wrong place at the wrong time -- which he acknowledges happens from time to time, but he says, not more than it happens to anyone else.

Today, with the news that Hedo Turkoglu is on his way to being a Blazer, Outlaw is the man in the spotlight. It's hard to imagine that all of Portland's small forwards -- Hedo Turkoglu, Nicolas Batum, Outlaw, Martell Webster -- will see significant playing time.

Many speculate that the Blazers will be making another move -- one that could involve Outlaw, who is young, skilled and affordable enough to be desirable on the trade market.

So, how does he feel about the Turkoglu news? Did it turn his stomach?

"When I first heard about it," he admits, "maybe a little bit. But now it's, aww, things happen for a reason. That's the way I look at it. ... That's just the NBA for you."

Outlaw is candid about the fact that he dreams of being an NBA starter, and one of the big name players fans talk about. He says it really doesn't matter to him which team that happens on.  "I definitely want to play more," he says. "I definitely want to get to a place in my career where I'm a starter. I also do want to win. But I could play anywhere in any system, as long as they have a winning mentality."

Does he care at all where that is? "No," he says. "Not really."

Which is not to say he's unhappy with his Portland teammates. Many teams struggle socially with the reality that some players make much more than others. Nearly all of Portland's key players have had huge contracts. I wondered if a big contract like Turkoglu's might upset the balance or create factions. Outlaw couldn't see it. "There's a bunch of great guys in the lockerroom," he says, "and everyone always wants what's best for each other."

Of Turkoglu, he adds: "He's a great player. They had a great year. If he's willing to come over and help us out, fine."

What does this mean for Outlaw, and his role on the team? Has he heard from them? "No," he says. Does he have any idea what their plans are for him? "No idea."

That would seem to put Travis in a stressful place. But Outlaw doesn't seem to feel all that much pressure. He's spending the summer working out ("swimming and shooting, mostly") and spending time in his hometown.

With the ball in crunch time, he looks just as calm and confident as at any other time in the game. ("I've never been afraid to shoot," he says. "When I'm shooting, I just don't want to rush it. I just want to shoot it soft.")

He doesn't seem to be under too much stress now. He has funny stories about what he's up to, including convincing his marketing manager Ty Davis that they needed plane tickets to Orlando, because he had been traded there with Steve Blake for Hedo Turkoglu. "I had him going," says Outlaw, "for about ten minutes. He didn't know Hedo Turkoglu was a free agent."

Outlaw has another story, about having a swimming pool put into his backyard. The workers have a backhoe parked there. Outlaw, Davis, and Danny Ainge's nephew Erik (of the New York Jets) were hanging around and decided to try driving it.

"We were just trying to crank it up," says Outlaw. "We cranked it up. And all of a sudden I got really nervous. What if I run it towards my house, and then I can't stop it? I left it alone."

Portland's approach makes sense even if the dollars seem excessive at first glance. Yes, they're overpaying Hedo Turkoglu, and given his age it's possible they'll end up eating the last two years of the contract. But the way cap space works is that a team might get only one shot at using it, and must take advantage by making the best, strongest move it can for the best fit available.

Turkoglu for $50 million is an imperfect solution, certainly, but it's a far better one than squandering the space by waiting, or by paying similar money to jam a square peg into a round hole. And as Turkoglu's soon-to-be-former teammates in Orlando showed last month, even in the current economic situation overpaying for a part that fits can work out awfully well.

Also, not too long ago David Thorpe talked about how Hedo Turkoglu could fit in Portland.

With Ben Gordon departing Chicago for Detroit, the Bulls woke up to find a gaping hole in their backcourt alongside their reigning Rookie of the Year point guard, Derrick Rose. Not only has Rose lost his most prolific scorer, but the Bulls' second-year guard will be directly responsible for picking up much of that lost production.

Gordon was a flawed shooting guard for the Bulls, and there were moments in Chicago when his bad habits overshadowed his offensive gifts. Whichever side you take in the Gordon debate, his absence from the Bulls' lineup next season will have a tremendous effect on Rose. For better and worse, Gordon was Rose's primary option last season. 

