James Lang suffers severe stroke

From a tweet from Utah Flash owner Brandt Andersen, former Hornets, Wizards and Hawks big man James Lang has just had a "severe" stroke.

Flash Fans please keep 3 year center James Lang in your thoughts and prayers. James suffered a severe stroke just after Thanksgiving.

James has always been a fan and player favorite. He is fighting to pull through.

@flashbrandt

Lang spent last season with the Flash, averaging 6.4ppg and 4.1rpg, and was named as one of their returning players this season last month. However, he was waived out of training camp on November 18th due to "injury."

Little did we know.

Where Are They Now: 2009 Summer League Teams Part 2

It's been roughly two months since summer league started, and most of the players involved have been rehomed now. The following is a list of where everybody currently is, or where they might be going.

This list gets a bit long, so if you want to just skip to your favoured team, you can do so. I'll allow that.



Indiana Pacers

My initial summary


- Will Blalock: Blalock is unsigned. But he averaged more points (6.2) and assists (2.8) in summer league than he did last season in Germany (4.2 & 2.1). So he's got that going for him.

- Derrick Byars: See Denver entry.

- Tyler Hansbrough: Hansbrough is signed, and weirdly.

- Roy Hibbert: I said it before, but I'll say it again; Hibbert is better than you thought he was going to be.

- Jared Homan: The Ho-Man signed in Greece with Costa Cafe Marousi to replace Andreas Glyniadakis, who signed with Olympiakos.

- Aaron Jackson: Jackson may or may not have signed in Turkey. It depends on what this really says.

- Trey Johnson: Johnson didn't pick the best summer league team to be on. He might have made an NBA team with a better showing and a better opportunity. As it is, he's now signed in France with BCM Gravelines Dunkerque Grand Littoral, a team that really needs to truncate its name.

- Leo Lyons: See Cleveland entry.

- Josh McRoberts: Despite having a fully guaranteed $1,000,497 qualifying offer, McRoberts re-signed for a guaranteed minimum of $825,497, with $250,000 guaranteed for the following season. I guess he just wanted to get out of restricted free agency as soon as possible.

- A.J. Price: Price hasn't signed with the Pacers, but now that they've bought out Jamaal Tinsley, he must have a chance. The Pacers don't especially need four point guards, but this doesn't usually stop them.

- Brandon Rush: Rush played in only one summer league game, and shot 4-19. Let's pretend it didn't happen.

- Anthony Smith: Smith is unsigned.

- Scott VanderMeer: Vandermeer is signed along with Travis Walton with the Lugano Tigers in Switzerland. That team is going to be fierce next year. Also on that team are Mohammed Abukar and Derek Stockalper. You might know about Abukar from his Florida days, his San Diego State days or his Austin Toros days, and you might know Derek Stockalper if you watched Britain vs Switzerland two years ago. He's the one who pirhouetted on every three point attempt. I liked him.




L.A. Clippers

My initial summary


- Sean Banks: Don't know what this means.

- Corie Belser: A very late addition to summer league, Belser has played the last three years in Greece with Larisa, and has now moved to Aris Thessaloniki.

- Nik Caner-Medley: Caner-Medley is back in the ACB, despite being kicked off of Cajasol Sevilla at the end of last season for drunkenly fighting a team mate. He is now with MMT Estudiantes Madrid.

- Dionte Christmas: Watched a Temple game recently. Just wanted to say that. The Sixers have offered Christmas a training camp spot, but he's still looking at European opportunities.

- Eric Gordon: With him and the next guy, the Clippers have a good young core. I only hope they know this.

- Blake Griffin: Got in trouble a while ago for saying that I'd rather have Blake Griffin than Derrick Rose. Still standing by it.

- DeAndre Jordan: Lots of players are regarded as being all athleticism and no skills, but never is this more true at the NBA level than of DeAndre Jordan. Even on that night he put up 20/10 versus the Lakers, he let Andrew Bynum score 42. I'm not a fan right now.

