The Vince Carter Trade:  Ok, getting Vince Carter is good.  But losing Courtney Lee and forcing Turkoglu out of town as a result of it isn't good.  I would rather have Lee and Turkoglu than Carter.  So, to me, Orlando is now worse.  This is a downgrade.  New Jersey's still not a very good team.

The Richard Jefferson Trade:  Plain and simple, this was a steal for the Spurs.  They got younger, and now have 4 guys who can fill it up.  The Spurs are very close to being able to win another title.  They need to add one more quality center.  They don't have enough height on their roster right now.  The Bucks just wanted to save money.

The Shaq Trade:  Great trade for the Cavs.  Shaq can slow down Dwight Howard if the Cavs meet the Magic again in the playoffs.  Shaq can get a bucket on his own, and take pressure off LeBron.  Shaq even still commands a double team, at times.  There's no serious commitment to Shaq either, because he only has 1 year left on his deal.  Awesome trade for Cleveland.  The Suns also just wanted to save money.

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Detroit just agreed to deals with Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva.  They now have a log jam of guards.  They're probably going to have to trade Richard Hamilton.  You can't have Hamilton, Stuckey, and Gordon.  You just can't.  One of them will be unhappy.  Hamilton seems like the likely guy to be moved.

I think signing these 2 guys helps Detroit, but not a lot.  Right now, Detroit is a playoff team.  But probably in the 6-8 seed range.  Detroit's nowhere near the level of Cleveland, Orlando, or Boston.  

Why is LA letting Ariza go?  He's a lot younger than Odom and still has upside, yet they seem to be choosing Odom over Ariza.  You've got to pay both of them what they want, because losing one of them is going to hurt their chances of repeating as champs.  Ariza's only getting better.  Odom's slowly starting to decline.   

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Well, the Lakers and Rockets essentially swapped players.  For all intents and purposes, Ron Artest and Trevor Ariza are basically the same player, and bring the same skills to the table.  Sure, Ariza's younger, but neither LA or Houston got better from these free agent pick ups.  Both teams are in the same boat.  Both guys are good defensive small forwards who can shoot, and will take on the toughest perimeter assignment.  Ariza has more upside, so Houston has to be happy with that.  Overall, not much was accomplished from all of this.

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Hedo Turkoglu is now a Toronto Raptor.  Suddenly, Toronto looks like a playoff team again.  With a core of Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon, Demar DeRozan, and Hedo Turkoglu, they could make some noise in the east.  They can definitely grab a 7 or 8 seed, with potential to probably get into the 5-6 range.  Turkoglu was just the playmaker they needed to relieve pressure off of Calderon.  Jose no longer is needed to handle the ball all of the time.  Toronto's bench could use a little work, though.  Right now, they don't have one reliable bench player.

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Rasheed agreed to a deal with Boston, but odds are, he'll be coming off the bench.  KG is their starting 4, and Perkins is their starting 5.  I don't see Doc disrupting that.  Hopefully Sheed stays happy with his role.  He's going to help the team, but I don't think this move makes Boston better than Cleveland.  This deal also probably means Glen Davis won't return to Boston.

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I think the Houston Rockets are going to stink next year.  Here's why:  Yao Ming will not be there.  I think that's safe to assume.  We have no idea if T-Mac is going to be the same player after his microfracture surgery.  Ron Artest is gone.  That leaves Houston with a core of a questionable T-Mac, Aaron Brooks, Trevor Ariza, and Luis Scola...............sorry Rockets fans, but I dont think they're even a playoff team anymore. 

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Marion to the Mavs:  This move definitely helps Dallas.  I'm not sure how much, though....  I dont' think Dallas is a title contender, but they definitely have a better chance to make some serious noise now.  Will they now play Josh Howard at shooting guard and Marion at small forward?  Visa Versa?  Will Terry still come off the bench?  On paper, Dallas is very intriguing.

