Mr. Durant, are large bills OK? Unclear how much he gets from his first endorsement deal, with a trading card company, but the money train is arriving in the station, starting now.
In a poll, at the moment 59% of respondents think Dallas would get the better end of the deal if Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett were traded for each other.
People of Darfur: Cleveland forward Ira Newble, inspired by the movie "Hotel Rwanda," is gathering NBA signatures in an attempt to get you some more peacekeepers. Could have implications for the Olympics, too -- as host China, a major trading partner with the Sudan, has vetoed said peacekeepers. The most influential signature Newble could possibly get would come from his teammate LeBron James -- who China is counting on as the crown jewel of its Olympic games. There are a lot of arguments against James giving it (from sneaker sales in China to maybe more peacekeepers don't actually help) but it's got to be tough for him. Being powerful, like LeBron James is, comes with a lot of dilemmas.
Utah's Kevin O'Connor has done an amazing job in recent drafts: Deron Williams over Chris Paul was bold but it's paying dividends. Dee Brown was handy. And how about that Paul Millsap?
Raptorized Ira emails that he is laughing at Pat Riley's announcement that Shaquille O'Neal will not be traded. Ira's point: who wants Shaquille O'Neal with that contract? Another Ira, Ira Winderman, thinks the announcement might have been a wake-up call to O'Neal that, you know, those are the kinds of things people are talking about.
Mark Madsen thinks Detroit will win the title, is pulling for Golden State (as a kid he went to Don Nelson basketball camp), but says Derek Fisher is one of his favorite people.
Basketbawful: "If you aren't duly impressed by what the Utah Jazz have been doing in the playoffs this year, then you either 1) hate basketball or 2) have no soul. Either way, I'll be by this evening to jam a wooden stake through your heart ... just in case."
Kurt from Forum Blue and Gold: "... the demand for expiring contracts alone seems to be waning among GMs. The Lakers were far from alone in the last couple years of eating expiring deals because there was not much interest from teams to take on your poor, your tired, your oversized-contract players yearning to be free, just to gain a little cap room. You seem to have to offer more than that now."
Hash from Golden State of Mind writes: "Despite my pleas to our boys to employ some Windex on the glass tonight, I didn't really expect for the Warriors to out rebound the Jazz by 20 or anything. But I CERTAINLY didn't expect the Warriors to allow the Jazz to nearly double our boards! Man we even had Dick Stockton commentating on our inability to grab a rebound. And he doesn't even know who has the ball half the time!"
NBA as racial nirvana. Not really ... how about NBA as closer to racial nirvana than a lot of workplaces.
Andrei Kirilenko has a big contract, and all season he didn't really fit on the Jazz roster alongside Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur. His value is way up now, though, which means Utah has options: they can either keep him this off-season (I'd bet on it) or use him as a pretty nice bargaining chip.
I know what he needs for his birthday: some pants.
Amare Stoudemire did something the entire Eastern Conference couldn't muster: he made the All-NBA First Team. This is the first time, since his rookie year, that Shaquille O'Neal is not on this team.
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treak for the Cash