- Marcelus Kemp: Kemp has gone back to the Italian second division and is now with Banco di Sardegna Sassari. Never heard of them.

- Kyle McAlarney: McAlarney is unsigned. He shot well for the Clippers - he always shoots well - but the 1:1 assist/turnover ratio and the two free throw attempts in 5 games are emblematic of his flaws.

- Kevinn Pinkney: Pinkney didn't take a three in summer league, which is an improvement, but he also shot only 20% and rebounded to his usual substandard. He is currently unsigned.

- Mike Taylor: Taylor was waived by the Clippers before his contract became guaranteed. The team that needs all the scoring and guard help that it could get decided not to play Mike Taylor the minimum, even after trading what turned out to be the #33 pick (Dante Cunningham) for him. Whoops. Taylor has since worked out for the Grizzlies, but is unsigned.




L.A. Lakers

My initial summary


- Alan Anderson: Anderson signed with Maccabi Tel-Aviv before summer league even started. Which makes you wonder why he turned up at all.

- Aron Baynes: Similarly, Baynes signed with Lietuvos Rytas in Lithuania before summer league started. He played terribly in summer league, so that was probably a blessing.

- Dominique Coleman: Coleman is signed with Dexia Mons-Hainaut in Belgium.

- Chinemelu Elonu: Elonu is unsigned. I'm not sure if he's planning on going to camp with the Lakers this year, but if he is, he'll probably lose.

- Tony Gaffney: Gaffney is signed with Altshuler Saham Galil Gilboa in Israel.

- Terrel Harris: Harris is signed with IG Strasbourg in France.

- Justin Hawkins: Unsigned. And it's hard to find out news about him because of the unwelcome presence of the highly annoying bucktoothed cokehead cockhead ex-Darkness frontman of the same name. He's releasing a World Cup song, apparently. Yeefreakinghaw.

- Ben McCauley: McCauley's taken his unaggressive ways to France, where he'll blend in nicely as Harris' Strasbourg teammate. He also had a pretty damn impressive summer league all told, which might buy him a repeat performance next year.

- David Monds: Monds averaged 14 points off the bench in summer league, which is a pretty special feat. He took a boatload of midrange jumpshots to do it, a wildly overrated style of field goal attempt loved by purists and denounced by SABRmetricians, but at least they went in. He is unsigned, which may or may not mean anything.

- Adam Morrison: Morrison scored heavily and often in summer league, just like he used to. This season might represent his last chance, but it can't be any worse than the last two years have been, If he's finally healthy, he'll have a role to play, even if it's not on the Lakers. (Is a salary dump onto Memphis too unfeasible?)

- Taylor Rochestie: Rotch is signed with MEG Goettingen in Germany.

- Luke Schenscher: Schenscher didn't play with the Lakers due to a back injury. He returned to Australia to work out with his former team, the Adelaide 36ers, but he's not going to be signing in Australia. He remains unsigned.

- Mustafa Shakur: Shakur, too, is unsigned.

- Reggie Williams: VMI starlet Reggie Williams is also unsigned. How can this be? Oh the humanity.




Memphis Grizzlies

My initial summary


- Jeff Adrien: Adrien has signed in the Spanish second division with Leche Rio Breogan Lugo. You'll notice that I go out of my way to point out when someone has signed in a second division, and that this doesn't happen very often. It's generally not a good thing when it does.

- Darrell Arthur: Good news! Darrell Arthur won't be starting at power forward next year. Bad news! Zach Randolph will be.

- DeMarre Carroll: Do you think that if the Grizzlies knew that Sam Young would fall to #36 that they would have picked Wayne Ellington instead? I do.

- Erik Daniels: Daniels hasn't yet been able to turn his season of magnanimity into a contract anywhere. He's unsigned and looks like a candidate to return to the D-League. That is, unless he moves to Italy.

- Daniel Ewing: Ewing re-signed with Prokom Sopot, the Polish Euroleague team.

