Trade idea of the week

Last Christmas Eve, the Houston Rockets traded Steve Francis and a 2009 second round pick to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for a conditional 2011 second round pick. I remember this trade specifically because I totally called it.

The deal was made to help Houston dodge the luxury tax. And it worked, because they did. By dumping Francis's $2,634,480 salary onto the Grizzlies, the Rockets saved themselves that much again in luxury tax savings, as well as picking up a $2,911,756 rebate from not being a luxury tax payer. The amount of money they saved was more than enough to justify giving the Grizzlies enough cash to pay Francis's remaining salary for the remainder of the season, and by returning the Grizzlies's 2009 pick to them - one which they had previous acquired in the draft night 2008 three way trade that saw Memphis move up for Darrell Arthur - the Rockets found sufficient incentive for the Grizzlies to help them. For the Grizzlies, they were essentially given a free pick; they were given a player that they didn't want, but also enough money to pay his salary without him ever turning up, and they got a 30's pick for their troubles. All they had to do was sacrifice some cap space that they weren't going to use anyway.

(The 2011 pick is irrelevant; it is top 55 protected, and only for that season. So if Memphis pick in the bottom 25 of the NBA that year, which they will, then Houston gets nothing. The pick was only included because Memphis had to give up at least something, however arbitrary.)

(Also, the pick Houston gave to Memphis to save this $5.6 million was the #36, which Memphis then used to draft Sam Young. Houston later bought the #32 from Washington for $2.5 million. So in a way, they traded a player on their inactive list in exchange for moving up 4 spots and gaining $3.1 million. Not bad work.)


I'm hereby suggesting something very similar for this season. Once again, Memphis finds itself without its second round draft pick, and once again, the team that owns it is in the luxury tax territory. This time it's the L.A. Lakers, who first received the pick in the much underrated Pau Gasol deal. Also, after the Allen Iverson buyout, Memphis once again has the cap room to do something about that.

So here's the deal; L.A. Lakers trade Adam Morrison and the Grizzlies' 2010 seconder rounder to Memphis in exchange for Steven Hunter.


Both players in the deal are on expiring salaries; Morrison at $5,257,229, Hunter at $3,696,000. The Lakers currently have a a payroll of $91,341,066. It's the highest in the league and they don't want it to be. After tax payments, that's a payroll of basically $112 million. And even if you're the defending world champions, favourites to repeat and totally not skint from all that revenue, $112 million is still a lot of money. They want the payroll to come down, and are offering up their entire Odom-less bench as a result. This deal helps with that; the Lakers would save on the difference in luxury tax payments between Hunter and Morrison's salaries (approximately $1.6 million) as well as the difference between their remaining salaries this season (which gets smaller after every payday, but which is still over $1 million). All it would cost them is a young player that they probably wouldn't use anyway, since they have no real room for young players at the moment. And they might even get some usage out of Hunter.

Similarly, Memphis' MO is to build through the draft. That's why they traded Pau for Marc and two first round picks - which essentially became three after the follow-up Javaris Crittenton deal - and it's why they used their cap space to acquire picks last year. They can't compete financially in free agency, so they don't try to; instead, they survive on draft picks and retreads, so any means for obtaining a decent draft pick has to be considered. And if swapping Steven Hunter for Adam Morrison could be a mechanism for getting someone like James Anderson next year, then that can't be bad.

How much cash would L.A. include? Don't know. It probably depends on Memphis' opinion of Morrison. It might also depend on when the deal is made (the later it happens, the less L.A. saves). It might even be none. But the basic framework for a deal is there. Both teams get what they want while losing nothing they can really use. As a man doing an impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, it writes itself.

This isn't a prediction. This is an idea. But if it's an idea that happens, expect this last stanza to be deleted.

Sam Presti's Survival Strategy In A Post-Apocalpytic Dystopian Nightmare

Simple question: Did the tough economic climate affect NBA team's spending plans as much as MSM scaremongerers would have you believe?

