Where Are They Now: 2009 Summer League Teams Part 3

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.


New York Knicks

My initial summary


- Wink Adams: Adams is signed with Oyak Renault Bursa in Turkey. Wink Adams fact: an anagram of Wink Adams is "wankmaids." When I'm rich and famous, I'm hiring wankmaids. Fact.

- Alex Acker: Almost as soon as he was back in it, Acker is out of the NBA again. He is signed with Armani Jeans Milano in Italy.

- Blake Ahearn: See Nets/Sixers entry.

- Morris Almond: Almond is unsigned. I haven't heard anything about him agreeing to a training camp invite anywhere, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was with the Knicks.

- Warren Carter: Unsigned.

- Joe Crawford: Crawford is, and always was, under contract through 2010. So he's going to camp.

- Toney Douglas: Douglas shot like crap in summer league, but passed for an impressive 7 assists per game. If he's going to try and reinvent himself as a point guard in the up-tempo system, then that's a pretty good start. However, the entire team shot less than 39% for the tournament, which is less complimentary of Douglas's offense-running skills.

- Patrick Ewing Jr: Ewing missed summer league with injuries. He is unsigned, and sounds like a training camp candidate.

- Jordan Hill: Jordan Hill may well prove to be the second best big man in this draft. This says more about the draft than Jordan Hill.

- Ron Howard: Unsigned.

- Yaroslav Korolev: For the Knicks to have thought they could have gotten anything out of Yaroslav Korolev was very, very ambitious. Although not nearly as ambitious as the Clippers drafting him in the first place. I can't find anything that either confirms or denies that Korolev will be with Dynamo Moscow again next year, but assume that he is until further notice.

- David Noel: Noel agreed to sign in France with Roanne back in June, and was still playing in the Philippines playoffs when summer league was going on. As a result, he never played for the Knicks.

- Mouhamed Sene: Sene was waived by the Knicks after summer league ended. He blocked 8 shots in 35 minutes of SL play, but, as ever, showed nothing else. He remains unsigned. Answer me this: who was the last player drafted in the lottery with absolutely no background success in the professional game before he was drafted, that went on to be actually be at least decent in the NBA? It wasn't Sene. It wasn't Korolev. And it wasn't the guy whose entry is two below this one, either. It's been a while.

- Rashaad Singleton: Singleton is unsigned. The ABA looks inevitable.

- Nikoloz Tskitishvili: Skita played well in summer league, blocking shots and shooting the good three pointer that he now lives by. With the recent proliferation of draft bust articles, it's hard to find any good Skita news. But as far as I know, he's unsigned.




Oklahoma City Thunder

My initial summary


- DeAngelo Alexander: Unsigned. Uninteresting.

- Marcus Dove: Likewise.

- Tony Durant: Durant also doesn't appear to be signed anywhere, but his Twitter makes it sound like he's having great fun anyway hanging around his brother's mates and meeting honeyz. Which is fair enough.

- Moses Ehambe: Ehambe is also unsigned and looks like a decent candidate to return to the D-League.

- James Harden: Will I stop saying "giggidy" after every mention of this man's name? Hopefully.

- DeVon Hardin: Will I stop saying "giggidy" after every mention of this man's name? Probably not. Hardin had a decent summer league, outplaying the guy he was backing up (B.J. Mullens), but he's unsigned as of right now.

- Kyle Hines: Hines is to spend a second season with Prima Veroli in Italy's LegaDue.

- Serge Ibaka: Ibaka signed with the Thunder, to a contract absolutely identical to that of Mullens. Such is the way of the rookie salary scale.

- Shaun Livingston: After waiving Earl Watson and trading Chucky Atkins, Livingston is now set to be OKC's primary backup point guard. Considering this man was being salary dumped 7 months ago, and couldn't play basketball two years ago, this is a hell of a result. Unless Kevin Ollie steals it from it.

- Keith McLeod: McLeod is unsigned. If he's looking for another NBA training camp invite, he's an optimist.

- B.J. Mullens: As if determined to make me stop saying "giggidy," B.J. wants to be known as Byron from now on. I refuse to co-operate.

- Richard Roby: In two summer leagues with the Thunder, Roby played all of 12 minutes. Thanks for all the travelling, Rick. He remains unsigned.

- Doug Thomas: Thomas played all of 1 minute more than Roby. Again, thanks for your patience. He too is unsigned, and if you want to know if he'll return to the mighty Sweden, then this is the website that will bring you that news. Eventually.

- Robert Vaden: Despite having "drafted in the NBA" on his resumé, the best Vaden could manage was a spot in Italy's LegaDue with Aget Imola.

- Kyle Weaver: Weaver turned it over quite a ridiculous amount in summer league, but played fairly well otherwise. By the way, is it just me, or does he look like Eddie Robinson?

- Russell Westbrook: Westbrook had a very good Orlando summer pro league. He continues to impress, sort of.

- D.J. White: Same goes for White, who might not welcome Ibaka's presence, but who has played well at every level so far. The difference in strength between the 2009 and 2008 drafts is pretty bloody spectacular, when you think about it.




Orlando Magic

My initial summary


- Maurice Ager: After three really bad years, Ager is out of the NBA, and has signed with Cajasol Sevilla in Spain.

- Lance Allred: Allred has signed in Italy's SerieA with NSB Original Marines Napoli, a team that was last year known as Solsonica Rieti and which weren't in Napoli. That list will happen, I promise thee. We'll add it to the site's to-do list, which currently features 55 things. (True story.)

- Ryan Anderson: A good addition. A good summer for Orlando, all told.

- Brian Chase: Chase has signed with C.B. Valladolid in Spain's ACB.

- Ronald Dupree: Dupree never played with the Magic after all. See Nuggets entry.

- Courtney Fells: Unsigned.

- Levance Fields: Fields is signed in Russia with Spartak St Petersburg.

- C.J. Giles: See Nuggets entry.

- Richard Hendrix: See Nuggets entry. By the way, Orlando and Denver played in different summer leagues, which explains all this duplication between the two rosters.

- Stevan Milosevic: Milsoevic turned it over 7 times in 16 minutes of summer league action, which is not bad going. As far as I can tell, he is unsigned.

- Jeremy Pargo: See Pistons entry.

- Kasib Powell: Powell is playing with Tyrell Biggs and A.J. Abrams with Trikalla in Greece. He says he's pretty much given up hope of making the NBA. But he's good enough to be in it, whether the league knows this or not.

- Milovan Rakovic: I'm not certain if Rakovic will return to Spartak St Petersburg to partner Fields, but it looks like he will.

- Jeremy Richardson: Richardson has signed with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece.

- Russell Robinson: Robinson is unsigned, and another year in the D-League makes sense, since he did actually develop there. And that's what it's for, after all.

- Darian Townes: See Jason Ellis, Nets/Sixers entry.




Phoenix Suns

My initial summary


- Kaspars Berzins: Berzins has signed with Fuenlabrada Madrid for next year.

- Josh Carter: Carter has signed with EWE Baskets Oldenburg in Germany.

- Earl Clark: Should he have gone ahead of former Louisville team mate Terrence Williams in the draft? Short answer: yep. Especially since the Nets spent all of last summer acquiring mediocre forwards. Don't see why they needed another one this year.

- Geary Claxton: Claxton is unsigned and looking for all the world like a D-League veteran in the making.

- Lee Cummard: Cummard is signed with ALBA Berlin in Germany.

- Zabian Dowdell: Dowdell impressed in summer league, and is looking for an NBA offer. If he doesn't get one, he has a standing offer from Italy, but it's in LegaDue. And Dowdell is above that.

- Micah Downs: Downs is the other American signed with KK Zadar in Croatia, alongside Trent Plaisted.