- Trey Gilder: Gilder was signed by the Grizzlies just last week, since they're still apparently looking for athletic forward help. I think they've got enough now, though.

- Hamed Haddadi: Haddadi is under contract to the Grizzlies for two more years. He's not very happy about this. You know what pissed me off about that story? Not a single news outlet went with the headline "Grizzlies' Haddadi unhapappy." Do I have to do all the work here?

- Kenny Hasbrouck: Hasbrouck didn't play for the Grizzlies in the end, and remains unsigned. But he did get a post-SL workout from the Heat for some reason.

- Longar Longar: Longar Longar is unsigned, and if he doesn't go back to the D-League, then I'll be more confused than I was when I watched Cleaner and didn't initially realise that the character of Rose was NOT Samuel L. Jackson's wife, but his daughter. (Oh sure, it's easy in hindsight. But they snuggled, man. They snuggled. That's just weird, you know?)

- Brion Rush: Rush has signed with Triumph in Russia.

- Donta Smith: Smith remains unsigned, and he's probably still not allowed in Puerto Rico.

- Greg Stiemsma: Stiemsma was picked in the KBL Draft last month, and is over there now doing their initiation thing.

- Hasheem Thabeet: I've publicly stated in the past that I would have picked Ricky Rubio, and I still kind of stand by that, joyously ignorant as I am of the meticulous nature of his buyout. But even if they didn't want Rubio, what was wrong with Tyreke Evans? He's a better player than Thabeet with a much better upside, and even if he's not a great fit with O.J. Mayo, that's no reason not to pick him. It's the number 2 pick. Pick the second best player in the draft. Work the rest out later. This is what I'd do. I'm just saying.

- Marcus Williams: Williams played very well for the Grizzlies in summer league and has since earned a funky contract. I'm happy to announce that I sort of predicted this. Sort of. (Meaning that I didn't really.)

- Sam Young: Young signed a three year contract, which is a tad odd, but beneficial to both parties. It pays $824,200 in the first year, $886,000 in the second, and there's a third team option year at $947,800. That is the equal of the 100% scale amount that the 30th pick in the draft would receive, except without the fourth season. Not sure why they did this. But it's good news for Sam Young, decent news for Memphis, and not such good news for Christian Eyenga. And it's definitely creative financing.




Milwaukee Bucks

My initial summary


- Joe Alexander: Richard Jefferson is gone, but Scott Skiles is still there, and the unheralded Ersan Ilyasova is back. I still don't predict good things for Alexander and would love to be wrong about that.

- Paul Delaney: Delaney is signed with Hapoel Holon in Israel. What does Hapoel mean?

- Dominic James: James didn't play on the Bucks summer league team due to another injury. He is unsigned, and the D-League makes a hell of a lot of sense for him right now.

- Brandon Jennings: Jennings played very well in summer league, and I've been saying that I don't rate him for quite a while now. It's a topic that nees fleshing out, I think. And it's a topic that'll get fleshed out once Ramon Sessions' future is finally decided.

- Amir Johnson: It was a really pointless trade for the Bucks to acquire Johnson in the first place. It was an even more pointless one to then move him on to Toronto. This, too, will be fleshed out soon, in a post about the Bucks that might not be entirely favourable.

- Luc Richard Mbah A Moute: This guy's great, though. They struck a winner with this one. If him, Skiles and Chris Duhon release a threesome sextape at some point in the near future, don't be shocked.

- Will McDonald: McDonald asked Tau Ceramica nicely if they'd led him play in summer league. They permitted it. McDonald averaged 5.3/4.7 in three games. He then signed a three year contract with C.B. Gran Canaria. Is this a summer league success story? I'm not sure. In fact, I'm not sure of why any of this took place. But well done to him anyway.

- Jodie Meeks: Signed for three years in one of the few good bits of business than the Bucks have done this year.