Not-so-simple answer: Kind of.

This summer saw a team that could have had nearly 8 figures of cap room opt not to use any of it. The Oklahoma City Thunder did pretty much nothing with their offseason once draft day was completed, and having won a total of 23 games last year, it's justifiable to ask why that was. There follows some exploratory maths, which get a bit dull and confusing.


If the Thunder had completed their buyout of Earl Watson (saving them $3.125 million; for argument's sake, let's assume that it could have been done earlier than July 17th), not signed James Harden, B.J. Mullens and Serge Ibaka until their cap space had been used, renounced all these guys that they don't want, not bothered to trade for Etan Thomas, kept Chucky Atkins and waived him, they would have had the following payroll:


Nick Collison - $6,250,000
Nenad Krstic - $5,160,832
Kevin Durant - $4,796,880
Russell Westbrook - $3,755,640
Jeff Green - $3,516,960
Earl Watson (waived) - $3,475,000
Damien Wilkins - $3,300,000
Thabo Sefolosha - $2,759,628
D.J. White - $1,036,440
Shaun Livingston - $959,111
Kyle Weaver - $870,968
Chucky Atkins (waived) - $760,000

Total = $36,641,459 for 10 players.


To that total, add the cap holds of $3,336,800 for Harden and $933,500 for both Mullens and Ibaka, take away all the cap holds linked to above (which at the start of the offseason also included cap holds for unwanted players such as Desmond Mason and Mickael Gelabale) and the Thunder would have had themselves a total team salary of $41,845,259. Against a salary cap of $57,700,000, that would have meant cap room of $15,854,741. And that's pretty much the max.

(If bits of that don't make sense to you, such as the talk of cap holds for draft picks and free agents, don't worry about that for now.)



Had they done this, the Thunder would have the second biggest free agent player this past offseason, second only to the Pistons. However, the Thunder didn't use their 8 figures of possible cap room. They didn't use any of it, in fact. They didn't make a single move this offseason that required any cap space, which is why they continue to rock massive cap holds on such seminal names as Danny Fortson and Malik Rose (over $21 million added to the cap in those two alone).

What they did instead was trade Wilkins and Atkins to Minnesota for Etan Thomas, taking on an extra $3,846,088 of salary this season just for the joy of getting future second round picks. They then followed tradition by signing their three first rounders to 120% of the scale, boosting those earlier figures of $3,336,800 and $933,500 to $4,004,160 and $1,120,200 respectively. Finally, they made their only two free agency signings of the summer:

Kevin Ollie and Ryan Bowen.

They could have had as-near-as-is max cap room. Instead, they got the two least talented players in the league. No offense. (They tried to make it three when they also signed Michael Ruffin, but roster numbers got the better of him. Sadly.)

The Thunder still have the lowest payroll in the league, a modest $48,383,101, and could have nearly $9.5 million in cap room tomorrow if they can bear to parted from The Fortson and friends. But they still haven't done so. They've shown no intention of doing so all summer. And until over-the-tax teams starting waggling cash and picks incentives towards the Thunder for them to take on their bad contracts when the trade deadline comes around - just like teams did with Memphis all of last year - then they're not going to use their cap room any time soon either.



The obvious question is why. Why would the Thunder not use this massive potential asset? Why would they turn down the opportunity to be one of the few buyers in such a seller's market? Why weren't they in there soliciting players like David Lee, Paul Millsap and Ben Gordon, using this prime opportunity to add one more significant piece to an already impressive young core? Did they whiff on an opportunity? Were they mismanaged?

No, I don't think so. As far as I see it, it was a combination of two things;

1. Truly quite a crap free agency class. The three aforementioned players were probably the pickings of the market, and two of them were restricted, which would have made the Thunder heavily overpaying to get them. They also would have had to bid outrageously to outbid the Pistons for Gordon, since Detroit themselves overpaid him, and while there's no real evidence to suggest that Oklahoma City attempted to get Gordon, there's also no real evidence that they should have done.