Anthony Parker to the Cavs, Varejao re-signs:  The Cavs have to be pretty happy.  They definitely didnt want to lose Anderson, because that would've left a gaping hole at power forward.  Andy V got 6 years, $50 million.  They overpaid a little bit, but he's their hustle guy, and they need a youngster next to Shaq on the frontline.  The Cavs also added Anthony Parker.  Now Parker's 34 years old, so he's not going to play a lot of minutes, but he provides nice mid-range shooting and a decent perimeter defender.  Pretty good day for the Cavs, they addressed a couple of issues.  Don't forget about Danny Green either, he'll help them.  

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1.  Julius Erving:  Dr. J

2.  Dominique Wilkins:  The Human Highlight Reel

3.  George Gervin:  The Iceman

4.  Ervin Johnson:  Magic

5.  Michael Jordan:  Air Jordan

6.  Pete Maravich:  Pistol Pete

7.  Larry Bird:  Larry Legend

8.  Karl Malone:  The Mailman

9.  Vinny Johnson:  The Microwave

10.  Earl Monroe:  The Pearl 

11.  Stacey Augmon:  Plastic Man

12.  Oscar Robertson:  The Big O

13.  Lloyd Bernard Free:  World B. Free

14.  Hakeem Olajuwon:  The Dream

15.  Charles Barkley:  The Round Mound of Rebound/Sir Charles

16.  Darryl Dawkins:  Chocolate Thunder

Continue reading "The 50 Best NBA Nicknames Ever (Published Again)"

Remember the NBA's 50 greatest players ever representing each year of the league's existence?  Almost 14 years later, here's my next 23......?  Yeah, 23.  (Alphabetical order)

Allen Iverson

Chauncey Billups

Chris Paul

Chris Webber

Dennis Rodman

Dirk Nowitzki

Dominique Wilkins

Dwight Howard

Dwyane Wade

Gary Payton

Grant Hill

Jason Kidd

Joe Dumars

Kevin Garnett

Kobe Bryant

LeBron James

Pau Gasol

Paul Pierce

Ray Allen

Reggie Miller

Steve Nash

Tim Duncan

Tony Parker

(Note:  I would've loved to put Robert Horry on the list, it would've been fun, but I just couldn't)

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All I have to say is that the Golden State Warriors have a ton of guards: Kelenna Azubuike, Marco Belinelli, Speedy Claxton, Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, Acie Law, Anthony Morrow.  Um, log jam???

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Here are my top free agents in the stacked 2010 Class:  

1.  LeBron James

2.  Dwyane Wade

3.  Chris Bosh

4.  Amare Stoudemire (Ahead of Dirk because he's younger)

5.  Dirk Nowitzki

6.  Paul Pierce

7.  Carlos Boozer

8.  Joe Johnson

9.  Richard Jefferson

10.  Ray Allen (Age quickly catching up)

11.  Manu Ginobili  (Assuming the best after ankle problems)

12.  Steve Nash (Age also quickly catching up)

13.  Yao Ming (Major question marks)

14.  Tracy McGrady  (Assuming Microfracture surgery ends up working)

15.  Michael Redd (Should be ok after ACL tear)

16.  Shaquille O'Neal (Older than heck, but still effective)

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Remember the days when the Phoenix Suns were the most exciting team in the league and perennial contenders? I don’t either. There’s a laundry list of bad Steve Kerr decisions: traded away Kurt Thomas to save money, made an awful trade of Shawn Marion for Shaquille O’Neal that didn’t make any basketball sense, traded valuable assets Boris Diaw and Raja Bell for Jason Richardson, didn’t try to convince Mike D’Antoni to come back, and traded away good draft picks like Rudy Fernandez, Rajon Rondo, and Marcin Gortat. Where to start. Kurt Thomas was their best low post defender and the only guy on the roster who could do a reasonable job guarding archrival Tim Duncan. Ironically enough, he ended up landing in San Antonio, adding insult to injury. He ac

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