- Juan Palacios: Palacios played 46 of the most incosequential minutes you'll ever see in summer league. 3 points, 3 rebounds, 3 fouls, 10% shooting. Thanks for playing. He is on loan for next year to U.B. La Palma in Spain's LEB Gold (second division) from Gran Canaria (in the ACB, or first division.

- Chris Richard: With not a huge amount of centre size on the Bucks SL roster, Richard had a chance to impress here. He didn't, totalling 17 fouls in 51 minutes. He looks like a candidate fur the D-League once again.

- Salim Stoudamire: No offense to Salim, since everyone knows I'm a big fan, but there was no reason for the Bucks to bring in Salim in the first place. This was made doubly true by the drafting of Meeks. They've now finally cut Salim, who remains unsigned.

- Szymon Szewczyk: Szewczyk is an established European presence whose body type, skillset, harline and and athleticism are more suited to the European game. He has no reason to give that up. So he hasn't; he's signed with Air Avellino in Italy for next year.

- Mohammed Tangara: If you want to know what Mohammed Tangara is up to, why not email him?

- Lorrenzo Wade: Wade has signed with Kavala/Panorama in Greece. The forward slash is their work, not my typo.




Minnesota Timberwolves

My initial summary


- Corey Brewer: Brewer is finally healthy, and competition at the Timberwolves' wing positions is far from strong. Before he got hurt, Brewer had started to get somewhere. If he picks up where he left off, we'll pretend his rookie year never happened.

- Bobby Brown: If anyone stood to benefit from the Rubio saga (other than Barcelona) it was Bobby Brown. Brown was a summer league success last year, which is how he came to earn a two year guaranteed contract from the Kings. But when draft night came around, and the Wolves picked four point guards, it didn't look good for Bobby. Nevertheless, after trading away Nick Calathes, Ty Lawson and Sebastian Telfair, and with Rubio not signing, Brown is now the primary backup. It's all coming up Milhouse. Giggidy.

- Pat Carroll: Don't know if I mentioned this before, but for Tenerife last year, Pat Carroll averaged 3.4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal per 48 minutes, shooting 7 three pointers for every free throw attempted, and with 75% of his FG attempts being from three point range. It doesn't get much more one dimensional than that. Pat is unsigned, and having spent the last three years in playing various calibre of Spanish basketball, he's a good bet to go back there again.

- Wayne Ellington: Signed, and without incentives.

- Jonny Flynn: Likewise.

- Devin Green: Wikipedia says he's signed with the Spurs, which is pretty much why you should never trust Wikipedia for anything basketball related. Green is unsigned, but he usually gets a training camp spot somewhere, so one more wouldn't be a great surprise.

- Paul Harris: Unsigned, with whispers of a standing training camp offer from the Wolves.

- Gerald Henderson: Signed, but with the Bobcats. Obviously. While letting Henderson play with another team was pretty cool, it would be even better if Charlotte would just pony up and enter a team of their own. If you're short of money, don't trade for Nazr Freaking Mohammed and DeSagana Freaking Diop. For Freak's sake.

- Steven Hill: Hill didn't go to the Wolves summer league, for reasons I'm not sure of. He's now unsigned, for reasons I'm fully aware of.

- Rob Kurz: Kurz will sign with the Cavaliers for training camp.

- Adam Parada: Parada was a very late addition to the summer league roster, after Hill didn't turn up. He is unsigned, but he's a savvy minor league veteran, so he'll find something. Fun Adam Parada fact: about three years ago, one of Adam Parada's friends asked me to post a video of Adam Parada being punched by Robert Whaley, so that he could use it to laugh at Adam Parada. Not a fun fact: Robert Whaley's son was knocked down and killed by a car last month. Very bad times.

- Oleksiy Pecherov: Every time there's a glimmer of hope for some Pecherov PT - such as when the Wolves traded away Craig Smith and Mark Madsen - they go and ruin it by acquiring another big (Ryan Hollins). It's Pecherov's own fault, really, for not being a very good player. Still, if my genius trade idea goes through (Chucky Atkins and Darius Songaila for Antonio Daniels and Devin Brown), then that gives Petch one last hope.

