NBA Fans Do Not Suffice
December 17th, 2007

On Saturday afternoon, I went to a non-league football match. Football is a sport that we have in this country, which involves people kicking a ball with their foot (hence the name). It’s a tremendous sport of flair, innovation and foul language, which unites the whole entire world in its single-minded appreciation of how wonderful the beautiful game is.

(There is an American variant out there called “soccer”, but it is marred by terrible broadcasting, stupid gimmicks, and a bad …

Posted by at 8:08 PM

30 teams in 56 or so days: Minnesota Timberwolves
November 9th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Greg Buckner (acquired from Dallas)
Michael Doleac (acquired from Miami)
Antoine Walker (acquired from Miami)
Theo Ratliff (acquired from Boston)
Ryan Gomes (acquired from Boston)
Al Jefferson (acquired from Boston)
Sebastian Telfair (acquired from Boston)
Gerald Green (acquired from Boston)

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Corey Brewer (7th overall)
Second round: Chris Richard (41st overall)

 

Players retained:

None

 

Players departed:

Mark Blount (traded to Miami)
Ricky Davis (traded to

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 56 or so days: Miami Heat
October 27th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Mark Blount (acquired from Minnesota)
Ricky Davis (acquired from Minnesota)
Smush Parker (signed, two years, $4,680,000)
Joel Anthony, Brian Chase, Devin Green, Penny Hardaway, Alexander Johnson, Jeremy Richardson and Marcus Slaughter (all signed to the minimum salary with assorted levels of partial guarantees. If you include holdovers Earl Barron and Chris Quinn, you have eight players on the bubble, four of whom are going to have to be

Posted by at 7:58 AM

30 teams in as many days as it takes: Dallas Mavericks
October 24th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Brandon Bass (two year minimum)
Trenton Hassell (acquired from Minnesota)
Eddie Jones (two year, full BAE)

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: None
Second round: Nick Fazekas (34th overall), Reyshawn Terry (44th overall, unsigned), Reinaldas Seibutis (50th overall, unsigned)

 

Players retained:

Jerry Stackhouse (re-signed, three years, $22,376,250, I think)
Devean George (opted out, re-signed, one year, $2,369,111)
Devin Harris (signed a five year extension)
DeSagana Diop (exercised team option)

 

Players

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 524 or so days: Charlotte Bobcats
October 20th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Jason Richardson (acquired from Golden State)

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Jared Dudley (22nd overall)
Second round: Jermareo Davidson (36th overall)

 

Players retained:

Derek Anderson (re-signed, one year minimum)
Jeff McInnis (re-signed, one year minimum)
Matt Carroll (re-signed, six years, $26,900,000)
Gerald Wallace (re-signed, six years, $57,000,000)
Ryan Hollins (exercised team option)
Walter Herrmann (exercised team option)
Primoz Brezec (opted in)

 

Players departed:

Alan Anderson (signed in Italy)
Jake

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 88 or so days: New Orleans Hornets
October 16th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Morris Peterson (four 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)

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: New York Knicks
September 29th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Zach Randolph (acquired from Portland)
Dan Dickau (acquired from Portland)
Fred Jones (acquired from Portland)

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Wilson Chandler (23rd overall)
Second round: Demetris Nichols (53rd overall, rights acquired from Portland, not yet signed)

 

Players retained:

Malik Rose (opted in)

 

Players departed:

Kelvin Cato (unsigned)
Channing Frye (traded to Portland)
Steve Francis (traded to Portland)

 

Bobbins:

If he has not done so already, Isiah Thomas …

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Memphis Grizzlies
September 28th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Andre Brown (one year minimum)
Casey Jacobsen (one year minimum)
Darko Milicic (three years, $21.06 million)
Juan Carlos Navarro (rights acquired from Washington, signed for one year and slightly above the minimum)

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Mike Conley Jr (4th overall)
Second round: None

 

Players retained:

Tarence Kinsey (exercised team option)

 

Players departed:

Dahntay Jones (signed with Boston)
Chucky Atkins (signed with Denver)
Lawrence Roberts (signed in Greece)

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Seattle Supersonics
September 27th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Kurt Thomas (acquired from Phoenix)
Wally Szczerbiak (acquired from Boston)
Delonte West (acquired from Boston)

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Kevin Durant (2nd overall), Jeff Green (5th overall)
Second round: None

 

Players retained:

None

 

Players departed:

Danny Fortson (unsigned)
Mike Wilks (unsigned)
Randy Livingston (unsigned)
Rashard Lewis (signed and traded to Orlando for way too much)
Ray Allen (traded to Boston)
Andre Brown (signed with Memphis)

 

Bobbins:

It’s …

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Denver Nuggets
September 27th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Chucky Atkins (three years, $9.72 million)
Steven Hunter (acquired from Philadelphia)
Bobby Jones (acquired from Philadelphia)

 

Players acquired via draft:

None

 

Players retained:

Anthony Carter (waived, then re-signed, saving about $800,000)
Eduardo Najera (opted in)

 

Players departed:

Reggie Evans (traded to Philadelphia)
Steve Blake (signed with Portland)
DerMarr Johnson (signed in Italy)
Jamal Samspon (signed with Dallas)

 

Words:

When you spend $162 million on only three players in one …

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Cleveland Cavaliers
September 25th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

No one

 

Players acquired via draft:

No one

 

Players retained:

Ira Newble (opted in)

 

Players departed:

Dwayne Jones (left unrestricted, unsigned), Scot Pollard (signed with Boston)

 

Recap:

They didn’t do anything.

