While landing Paul would have been a coup of sorts, the deal in and of itself leads one to believe the Lakers do not think they are going to win another title with Kobe Bryant.  Why else would they be willing to part with their second and third best scorers and rebounders just to land the one player?  They would be giving up 33 points and 19 rebounds per game to get a player who has struggled to stay healthy and has seen his numbers drop off quite a bit over the last two years.

Don’t get me wrong Paul is a great, dynamic player, but giving up two post players, and arguably your two best role players, to get him really hamstrings the team.  You are putting a lot on Andrew Bynum who has played in more than 65 games in a season just once in his 6 year career.  He has also never averaged more than 30 minutes per game in his career.  Having Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol affords the team that luxury.  Bynum’s a great talent but it just seems like he is never going to be the stud in the middle they thought he was going to be.

The other thing that had me scratching my head was the subsequent outrage by other owners over this deal.  My thought was why are they so upset about this?  If Chris Paul is telling the Hornets this will be his last season with the team then the Hornets should be out trying to get a reasonable package in return.  They had a deal on the table for Odom, Luis Scola, and Kevin Martin.

Odom is a solid role player who is generally good for 10+ points and 8+ rebounds per game.  Scola is generally good for 16 to 18 points and 8+ rebounds per game.  Martin is an All Star caliber scorer who has averaged over 20 points per game five years running.

Overall the deal lands the Hornets three potential starters for a team that is sparse on veteran talent.  Sure it leaves them without a superstar, but it does give them some good building blocks to start with and besides Paul is going to bail on them after the year anyway leaving them with nothing to build with at all.

However, the Hawks won the season series three games to one.  With that said the Magic hold the home court advantage in this series and the Hawks were sub-.500 on the road this season.  The Hawks also come into the post season on a six game losing streak and always seem to be a team that just does not have enough to get to the next level.

The Magic has built their team around Dwight Howard and features a ton of depth and versatility around the perimeter but have no real answer when Howard gets into foul trouble.  Howard is as good as their is under the basket but after him there is not much else there for Orlando.

The Hawks rely on a versatile athletic front court that features Al Horford, Josh Smith, and Marvin Williams.

Joe Johnson is the team leader and he coupled with 6th man Jamal Crawford give the Hawks scoring from the perimeter.

Another main difference between the two teams is Crawford is the only player who sees significant playing time off the bench while Ryan Anderson, Gilbert Arenas, and J. J. Redick all typically see over 20 minutes a night when healthy.

In the end I like the Magic’s depth off the bench, Dwight Howard being the only true super star in this series, and playoff experience to win out in a hard fought series.  This Hawks team just has a history of folding in the playoffs and they are lacking that true franchise player.

The Heat easily have the three best players in this series which is why they are heavy favorites to win.  Miami swept the season series winning all three games by 9 points or more.

On paper the Sixers have no real answer for the Heat’s big three.  About the best they can hope for here is that Andre Iguodala’s length creates some problems for Dwyane Wade and Elton Brand is able to make Chris Bosh work on defense, which is something he is not wont to do, and get into foul trouble.  There is no depth in the frontcourt after Bosh unless Udonis Haslem is able to make it back for the playoffs.

The only areas where the Sixers hold any kind of an advantage in this series are at point guard and the bench.  Jrue Holliday enjoyed a breakout season at the point for the Sixers averaging 14 points and 6.5 assists per game.  Meanwhile the point guard position has been a revolving door for the Heat this season as Mike Bibby, Mario Chalmers, and Carlos Arroyo have all taken their turns in the starting lineup.

Bench productivity is not even close.  Lou Williams and Thaddeus Young combine to give the Sixers over 26 points per game off the bench whereas Wade, Bosh, and LeBron are the only three Heat players to average double digits in scoring this year.

The only way the Sixers stand a chance in this series is if second unit guys like Young, Williams, and Evan Turner simply dominate the Heat’s second unit.  Those three will have to give the Sixers in the neighborhood of 35 to 40 points a game off the bench if they are to even make this series competitive.