- Garret Siler: The ever-efficient Siler shot a Garrett Siler-like 78% in summer league. He has since earned an invite to Hawks training camp. However, the Hawks are stuck with paying Randolph Morris a guaranteed contract. Siler will have to shoot 88% to make them overlook that.

- Ben Woodside: Woodside is signed with Gravelines in France.




New Jersey Nets/Philadelphia 76ers

My initial summary


- A.J. Abrams: Abrams' European adventure has begun with Trikalla in Greece.

- Jeff Adrien: See Grizzlies entry.

- Blake Ahearn: With literally nothing left to prove in the D-League, Ahearn has decided it's time to start getting paid, and has gone to the ACB to sign with MMT Estudiantes Madrid.

- Dionte Christmas: See Clippers entry.

- Chris Douglas-Roberts: Chris Douglas-Roberts recently followed Bracey Wright's lead and took delibery of a Bengal cat. And here they are.

- Jason Ellis: Ellis is signed with GasTerra Flames Groningen in Holland, one of 7 Americans on the team. One of the others is Darian Townes.

- Gary Forbes: Forbes is still building an NBA resumé and is now in Italy's SerieA with Vanoli Cremona, who last year were in LegaDue and were known as Vanoli Soresina. Confusing, isn't it? OK OK OK, I'll make the freaking name changes list......

- Jrue Holiday: Don't understand this pick. Not with Darren Collison and Ty Lawson still on board. Even Jeff Teague and Eric Maynor may be better, although I don't know a lot about those two. (Also, if you've just picked Jrue Holiday, don't then re-sign Royal Ivey. Ivey is barely an NBA player to begin with, but when you really need shooting and actual point guard play on offense, don't bring in a second defensive specialist. Come on now.)

- Chris Johnson: Johnson has signed with a Turkish team that I'd never previously heard of, Aliaga Petkim.

- Rob Kurz: See Timberwolves entry.

- Marreese Speights: Sixers fans asking if a Speights for Kirk Hinrich deal is in some way plausible; nope. You don't have the suitable salaries, and even if you did, the Bulls freaking love Hinrich and are prioritising defense. Trading Hinrich for Speights makes our defense even worse. And it's not good to begin with.

- Terrence Williams: Williams' future offensive problems in the NBA showed themselves early. He turned it over 4 times a game, and shot percentages of 33%/28%/46%. That's really, really bad, and it's a shame that his good passing skills are going to go to waste in the NBA.




New Orleans Hornets

My initial summary


- Earl Barron: Barron is unsigned.

- Earl Calloway: Calloway had already signed with Khimki in Russia before summer league started, and has since moved to Cajasol Sevilla, so he's not unsigned.

- Jaycee Carroll: Carroll is signed with C.B. Gran Canaria. Did you know he was 26 already? Me neither.

- Darren Collison: Big fan.

- Brian Cusworth: Cusworth was one of the better players in Spain's LegaDue last year, and now he's made the step up to the ACB, signing with Basquet Manresa.

- Terry Martin: Martin averaged 5/2 last year for LSU, which was somehow enough to get a summer league spot. Normality has now been restored, however, as Martin has joined the perfectly named Oberwart Gunners in the seminal Austrian league. (No offense meant by any of that, Terry Martin. It's just that this is an NBA website and so we judge players by NBA standards. You know what I mean?)

- Luke Nevill: Nevill is unsigned. Australia have some pretty good big men, though, don't they? Shame that Patty Mills and Brad Newley are all the guard help they can offer. Unless you think highly of C.J. Bruton.

- Larry Owens: Owens is unsigned.

- Marc Salyers: Salyers is signed with Le Mans Sarthe Basket in France. I'm still not sure why this 30 year old forward came over to summer league, four years after he last stuck his nose into the NBA (which, not coincidentally, was with the 2005 Hornets summer league team). I guess he just wanted to know what could have been. Salyers is a big time scorer on the continent, and should probably stay there.

