Sport Chit Chat

Greetings All. As the MLB has taken over much of the sports news these days I thought this would be a good time to look back at the tumultuous NBA off season and pick out some losing teams and some winning teams. Here goes…

Winners:

Houston Rockets: I think the Rocket’s have been smart this off season. They were at a point where it was apparent that Yao Ming and T-Mac arenot enough to win in the NBA. With both of their injury issues, and their inability to get out of the first round of the playoffs it was clear that the Rockets were still a piece or two away from competing in the difficult West. (Yes, they went on a 20+ winning streak last season, but that still gave them a first round playoff exit at the hands of the Utah Jazz). John Hollinger of ESPN agrees that this move was well worth the risk and I’d have to agree. Artest finally give the Rockets a big 3 and with Scola a year improved and Battier a shut down defender, the Rockets have a team that can make waves in the West. Yes, maybe they wont win the title, but the Rocket’s franchise needed to prove to it’s fans that they were dedicated to winning. The Rocket’s time is now, and the play for Artest shows their franchise, their fans and the city that the Rocket’s want to win, and now.

Philadelphia 76ers: Clearly the 76ers have had the most successful off season out of any franchise in the NBA. The 76ers went from pretenders in the East to legitimate contenders (assuming they hold onto Igoudala). Adding Brand to their roster gives the 76ers a strong front court and very scary starting five (Miller, Igou, Young, Brand, Dalembert) who match up great against all other East contenders. Additionally, by re-signing young guard Louis Williams and adding bench depth in Royal Ivey and Kareem Rush, the 76ers have set themselves up to have a very prosperous 08-09 season. Expect the 76ers to challenge for home court advantage in the playoffs. I don’t know if they are good enough to topple Boston in the Atlantic Division, but thye have made the road much more difficult for anyone in the East.

Utah Jazz: Now I am aware that the Jazz have not made many big off season moves and to me that is what makes them winners. They were able to stay as legitimate Western threats and all they had to do was nothing. “My Utah Jazz” suggests that the Jazz need to make a move but I disagree. All their young talent is going to be better, they added some PG depth in Brevin Knight, and they still have the same core that has helped them compete the last 3 seasons. Congrats to the Jazz for a successful off season of non moves. This proves that sometimes the best way to make your team better is by staying put.

The City Of Oklahoma: I understand that to this point a majority of the story lines regarding the move of the Sonics have been about the poor city of Seattle and I understand. If someone ever uprooted the Raptors I would go nuts and be very upset with the situation. But on the plus side, one must think of all the happy fans in Oklahoma City. To have over 16,000 season ticket buyers ready, and already to have purchased the minor league Tulsa 66ers, the city of Oklahoma is doing quite well for itself. They come into the league with one of the best young talent in Kevin Durant and from there anything is possible. Rumored to be called the Oklahoma City Thunder the city is a definite winner as they have been brought the magic that is the NBA. Congrats Oklahoma City & welcome to the NBA!

…Check back soon for my list of NBA off season 2008 losers…

-Maxmillien

Hello all!  This is Maxmillien, the fantasy guru at your disposal and I’m here to talk some NBA.  We’re in the middle of free agency and many signings and trades have occurred and it’s time to prepare for next season and consider the championship and fantasy ramifications of some of the major moves thus far.  Here goes…

Toronto trades Rasho Nesterovic, T.J. Ford, Maceo Baston & 1st round pick Roy Hibbert to the Indiana Pacers for Jermain O’Neal and 2nd round pick Nathan Jawai.

Championship Impact: This trade definitely makes the Raps more of a contender but by what degree is yet to be seen.  JO has not played more than 50 games in any of his last 4 seasons and his out-of-high-school, banged up body may prove to be a problem.  If he remains healthy however, the Raps will have a formidable front court to go up against the likes of Orlando, Boston and now Philly.  As for Indiana, I think they improve slightly but they are still ways away from contending in a growing Eastern Conference.  This could put them into 7th or 8th in the East but that may be a stretch at best.  T.J. and Granger will have to vastly out perform themselves to make the Pacers a playoff team.