2. They don't have a whole lot of money. Having cap space and having money are not really the same thing.

Oklahoma City aren't a big budgeted franchise. As mentioned above, they have the league's smallest payroll, and spent all of last year trimming the remnants of Seattle's payroll. Attendance for the new franchise has been impressive in the early going, but the $75 million that it cost to move the team - combined with the $325 million that it cost to buy it - seems to have stymied the Thunder's spending on players. They've signed Nenad Krstic for three years and unsuccessfully tried to trade for Tyson Chandler's big contract, but that's been about it. And it isn't long until they're going to have to pony up for Kevin Durant's max contract. (That is, unless they trade his plus/minus-killing arse away before then. Although that might be hard to do, since apparently he's difficult to give way for free.)

But is this unwillingness to spend limited to the Thunder only? Quite what is the difference between spending during this summer's recession and during last summer's honeymoon period? Let's look at some more numbers.




Listed below are the future salary commitments for all NBA teams, including this season, but not including luxury tax payments. Note: for the purposes of consistency, all options and partially guaranteed contracts are assumed to be being paid in full. Even those that won't be.

1st: Orlando Magic - $317,268,369
2nd: Los Angeles Lakers - $256,433,829
3rd: Toronto Raptors - $244,926,542
4th: New Orleans Hornets - $238,288,724
5th: Golden State Warriors - $234,876,874
6th: Dallas Mavericks - $228,559,817
7th: Philadelphia 76ers - $225,715,686
8th: Washington Wizards - $217,956,499
9th: Detroit Pistons - $216,397,593
10th: Utah Jazz - $211,782,244
11th: Denver Nuggets - $209,996,915
12th: Cleveland Cavaliers - $197,756,154
13th: Portland Trail Blazers - $197,607,482
14th: Indiana Pacers - $189,539,684
15th: Sacramento Kings - $182,546,117
16th: Milwaukee Bucks - $181,912,234
17th: Atlanta Hawks - $181,775,571
18th: Charlotte Bobcats - $180,263,002
19th: Boston Celtics - $172,718,480
20th: Chicago Bulls - $169,916,272
21st: Phoenix Suns - $169,532,243
22nd: San Antonio Spurs - $168,787,128
23rd: Minnesota Timberwolves - $165,310,707
24th: Los Angeles Clippers - $157,306,417
25th: Houston Rockets - $147,199,150
26th: Memphis Grizzlies - $127,671,869
27th: New York Knicks - $124,240,768
28th: Miami Heat - $121,060,368
29th: New Jersey Nets - $118,253,823
30th: Oklahoma City Thunder - $109,551,956

Total = $5,565,152,517. Or, to put it in words: five billion, five hundred and sixty five million, one hundred and fifty two thousand, five hundred and seventeen dollars.


(Makes you feel a bit weird to see it all totalled up like that, doesn't it?)



And now, the same statistic, but from this time last year. The following is the future salary commitments for all NBA teams as of October 26th 2008;

1st: Orlando Magic - $294,700,756
2nd: Washington Wizards - $289,258,879
3rd: Philadelphia 76ers - $280,843,432
4th: Golden State Warriors - $266,578,475
5th: New Orleans Hornets - $259,494,157
6th: Dallas Mavericks - $256,486,158
7th: Charlotte Bobcats - $241,276,414
8th: Milwaukee Bucks - $240,182,828
9th: Sacramento Kings - $238,980,548
10th: Chicago Bulls - $233,647,431
11th: Cleveland Cavaliers - $230,050,946
12th: Boston Celtics - $227,210,745
13th: New York Knicks - $223,651,682
14th: Los Angeles Lakers - $218,983,731
15th: Denver Nuggets - $218,283,798
16th: Utah Jazz - $216,382,116
17th: Phoenix Suns - $215,488,477
18th: New Jersey Nets - $213,824,140
19th: San Antonio Spurs - $196,644,633
20th: Toronto Raptors - $194,241,647
21st: Los Angeles Clippers - $193,352,090
22nd: Minnesota Timberwolves - $192,651,934
23rd: Indiana Pacers - $178,713,794
24th: Miami Heat - $174,614,367
25th: Houston Rockets - $170,637,835
26th: Detroit Pistons - $165,711,468
27th: Atlanta Hawks - $157,119,737
28th: Memphis Grizzlies - $146,551,493
29th: Portland Trail Blazers - $133,235,971
30th: Oklahoma City Thunder - $121,422,133