Bottom line is the Heat just have too much star power for the Sixers to make a series out of this.  Like the Pacers the Sixers may steal one at home but that will be about it.  The Sixers are still a franchise player away from being a serious championship contender again.  As it is right now they have a lot of good players but no great ones and you need an elite player on your team to win in the NBA post season.

One should not expect the Pacers to put up much of a fight in this series.  Aside from an overtime loss to the Pacers the last time they played in March the Bulls pretty much had their way with Indiana.

The Pacers are a bad road team and does not defend well.  The only potential match up in this series that possibly favors the Pacers is at Small Forward where Danny Granger will lock horns with Luol Deng and even that is probably a push.  Granger had a down year scoring-wise but is capable of being a 25 point a game guy if need be, while Deng is playing the best ball of his career now that he is finally healthy again.

Derrick Rose is arguably the league’s MVP and top point guard going right now.  Indy’s Darren Collison is not even in Rose’s league.  Rose is one of those types of players who is capable of putting his team on his back and carrying them to victory if need be.

While Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Hibbert are two of the most improved players in the league this year and a formidable pair under the basket they are no match for the Bulls bigs of Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Taj Gibson, and Kurt Thomas.  When healthy Boozer and Noah are top ten rebounders in the league and Boozer is a formidable low post scorer in the half court.  Gibson and Thomas give them a couple of bruisers off the bench who can eat up space and rebound the basketball.  Gibson would probably start on a lot of other teams in the league.

Keep an eye on how coach Tom Thibodeau manages some of his younger players’ minutes.  Deng played in all 82 games for the first time since the ’06-’07 season and both he and Rose posted career highs in minutes played this season.  Noah and Boozer also missed significant time during the season with various injuries.

Bottom line is barring injury to Rose and/or Boozer and Noah the Bulls should take this without too much effort.  The Bulls are one of the best defensive teams in the league and the Pacers don’t really defend anyone well.  The Pacers could steal one at home but one should not expect this to go more than five if it evens goes that long.

The Knicks have lost six straight and 9 of their last 10 games.  That stretch includes losses to the Pistons and Bobcats as well as a pair of losses to the Bucks and Pacers, all teams lower than them in the standings.  They now stand at 7-12 since the Carmelo Anthony trade, so much for him being the franchise’s savior.

I have always said the Knicks are in need of a lot more than a player like Anthony.  It takes more than a couple of stud players to win in the NBA as Heat fans are discovering this year.  Anthony and Amar’e should be enough for them to beat most teams, but even that is not happening right now.  The thing is, while Amar’e and ‘Melo are great talents they simply are not winners.  They have never consistently lead their teams on significant playoff runs.

It would seem that the only thing Mike D’Antoni can do to save his job is upset a team like the Celtics, Heat or Bulls in the first round of the playoffs.

Speaking of the Celtics what has happened to them?  The Celtics have dropped 6 of 10 including home games to the Clippers, Grizzlies, and Bobcats.  Is this the time of the show where the aging Celtics run out of steam?

The Celtics did a decent job of stockpiling front court talent for the playoff run, but I cannot help but wonder if they are missing Nate Robinson more than anything right now.  Without him they have no backcourt scoring threat off the bench.

The Knicks are now 7-8 since the Carmelo Anthony trade.

I cannot help but wonder whether Shaka Smart will be coaching elsewhere next season.  With openings at Georgia Tech and North Carolina State it is going to be tough for Virginia Commonwealth to hang onto him.

Remember when everyone was up in arms about VCU being given a shot at a play-in game over the likes of Colorado and Virginia Tech?

Has anyone’s stock risen more than Harrison Barnes’ the last few weeks.  He has really come on the second half of the season and is a huge reason the Tar Heels won the regular season conference title and ended up as a #2 seed when, early on, it looked like they were destined to be an 8 or 9 seed.

John Henson is one of the most maddening players to watch.  He is always going to rebound and defend, but some games he has a great offensive presence and others it seems like he is barely there.  He strikes me as a taller, longer version of Tyrus Thomas or Tyson Chandler.  I doubt he will ever dominate on the offensive end in the NBA, but guys like Chandler can make good career out of being a dominant rebounder and shot blocker.