- Courtney Sims: Sims didn't play for the Hornets and is unsigned. He looks like a logical candidate for a training camp spot somewhere.

- Marcus Thornton: Thornton is signed to a two year guaranteed minimum salary contract.

- Anthony Tolliver: Same as Sims, except the bit about him not playing for the Hornets.

- Quinton Watkins: Watkins didn't play for San Diego State. He didn't play for the Hornets in summer league. So what are the chances that a European team will have signed him? Here's a clue; they haven't.

- Julian Wright: A lot of people have suggested that the Hornets trade of Rasual Butler will open up an opportunity for Wright to start doing something. But I'm more of the school of thought that says the player to benefit most from the deal is Mo Peterson. Peterson fell off fast, and I whole heartedly believe that there's a second wind in there somewhere. I'm not sure why I believe this, but I do. Also, it's about time they got something from the heavy investment they made in him, don't you think?

J.R. Smith sentenced to at least 30 days in jail

Associated Press via The Canadian Press: Nuggets guard J.R. Smith sentenced to jail after fatal car crash.

A judge sentenced Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith to 90 days in jail Tuesday night for causing an auto accident that killed his friend, though Smith will likely end up serving only 30.

Municipal Judge Debra J. Gelson suspended 60 days of the sentence providing Smith performs 500 hours of community service consisting of visiting sick children at hospitals.

As a Bulls fan, I can safely say that J.R. Smith is someone I've discussed a lot over the years. J.R. was included by the Hornets, somewhat needlessly, into the Tyson Chandler/P.J. Brown swap that pissed me off for a good few years. And from speaking to my fellow Bulls fans, I know that a lot of you miss J.R. Smith. He has crazy range, athleticism, potential (if not much sense) and a special shot making ability. It would be easier to stomach his loss had the best returning player for him not been Aaron Gray. (The players were; JamesOn Curry, who never played a game for the Bulls; the unguaranteed contract of Howard Eisley, who also never played for the Bulls; and Aaron Gray, who needn't have.)

Scott Skiles didn't even take one look at Smith before deciding he wouldn't tolerate him. Smith never reported to the Bulls, and John Paxson tried to turn him around straight away. The Bulls couldn't get a first round pick for him, though, and instead settled on Eisley and the two second rounders .(They later waived Eisley and used the money opened up to sign Adrian Griffin. Yippeeeeeeee.)

Perhaps we needn't miss him too much, though. In his time with Denver, Smith has been charged with assault, disturbing the peace and destruction of property, had his drivers license suspended three times (all three of which came after the fail accident detailed here, amazingly), crashed teammate Carmelo Anthony's car, and has now seen his troubles culminate in this jail sentence.

In this incident, Smith was charged with of improper passing, failure to stop at a stop sign, reckless driving, speeding and failure to wear a seat belt, but mercifully not of vehicular homicide. He also failed to appear in court for his first hearing back in January, drawing a further fine.

That list of bad times also does not include consistent affronts with his coach, George Karl, whose tolerance for Smith's erratic play and mild entitlement is varied at best. Smith has been suspended twice for a combined 13 games, and benched numerous times on top of that. He has never managed to avoid trouble. Seemingly, he's never really tried to.

And he is, after all, just a backup shooting guard.

Still, it's not all bad news; Smith played sufficient minutes last season to earn himself a $600,000 bonus on his contract for next season. So, at the very worst, it's swings and roundabouts.

Kirk Snyder Arrested For Beating Someone Up In Their Sleep

WCPO.com: Former Jazz, Rockets, Hornets and Timberwolves swingman Kirk Snyder arrested for aggravated burglary and felonious assault.

Warren County Deputies say the player who helped put the University of Nevada-Reno in the Sweet 16 in March 2004 has been arrested for aggravated burglary and felonious assault in Deerfield Township.