Is Derrick Rose relieved that his ballchucker-in-arms is packing his bags for Auburn Hills, or will he miss that security blanket? The answer, if you had to guess, is probably a little bit of both. The more important question lies in whether Rose has the readiness to become a 25 and 10 force. The Bulls have an anemic post presence, and their wings -- from Salmons and Hinrich, to the recovering Luol Deng -- all bring big question marks into the season.

Rose will have to be the man in Chicago if the Bulls want to sustain the momentum they built in their classic first round playoff series with Boston last spring. The Bulls don't need a point guard who will facilitate their offense. They need an alpha dog who will commandeer the team. In Gordon's absence, can Rose be that guy? Can he will the Bulls to victories the way Chris Paul put his imprint on the Hornets? 

Although it's still uncertain how the Bulls plan to fill the vacuum at the two-guard, let's look at how Rose was able to use Gordon to better himself and his team, and how that might affect Rose's ability to become the focal point of the offense:

• Ben Gordon: More efficient than you think, given the volume of shots he launched on a nightly basis. As a 41% shooter from beyond the arc in 2008-09, Gordon was a classic floor-spacer for the Bulls. Since smart opponents were loath to leave Gordon on the perimeter to help, this allowed the rookie to attack the defense, which is the most potent feature of Rose's game. With a less lethal shooting guard on the weak side, Rose might find defensive help and double-teams heading his way early and often next season.
   
• Rose is a natural penetrator. His drives-and-kick often resulted in a pass-out to Gordon once the defense collapsed, particularly in end-of-shot-clock situations. The luxury of having Gordon on the perimeter -- ready and eager to shoot -- took a lot of pressure of Rose, who didn't have to be the guy in every series. On a team with very little help up front offensively, Gordon was indispensable. 

Those are specific contexts where Rose will miss Gordon, and where the Bulls' young point guard might find himself more constricted in the offense. That said, Gordon posed some problems for Rose as his counterpart in the backcourt:

• Although Gordon was a dynamic one-on-one player for the Bulls, he rarely created opportunities for anyone else on the court. That left virtually all of the playmaking duties to Rose. If ever there's a young point guard who could handle that burden, it's Rose, but Gordon's tunnel vision made life more difficult than it needed to be for the rookie. Rose has the potential to be a very good off-the-ball player. Unfortunately, Gordon's tendencies didn't allow those skills to flourish for Rose. A shooting guard with a greater capacity to facilitate will help Rose develop that part of his game.
  
  
• Gordon, to put it kindly, was a below-average defender at the two for Chicago. And Rose, though his defense will almost certain improve with age, was no great shakes on the other side of the ball either. Some of Gordon's deficiencies can be chalked up to inattentiveness, but he's also quite small for a shooting guard. Either way, Vinny Del Negro didn't have the comfort to cross-match his smalls, which meant that Rose spent almost all of his time guarding the ball. A more capable defender at the two would afford Rose a breather on defense.

With little room to maneuver financially, it's increasingly likely that the Bulls will begin the season with a three-guard rotation composed of Rose, John Salmons, and Kirk Hinrich. As backcourt platoons go, it's not a bad group, though neither Salmons nor Hinrich has the firepower to compensate for the loss of Gordon. But here's what they can offer Rose:

• Salmons is more of a natural small forward, but could very well land as the Bulls' opening night starter at the shooting guard. He's not the one-on-one player Gordon was by any stretch, but he shot a respectable 41.7% from 3-point range last season (better than Gordon), and is a far superior defender on the wing. The downside for Rose will be that, regardless of what the number say, defenses will be far more likely to move off Salmons to collapse on Rose.
  
  
• Back in January, TrueHoop examined how Rose and Hinrich play together as a backcourt tandem. There's real value in having two guards on opposite sides of the court who can both handle the ball and initiate the action. In addition, Hinrich is a pesky defender who can spell Rose defensively at the one. It won't always be a viable option -- don't expect Rose to draw Dwyane Wade or Vince Carter -- but Hinrich gives Del Negro a lot more defensive flexibility. On the downside, Hinrich is a below-average offensive player who, at times, has trouble breaking down a defense, and gets to the line about once every election cycle. While his presence allows Rose to work off-the-ball, that doesn't mean Hinrich can always capitalize on that scheme.
  