Jimmer Fredette is going to be the guy who gets taken too high in the draft and will not amount to anything in the NBA.  About the best a team can hope for is he is a J. J. Redick type of player who can give a team 25 minutes and 10 points per game off the bench.  He simply does not have the height, the athleticism, or the defensive ability to be a starter in the NBA.

As long as Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah stay healthy I really like the Bulls chances to come out of the East.  The Bulls defend and they have four big men who give them quality minutes every night.  If they do lose it will be due to their lack of perimeter scoring.

The Knicks are 7-7, with two losses to both the Pacers and Cavs and a loss to the Pistons, since landing Carmelo Anthony.  The Nuggets are 9-4 since dealing Anthony.  As I said before I never understood the Knicks love affair with Anthony, he simply is not a winner.

The inherent problem with the Knicks is they are an awful defensive team.  Only the Warriors and Wolves are allowing more points per game than the Knicks.  The Knicks may very well challenge for a title with Anthony but it won’t be with Mike D’Antoni as the head coach.

Seems like the Clippers should win more games than they do.

Is anyone really surprised that Baron Davis has played in just 4 of 11 games since being dealt to Cleveland?

I am really curious to know what the strategy is in Charlotte right now.  There is literally nothing to be excited about if you are Bobcats fan.  The team is completely devoid of any young talent to build around.  It just feels like the team is more interested in being profitable than it is in trying to build a winner.

How disappointing have the Bucks been this year?  It really felt like they were headed in the right direction with some of the role players they added in the offseason.  The additions have not worked out and Brandon Jennings has not progressed at all this season.  Until he becomes a better distributor and more reliable shooter I am not sure if the Bucks will ever get over the hump.

Joe Johnson has shown why nobody else was willing to give him the kind of contract that the Hawks did.  He is beginning to look like a guy whose career may have peaked already.

Tyler Hansbrough has really come on the last month for the Pacers averaging 18.4 points and 7.7 boards per game since the All Star break.

Remember when everyone was saying that Kevin Love was too small to play the post and not quick enough to play on the perimeter when he came out of college?

I wonder if Pat Riley wishes he still had Dorrell Wright?  He has been to the Warriors what Mike Miller was supposed to be for the Heat.  Makes one wonder why he never got a real shot in Miami.

The thing is the Heat really are not that big of a disappointment, at least not to me anyway.  Back when Miami signed LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh I cautioned the Heat should not dust off the trophy case just yet.  The simple fact is teams need more than a bunch of stars to win championships in the NBA.

When one looks at the Heat roster it has two elite players in Wade and LeBron and one second tier player in Bosh.  Having talent is one thing, but teams need the right blend of talent to win in the NBA.

Going back to the beginning of the season I had serious questions about the makeup of this Heat squad.  Where was the defense going to come from?  Wade can be a lockdown defender when he wants to be, LeBron is a great help defender but is not a great one-on-one defender.  He gets a rep for being a good defensive player because he has a knack for coming up with the big block or the big steal, but on a whole he is not a great defender.  Defending the low post really is not in Bosh’s repertoire.

The Heat had a real lack of perimeter scoring, rebounding, and interior defense.

There were also questions about getting any kind of productivity after their top three players.  The Lakers and Celtics have ruled the roost the past two years because they are more than two or three star players.  They have guys willing to fill roles.

One of the primary reasons the Heat are not beating the big boys is they have nobody after their top three players who are producing with any consistency.  They are getting nothing from their point guards or their centers, and when Udonis Haslem went down they lost their only interior player with any kind of heart.  As it is they are left with running a washed up player in Mike Bibby and a young player who has little to no confidence in Mario Chalmers at point guard while Erick Dampier, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Joel Anthony are merely taking up space at the center position.

The Big Three works in Boston because their three star players are past their prime and two of them, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, realize they are no longer physically able to play 38 to 40 minutes per game.  It also works because their three stars are willing to defend.  Paul Pierce was named the Finals MVP two years ago as much for the job he did on Kobe Bryant on the defensive end than for how he shot the ball.