- Goran Dragic: Dragic's last two months of his rookie season weren't bad. His first 4 were awful, but there's always going to be an adjustment period. His summer league performance was pretty good, too, so maybe we can pretend his bad start didn't happen. But now would not be the time for a sophomore slump.

- Taylor Griffin: Griffin has signed with the Suns; a two year minimum contract with $250,000 guaranteed in the first year, and a completely unguaranteed second year that becomes $200,000 guaranteed if he makes the 2010/11 opening day roster. It looks like he really is going to play in the NBA after all.

- Jiri Hubalek: Hubalek is signed with Banco di Sardegna Sassari in Itaky's LegaDue.

- Takuya Kawamura: Kawamura went back to Japan and Tochigi Brex. He had his four minutes of NBA PT, what more does he want?

- Robin Lopez: I still believe.

- Carlos Powell: Powell has an offer from Carmatic, the LegaDue team also after Dowdell. He remains unsigned.

- Chris Rodgers: Rodgers was released early by the Suns and has not signed anywhere since.

- Alando Tucker: Am I the only person that gets Alando Tucker and Arron Afflalo mixed up? I hope not. I feel stupid enough already.




Portland Trail Blazers

My initial summary


- Deji Akindele: Akindele is signed with Xacobeo BluSens Obradoiro in Spain's ACB.

- Jerryd Bayless: Welcome to the deepest part of the bench, Jerryd Bayless. Don't worry, the whole league still rates you as some kind of future superstar, so you'll be fine in the long run. By the way, Bayless turned it over more than 6 times a game in summer league.

- Dante Cunningham: Signed to a two year fully guaranteed minimum salary deal. You heard it here first. Well, OK, you heard it here second, because you heard it here first. But I had a hand in that too. I'm a mover and shaker, don't you know. Got my hand in everything. Giggidy.

- Uche Echefu: Unsigned.

- Matt Freije: Freije, a newly Christened Lebanese national, just signed in his homeland with Al Riyadi.

- Thomas Gardner: Unsigned, and it doesn't look like the Hawks want him back.

- Pooh Jeter: Jeter is unsigned, as evidenced by his Twitter, where he also proves that he can't spell for shit. His sister Carmelita won a bronze at the 2009 World Atheltics Championships last month, and she also has the finest name in the world. Carmelita Jeter. Good stuff.

- Bobby Jones: Jones is signed with Banca Tercas Teramo in Italy.

- Joe Krabbenhoft: Krabbenhoft is unsigned. His Twitter suggests a lot of holidaying and some succinct world views.

- Patrick Mills: Mills is unsigned. He probably wouldn't have been, but he broke his foot early in the summer. He may still sign.

- Dwayne Mitchell: Mitchell is signed with Hapoel Holon in Israel.

- David Moss: Moss is signed with La Fortezza Bologna in Italy.

- Drew Neitzel: Neitzel is signed with ES Chalon-Sur-Saone in France.

- David Padgett: Padgett is signed with U.B. La Palma in Spain's LEB Gold (second division).

- Jeff Pendergraph: Pendergraph has not yet signed with the Blazers, but he will do soon.




Sacramento Kings

My initial summary


- Robert Battle: Battle's surprise NBA sojourn is over with. Last year he was one of the best big men in the LEB Gold with Valladolid, helping them win promotion tot he ACB; he's gone back there for this season to consolidate his success.

- Jon Brockman: Brockman has not yet signed with the Kings, which, considering how high they picked him and how much rebounding help they need, seems a little strange. He figures to sign later.

- John Bryant: Unsigned. An 80 year old man of the same name recently went missing, which makes John Bryant news hard to find.

- Pat Calathes: Calathes is to spend a second season with Costa Cafe Marousi in Greece.

- Omri Casspi: Signed with the Kings; as soon as he sets foot on the floor in a regular season game, he'll be the first Israeli to play in the NBA. Although don't you go thinking that Yotam Halperin and Lior Eliyahu couldn't do it.

- Tyreke Evans: It has already been announced that Evans will start at point guard for the Kings. Thank Christ for that.

- Donte Greene: Greene was less selfish in this year's summer league than last year's, which is like saying that Pol Pot felt slightly less genocidal than usual at Christmas. Greene also shot less than 30%, so maybe some more passing was in order.

- Spencer Hawes: In case you missed it, Hawes didn't turn up to summer league, and didn't tell the Kings that he was doing this. Bad times. Stupid times, really.

- Marcus Landry: Unsigned, but had a good summer league. Training camp contract? Maybe.

- Wesley Matthews: Same as Landry, although he didn't do quite as well.

- Jerel McNeal: Also unsigned. Played fairly well in summer league, too, but didn't have as much opportunity.

- Brian Roberts: Roberts is signed with Brose Baskets Bamberg in Germany.

- Victor Stowes: Stowes signed in Venezuela with Espartanos de Margarita, a team that just took a seven year hiatus for reasons I don't know.

- Jason Thompson: Thompson didn't play in summer league, either. Did he need to?

- Ryan Toolson: Toolson is signed with Pinar Karsiyaka SK Izmir in Turkey.




San Antonio

My initial summary


- Antonio Anderson: Anderson is unsigned. D-League, presumably.

- Romel Beck: Beck is unsigned, and only yesterday was kicked off of the Mexican national team for being too selfish. He was leading them in scoring at the time, so he must have been REALLY selfish.

- DeJuan Blair: Signed a four year contract, the first two years fully guaranteed, the final two years fully unguaranteed with guarantee dates to come. Use the salaries pages.

- Eric Dawson: Dawson is signed with the Mitsubishi Diamond Dolphins in Japan.

- Nando De Colo: Coco De Colo is signed with Valencia in the ACB.

- Alonzo Gee: Unsigned. That reminds me, I've still got to watch Alabama versus Auburn from like 6 months ago.

- James Gist: Unsigned.

- Malik Hairston: Going to camp with the Spurs. Contract is $50,000 guaranteed.

- George Hill: Will back up Tony Parker once again, and will do it bloody well.

- Carldell 'Squeaky' Johnson: Unsigned, presumed D-League returnee.

- Stephane Lasme: Lasme is signed with Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Israel.

- Ian Mahinmi: Now is the time to show something. I appreciate that injuries killed his year last year, but Mahinmi still hasn't done a damn thing yet, and the Spurs don't have money to waste.

- Jack McClinton: McClinton shot like crap in summer league, but might go to camp anyway. But if he does, it's unlikely he makes the team.

- Donell Taylor: Unsigned.

- Marcus Vinicius: Vinicius is signed with Sigma Coatings Montegranaro in Italy's SerieA.




Toronto Raptors

My initial summary


- Paul Davis: The sexually immature Davis is unsigned, and hasn't got the full MLE contract that he predicted.

- DeMar Derozan: He'll be somewhere in the Raptors rotation at some point, but Bryan Colangelo needs to remember that you can have indeed too much depth. So don't bring in any more two's now, Bryan.

- David Doblas: Doblas is committed to a third year at Lagun Aro, the ACB team that used to be a LEB Gold team named Bruesa-Guipuzcoa. Confusing, really.

- Quincy Douby: Douby is still with the Raptors, despite everyone around him being culled. He's currently the 15th man on a 15 man roster, but that's also all he needs.

- Carl English: English is signed with Caja Laboral Vitoria in the ACB.

- Ekene Ibekwe: Ekenechukwu is signed with Kepez Bld Antalya in Turkey.

- Nathan Jawai: See Dallas entry.

- Demetris Nichols: Having been both a member of the Bulls and Knicks last year, and having been a member of Raptors summer league, and having had a workout with the Pacers earlier this summer, it's fair to say that Nichols is on the cusp of the NBA. As a result, he'll probably go back to the D-League. He may even get a camp invite.

- Patrick O'Bryant: O'Bryant's now-guaranteed contract seems to ensure that he'll be a Raptor next year, if only an inactive list Raptor.

- Smush Parker: Parker is unsigned.