Rose's rookie campaign showed a lot of promise, but also demonstrated that he has a way to go. Statistically, there are some encouraging signs (a field goal percentage of 47.5 percent, and a low turnover rate for a rookie point guard), as well as some red flags (only 3.1 free throw attempts in 37 minutes per game, and no 3-point range to speak of). In contrast, Paul got to the line twice as much as a rookie and was a more aggressive rebounder and far better defender.  

Rose stands to improve his numbers -- that's usually what happens with a talent as impressive as Rose. But here's the rub heading into his second year: It's going to be much more challenging without Gordon. With no knockdown perimeter threat beside him and nobody else on his squad who demands a double-team, Rose's path to the rim will be clogged with more traffic. Given the composition of his team, Rose might not improve much upon his 57.7 field goal percentage in the immediate basket area. He's also more likely to be bothered in the backcourt more persistently by opposing guards, and trapped uniformally on the pick-and-roll. 

Rose is a transcendent talent with incredible court vision and sharp instincts. He can improvise with precision -- a rare gift. But even a magician needs props, and Rose lost his best aide in Gordon. It's possible Rose could endure a very rough sophomore campaign with the Bulls. If he does, it might say a lot more about his team's roster than it does any lack of resolve on Rose's part.  

A few key points:

• As so many players have guaranteed contracts, at a moment when the league presumably needs to reduce salaries, all the reductions have to come at the expense of those who are free agents. (One addendum, though, that's worth noting. Rookie contracts are actually negotiable. In the past, nearly every first-round pick has gotten the maximum allowable under the rookie scale. This year could mark the end of that.)
• Cowen notes a lot of the good free agents, like Ben Gordon or Ron Artest, have questionable elements of their reputations (I assume with Gordon he's talking about being a ball-stopper): "This favors teams with dominant players (Cleveland), strong systems (Boston), and strong coaches. All those teams can swallow the troublemakers without cracking up. It also favors teams which suffer from well-defined 'missing pieces.' It favors already-good teams and indeed we see that Cleveland, Orlando, San Antonio, and L.A. have been major players in the free agent or trade markets."

For this reason, Cowen predicts that next year, there will be more disparity in NBA win totals. The good teams will win more, and the bad teams will lose more, than last season.

Of course, he'll almost certainly be right, but another reason for the same result would be the fact that so many teams are hoarding cap space for next year's free agent class.

(Thanks Francisco.)

UPDATE: Some background on my note above about rookie contracts. The Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for first-round picks to make a particular amount, right down to the dollar, based on where they're drafted. But the thing is, players and teams can negotiate 20% up or down from that number. Rookie contracts are cheap enough that in the vast majority of cases the player automatically gets the maximum, or 120% of their rookie scale number.

I wouldn't assume that'll be the truth this year -- with a money pinch, teams might require players to achieve certain incentives before getting their full money. Or they might just pay them less.

If players don't like what they're being offered, they have various options, including lobbying for a trade, playing overseas or sitting out professional basketball and re-entering the draft the following year. If they don't play in the NBA, the NBA team can hold their rights so long as they have actually offered a contract that meets certain guidelines. If the team walks away from the table (doesn't offer a contract, withdraws a contract offer or renounces the drafted player) then the rookie can become a free agent. 

John Hollinger has a very balanced view, saying it's essentially a net positive for the Lakers.

But my gut reaction to the news that Artest is the newest Laker is: I can hardly imagine a better player for the Lakers to add, nor a better team for Artest to join.

There's a 20% chance the whole thing combusts in dreadful fashion. 80% likely, in my view, is that the NBA has the makings of its next dynasty.