The Celtics also have a primary ball handler who is more about distributing the basketball and not worried about getting his 25 points a night.  They also have big bodies who can produce on the inside.  Guys like Glen Davis and the O’Neals are willing to get in there and push bodies around under the basket.

Who on the Heat can one say is willing to mix it up under the basket?  Who on the Heat would you say goes out there and mixes up defensively night-in-night-out?

The Lakers work much the same way.  Their biggest edge is they only have one legit super star with a couple of second tier stars.  They also have guys like Lamar Odom and Ron Artest who are willing to take on secondary roles and are not so much worried about their points as much as they are about contributing to a winning team.

Bottom line is Dwyane Wade is the only real star on the Heat who knows what it means to win a championship yet it seems like it is all about making sure this is LeBron’s team.  Wade is the guy who has carried a team to a title.  He is the guy who you really want to have the ball in the last minute of the game.  LeBron is the guy who always seemed to have a penchant for coming up short when push came to shove in the playoffs in Cleveland.

Aside from Wade this team just seems to be lacking in heart and killer instinct.  This should be Wade’s team and not LeBron’s, but the thing of it is, LeBron knows this has to be his team for him to cement his legacy as one of the game’s greats.  Otherwise he just came to Miami and coattailed on Wade to win his championship.  He becomes no better than Scottie Pippen.

The one other difference between the Heat and teams like the Lakers, Celtics, and Spurs is those teams have elite coaches.  The Heat have some guy who barely had any coaching experience and zero head coaching experience prior to succeeding Pat Riley calling the shots from the bench.  Eric Spoelstra had no business getting the job in the first place and has no business holding it now.

Superstar player respect the rings.  How on earth does anyone expect guys like James and Wade to give anything Spoelstra says a second thought?  This is the NBA and unlike college you simply cannot roll the ball out there and expect that the team with the two best players on the floor is always going to win.  Having the right coach in the NBA is extremely important.  Without the right blend of talent and coaching you end up with what you have in Miami which is a team still trying to find an identity and wondering why it is not crushing everyone in its path.

The thing I do not really get is why is Carmelo Anthony that fired up to go to the Knicks?  I mean sure they have Amare’ Stoudemire and sure they play the up tempo type of game ‘Melo likes, but let us face facts here.  Stoudemire is one of the most overrated players in the league and Mike D’Antoni is one of the most overrated coaches going.

Sure the Knicks would be a force to be reckoned with in the East if they were to add Anthony to their current roster, but, the thing is they have no winners on that roster.  D’Antoni excelled at getting the Suns to the playoffs but he did little else with them.  His career postseason record is only 26-25.  His record when getting out of the first round is only 13-17.  The series in which his teams were eliminated never went seven games and typically only went five.

Simply put D’Antoni’s system is good enough to get teams into the postseason, but is not good enough for postseason success simply because he refuses to acknowledge the notion that teams need to play a little bit of defense to win a championship.  D’Antoni is his generation’s Don Nelson.  His teams are entertaining and he wins a ton of regular season games, but they always come up short in the post season because they are finesse teams that play little defense and lack an overall toughness teams need to win when it matters in the NBA.

Then there is the question of who is going to lead this team.  Amare’?  ‘Melo?  Neither of those guys are really leaders.  Amare’ has never been one to rally the troops or a guy his teammates rally around.  He has a rap for being a bit of a soft player who tends to disappear in big games at times.

Do not get me wrong Carmelo is a great ball player, but he is not a leader.  Is it merely co-incidental that the Nuggets never got out of the first round in the playoffs until they got Chauncey Billups?  Guys like Billups and Kenyon Martin are the leaders in Denver and Anthony is merely along for the ride.  Anthony is arguably the best scorer in the game, but, he does little to elevate his teammates around him the way championship players do.

The thing the Knicks need to realize is it takes more than rolling a bunch of guys who can score the basketball to win championships.  They need guys who can defend the basketball.  They need guys with some heart and toughness who teammates can rally around.  They need guys who can rebound the basketball and are not afraid to mix it up under the basket.  With or without Anthony who is going to do that for the Knicks?