- Brent Petway: Petway is signed with Ilysiakos Athens in Greece.

- Shawn Taggart: Taggart is unsigned, and if anyone knows the meaning behind the "murder" joke that I'm temmpted to make here, then you're a bad bad man. Should have stayed in school, really.

- Roko Ukic: Ukic is now a Buck, just one of their many pointless acquisitions this summer. You can probably tell that I'm less than enthralled by their summer.




Utah Jazz

My initial summary


- James Augustine: See Chicago entry.

- Jimmy Baron: Baron shot the ball well for Jazz, although in fairness all he did was shoot the ball. He did enough to win a spot with Mersin in Turkey, which is why he didn't need to play any more summer league (see below).

- Cedric Bozeman: The Boze Man is unsigned and looks like a logical candidate to return to the D-League, what with all the progress he made there last year.

- Derrick Brown: Brown has signed with Charlotte to a two year minimum salary contract. First year is fully guaranteed, second year is $100,000 with multiple guarantee dates.

- Josh Duncan: Duncan's summer league exploits (57 points on 29 shots) landed him a spot with Liege Basket in Belgium.

- Andre Ingram: Ingram is unsigned. A third straight season with the Flash (AAA-AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!) looks to be in order.

- Kosta Koufos: Koufos played useful minutes on a contending team. The Jazz have great big man depth, and he's partly why.

- Kevin Kruger: Kruger is signed with Original Marines Napoli in Italy.

- Kevin Lyde: Lyde is signed with Eisbaeren Bremerhaven in Germany, thus sparing Jazz fans the inevitability of him coming to training camp again.

- Wesley Matthews: See Kings entry.

- Eric Maynor: Question for Jazz fans: does Maynor play ahead of Ronnie Price next year, or behind him? And if it's behind, why?

- Goran Suton: Suton has not yet signed, be it with the Jazz or with anyone. If he signs with the Jazz, he'll be very lucky to make the team, so he's best served using his Bosnian passport to land a nice European gig somewhere. I've heard that Italy is nice.

- Dar Tucker: Unsigned. Dar Tucker fact: Dar Tucker's name "Dar" is short for "Darquavis", which is one of the most unique names you'll ever hear.

- Larry Turner: The people's champion is signed in Spain with Fundacion Adepal Alcazar. But they're not in the ACB. Nor are they inthe LEB Gold. They're in the LEB Silver, the third tier of Spanish basketball. Larry Turner, everybody. A big hand please.

- Gary Wilkinson: Wilkinson was taken in the KBL draft and will play for Dongbu Promy next year.




Washington Wizards

My initial summary


- Alade Aminu: Unsigned.

- Dwayne Anderson: Unsigned.

- Ryan Ayers: Unsigned. Good start to the list, this.

- Jimmy Baron: Baron didn't play for the Wizards; see above.

- Andray Blatche: Blatche put the three pointer to bed in this summer league. Maybe he's figuring it out. He's also changed his number to #7 for no obvious reason.

- Javaris Crittenton: With Gilbert Arenas returning, Randy Foye and Mike Miller arriving, DeShawn Stevenson and Nick Young returning, and Mike James hanging around whether the Wizards like it or not, where the hell is Crittenton going to play next year? Considering they just gave up a first round draft pick to get him (admittedly only returning a heavily protected one), they're surely going to have to find somewhere.

- John Edwards: Edwards has signed abroad for only the second time in his professional career, going to join Kolossos Rhodes in the Greek league. He's now 28, and exactly the same player as he was when he was 22, so maybe he's conceded the NBA dream and is now looking for paychecks.

- Josh Heytvelt: Heytvelt played in every Wizards summer league game, even starting 1, but he didn't do a lot. He has since signed in Turkey with Oyak Renault Bursa, alongside Wink Adams and a guy called Ufuk Kacar. Good names all.

- James Lang: Unsigned.

- Javale McGee: JaVale McGee doesn't like me very much.

- Dominic McGuire: D-Mac remains on the Wizards roster. His contract is fully unguaranteed and has no guarantee date, so it costs the Wizards nothing to keep him around until training camp. But to stay beyond that, he'll have to show something. The 5.5 points and 3.5 turnovers per game on 20% shooting that he totalled in summer league isn't getting it done.

- Tywain McKee: McKee signed in what's left of the Australian league today with the Wollogong Hawks. It probably didn't help that he shot 9% in summer league.

- Tyrese Rice: Rice is signed with Greece with Panionios, where he'll pair up in the backcourt with B.J. Elder (giggidy). Considering that the two are pretty similar, it doesn't sound like a great idea.

- Jason Rich: Rich turned a blistering 21% shooting performance in summer league into a nice little contract with Maccabi Haifa in Israel. Maccabi Haifa have probably made more news this summer for their signing of Jeremy Tyler, but it's still a good placement for Rich.

- Alex Ruoff: Ruoff didn't play with the Wizards in summer league. He didn't need to, because he signed with Belgacom Liege quite a while ago.

- Diamon Simpson: The highly likeable Simpson never actually made the Wizards summer league team; he, along with Anderson, Ayers and Lang were the cuts made from a mini camp the Wizards held before summer league play started. Simpson remains unsigned.

- Kyle Spain: Spain is not signed in Spain, annoyingly, but is instead signed with the Passe-Partout Leuven Bears in Belgium. Hell of a name, that.

- Brandon Wallace: Wallace is unsigned, but he's not going back to Poland.

- Nick Young: If Washington starts Foye at shooting guard, like they should do and like they've threatened to, then how do Stevenson and Young divvy up the backup minutes? Will Young beat out Stevenson? He should do, considering Stevenson has the offensive ability of Mother Teresa on a particularly charitable day. But I'm not yet convinced that he will.

More Creative Financing In The NBA

Here's a longer list of things that were not included in the original Creative Financing post, either because I forgot to include them, or (in one instance) because the sweet prince who called our hotline with the information had not yet come forward. Remember; all calls are anonymous and you could receive a cash reward for information.

(Wait, no you couldn't. That's the slogan they use on Crimewatch. Ignore that.)


- As a part of the new scheme of turning this website's salary information from a static exhibit into a working reconstruction of life in First World War France, there now exists a page that lists all remaining salary cap exceptions for every NBA team. Of note on this list is the curious case of Channing Frye, the former Blazers and Knicks forward whose transformation from the next Dirk Nowitzki to the next Malik Allen is almost complete. The Suns signed Frye last month to a 2 year, $4,139,200 contract; not coincidentally, that is the same amount as the full value of the Bi-Annual Exception. However, the Suns didn't actually use their Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. Knowing that they wouldn't be using the full MLE to sign somebody due to their payroll concerns, the Suns cleverly (and creatively) used an equivalent chick of their mid level exception instead. As the name would suggest, you get to use the Bi-Annual Exception a maximum of once every two years, so if the Suns used it this year, they wouldn't get it next year. But if they roll it over, they do. It's pretty shrewd, when you think about it.

(Teams that should have done this but didn't include Washington - who used their BAE on Fabricio Oberto, and who won't use their MLE - and Chicago - who used their BAE on Jannero Pargo and who also won't use their MLE; however, if their plan for 2010 cap space comes off, it won't matter.)


- Less shrewd is the fact that the Suns appear to have used most of the rest of their MLE on re-signing Grant Hill. The fact that he got only an 8% raise in the second year of his contract backs this up. Why would the Suns do this? They had Early Bird rights on him, meaning that they could re-sign him to a contract beginning at the value of the mid level exception, without using the actual mid level exception to do so. They would also have been able to give Hill a 10.5% increase from the first year to the second. But, as I've said above, they didn't. Indeed, it appears they used their MLE to re-sign him. So either the document I'm looking at is wrong, the Suns renounced Hill at some point for no reason whatsoever, or the Suns just used their MLE when they completely and totally didn't need to.

