Trade deadline, trade deadline, trade deadline. It's Thursday, and I think this year we all believe things could be happening. A key part of making moves is figuring out the free agency picture this summer: in almost any deal, one team is going to be wanting a player with an expiring contract. So, consult the big list of 2008 free agents.
ESPN's Marc Stein with the latest Kidd update: "... the teams, sources say, indeed have a conference call lined up for early Tuesday with league officials to go over the binding trade details after Keith Van Horn appeared to have clinched the deal Monday night with his highly anticipated sign-off. Those details: Kidd and forward Malik Allen will be going to Dallas for 24-year-old point guard Devin Harris, center DeSagana Diop, swingman Trenton Hassell, guard Maurice Ager, Van Horn via sign-and-trade, first-round picks this June and in 2010 and $3 million in cash. In a separate transaction, Dallas will acquire Antoine Wright for a second-round pick. After a roller-coaster Sunday in which the teams believed they were on the verge of a done deal -- yet again -- and then came away from All-Star Weekend with renewed fears that Van Horn wouldn't want to meet the league's stipulations for his inclusion or couldn't actually bring himself to leave his family and business interests in Colorado, sources say Van Horn and his agent David Falk spent much of Monday giving assurances to NBA officials that the 32-year-old will make a genuine attempt to make a comeback with the Nets."
Phil Jackson says the Lakers will probably need to win 25 of their last 30 to finish as the conference's top seed. Kobe Bryant is as adamant as ever about not having surgery -- saying that if he further aggravates the injury he will use ice and rest (no mention of surgery). This is a high-stakes game of poker. I hope he makes the right gamble.
Basketbawful: "[Steve] Nash admitted before the Three-Point Shootout that the only reason he was taking part in the event was because the Collective Bargaining Agreement says he has to. (Said Nash: "They hold me to it every year.") So naturally he went out and performed like a man who didn't care and wanted it to all be over as quickly as possible, hitting only eight of 25 shots and scoring a lowly nine points. Maybe that'll teach David Stern not to force unwilling former MVPs to compete in meaningless contests they couldn't care less about." Also, when Karl Malone wants you to look him in the eye and apologize, well, you look him in the eye and apologize.
Phoenix owner Robert Sarver talks about the trade talks for Shaquille O'Neal (it all started with a call from Mickey Arison to Sarver), the rule that got his players suspended in last year's playoffs (Sarver hasn't done anything about overturning it, because it's not a rule from the board of governors anyway -- David Stern has discretion over on-court rules), and Sarver points out that while he has a reputation for being cheap, in many ways he spends more than anyone.
The Seattle fans who run SuperSonicSoul, unimpressed with Commissioner Stern's comments about the Sonics leaving Seattle: "Remember, Stern is the man who publicly admonished Tim Hardaway for his disrespectful comments about homosexuality last year, because, don't you know, the NBA is all about cultural inclusiveness. David Stern, it seemed, would not stand for homophobes, not in his NBA, dammit. Well, as we all know, that level of understanding doesn't have to extend to the owners. And that should tell you everything need to know about the Commish, a man who never met an idea he couldn't spin, a city he couldn't blackmail, or an emotion he couldn't twist. You can keep talking, David, but we're done listening."
Whit Watson of Sun Sports: "Dwight Howard is going to save the National Basketball Association."
The Globe and Mail's Michael Grange says Jamario Moon didn't do a lot of warming up, nor a lot of practicing for the dunk contest: "Moon and Kapono had never practised that dunk. The first time they tried was when they had to do it and score a 46 while they were at it. You have Gerald Green baking cup cakes and Dwight Howard showing up with a tickle trunk full of props and Moon trying one of the hardest dunks possible, you know, on the fly. There's not much not to like about Moon. He's modest, humble, funny and friendly. But if you ever wonder how it took him so long to make the NBA there's a little insight for you: Here was his chance to shine, take home a decent pay day and earn himself a little spot in basketball history and he just kind of winged it. Less winging, more planning and he might have made the league a lot sooner."
The Onion makes up a good Shaquille O'Neal quote on Suns, and Supernovas: "If I would have known being a Sun meant being a part of a system where gravity could collapse, causing my radiant celestial body to explode in an event 10 times brighter than an ordinary Phoenix Sun -- or worse, dematerialize into a neutron star or possibly a black hole -- I would have never agreed to the trade."
The Painted Area: "I've seen several calls to switch to a U.S. vs World format, and while I grant that the novelty might increase the competition level for a year or two, I just can't support it for this reason: out of the 26 All-Stars this year, only 3 came from outside the U.S. (4 if you count Tim Duncan, and I guess maybe 5 b/c Manu should have been there too). It would cheapen the accomplishment of being an NBA All-Star - an achievement which defines careers - for some, and be wildly unfair to those are snubbed simply due to geography. When at least half the NBA All-Stars are consistently from outside the U.S., we can talk. Until then, may we suggest actually watching international competition in the summer?"
As a Buck fan, you might be tempted to feel that if your team had won a few more of those close ones, the record would be quite a bit better. Reality check: every team loses some close ones, but your team has won way more than its fair share, based on how it performs the rest of the time. The numbers suggest that Milwaukee has been the third luckiest team (behind Cleveland and New Jersey) in crunch time.
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: "During All-Star festivities over the weekend, Duncan sank a half-court shot to help Team San Antonio - also comprised of former teammate David Robinson and Silver Stars guard Becky Hammon - win the Haier Shooting Stars competition. 'Tim's been telling me I've been holding him back for 10 years,' Popovich said. '(He thinks) he ought to be shooting threes and bringing the ball up, and I've been holding him back.'"
Ahh, education. Many many years ago at Indiana University, somebody recorded a very angry Bob Knight screaming at his team in the locker room. At least one of the players who was there suggests it may have been then team-manager, and now head Nets coach, Lawrence Frank. Terry Hutchens of the Indianapolis Star transcribes what you can now find unbleeped on YouTube: "If you wanna play (around) then I'm getting the (beep) out of here. If you're not going to recover, Greg Graham, if you're just going to let him drive by ya, if the rest of you are going to let him catch the ball outside the 3-second lane and drive all the way in here without one guy challenging him, then I'm leaving and you (beeping) guys will run till you can't eat supper. Now I'm tired of this (beep). I'm sick and (beeping) tired of an eight-and-10 record. I'm (beeping) tired of losing to Purdue. I'm not here to (beep) around this week. Now you may be, but I'm not. Now I'm going to (beeping) guarantee you that if we don't play up there Monday night, you aren't going to believe the next four (beeping) days. Now I am not here to get my (beep) beat on Monday, and you better (beeping) understand that right now. That's an absolute (beep beep beep). I'll (beeping) run your (beep) right in the ground. I'll (beeping) run ya ... you'll think last night was a (beeping) picnic. I had to sit around for a (beeping) year with an eight-and-10 record in this (beeping) league. And I mean you will not put me in that (beeping) position again or you will (beep beep) pay for it like you can't (beeping) believe. Now you better get your head out of your (beep)." (Via Indy Cornrows)
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