Long-term Impact: Here I think the advantage is about even.  On the one hand, the Pacers receive Ford, a young growing PG who can at times, score at will.  But how long will his spinal condition hold up.  I mean really, do you want an undersized, shoot first PG with a degenerating spine as the foundation of your franchise.  On the plus side, the Pacers do receive F/C Roy Hibbert out of Georgetown.  I don’t ever see him becoming a dominant offensive force but he will prove valuable as a defensive body inside the paint.  Perhaps resembling a worse version of Dikembe Mutumbo.  As for Raptor land, they get a young but banged up O’Neal.  He may prove to be useful in th short term but his long-term value stems from this contract.  In the 2009-2010 season O’Neal will become an expiring contract of over $20 Million!  Now we have seen that expiring contracts are amazing trade bait so the Raps will have all opportunity to trade O’Neal and receive some real value.  Additionally, the summer O’Neal expires is the summer Wade, Lebron and Bosh become free agents.  The Raps can either trade O’Neal to someone clearing space to make a play at Lebron or hold onto him and make signing franchise player Chris Bosh much easier.  Finally, not much is known about Jawaii, other than the fact he is big and Australian.  The Raps were weak on the boards last season and so he will for sure help on the defensive end against Eastern forwards like Howard, Brand, KG and Big Z.

Fantasy Impact: This is also hard to predict as we don’t know how minutes will shake down and who will get injured as both T.J. and JO are injury prone.  Here I think there is a big advantage to T.J. who can finally become a unanimous starter and receive consistent minutes.  Exect T.J.’s numbers to go up as he will be looked at to run the offense and score.  Last season he averaged 11.6 pts and 6.1 assists with 1.3 steals and those numbers will rise for sure.  It should be noted however, that the Pacers also added PG Jarret Jack and he will for sure push Ford for minutes at some time this season.  Ford may prove to be a solid 2nd or 3rd PG on any fantasy team depending on how deep your league is.  As for JO, anything is possible.  Sharing the paint with Bosh could be either good or bad.  He averaged 13.6 pts and 6.7 boards last season and may very well surpass that.  (As an avid Raps fan I hope he does for our teams sake).  However, he will not revert back to his 20 pts, 10 board days.  I expect him somewhere in between at about 15 pts and 8 boards.  All the other players here will be fantasy none factors.

Philadelphia 76ers sign F/C Elton Brand

Championship Impact: With one signing the 76ers have become a championship contender, no questions asked.  With  a starting five of PG Andre Miller, SG Andre Igoudala, SF Thaddeus Young, PF Elton Brand and C Sam Dalembert the 76ers are ready to compete in a growing Eastern Conference.  They now match up great against any East teams including Boston and Orlando’s Big 3.  With Brand and Sammy D patrolling the paint, Igou slashing and Miller distributing the 76ers finally have a team that can compete and possible do some real damage.  My only worry here is their bench.  This season Boston showed that you need a bench to help you win a championship.  Although they have Willie Green, Louis Williams and Reggie Evans, the 76ers may be one or two bench players away, but that’s not to say that they won’t add some players in the near future or at the deadline.  Eastern Conference, beware of the 76ers!

Long-term Impact: Brand signed a HUGE deal and will be in Philly for 5 years, earning $82 Million over that span.  The 76ers are good now and with a fairly young nucleus will be good for many years to come.  If they don’t challenge this year, then 2 or 3 down the road the 76ers are looking very good.  Brand did however, only play 8 games last season and is coming off surgery, hopefully for the 76ers sake this injury is behind him.

Fantasy Impact: Only playing in 8 games last season I will use his 06-07 numbers of 20.5 pts and 9.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks as a marker.  I expect Brand’s offensive numbers to be close to this.  As he is on a better team with more weapons it is possible that he will receive less touches though.  Additionally, with Sammy D as the paint patroller I don’t think Brand will rack up the same blocks numbers.  Maybe no longer a 1st or 2nd round pick, Brand is still an ok number 1 forwards and a VERY solid number 2 forward on any fantasy roster.  And if he retains his F/C eligibility, his fantasy value will only increase. In conclusion, expect the offense to be about the same but the defensive numbers may dip slightly from his MVP caliber season.