If you're a Suns executive, feel free to set me straight on this.


- The Blazers' offer sheet to restricted Jazz free agent Paul Millsap was oft described as "toxic". The four year offer sheet started at $7,692,932 - which represents every last dollar that Portland had under the salary cap - before dipping to an even $7,600,000 in the second year. The final two years were for $8,103,435 and $8,603,633 respectively, bringing the contract's total worth to an even $32 million.

Furthermore, the Blazers did something fairly rare when they included a maximum 17.5% signing bonus into the contract; put simply, this means that Millsap receives 17.5% ($5.6 million) of the entire value of the contract up front. They did this so that it might deter the Jazz (pressed financially this season) not to match it. But ballsily, they did so. And doing so will work in their favour in the long run; for the next three seasons of his deal, whichever team owns Millsap will have $1.4 million less in obligations to pay him than his listed salary will indicate. If ever they decide to trade him, this will be a welcome reprive for the recipient team.

You probably knew all that, but there it is again anyway.


- What you may not have known is a strange thang that happened afterwards. The Blazers had to go on a hell of a renouncing binge in order to be able to make that offer sheet, and they purged some of the game's all time greats from their salary cap in order to do so. [Note: for a fuller explanation of renouncing and cap holds and stuff, go here.] Finally cleans from Portland's page of the salary report were the seminal names of Chris Dudley, Channing Frye, Raef LaFrentz, Voshon Lenard, Shavlik Randolph, Michael Ruffin, Luke Schenscher and Detlef Schrempf, some of whom had been out of the league for years, and none of whom meant anything to the Blazers.

However, after the Jazz matched the offer sheet, the Blazers unrenounced Shavlik Randolph. [You're allowed to unrenounce people in only one circumstance; when your enounced them in order to sign a RFA to an offer sheet, which then gets matched.] This meant that Randolph was now put back onto their salary figure, once again available to be signed and traded, but most significantly eating into their cap space.

Why is this important? It isn't. It might have been had it meant that they couldn't then afford to sign Andre Miller, but they could, and thus the Randolph unrenouncement made no impact on anything ever. All it means is that, if they decide to re-sign Randolph, they now have non-Bird rights on him as opposed to no rights at all. This means next to nothing, though, since Non-Bird rights are about as much use as a paper condom. Randolph's previous salary was the minimum salary, and all the non-Bird rights allow is for the Blazers to re-sign him for 120% of next year's minimum salary, something which they aren't going to do. If they're going to bring back Randolph, it's going to be for the minimum, and since the internet currently contains unsubstantiated rumours which state that the Blazers will be bringing Juwan Howard to training camp this year, it doesn't sound like they're even going to bring Shavlik back for that.

So then, why did they do it? Well, why not, I say. I got a blog post out of it. Everyone's a winner.


- Would you like an example of how trade bonuses (kickers) work? Hope so, because you're about to get one. Feel free to skip it if you're easily bored.

The following is how John Salmons' trade bonus was calculated after his trade from Sacramento to Chicago back in February.

Salmons' 2008/09 salary before the trade was for $5,104,000, followed by $5,456,000 in 2009/10, and finally an extra season in 2011/12 for $5,808,000 that Salmons had an early termination option on. He was traded on February 18th, the 114th day of the season. Including the day of the trade, there were 57 days remaining in the season.

There are 170 days in an NBA regular season. If you don't believe me, count them yourself; since this is dull and boring to do, I implore you to believe me. As 113 days of the season gone, so had 113/170ths of Salmons' salary for that season; therefore, only 57/170ths of that season's salary was still "remaining".

Therefore, the amount of Salmons' remaining salary (including the option year) was for $12,975,341. That total breaks down as following:

Remaining salary, 2010/11 - $5,808,000
Remaining salary, 2009/10 - $5,456,000
Remaining salary, 2008/09 - $1,711,341 ($5,104,000 divided by 170, times 57)

(Note: salary that falls under option years is not normally to be included in "remaining salary" when calculating trade bonuses; however, Early Termination Option years are the exception.)

Salmons had a 15% trade kicker, the maximum allowed under the CBA. This means that, in the event that he was traded, he'd get an extra 15% of his remaining salary as a bonus, in order to ease the pain of having to move from one luxury privileged job to another. 15% of his remaining salary was $1,946,301; this was the amount of his trade kicker.

That trade bonus is spread across the cap evenly amongst the remaining amount of guaranteed years of the contract. Option years are NOT included, and the trade kicker is NOT prorated like the amount of remaining salary was above. Therefore, Salmons' $1,946,301 bonus was to be split evenly between the two remaining guaranteed non-option seasons of his contract; 2008/09 and 2009/10; $973,151 for each season.

As a result, Salmons' new salary numbers became $6,077,151 (2008/09), $6,429,151 (2009/10) and $5,808,000 (2010/11, ETO).

Just trust me that that was more boring to type than it was to read.



- Eddy Curry does not have conditional guarantees in his contract relating to his weight. Nor does Glen Davis. Nor does Jerome James. But perhaps they all should do, because it's entirely possible. Two such contracts have been signed this summer; the Grizzlies' contract of Marcus Williams is for the minimum salary of $855,189 ($825,497 on the Grizz's cap), with guaranteed compensation of $500,000. The remaining $355,189 becomes guaranteed in 15 different stages; on 15 separate dates throughout the season, Williams has to turn up weighing equal to or less than 207 pounds, and a body fat amount of less than 10%. Each time he does so, he's guaranteed an extra $23,679. Similarly, the Kings signed Sean May to a one year minimum salary contract of $884,881 ($825,497 on their cap); however, only $784,881 of it is guaranteed. The other $100,000 becomes guaranteed if May weighs equal to or less than 265 pounds on September 30th OR October 27th.

(The word "or" is an interesting qualifier there. It's not mine.)


- Ever since Kiki Vanderweghe cemented their future with the Kenyon Martin contract, his replacement Mark Warkentein has had to work very hard to avoid the luxury tax. When you commit a near-9 figure contract to a guy worth less than half of it, cap management becomes all the more important, particularly when you have a genuine max player to pay as well, and an owner who owns a brilliant football team,but who isn't too keen on the idea of tax.

Warkentein didn't start well, paying Nene $60 million that he hadn't earned on the premise that he might do one day, and giving Reggie Evans a completely unnecessary 5 year contract to be the backup to the backup. But since then, he and the Nuggets have turned it around. Nene has lived up to his presumptuous salary, and Denver was able to take advantage of the always generous Billy King when they dumped off Evans's salary for that of Steven Hunter, a slightly smaller one that was also one year shorter. They've since been able to move that deal onto the Grizzlies, for the cost of some cash and a first round pick, completely absolving themselves of the deal. They made a similar deal towards the deadline last year, when they were able to move Chucky Atkins' salary to Oklahoma City in exchange for Johan Petro's smaller deal. They gave up a first round pick to do so, but they received a second round pick in the deal too. (The first rounder they gave up was the 26th pick in last year's draft, and the pick they got back was the 34th; let it be known that I'd rather have an unsigned Sergio Llull than a signed Taj Gibson.) Warkentien also managed to create the fine Allen Iverson deal, where the Nuggets got the better player and saved a boatload of short term salary in doing so. The Nuggets have managed the rare but special feat of being able to save money and improve their basketball product at the same time, not letting the bad Martin deal cripple their short and long term improvements. We should look up to that.

Unfortunately, they're going to struggle to dodge the tax again. Even after the Hunter dump, the Nuggets are still awkwardly in the tax territory and with less than a full roster to speak of. It's already cost them Linas Kleiza, and they don't have any more basketball assets that they can really lose. As such, they've had to get creative. And that's where Ty Lawson comes in.