Total: $6,390,221,815

Difference between 2008/09 and 2009/10: $825,069,298

[Note: none of these figures are guaranteed to be 100% accurate, because I've reverse-engineered them, but at worst it's 98.5%. Also note: the $158,312,000's worth of extensions given to Danny Granger, Jason Maxiell, Martell Webster and Andrew Bynum were signed after October 26th 2008, and therefore weren't counted towards their team's totals above. Nor is the $18 million that reappeared on Portlands's cap for Darius Miles. Similarly, LaMarcus Aldridge's extension from last week is not included, because I don't know what it is yet.]


$825 million is a lot of freaking money, even when split over 30 big money franchises. That figure alone highlights the difference in spending between this year and last. But here's another way of looking at it.

This summer, $1,275,302,921 of new player salary was given out. That total includes minimum salary deals, rookie scale contract, extensions......everything.

Last summer, however, $1,885,122,482 of new player salary was given out. That's an decrease of $609,819,561 in new expenditure from one summer to the next. And that's a lot.




Of course, there are mitigating factors for that. The crappy 2006 draft class has had something to do with it; as I mentioned here, only three players have gotten extensions from that draft class, and only a couple more have a chance of getting one. The 2010 free agency market is another huge factor (one that you may not have heard of, due to the minimal press coverage its received), and many teams are trying to avoid clogging their cap in eager anticipation of the impending free agency anti-climax coming up next offseason. When that day comes, spending should ramp up again, and the current contingency plans for it may well explain some of the decline in salary expenditure.

But more than anything, it appears that the economy's affect on player spending has not been overstated. Working purely on averages, NBA teams have $20 million less on players this summer than they did last summer, a large amount of money regardless of the number of years that it is spread over. Times are tough, and we're all having to make small sacrifices right now. (Personally, I'm forgoing all haircuts. They're too expensive anyway.) The NBA is no different; as we've now seen, it's stopped spending like it used to as well.

And so that might explain why the Thunder picked Ryan Bowen over Paul Millsap.



(The picture that opened this post had literally nothing to do with the rest of it.)

Summer league round-up: Los Angeles Lakers

View the Lakers summer league roster.

I've not heard of several of these people. Should enjoy this.

- Alan Anderson: Anderson has been on the fringes of the NBA for quite a while. He spent parts of two seasons with the Bobcats, playing in 53 games, and spent last summer on the Grizzlies VSL team. After failing to make the team, he signed in Russia with Triumph (the team perhaps better known last summer for the big contract they gave Nenad Krstic.....briefly), but left during midseason and joined Cibona Zagreb. There, he averaged 16.2ppg, 6.8rpg and 2.8apg in the Croatian league, alongside 18.4ppg, 5.6rpg and 2.1apg in the Adriatic league. However, he left Cibona last month, because they weren't able to afford is contract demands for next season, and Anderson has already signed for next season with Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

I'm not sure why he's even bothering with summer league, to be honest; his Maccabi contract does have an NBA-escape clause, meaning that he can get out of it if an NBA team comes a-calling later this summer, but that might not be preferable. His Maccabi contract also calls for him to be paid $800,000 next year - which, remember, is a net sum - and sees him in a guest guitarist role for one of the biggest bands in showbiz today. I'm not sure why he'd jeopardise that for the chance to sit on the bench behind Kobe Bryant, Sasha Vujacic and Shannon Brown. But, good luck to him I guess.