Ron Artest has ignored calls to tone down his shot selection. But he wouldn't really ignore #24 would he? (Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

First, the questions and doubts. David Thorpe loves the move, because it kept the Lakers from being held to the fire by agents for Ariza and Lamar Odom. He is less optimistic than me, however, about what will happen on the court, and points out:

• "I don't think the Lakers are suddenly better, even assuming Lamar Odom is back. What is chemistry worth? Five points? Ten points? I argue it's a difference maker. If you win by eight, maybe chemistry was worth nine. I'm not saying Ron will be a jerk, I don't think he will be. But I do know that for this team to succeed he'll have to play a role, and I don't know how he'll be at that."
• "Trevor Ariza has much better shot selection than Artest, and the ball tends to stop with Ron. Now, the Lakers have Phil Jackson, but a coach only has so much energy. Think of it like a bottle of water. When it's empty, it's freaking empty. If Phil Jackson has to spend a lot of his energy stopping Ron from taking stupid shots, that means he's not putting energy and focus into other things that make the Lakers better."
• "We don't know if Trevor Ariza just made some shots last season, or has actually improved as a shooter. But if he is now a much improved shooter, he has superstar potential."
• "The Lakers didn't run much triangle last year, and I assume they'll run even less now. Ron Artest is a very instinctive player, and the triangle is not a very instinctive system."
  

Now I'm going to tell you why I think it's brilliant:

• Now, basically every key Laker but Derek Fisher is big, strong and effective in the post. That might not seem like a big deal, but it's really throwing down the gauntlet to opponents. The NBA has a lot of players who really don't want to be isolated on defense in the post (choosing from likely playoff opponents, think about the likes of Carmelo Anthony, say, or Rudy Fernandez -- also consider the Rockets played Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry together). But it will always be a threat, and the hard-cutting Lakers work well as a team to make opponents pay for doubling the post.
• Keeping Kobe Bryant in peak form is the most important thing for the Lakers. Artest can guard anyone Bryant can guard, meaning the Lakers will have constant opportunities to protect Bryant from wear and tear.
• As Hollinger points out, the Lakers have some opponents of note (Anthony and Brandon Roy come to mind) against whom Artest is a very effective defender. He can also spend some time trying to harness some of the point guards who give Derek Fisher trouble.
• Plenty of NBA players seem to follow a trend of being young and crazy when they're new to the league -- just the money itself is thrill enough. Some never leave that mode. But more than a few times, we have seen players age into really caring about winning. No one wants to be remembered as a loser. Ron Artest has not won a ring. Now is his time to prove he can. No, he won't be in a contract year, but he'll have plenty to prove.
• Thorpe makes a great point about Phil Jackson having to expend a lot of energy. But watching "Kobe Doin' Work" convinced me (even if that wasn't a typical game, with the cameras and all) that Kobe Bryant has ascended to some other level of team control. If Artest is jacking shots, isn't he going to hear about it from Bryant first? And isn't Bryant the kind of guy who would have credibility with Artest?
• Ron Artest was at his worst two years ago in Sacramento. He was not, as Larry Brown would say, playing the right way. He broke plays to go one-on-one. He appeared to be using his full complement of defensive skills on only a fraction of plays. He felt bad for missing jumpers (something he has never been amazing at) and then grew determined to get the points back for his team by ... forcing more jumpers. But despite all that, even with the Kings he was one of the best and most productive players on the roster -- as he has been throughout his career. The lesson, to me, is that Artest has something in common with LeBron James besides build. James is way better, of course, but both have strengths that overwhelm notable flaws. (I think of them as the "You get what you get, and you don't get upset" players.) The conditions could not be more favorable now. A championship on the line, a team with powerful leaders and a legacy to be built. Purple and gold, I suspect, is going to look very good on Ron Artest.