It's never really mentioned, because it's never really important, but most rookie scale contracts contain performance incentives. So widespread is it, in fact, that every first rounder signed this season has them except for Tyreke Evans, Jonny Flynn, Austin Daye, Eric Maynor, Darren Collison and Wayne Ellington. (Yes, even Blake Griffin has them.) Lawson has them, too, and his case gives us a fine example of quite what these incentives can be. To earn the full 120% of his rookie contract that he signed for, Lawson has got to make five promotional appearances for the Nuggets, play in summer league, play in another two week summer skills and conditioning program, and play 900 minutes next season. As well as do all that suitcase carrying and doughnut fetching that's considered mandatory for a rookie in the NBA. (Although the contract doesn't stipulate the suitcase and doughnuts bit.)

In signing Lawson to a deal like this, the Nuggets may have given themselves a small saving this season, which gets them one step closer to breaking even. Since all money saved by the Nuggets is all money that can potentially be spent by Arsenal, I'm all for this.


- And finally, another example of how not to creatively finance. Does it involve Otis Smith? Oh yes. Yes it does.

In the weeks leading up to the start of last season, the Magic decided they needed a third string point guard. They were right. They did. They only had two, and one of them was Anthony Johnson. One injury to Jameer Nelson, and Ol' Fatneck would suddenly become their only option. At that point, they might as well just fold the franchise. (Or trade for Rafer Alston. Same sort of thing.)

They hunt around, and eventually pick a good one. They decide upon signing Mike Wilks, a career journeyman who puts the journeyman into journeyman. Since leaving Rice University in 2001, Wilks has spent various amounts of time with the Kings, Bucks, Hawks, Timberwolves, Rockets, Bulls, Spurs, Cavaliers, Sonics, Nuggets and the Wizards. He has appeared in 229 games over parts of six seasons, and there's a reason he's been getting all these look-ins; he's all right. Wilks will always be disadvantaged by his 5'10 frame, but he's not bad.

With that in mind, the Magic signed Wilks to an unguaranteed contract for training camp, somewhat expecting him to make the team but absolving themselves of all liability if something better came along. However, during a preseason game on October 16th, Wilks tore his knee up. Badly. He completely tore his ACL, slightly tore his MCL, and badly sprained his meniscus, knocking him out for the season. Because he was under contract to the Magic at the time, the Magic were now liable for his salary until he returned to full health.(That's the rule. Same as any job, really.) And this meant his contract became guaranteed.

This is why the Magic kept Wilks on the roster for half a season, despite him not playing any games; they were stuck with paying him anyway, so they might as well keep him around. They only shifted him from the roster when they were able to include him as salary figure in the Alston trade, sending him to the Grizzies, with whom he stayed on the roster until the end of the year. That was Mike Wilks's year in a nutshell - two teams, 7 months, 1 injury, 0 minutes played, over a million dollars earned. Could have been worse, I suppose.

The same thing happened to the Heat. Always willing to play the training camp game, Miami obliged us once again last year by bringing in the full compliment of 20, even when most of the extra signings (Omar Barlett, Tre Kelley, Eddie Basden, Matt Walsh, David Padgett) had no real chance of making the team. Along with Padgett, they signed former Davidson point guard Jason Richards right after summer league, to a contract that had only $50,000 guaranteed. However, Richards too blew out his knee, and so the Heat were liable for his salary until the day he recovered. And that saw them have to pay him for the full season.

The worst part about it all was that Richards's now-guaranteed salary meant that the Heat were now going to be taxpayers, when previously they'd budgeted to be just under it. As a result, they had to salary dump Shaun Livingston, now the Thunder's premier backup. Bad times.

The lesson here; if you're a decent basketball player, but of only a fringe NBA talent, do your damndest to get a training camp gig somewhere. Accept $0 guaranteed money if you have to. Just sign the contract. And then take a dive. It's a particularly good idea if you're broke. Antoine Walker, take note.

(This isn't just an excuse to take cheap shots at Orlando, by the way. Wilks was a good signing, an NBA calibre third string point guard, with whom they just happened to get highly unlucky. They did nothing wrong; these things just happen sometimes. It is, however, an eye opener. These are things that you don't really consider a possibility until they happen. Dallas had better find an Erick Dampier-sized straight jacket next summer.)

Game of the week 4: Bulls vs Magic

Eight weeks have passed since the last game-of-the-week which makes the title of the series something of an outright lie. Yeah. Sorry about that. I was busy and ill and stuff.

Still, to get us back into the series, I'm choosing to depict a game featuring the greatest basketball team in the world (as long as you don't include wins and losses in your criteria for what makes a team good), the insatiable Chicago Bulls, as they take on the Orlando Magic.

For those who haven't been following at home, the Chicago Bulls are less than mediocre this year. And for those of us who support them, it's a rather painful kick in the arse to witness. This team last year won 49 games and made the second round of the playoffs. They weren't half bed. They improved upon this on paper as they upgraded their personel, kept together their core, and assumed incremental improvement from all the young holders. Things were supposed to be beautiful.

They aren't.

For whatever reason, the Bulls suck. A premier defensive unit with mediocre but sufficient offense has suddenly turned into a mediocre defensive unit with the worst offense in the NBA. The "slow start" excuse played for a while, as the Bulls do have a recent history of slow starts. But for whatever reason, this season, they're still bad at the near half way point of the season.

The Magic, meanwhile, tore out to an epic start, and have now levelled off a bit. Just like last year. Except hopefully for them, unlike last year, they won't be distinctly middle of the road come the end of the season. But with future MVP Dwight Howard around, it seems unlikely.

After spending roughly an hour finding a way to watch the game online (obviously via totally legal methods), I gave up, and listened to the audio feed instead. I lay in bed to do this, because I'm lazy like that. It was there that I discovered that the game was being broadcast on a tape delay via English TV channel Five, whose NBA coverage has been nitpicked to death by me in the past (namely, here. So we'll see how they handle this.


- If you didn't know this already, Luol Deng has an English passport. Ben Gordon also will do in the foreseeable future. This makes Five rather intrested in the Bulls progress, and broadcast all Bulls games with simmering dollops of bias. And that's to be commended. Tonight, however, they've gone one step further, and added an in-studio guest - Luol Deng's brother Ajou Deng. Ajou Deng is 29, taller, considerably inferior, with exactly the same voice as Luol. He also looks sorta the same, except with the eyes of poker player Phil Ivey, and with a gap tooth that would have been considered sexy several centuries ago. Ajou speaks slowly, deeply and consistently, with no hint of punctuation or syllable inflection, and with absolutely nothing to say except to respond to the inane questions fired by the in-studio pairing of Mark Webster (not the world darts champion) and Andre Alleyne about how brilliant Luol is. This is going to work perfectly, I can see it.

- Ajou regales us with a story about how he won an MVP trophy during a basketball tournament he played in, the prize for which was a 27 inch television, which he then had to take home on the bus that he arrived on. Welcome to the world of British basketball. Additionally, Britain's first ever entry to the ULEB Cup (the second tier European club competition), the Guildford Heat, are 0-9 in the competition so far, with numerous enormous losses, including a recent 40 point loss to Joventut. Ajou Deng plays for the Heat. So you can see where this is going.

- None of the three studio presenters can tie a tie. Alleyne hasn't bothered, Deng shouldn't have done, and Webster offers up a remarkable ensemble for the evening. Unshaven, somewhat gaunt looking, with an abortive attempt on his very stripey tie and a seriously ill-fitting V-neck sweater, Webster looks as though he has just been pulled out of a crackhouse and thrust into whatever clothes they could find only minutes before the show began. Strangely, though, he's also wearing a purple wristband. Answers on a postcard.

- In back to back sentences, Webster describes the Bulls season so far as "patchy", and then says "let's hope that [another good run to close out the season] happens again!". Like I said, it's all swarmed in bias. And I'm totally cool with that.