- Aron Baynes: Baynes is a centre with dual Australian and New Zealian citizenship [Zealandish? Zealish? Zealandolian? On a postcard, if you would] who recently graduated from Washingon State university. In his senior season, Baynes averaged 12.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, on handsome percentage of 58% and 77%. He also has legit NBA size (being listed as 6'11 and 270lbs), plays physically, and is a post player through and through. However, he too has already signed elsewhere, catching on with the slightly bankrupt defending Eurocup champions, Lietuvos Rytas. The Lakers appear to have adopted a weird approach to summer league this year.

- Dominique Coleman: Coleman is a former Colorado Buffaloes guard who was last with the Colorado 14ers of the D-League. The Nuggets clearly weren't too interested, though. Coleman's D-League numbers from last year are pretty freaking impressive; in 50 games, the 6'3 guard averaged 15.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.9 steals, shooting 50% from the field and 41% from three point range. This is particularly impressive when you consider that he'd played for three teams in Finland the previous season. Another year like the last one, Dominique, and you'll be famous.

- Chinemelu Elonu: When I watched Texas A&M last year, I saw Junior Elonu and thought "if anyone on this team is going to play in the NBA, it'll be him". He had decent defensive instincts, a mechanical and unattractive but fledgling offensive game, and the strength to make up for his comparative lack of size. Given an ever-present need to quench the NBA's thirst for defensive minded centres, I figured he might be on the radar down the road as someone who might be able to do a decent impression of the 2008 Adonal Foyle at some point. But that doesn't mean that I thought he had NBA talent.

- Tony Gaffney: Gaffney's numbers last year are pretty brilliant: 11.5ppg, 10.2rpg, 1.7apg, 2.0spg and 3.8bpg, on 54% shooting. However, they came at the basketball powerhouse that is Massachusetts, which helps provide some context as to how he did that. He also only measures at 6'8 and 205, which is NBA small forward size on an interior specialist. Considering his lack of offensive ability outside of opportunity scoring and hustle, he'll be best served with a tidy European career. By the way, everything I've just written also applies to Kenneth Faried.

- Terrel Harris: Harris averaged 13.9 points and 4.8 rebounds for Oklahoma State last year, taking lots of three pointers and looking for his shot at all times. But that also describes the entire Cowboys roster last year. (PS; Marshall Moses, use your right hand some time.) Harris was a solid offensive player, not really creating a whole lot but finishing the looks he got quite well. Unfortunately, that's not really good enough at the NBA level.

- Justin Hawkins: Hawkins played for the Kings summer league team last year, but I came away from that with absolutely no idea what he was good at. He played in all 5 games, started 2 and played 100 minutes, but averaged only 5.6 points and 2.2 rebounds a game, shooting 32% from the field. He didn't leave an impression, really. He went to France for last season, where again his numbers don't really suggest anything NBA worthy: 13.3 points and 4.6 rebounds a game, on 42% shooting and 61% FT. I also hate The Darkness because their music is annoying and there's nothing cool about glam rock. So if there's a reason to view Justin Hawkins as an NBA prospect, and I've missed it, then do please let me know.

- Ben McCauley: From what I saw of McCauley last season, he either couldn't or wouldn't rotate on defense, and was slower than a paraplegic donkey in a minefield. He also wasn't strong, physical, or blessed with overwhelming NBA size. But he could shoot, and I saw him once gave a hard foul in the final two seconds of a blowout loss that sparked an enjoyable multi-player punch-up. So my impressions of him are mixed, with some great high points.

- David Monds: In keeping with the Lakers policy of bringing in players for summer league who have already signed elsewhere for next season, we now have David Monds, who has already signed somewhere for next year. Or at least, I thought he had; I forgot to write down where, and now I can't find it. Lest we forget, this website is amateurish.