 

Next season:

So they’re still not good enough.

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Chicago Bulls
September 23rd, 2007

Chicago Bulls

 

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Joe Smith (two years, $10 million)

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Joakim Noah (9th overall)
Second round: Aaron Gray (49th overall), JamesOn Curry (51st overall)

 

Players retained:

Andres Nocioni (re-signed, six years, $45 million)

 

Players departed:

Malik Allen (signed with New Jersey), Michael Sweetney (left unrestricted, unsigned), P.J. Brown (unsigned), Andre Barrett (made restricted, unsigned, may yet return), Martynas Andriuskevicius (left unrestricted, signed in Spain)

 …

Posted by at 12:45 AM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Golden State Warriors
September 22nd, 2007

Golden State

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Austin Croshere (one year minimum)
Troy Hudson (one year minimum)
Kosta Perovic (previous draft pick, three years, $5.832 million)

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Brandon Wright (8th overall), Marco Belinelli (18th overall)
Second round: Stephane Lasme (46th overall)

 

Players retained:

Matt Barnes (re-signed, one year, $3 million), Kelenna Azubuike (re-signed, two year minimum)

 

Players departed:

Sarunas Jasikevicius (bought out, to sign in Europe), Adonal Foyle (bought out,

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Orlando Magic
September 16th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Rashard Lewis (signed and traded from Seattle, six 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 …

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Milwaukee Bucks
September 15th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Desmond Mason (two years, $10.4 million)
Jake Voskuhl (one year, $3 million)
Awvee Storey (one year minimum)

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Yi Jianlian (6th overall)
Second round: Ramon Sessions (56th overall)

 

Players retained:

Maurice Williams (re-signed, six years, $51.263 million)

 

Players departed:

Ersan Ilyasova (signed in Spain, rights retained), Charlie Bell (unsigned, rights retained for now), Damir Markota (waived on general principle, see blog entry), Earl Boykins (opted

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Atlanta Hawks
September 12th, 2007

Atlanta Hawks

 

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

None

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Al Horford (3rd overall), Acie Law IV (11th overall)

 

Players retained:

None

 

Players departed:

Royal Ivey (unsigned), Slava Medvedenko (unsigned), Esteban Batista (unsigned)

 

Bobbins:

The Hawks got lucky, I think they would admit that. The Joe Johnson trade of 2005 left the Hawks owing two first-round picks to Phoenix. One of these had already been conveyed, and was …

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: Philadelphia 76ers
September 10th, 2007

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Jack diddly

 

Players acquired via draft:

First round: Thaddeus Young (12th overall), Jason Smith (20th overall, acquired in draft night trade)
Second round: Derrick Byars (42nd overall, acquired in draft night trade, unsigned), Herbert Hill (55th overall, acquired in draft night trade, unsigned)

 

Players retained:

Louis Williams (exercised team option), Shavlik Randolph (exercised player option)

 

Players departed:

Joe Smith (signed with Chicago), Alan Henderson (unsigned, might yet return)

 

Bobbins:

Posted by at 11:54 PM

30 teams in 36 or so days: L.A. Clippers
September 9th, 2007

This is the first of 30 instalments that will serve the dual purpose of being both offseason recaps and poorly thought-out predictions for next season, for all 30 NBA teams. These will be done in an order: that order is the order that I choose to do them in. There won’t be an alphabetical approach, nor one based on standings. They’ll be truly random. Randomness is the future.

___________________________________________

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

Brevin Knight (two years,

Posted by at 11:54 PM

Why aren’t NBA players loyal?
September 6th, 2007

Why aren’t NBA players loyal to their teams, such as how the fans are, and such as how the fans think that they should be?

Ask Fred Jones.

Jonesy signed with Toronto for three years and $9.9 million in July 2006, as a part of the Raptors’ cap room spending that season. The third year of the contract was a player option year, for $3.5 million.

Upon being traded in February of this year to Portland in exchange for …

Posted by at 7:13 AM

The NBA bench player handbook
August 19th, 2007

For those amongst you who, like me, have a strange fascination with transactions, both those finalized and those possible, this is a bad time of year for you. This is late August, the draft is long since gone, and most of the juicy bits of free agency have passed us by. Of the remaining free agents, only a select few are good enough to be starters in this league – Ruben Patterson to name……one – and merely the journeymen remain. …

Posted by at 4:13 PM

The Celtics compared to the Bucks
August 3rd, 2007

Consider what recent fortunes have been like for the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks.

Last year, both of these teams pulled the incredibly-unsubtle-tank-job routine, rivalled only in blatantness by that of the Minnesota Timberwolves. So obvious was it that then-Celtic Ryan Gomes essentially admitted to the tank job in an interview, saying, and I quote:

“I probably (would have played), but since we were in the hunt for a high draft pick, of course things are different,” Gomes

Posted by at 1:30 PM