- In pre-game build up, Alleyne mentions how Ben Wallace has "picked himself up", in reference to his recent play. Then a graphic shows up showing how the Bulls are the sixth highest scoring team in the NBA this season at 103 points per game, which Alleyne elaborates upon weirdly. Alleyne then closes his stanza with the immortal sentence "Chris Duhon will start in the, um, erm, excuse me, point guard spot vacated by Kendrick Hinrich." So not only are we biased as all hell, but we can't analyse for shit. Fantastic.

- Mark Webster then calls Joakim Noah "Wakeem", and suddenly I feel vindicated about being unable to kick the habit myself. Then again, as we discussed earlier, Webster is a crack addict, so......

(Legal disclaimer - Mark Webster is not a crack addict. Neither of the famous Mark Webster's are.)

The team then proceed to have a conversation about Wakeem, his skills, value to the team, and about his recent suspension for backchat. It's actually an intelligent discussion full of accurate observations, perspective and common sense. While it was taking place, the cameraman went for a wander, and panned to two Luol Deng jerseys sitting on a desk somewhere. Don't know why this happened.

- Finally, before the tip-off, Alleyne and Ajou agree that the Bulls are going to need a big defensive game from Ben Wallace. For those who haven't noticed, here is Ben Wallace's defensive PER this season. Feisty.

- Kendrick Hinrich is sitting out tonight due to a combination of back spasms and epic shitness, so Thabo "The Show" Sefolosha starts in his place. This means that the Bulls have now replaced the third worst jumpshooting guard in basketball (Hinrich) with the worst (Thabo), both of whom are starting alongside the second worst (Duhon). This on a team that also starts the 33% shooting centre Ben Wallace. This is really going to space the floor, I reckon.

- After Ben Wallace wins the opening tip, which he seems to do every night as fatigue ha snot yet set in, Jumpin' Joe Smith attempts the Bulls first 3 shots, and misses them. And you said we didn't have a post scorer!

- Ben Wallace exhibits Shaq-like pick and roll defense early, successfully managing to guard neither Orlando player. But in his defense, if you think paying Ben Wallace $15 million a year for only one dimesion (and you're wrong, for it's actually zero dimensions), then give Rashard Lewis three years and you'll have a black Pat Garrity for $20 million a year. Yes, I'm still harping on about this.

- Chris Duhon misses a wide open three point shot, and Thabo Sefolosha turns down an open 21 footer in favour of dribbling into screeners for 5 seconds. Still, only four minutes until Gordon comes in.

- After Ben Wallace picks up his second foul, Aaron Gray comes in for him. Colour commentator Matt Guokas mentions how this makes Dwight Howard's eyes "light up". Yeah, well, wait until Dwight sees what a powerhouse he has to defend. Aaron Gray is the shit.

- Sefolosha hits a jumper. Wow. Matt Guokas mentions about how that type of player - the thought of as insignificant type - are the type of player that typically burns the Magic. Well, we'll see about that.

- I feel I should mention at this moment that I'm rasping for a piss, and yet the show has had no advert breaks yet. Things are starting to get uncomfortable.

- Coming back from a timeout, the game feed cuts back in with the camera focused on Wakeem Noah on the bench. This causes Webster to lose his professionalism, as the soundman hangs him out to dry by leaving hsi microphone on for five seconds longer than Webster thought he had. After handing back to the American audio feed, Webster then booed Noah loudly, thinking that he was off air. That was fun.

- Joe Smith opens the game 1 for 5 from the free throw line, which is extremely unlike him. He scowls angrily at the basket after all the misses, which is extremely unusual for Smith. This Bulls team is personified by awful body language, and only the constant chirpiness offered by Aaron Gray, Smith and Noah shows any kind of interest in the players being there. And if we lose Joe to a bad temper, then the franchise has real problems.

- Ajou Deng's awkwardness to the camera is topped only by Luol's. If you've ever seen Luol Deng talk toa camera, you'll notice that he slows up his speech for some reason. And quite frankly, it makes him sound like a spanner. I thought I'd mention this.

- Brian Cook is fat and awkward.

- Stan Van Gundy is fat and awkward.

- The first quarter ends at 27-24 to Orlando. The TV show is now 50 minutes in, and not even the end of the quarter brings me the relief of an advert break. I'm really scratching for a slash here, but I can't seem to stop watching, in case I miss something I can roll my eyes about. Right on cue, Alleyne calls Thabo by the unusual name of "Seffer-LAR-shar". Obviously I can;t miss things like this.

- During the first quarter break, we are treated to a montage of every shot Luol Deng took and/or made. This could get tiresome, even for those of us out there who love Luol Deng dearly and would even be willing to overlook it if he bricked our parents to death. Meanwhile, Ajou Deng's head slowly disappears into his shoulders.

- Alleyne again references the stat they invented which claims that the Bulls are 6th in the NBA in points per game. So the analyst can't analyse, the in-studio guest can't entertain, and Mark Webster is high as a kite (allegedly). Brilliant.

(But, you know? It's still very entertaining for some reason. At least they're enthused. And that counts for a lot. Well, OK, Ajou Deng isn't enthused.)

- For three straight possessions to open the second quarter, Orlando takes and makes straight away 28 footers. Chicago responds by bringing the ball up unneessarily slowly, taking 10 seconds to even get to the play calling stage. The Bulls offense survived all its pitfalls last year by pushing the ball enough to be the 6th fastest offense in the entire NBA, which in a league featuring teams such as Phoenix and Golden State is no mean feat. Yet this year, aided by the slowness of Duhon and Hinrich, they've decided not to bother with that, unless their idea of pushing the ball involves in-rhythm 20 footers with no one in rebounding position. That, they do plenty of.

- Still no ad break. I can feel my bladder rupture.

- After Ben Wallace does his customary 10 dollar move with a 10 cent finish in the low post, Matt Guokas claims that "you might normally go three or four games without seeing Ben Wallace attempt a post move". Oh God, how I wish that was the case.

- As Joe Smith shoots a free throw, a girl with a mop runs behind the rebounders to back underneath the basket Joe is shooting at. Any closer, and she would have run down the paint itself. Strange times. Joe makes it anyway but still doesn't look happy.

- Ben Gordon is in at the point guard spot for Chicago. Fantastic! That'll facilitate the ball movement and stop the turnovers.

- After the outside shooting barrage, Chicago is now down 14. They look deflated already, although I'm not sure they ever looked inflated. They also strangely can't seem to rebound with Ben Wallace in the game. Surely not? It's not like Ben's man routinely goes off for big rebounding nights or anything. An Orlando timeout comes, but no advert break comes with it. Webster says "Wakeem" again.

- Thabo Sefolosha is given a whole calendar week to shoot a three point shot from the wing. He obliges, and makes it. He has now hit three jumpers in one game. One of them nearly hit a flying pig.

- If you are wondering at home, why do the Bulls continue to play Wallace when he is substandard at every facet of the game, and players such as Noah and Tyrus Thomas aren't getting nearly enough playing time, then look no further. They know of the illogical nature of what they are doing, and yet they deliberately do it. The reasoning is thus: if they flog this dead horse enough so that they can get his rebounding average above or near 10 a game, along with his 2 assists, steals and blocks a game, then someone might - just might - trade for the bastard if the Bulls set the bar low enough. And if you think that's silly, then bear in mind that John Paxson's record when it comes to trading players when their value is at their lowest ebb is rather unspectacular.

- Luol Deng shoots a technical foul shot, which must be a first. Meet the Chicago Bulls guards, everybody. For a "jumpshooting team", we sure as shit can't shoot. Deng misses it.

- Thabo penetrates the lane and drops the ball off to Wallace, who finishes with a dunk over that same flying pig. This is noteworthy for two reasons:

1) Thabo isn't awful tonight.
2) Ben Wallace dunked the ball.

Both rare but special things.