Monds is another former Oklahoma State player, who was kind of an afterthought role player in college, but who has done a bit better since. He last played in Puerto Rico, where he averaged 11.0 points and 7.6 rebounds for Humacao, and before that he spent the season with the Dakota Wizards and Albuquerque Thunderbirds in the D-League, averaging roughly 12/9 between the two. He'll be 26 by the start of the next season, and a solid but unspectacular 6'9, but as I write this he just scored 17 points in 14 minutes in his summer league debut. So you might like him anyway.

- Adam Morrison: Christ. It shouldn't have been THIS bad.

- Taylor Rochestie: Roschestie (with an I, not an L, to rhyme with the singular of "testes") was Baynes's team mate at Washington State for the last three years, after transferring from Tulane. He averaged 13.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists last year, rocking a decent 2:1 assist to turnover ratio in the process. However, he also shot under 40%, and is only 6'1. If you can't shoot 40% in college at that height, you're not doing it in the NBA either. Rochestie is a fine shooter, but not an NBA calibre player.

- Luke Schenscher: Woop, it's the long overdue return of The Schensch. How could you ever leave me, you beautiful beautiful man. Luke was back in his native Australia last year, where he averaged 16.9 points per game, a league leading 10.8 rebounds per game, as well as 1.4 blocks, good for 3rd in the league. He shot 55% from the field and 75% from the foul line, which is great news if you've ever seen Luke Schenscher bank in free throws in your team's crucial first round playoff game. And I have. As for how the old school hook shot is looking these days, I couldn't say, but I imagine it to still be sheer unadulterated hardcore sex. Lakers fans, if he unfurls that bad boy in summer league play, get ready to nurse some semis.

- Mustafa Shakur: Shakur didn't have a great year last year, starting out with Tau Ceramica as the backup to Pablo Prigioni but not playing a lot, before moving to Panellinios in Greece, where he only played in the Eurocup games. In those Panellinios Eurocup games, he averaged 6.3 points and 1.2 assists on 54% shooting, which is about as much as any man can do in 11 minutes a game. But the European game isn't really suited to him, which might explain his continued desire to come home.

- Reggie Williams: Williams was with the Mavericks summer league roster last year, where he demonstrated good size and athleticism along with a penchant to get pretty damn wild at times. Williams is the best player in VMI history, leading the whole NCAA in scoring in both his junior and senior seasons. He did that without ever having a good jumpshot, which is more of a testament to the standard of competition that he faced than it is to his slashing game. Williams played in France last season, where he averaged 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. However, he also shot 21% from three point range on over 100 attempts. So he still hasn't corrected that flaw.

Karmic Retribution

The 2003 All Star Game was a freaking embarassment.

If you watched it, you fellated Michael Jordan. You are guilty by association. By watching it, I too fellated Michael Jordan. And I didn't enjoy it one bit.

The whole event was a prolonged Michael Jordan ass kiss. As it was to be Jordan's last ever All Star game, in His final season before His third and only retirement, we were treated to the sight of His balls being polished mercilessly by everyone in the game, around the game, and Mariah Carey. Everything Michael did throughout history - excluding the previous 18 months, of course - was to be glorified and indulged one more time to such a lavish and excessive degree that, if any of us had forgotten how scarily good and frighteningly popular He was, we would never do so again. They had documentaries, they had interviews, they had montages, they had songs, they had a dress represented two of his uniforms on....they had everything.

Unfortunately, there was a slight problem. Jordan wasn't voted in as a starter by the fans. And it's hard to be the most important player on the floor when five other people get there first.

Never mind, though. Into the confusion stepped Allen Iverson. Voted in as one of the starting guards ahead of Jordan, Iverson magnanimously volunteered to give up his starting spot for Jordan, so that He may start the game and take the first 40 shots or so. Tracy McGrady, one of the starting forwards, made an identical gesture a few days later, once again showing sympathy-enducing deferrence to an older man's inferior play. However, the other starting guard, Vince Carter, did not make the same offer, even when pressed to do so.