Deputies arrested Kirk Snyder early Monday morning at his residence in the 5300 block of Commonwealth Drive in the Beacon Hill townhouses.

Officers say just before 4 a.m., a resident on Commonwealth Drive heard glass breaking downstairs in her house. She tells police when she got up to investigate, a tall man pushed her aside and ran to the upstairs bedroom where he began to assault her sleeping husband. She says while he was beating her husband, she was able to pull the hood away from covering his head and the assailant then fled out the back door where he had broken in.

Deputies say their investigation and a canine led deputies to Snyder’s nearby residence where he was taken into custody within minutes of the offense.

Snyder averaged 34 points and 10 rebounds in China last season, well on the way to rebuilding his NBA resumé. He was staring down a spot on a training camp roster somewhere next year, and should never have fallen out of the NBA in the first place. But apparently all this was secondary to the opportunity of beating a man in front of his wife while he slept.

(Allegedly.)

Great plan, fella.




Additionally, any allegations that I may have recently beaten the living crap out of a hooker in a hotel room are false, and tant amount to scandalous lies.

Transactions explained

For those wondering how or why two of today's transactions took place, I'll explain a bit:


Number 1:

   New Orleans trades David Wesley to New Jersey for Bernard Robinson, Mile Ilic and cash considerations. New Orleans then promptly waives
them both.

Wesley's contract is for one year at $1,750,000, but only $250,000 of it is guaranteed, which is why it's been passed around twice in the coming months. New Jersey traded two meaningless players on guaranteed contracts for Wesley's unguaranteed one in a bid to cut payroll, which will happen when they cut Wesley. They haven't done it immediately because there's no reason to - with the $250,000 guarantee, Wesley is essentially costing them for a short time, so they can keep him to explore trade possibilities. As for why New Orleans did it, we can only assume that New Jersey gave them enough money to make it worth their while, but it really does cement once and for all the fact that they flat old sold Cedric Simmons. And that deal still remains odd.


Number 2:

   San Antonio trades Beno Udrih to Minnesota for a protected 2008 second round pick and cash. Minnesota waives Udrih immediately.

Same sort of thing - San Antonio needed to shave some off their cap figure, so they dealt Udrih to Minnesota (Minnesota used part of a trade exception to absorb his salary), and gave the Timberwolves enough money to cut him for no cost, plus a little bit more on top for their troubles. The pick Minnesota gave up is havily protected, and so they probably won't lose it.


Updated salaries to be upped shortly.

30 teams in 88 or so days: New Orleans

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Morris Peterson (4 years, $22.4 million)
Melvin Ely (two year minimum)
David Wesley (acquired from Cleveland, to be waived)
Ryan Bowen (one year minimum)
Trey Johnson (two year minimum)



Players acquired via draft:

First round: Julian Wright (13th overall)
Second round: Adam Haluska (43rd overall)



Players retained:

Jannero Pargo (re-signed, two years, $3,806,400)



Players departed:

Brandon Bass (signed with Dallas)
Devin Brown (signed with Cleveland)
Marc Jackson (signed in Greece)
Linton Johnson (signed in Spain)
Desmond Mason (signed with Milwaukee)
Cedric Simmons (traded to Cleveland)



Bobbins:

It's hard to see quite what New Orleans planned to do going into this offseason. If their intention was to surround Chris Paul with shooters, as it probably was and definitely should have been, then it's a job well done. In retaining Jannero Pargo while bringing in Morris Peterson and Adam Haluska to replace Devin Brown and Desmond Mason, the Hornets outside shooting takes another step forward. And when combined with the returning Rasual Butler and Bobby Jackson, as well as the return from injury of Peja Stojakovic, the Hornets outside shooting will be a strength this upcoming season. The backcourt depth in general is pretty strong.

The frontcourt depth, however, is another matter.