- Amazingly, the Bulls have cut it back to a two point game, as Orlando misses a few shots. With their final possession of the half, Chicago runs their insatiable Duhon/Wallace pick and roll. Amazingly, it doesn't work. A turnover and a three pointer later, the Bulls are down 5 at the half.

- The half time show brings us focus on, surprise surprise, Luol Deng. They have a feature in which he talks about a series of slide related to things in his life. These include Big Ben (the clock, not Wallace), his passport photo, Charlie Villanueva, Dikembe Mutombo, a Phoenix Suns cap and Manute Bol, whose legs dumbfound me with their length. This feature was not interesting, but I watched it all in case it was. In doing this, I had to once again sacrifice going for a piss. That's dedication, folks.

- Ajou Deng gets to talk a lot at half time, and cements his status as the least enticing TV personality ever. He does mention at one point, though, that he and Luol have another basketball playing brohter called Deng Deng. Maybe I misheard his dulcit tones, but I swear he said that. Meanwhile, Luol waxes lyrical about Wakeem, the team cancer. (Sarcasm).

- Orlando blows the game open again to start the second half, despite Jameer Nelson running two fast breaks so badly that he ought to be made an honorary Chicago Bull. Both times, he dribbled into the path of his wing man, and had to pull the ball back out. Still, Orlando hits their shots, and Chicago can't get theirs off.

- It's depressing to watch how little Ben Wallace gives a shit.

- Chicago has two point sint he first 4 minutes of the third quarter, including one beautfiful possession that featured a two man game between Wallace and Duhon, in which Wallace caught the ball in the low post with 15 seconds on the clock, and spun around looking for help for every last one of them. Good times.

Orlando trots down, and hits their open outside shots from a penetrate-and-kick game.

The game is blown open to a 73-54 affair from a 57-52 game at half time.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, that'll do it. I can't be bothered with the rest.





Ladies and gentleman, meet your Chicago Bulls. They're exactly the same outfit as last year, except they're more talented, and massively inferior.

Successful Chicago Bulls teams of the Scott Skiles era were personified by energy and defense. Both have vanished from the current Bulls. No one takes charges. Players don't fight for the rebound like they once did. Their simple playbook used to be reasonably effective when it was executed with a certain sharpness and crispness. But this crispness has disappeared. Players flit about, and the Bulls haven't the athletic talent to get away with that.

The problem does not necessarily lie with the Bulls player personel. They have a flawed roster, with not enough pure shotmaking talent and poor size. But they've always had this, and yet have proven that they can be successful anyway. The probkem stems from what these previously successful players have started not doing that has gotten them away from what they do best.

Instead of incremental improvements from the core, everyone except Tyrus Thomas has gone backwards. And even he hasn't done that much to get better except for adding a reasonable jumpshot. Ben Gordon's doing much better as of late after being benched, but his mind wasn't in it to begin the season, and he reverted to his stand-on-the-wing self of his first two seasons. Luol Deng, affected by nagging injuries, still fatigues too easily and goes for long stretches without touching the ball on offense. Chris Duhon is back to the standard of his sophomore season after a bad campaign last season, but he suffers from just not being that good. Ben Wallace's demise has gone from slow to debilitating. Andres Nocioni is chucking more than ever before, including even his rookie season, and his defense continues to get worse as he leaves several dozen open shooters a game. And Kirk Hinrich's offseason decision to bulk up seems to have resulted in a jarring loss of foot speed and the absence of any consistency in his jumpshot.

The Bulls guards never could finish around the rim. Their big men never could consistently do so either. The team was never tall, and never very athletic. But they used to win anyway. The defense would carry them. Even when they went through massive offensive droughts, they'd put you into one too, by taking many charges, deflecting the ball at all times, and just generally pissing you off. But the charge taking has gone. The deflections are way down. And the offense is worse, despite the too-massive-to-explain difference in offensive talent between the respective trios of Joe Smith, Aaron Gray and Joakim Noah over P.J. Brown, Michael Sweetney and Malik Allen.

So, what's wrong with the Bulls? Something. I don't know what to suggest.

But scapegoating the coach didn't work.

With apologies to Dwight Howard

In my season preview of the Orlando Magic, written back in October and located here, I wrote something that looks a bit stupid in hindsight. At this point, I'd quite like to try and weasel my way out most of it.

The following are some quotes that I stand by:

It would be very difficult if not impossible to provide a commentary on the Rashard Lewis sign-and-trade while also managing to take an interesting or unique viewpoint, or to say anything that hasn't already been said. So I won't. But I will recommend that you look at the figure that he signed for (listed above), and think long and hard about whether he is worth it. And if you come up with any answer other than "no", keep looking at it until you do. In 2013, a 33 year old Rashard Lewis is going to be being paid nearly $22.7 million. It's freakin' bizarre. Or freakin' stupid, pick your own adjective. Both work.

---

So now, ask yourselves whether the trio of Hill, Milicic and Diener (who should, without a doubt, have played over Carlos Arroyo all of last season, and who is now nicely lined up for a breakout season) is going to help any more than Rashard Lewis on his own. It's a tough answer, but either way, the Magic's player personel did not improve much. If at all.

---

Last season's mediocre performance suggests that the good run to end the 2005/06 season was nothing more than an aberration. With better coaching and better performance this season, the Magic have the opportunity to show that it was last season that was the anomaly instead. If Orlando gets breakout performances from one or perhaps a couple of young players (specifically looking in the directions of Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick), they could contend for the open Southeast Division title.

If you only read those three passages, then I wrote a damn fine piece. However, I ended it like this:

Perhaps a more realistic expectation, though, would be for a low playoff seed once again.

Um, well, that's proven to be wrong so far.

Currently, the Magic reside atop the Southeast Division, with a record of 22-13. Their nearest rivals in the division are the Washington Wizards at 16-15, who apparently just lost Gilbert Arenas for the rest of the season. And in third place are the Atlanta Hawks, who are trying to justify my playoff call with a 15-16 record and a damn tough schedule thus far.

The Magic are the third seed in the East thus far, which is no mean feat given how the top two teams (Boston and Detroit) are by far and away superior to the rest of the conference. Now obviously they're inevitably going to lose this third to the mighty and surging Chicago Bulls (you heard it here first), but even so, they should still come fourth in the East. And that's not a "low playoff seed".

So somewhere along the line, barring dramatic unpredictable implosion, I've made a boo-boo.

I stand by my views on the Rashard Lewis deal, as he quite frankly hasn't been even nearly worth it thus far. I also can't be expected to have predicted the Keith Bogans Jumpshot Spectacular that's bizarrely given unto us by the Lord this season, although I won't be entirely surprised if he regresses to somewhere near his career norm any day now. The point guard play still isn't very good, although I did overlook the fact that Carlos Arroyo's contract is expiring, which always leads to him giving forth a more concerted effort. And I strongly admire Orlando General Manager Otis Smith's efforts to sabotage his team's good play with another poor trade, needlessly shipping Trevor Ariza to the Lakers for Maurice Evans and Brian Cook, two players who offer nothing that Orlando couldn't have gotten from within. The chances are that Smith has at least one more of those left in the gun yet, too.

But mainly, the prediction is my own fault, and it's rather to simple to see why.

I forgot to account for the fact that Dwight Howard is, quite simply, the shit.

Whoops. Sorry, Dwight.

30 teams in 36 or so days: Orlando

Orlando

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Rashard Lewis (signed and traded from Seattle, 6 years, $112,753,504)
Adonal Foyle (two year minimum)
Marcin Gortat (two year minimum)



Players acquired via draft:

First round: None
Second round: Miroslav Rakovic (60th overall, unsigned)



Players retained:

Keyon Dooling (opted in), Pat Garrity (opted in)



Players departed:

Travis Diener (signed with Indiana), Grant Hill (signed with Phoenix), Darko Milicic (signed with Memphis), Bo Outlaw (unsigned, may yet return)





Bobbins:

In a seven day period in February 2006, first year GM Otis Smith made two trades. One saw the expiring contract of Kelvin Cato and a 2007 first rounder (later parlayed into Rodney Stuckey) dealt to Detroit for Darko Milicic and Carlos Arroyo, and one saw falling star Steve Francis dealt to New York - in a trade only Isiah Thomas could make - for Trevor Ariza and the huge expiring contract of Penny Hardaway.