Golden State Warriors sign G/F Corey Maggette

Championship Impact: I would say little to none.  Minus Baron Davis, add Maggette is not a great off season swap.  Davis is a team leader, all star PG who had his best season in recent memory last year.  The addition of Maggette does give the Warriors another offensive swing man to run the floor but he does not put them over the top in a VERY deep Western Conference.  Barely missing the playoffs last year, the Warriors will probably struggle again as Portland will be much better and have a healthy Greg Oden in the middle.  Look for the Warriors to be fun to watch as always but not a Championship contender.

Long-term Impact: Maggette signed a 5 year deal, which means he’ll be in Warrior orange for some time.  I think he’s a little over paid at $10 Million a season, but in the age of inflated contract it’s not the worst contract.  Maggette’s problem is he has never shown that he can take over a game and the number 1 guy on a team.  He won’t be that in Golden State as this is now Monta Ellis’ team.  Unless the Warriors make another big play for another player look for the Warriors to hang around 7-10th in the West for this season.

Fantasy Impact: Here is where Maggette’s real value will blossom.  Usually stunted on the LA Clippers, Maggette will be given all opportunity to shoot, drive and score at will.  With the Nelly-Ball offensive on his side, and a Coach who insists that ANY shot is a good shot, look for Maggette’s fantasy numbers to balloon.  Averaging 22.1 pts, 5.6 boards, 2.7 assists and 1 steal last season, I expect Maggette’s numbers to increase to about 25, 6, 3 and 2.  Most importantly for Maggette’s fantasy value however, is his ability to get to the line.  Averaging 9.7 attempts per game at an 81.2% clip, Maggette is one of the most potent FT shooters in the league.  If you have Free Throws Made in your league, grab Maggette!  My only point of warning would be that coach Don Nelson loves to shuffle his line-up constantly and if Maggette slumps at any point he could be coming off the bench in favour of anyone from Matt Barnes to Marco Bellinelli!

That’s all from me for now, but come back to Sports Chit Chat soon when I give out my MLB All-Star Break Awards!

P.S.  Check out Shawn Alexander’s full NBA overview of teams, fantasy implications and projected line-ups at http://www.rotoworld.com/content/Home_NBA.aspx

-Maxmillien

Talk about stupid trades that should be filed under the category of idiocy. Head scratcher at best. The trade was the Philadelphia 76ers trading Rodney Carney, a 1st round pick they received for Kyle Korver and Calvin Booth for a second round pick.

Minnesota had it easy, stockpile talent for free basically. They moved up in the draft, received a role player who is a #1 pick and Calvin Booth a veteran. The only ‘drawback” is taking the salaries of $1,655,760 (Carney) and $1,141,838 (Booth). A “whopping” total of $2.8 million.

Here’s where it gets a little confusing on the logical side of my brain. Before the Elton Brand signing and this trade the 76ers had a salary of $34.5M (includes Iguodala’s qualify offer) which is $21 million dollars under the cap.

Elton Brand signed a 5-year/82 million contract, roughly $16 million per season. Under their original they can sign Elton Brand so in no way does this move “pave the way for the 76ers to sign Eeton Brand”. They can have Elton Brand and have their cake and eat it too.

Yes, the 76ers do need to save some space for Iguodala but you don’t need to “save space” as you have his Early-Bird rights to match any offer and sign him to a deal that would put the 76ers over the cap. The 76ers should have no reservations of going over the cap, they signed Elton Brand to win after all right?

The move to save 3 million in cap space is not worth 2 late first round picks. These 1st round picks are useful just check out the Lakers or Celtics to see where their young guys succeeded from. $3 million is nothing to sniff at as well. It’s a nice way to get a role player

Experts and fans need to STOP saying this move is for the Brand deal. It simply isn’t as the 76ers are STILL under the cap as of right now.

The 76ers may have another trick up their sleeve which MAY legitimize this move by going after Josh Smith perhaps but lets be honest the 76ers have some breathing room without that deal (8 million + cap exception) and once they reach the salary cap , they can sign Iguodala to a deal and have a really good team.

Questionable move at best and unnecessary. You need those 1st round picks to get a role player or even a steal from Europe. The only team that sells off this first round picks is the Phoenix Suns who has a cheap owner that doesn’t want to pay the luxury tax and their boat has sailed away.