People turned on Vince Carter. Because he didn't feel the need to give up what was rightfully is, like the others had done before him, he was vitriolically defamed, cursed and besmirched, suddenly deemed "disrespectful" for not giving Jordan something that he didn't earn. (And no, he didn't earn it. Michael Jordan's career up until that point saw him justifiably earn immeasurable fame, fortune and respect aplenty - giving him this starting spot, that he hadn't justifiably earned, would not have changed this.) Not working in Vince's favour was the fact that he had missed most of the year up until that point with injury - in this respect, he too hadn't earn the starting spot. However, Carter had gotten it anyway, because the fans wanted him to have it. But now, they wanted him to give it back. It made no sense, and Vince became a victim, stuck in a position where he could do no right without doing wrong.

Eventually, he relented. A mere matter of minutes before the game, Vince yielded his starting spot to Jordan, whose initial public claims to have not wanted the spot anyway seemed to disappear as he took Vince up on the offer, the same one that he claimed to have previously turned down from Iverson and McGrady. I distinctly remember an interview with Carter just before the game started, in which a pissed-off Vince spoke some clichéd poppycock about how it was the right thing to do to respect the history of the game, and of the "greatest player, probably, to put a pair of basketball shoes on". (Note: quote comes from a time when Vince was still insistent on not giving up his spot.) Had Vince had black eyes, cuts, and a distinct hobble that befitted a kneecapping victim, I wouldn't have been surprised - he didn't look like a man who had made a heartfelt gesture. Yet, regardless of what duress he was under, he made it anyway.

Jordan then came out and shot a Morrison.



Cut to the present day. This year's votes on the All Star Starters are in, and Allen Iverson is one of the starting Eastern Conference guards alongside Dwyane Wade. Vince Carter was third in the fan vote, narrowly missing out on the second guard spot. (Luke Ridnour was fifth, proving once again that this system is still effing stupid.) However, despite his popularity barely waning, Iverson's skill level has started to drop, and he is no longer truly deserving of any award that claims him to be (implied or otherwise) the second best guard in his conference. On the season, Iverson averages only 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.4 assist and 2.8 turnovers, finally declining like the 33 year old that he is. Several players behind him in the voting, Carter included, are better players than he is now. (Note: Luke Ridnour isn't one of them.) And while the concept of the fan vote is to see the most popular players, not necessarily the best (which incidentally is another damning slant on the whole idea of giving up the spot for Jordan in the first place; the fans clearly didn't want him to start), it shouldn't be.

I want Allen Iverson to give up his starting spot for the better player this year, and the more deserving player over Jordan six years ago, Vince Carter. I realise that it is hypocritical to condemn the idea that Carter was forced to give up his spot in the first place, and then later in the same blog post to infer that Iverson should give up his spot this year to make up for it. And for this, I am sorry. But sometimes, two wrongs do make a right.

(The fan vote system doesn't work, by the way. Yao Ming was an All Star starter way before he deserved to be, and Yi Jianlian and Bruce Bowen came dangerously close to being voted onto the team this year despite never coming close to All Star calibre talent. The NBA All Star game should be to showcase the NBA's best, something which this system does not necessarily do, and therefore it is crap and needs abolishing. But that rant is for another day.)

This isn't a knock on Allen Iverson, whose initial 2003 gesture seemed sincere and genuine, and who isn't to blame for the fans voting him in over other, better players. But the NBA owes Vince Carter something, and this would be a fine time to give him it. Iverson doesn't personally owe Carter anything, and as such he will have done nothing wrong if he starts the game as chosen. Like Vince before him, Iverson has no obligation to give up what is rightfully his, and it is rightfuly his, even if it shouldn't be. But the entire NBA World owes Vince Carter an apology, as well as an All Star start, and Allen Iverson can make this happen. As hypocritical as it may be for me to want to see someone else give up their spot, Vince Carter deserves some justice, no matter how much you dislike him.

Please do this, AI. We'll be brothers for life if you do. I'll never let anyone defoul you again. No one. No one will disrespect this thing of ours. La Cosa Nostra. Me and you. Ride or die.

Let's do this.