Within a week, the floundering Magic had been re-invigorated. Since the McGrady/Hill era had failed several years prior, the John Weisbrod era had made the Magic's fortunes worsen further. Managing to do almost everything wrong, Weisbrod saw fit to end the McGrady in Orlando era by dealing him and Juwan Howard to Houston for Francis, Cato and Cuttino Mobley, a trade which vastly improved Houston but which didn't do much for Orlando. Daring and skilled enough to somehow make the situation worse, though, Weisbrod subsequently traded Mobley to Sacramento for Doug Christie, a man who played only 21 games with Orlando, scoring 119 points. And that's not to even mention the Varejao and Gooden for Battie deal with Cleveland that he also rustled up.

Weisbrod then resigned. Which seems fair.

Yet, with these two trades in early 2006, Otis Smith had managed to get some serious value for the two remaining pieces from the McGrady to Houston trade. Able to free himself of Francis's enormous contract and burdensome play (if ever there was such a thing as addition by subtraction, this was it), Smith was setting his team up for big cap space in the summer of '07 after Hill's contract also expired, while also picking up two decent youngsters in Milicic and Ariza. And he obtained all that for peripheral pieces that he didn't want or need.

The situation then got even better almost immediately after these deals. With a 19-34 record after losing on the night of the Francis deal, Orlando won only 1 of their next 7 games, before winning 16 of the following 20. The streak saw the Magic's younger players come into their own - Dwight Howard continued to be really good at stuff, and Jameer Nelson showed some terrific scoring efficiency. Darko Milicic's first halfway decent run of playing time in his NBA career gave him the opportunity to show off what skills he had, and he showed himself to be a gifted shotblocker and talented scorer, even if he couldn't rebound for shit. Carlos Arroyo's first half-season as a Magic player made him look like a useful piece for a young up-and-coming team to have, while Hedo Turkoglu and Tony Battie looked like being good veterans to have around for a more concerted playoff push in 2007. Were it not for a similarly strong finish by the Chicago Bulls, the Magic's terrific end of season run would have gotten them to the playoffs (maybe), quite a turnaround from a team that was as many as 20 games under .500. In 2007, Grant Hill was set to return, and Magic fans were happy.

It should have been so great. It wasn't.

The 2006/07 began brightly enough, with Orlando pushing out to a 13-4 lead. But the injury bug soon bit, as it so often does to the Magic. Battie, Hill, Ariza and Keyon Dooling all got injured, and the Magic were left thin. Carlos Arroyo's brief 2006 flirtation with decency ended quickly, as he regressed back to his ineffectual, what-the-hell-is-a-playbook-and-where-did-I-put-my-jumpshot self. Nelson and Milicic also regressed: Nelson chucked with considerably less efficiency than the previous season, and made no strides with his sub-par running of the offense, and Milicic scuttled about everywhere with a certain air of despondence. Grant Hill got injured, which you'd expect, and his namesake and sister - head coach Brian Hill - proved to be absolutely awful.

The Magic did make the playoffs, doing so with a sub .500 record, but it wasn't worth much - they were quickly swept by the Detroit Pistons.

Still, all was not lost. The Magic still had some young pieces that were still waiting to leave the nest, along with one of the best young superstars in the game in Howard. And with Grant Hill's contract finally expiring, the Magic also had near-max cap room if they chose to use it.

They did. Jesus, did they ever.

It would be very difficult if not impossible to provide a commentary on the Rashard Lewis sign-and-trade while also managing to take an interesting or unique viewpoint, or to say anything that hasn't already been said. So I won't. But I will recommend that you look at the figure that he signed for (listed above), and think long and hard about whether he is worth it. And if you come up with any answer other than "no", keep looking at it until you do. In 2013, a 33 year old Rashard Lewis is going to be being paid nearly $22.7 million. It's freakin' bizarre. Or freakin' stupid, pick your own adjective. Both work.

The move was made just that much more baffling when looked at in addition to quotes by Otis Smith before the start of the summer, on how he intended to obtain a much needed scorer for the Magic while also having the resources and cap management to be able to keep the younger talent (namely, Darko Milicic). Smith's response was that it would involve some "creative financing". And in a sense, he was true to his word - Roget's thesaurus shows that "creative" has a synonym of "original". And the Rashard Lewis deal was most certainly original, if nothing else.

In obtaining Lewis, the Magic have wildly overpaid, but also lost some talent. Restricted free agents Darko Milicic and Travis Diener were renounced in order to bring in Lewis, and despite the apparent efforts of Smith, Seattle could not be persuaded to take back any salary from Orlando, meaning that all their cap space went on one player.

So now, ask yourselves whether the trio of Hill, Milicic and Diener (who should, without a doubt, have played over Carlos Arroyo all of last season, and who is now nicely lined up for a breakout season) is going to help any more than Rashard Lewis on his own. It's a tough answer, but either way, the Magic's player personel did not improve much. If at all.

It was a situation that could well have been avoided had Tony Battie not been given an extremely presumptuous extension back in March 2006, and had the unnecessary signing of Keith Bogans not taken place. Those two players combined for a $7.64 million cap hit this summer, whereas Milicic and Diener signed for a combined $8 million. Which duo would you rather have?

(Oh, and there was also the Billy Donovan fiasco, but we'll say no more about that. Embarassing, but not debilitating.)

In the interests of fairness, I should mention the acquisitions of Adonal Foyle and Marcin Gortat.

There, I've mentioned them.




Next season:

Given that things didn't exactly pan out ideally in the free agent market, and without any players from the draft to speak of, a large part of the Magic's future success rests on the shoulders of new head coach, Stan Van Gundy. And I promise you that this next stanza will include no references to Ron Jeremy.

By not being Brian Hill, Van Gundy has already improved the Magic's coaching situation. But if he can find a way to improve on Hill's rotations (and it shouldn't be that hard. Here's a starting point - play Redick. He has his flaws, but he's not Keith Bogans. That's a big plus), and offensive sets (don't just force feed Dwight Howard. Get him touches, but don't go to him every time down. Mix up your plays, and let things flow somewhat. Especially when Jameer Nelson is your point guard), then things will be looking up. It would also be a big help if Van Gundy is somehow able to not completely alienate himself from the players and to preside over something other than an irrepairably sour locker room, things that Brian Hill reportedly could not achieve.

Additionally, a lot depends on the play of Jameer Nelson. After a down year last season, tragedy struck this offseason when his father died in an accidental drowning incident. How this affects Nelson remains to be seen, but will soon be known. There are traditionally two ways to go here: one would be to become demotivated, á lá Michael Sweetney. The other way to be to take that adversity and build upon it to make himself a better player.

The Magic need the second one.

Last season's mediocre performance suggests that the good run to end the 2005/06 season was nothing more than an aberration. With better coaching and better performance this season, the Magic have the opportunity to show that it was last season that was the anomaly instead. If Orlando gets breakout performances from one or perhaps a couple of young players (specifically looking in the directions of Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick), they could contend for the open Southeast Division title.

Perhaps a more realistic expectation, though, would be for a low playoff seed once again. The Magic's talent level is not yet comparable to that of the East's elite teams. Peripheral players Arroyo, Dooling and Garrity combine for roughly $11.4 million of expiring contracts this offseason. The Magic would do well to capitalise on that. For they could use a further big infusion of quality. They didn't get one this season, yet so badly need one to rejoin the top of the East.

A stopgap season then, if you will.