New Orleans seems content to roll with only four recognised big men, two of whom are Hilton Armstrong and Melvin Ely. Ely's pretty bad despite one season of decency (and a contract season at that. How coincidental), whereas Armstrong is coming off of an incredibly raw rookie year. This seems to me as though it should be more of a pressing concern to Hornets management, given that the two players they're backing up (Tyson Chandler and David West) haven't exactly been the poster boys for healthy living at any point in their NBA careers.

Should injuries affect their frontcourt (and it will, because they're the Hornets), New Orleans is left with the salivating prospect of having to play one of their six small forwards in a small ball lineup. This might not be too bad if Julian Wright proves himself able to defend most power forwards in this league, but if he can't, Stojakovic may wind up having to do it. Which would be.....um....carnage.

Why you would bring in Morris Peterson for such an amount of money when you already had Rasual Butler, all the while letting Devin Brown walk for £1.2 million and letting Linton Johnson fall out of the NBA, seems a bit dumbfouding. Peterson is better than all of those players, but it seems silly to spend your mid level exception on a medium upgrade from Peterson to Butler of what is basically the same player. Especially when you could clearly use a big man that doesn't suck, just drafted a small forward, and also have the hugely overpaid former All Star Peja Stojakovic for the role.

And why they then effectively sell their 5th big man who they drafted not 18 months before (Cedric Simmons), trading him for an unguaranteed contract and nothing else, was flat out weird. There must be something seriously wrong with Cedric. Or Jeff Bower.

Nonetheless, despite my compulsory criticism, the Hornets did not lose a lot in these upgrades. Players such as Marc Jackson, Johnson and Brown made for some nice depth, but they weren't rotation players in an ideal world anyway. And the Hornets rotation as it stands is quite good. It's improved upon where it was, and this team would have been a playoff team last year with some better health.

But there's still flaws here. The injuries are going to happen again, even if it's to a lesser degree. You can't assemble and injury prone roster and then complain that injuries affect your season. You should know that in advance. The Hornets had it particularly rough last year with only Jannero Pargo playing more than 75 games, and he was supposed to be a third stringer. But numerous injuries is a situation that is almost certainly going to happen again. That's what happens when you spend big money on Bobby Jackson, Stojakovic and David West.

Also, there's quite a bit of irony to be found in wanting to assemble a roster of shooters and then signing Ryan Bowen. But never mind.



Next year:

So much - perhaps too much - of the season relies on the starting frontcourt trio of Stojakovic, West and Chandler. While Chris Paul is the star player around whom the team is rightly built around, he needs plenty of help to do so. Assembling a team of shooters around Paul helps, and the starting frontcourt pairing of Chandler and West is young and somewhat dynamic. But those two are also the only plus rebounders on the team, and only Chandler and Armstrong provide much interior defense. To rely on such fragile players and minimal depth is open to question, and so that's what I'm doing.

Having spent huge amounts of money on this trio last year, the Hornets didn't get too great of a return. Chandler enjoyed a wonderful bounceback season, but West and Stojakovic played only 65 games combined, leaving the Hornets short of offense for much of the season. That won't cut it if the Hornets are to crack .500 and make the playoffs, something which they have the talent to do.

Chandler, especially, needs to have an epic (or at least comparable) season. His career to date has gone:

1st year - Poor
2nd year - Decent
3rd year - Poor (injury permitting)
4th year - Really good
5th year - Utter shite
6th year - Really good

Last year he emerged as a an elite rebounder, and rediscovered some of his lost offensive skill. His offensive skill always peaked at mediocre, based largely around the unattractive but effective flail towards the rim, and an extremely mediocre jump/free throw shot. After taking the 2005 offseason off, though, Chandler lost these skills, and his subsequent confidence in his abilities. They look to be on the way back, which bodes well for the Hornets, but he needs to end this cycle for the Hornets to succeed this year.

And they can do that. They're not in the West's elite, and they're not all that young any more (West is now 27, and their wing players are all veterans). Nonetheless, it's a playoff calibre team, which isn't finished, but one which has an identity and is fairly well rounded.

They just need to stay somewhat healthy.