Rob Mahoney of Hardwood Paroxysm: "[Ron] Artest only makes sense offensively in situations where his skills can be utilized without damaging the team concept. Los Angeles, home of the triangle offense, is not that place. Artest's tendency to stop the ball, throw possessions into the wind, and take what can only be described as 'Ron Artest Shots' can't fly well with Phil [Jackson], with Kobe [Bryant], with Pau [Gasol], with Tex Winter, or with just about anyone who has come to know and love (or at least respect) the most dominant offensive unit in the game. The Lakers ... were able to dissect a fantastic defensive team in the Finals because the talent was there and the system was there. Artest brings plenty of one, but substitutes the other for generally poor basketball IQ and the possibility of going bonkers at any particular time. Sweet. On top of that, the Lakers seem to be severing their ties with Trevor Ariza. Signing Artest is doing more than showing Ariza the door. It's pushing him out, throwing his stuff out on the lawn, and handing Ron a molotov cocktail ... The true delight comes in the fact that Ariza could function within the system at a level we can never expect Artest to. Trevor made a habit out of deferring on offense, and perfecting a few offensive skills in his ability to hit the three from select spots and his tremendous finishes ... This team clearly competes at a different level with Ariza on the floor, and that's a credit to just how hard he's worked on his game."

Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub: "I really hope Leon Powe knows how much Celtics fans like him and will miss him. We all know why that is -- the well-documented childhood difficulties, the never-ending series of knee injuries that seemed to happen right when he was turning a corner, and the way Leon responded to all of it by working even harder. He's a bit of a cliché fan favorite, actually -- the scrappy role player who overcomes personal and professional obstacles to contribute to a championship team. But let's talk about basketball. There was something that drew me to Leon Powe from the moment I saw him play: He's a bit awkward ... Leon is not pretty to watch. You see -- almost feel -- every bit of effort it takes him to put the ball on the floor, lower his shoulder into a taller defender and flick a one-handed shot toward the rim. He can't leap much without a head of steam, and he's not quick or explosive enough to beat his defenders with spin moves or dribble-drives ... He often pushed off with his left hand to create the minimal space he had. Every time he attacked the rim, I cringed, expecting an offensive foul. The shots, once released, look a bit like blind tosses toward something approximating the correct area of the rim or the backboard. And they always seem to bounce around the rim and off the backboard before going down. And they went down 52 percent of the time, and 57 percent of the time in the '08 championship season ... He is a graceless, below-the-rim player for the most part, and I love him for it."

Royce Young of Daily Thunder: "I think the organization sees Uncle Jeff [Green] as its power forward. But if they sign [Paul] Millsap, I guess we'll know they think differently. Unless of course Millsap is being signed just to take Nick Collison's spot, which would be great if the Thunder could sign Millsap for the same money they're paying [Nick] Collison. But that probably has about as much chance of happening as me getting a 10-day contract. Millsap is a nice player. He was excellent in Carlos Boozer's absence last year and that great play earned him what's sure to be a nice contract. But the Thunder's fairly stacked at power forward. Of course there are Green and Collison, but what about D.J. White who played just seven games last year? White looked pretty darn good in those games and with some added weight and a little refining, what's to say he's not going to be an excellent backup big man? Or even Serge Ibaka? He's coming over and playing in the summer league. Maybe he blows management away and makes the roster as an extra big. Now you're jammed full of power forwards, but one of them you just signed for five years and $40 million. To me, signing Millsap isn't a very [Sam] Presti-like move. It seems like a rushed, let's-get-better-right-now move instead of the planned, calculated progression Presti has had since he took over. Signing Millsap would make you either take some clothes to Goodwill or make you completely rearrange everything."

THE FINAL WORD
Bucksketball: An open letter to Detroit fans, re: Charlie V.
The Two Man Game: Welcome to the Big D, Marcin Gortat.
Orlando Magic Daily: A concrete-heavy photo tour of the Magic's new home for 2010-11. 

(Photos by Jeff Gross, Steve Babineau, Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)

It's not just salary, but also winnings in sports that have that, and income.

Golfers make a lot. The very best in every major sport make a lot. Race car drivers, baseball players, football players ... Out of those thousands of professional athletes, anyone would be lucky to make the top 200.

22 is high. Higher, for instance, than Tom "I'm super famous" Brady.

Answer after the jump. According to Sports Illustrated's assessment, the 22nd highest paid American athlete last year was ... Steve Francis.