Which leads me to ask why is Anthony jonesing to go to New York for in the first place?  It is not like D’Antoni is a better coach than George Karl is.  It is not like the Knicks have a better supporting cast than the Nuggets currently do.  What in the world is so attractive about being Amare’ Stoudemire’s running mate?  It is not like Stoudemire has a track record of winning big games himself.  For that matter it is not as though anyone on the Knicks current roster has a track record of winning in the post season.

The Knicks and Carmelo Anthony are both focused on the shiny object in the room and not taking into consideration whether Anthony is really a great fit for the Knicks goal of winning a title, and Anthony is not taking into consideration whether the Knicks really have the right framework in place to seriously contend for a championship.

If Anthony goes to New York he will not meet with significantly more success than what he has had in Denver.  The Knicks would be a definite playoff team, but I am not sure adding Anthony makes them any better than the Hawks or the Bucks right now.  They definitely are not as good as the Magic, Celtics, or the Heat.

Maybe the Knicks, or rather the city of New York, is the right match for Carmelo Anthony.  He has always struck me as a guy who is more interested in style over substance since coming in to the league anyway.

The key particulars of the deal have Darren Collison going to Indiana, Trevor Ariza ends up a Hornet, Troy Murphy is moving to New Jersey and the Rockets are getting sharp-shooter Courtney Lee.

The Pacers are arguably getting the best player and the point guard they have been searching for to re-energize their offense for a couple of years now in Collison.  Collison is coming off a strong rookie season in which he averaged 12.4 points and 5.7 assists.  The caveat with Collison, though, is he averaged 18.8 points and 9.1 assists in 37 starts for the Hornets last season.  Indiana has not gotten that kind of production from its point guard in several seasons.

The downside for the Pacers is they are giving up their leading rebounder and second best three-point shooter in Troy Murphy to get Collison.  Murphy’s departure leaves the Pacers with a huge question mark when it comes to who is going to rebound the basketball for them.  He was the only player to average more than 6 boards a game last season and Danny Granger (5.5) and Roy Hibbert (5.7) are the only two regulars to average more than five per game last season.

Tyler Hansbrough has the potential to be an 8 to 10 rebound per game guy, he averaged 4.8 boards in 17 minutes per game last season, but they need him to stay healthy enough to play more than 29 games and will need him to be able to play upwards of 30 minutes a night.

Murphy will be a nice addition to the Nets as top pick Derrick Favors learns the NBA game.  Murphy is entering the last year of his deal and one begins to wonder whether Favors’ lackluster performance in the the Orlando Summer League has the Nets wondering whether Favors is going to be terribly productive this season.  Murphy gives the Nets the additional rebounder they were looking for this summer and will be an upgrade over Yi Jianlin in terms of his perimeter shooting ability.

Giving up Lee for Murphy will not hurt the Nets too much as he became expendable once the Nets signed Anthony Morrow away from the Warriors this summer.  Lee was a bit of a disappointment for the Nets and was likely going to lose his starting job to Morrow who has established himself as one of the best 3-point shooters in the league.

Swapping out Lee for Ariza was a chance for the Rockets to dump some salary while still getting a productive player in the process.  The addition of Kevin Martin at the deadline last season made Ariza somewhat expendable this summer as the team was going with Ariza at shooting guard and Shane Battier at small forward and really prefers having Battier on the floor.  Lee will likely be the Rockets scorer off the bench.  They lost their best scoring option off the bench when they dealt Carl Landry to the Kings for Martin and Lee should fill that void quite nicely.

In landing Ariza the Hornets are hoping he will be the wing scorer that Peja Stojakovic is supposed to be for them.  Ariza is not the pure shooter that Peja is but he is more athletic, a better defender, and better all around scorer.  He should be the scorer Peja was supposed to be and the perimeter defender they thought they were getting when they signed James Posey away from the Celtics two summers ago.

In related news the Pacers agreed to take James Posey’s contract on as part of the price to get Collison and the Hornets are also reportedly nearing a deal to send Julian Wright to the Raptors for shooter Marco Belinelli.   Belinelli would likely come off the bench and back up Marcus Thornton.

Is this not the same guy who led the Knicks to a 151 and 249 record in his capacity as team President and Head Coach from 2003 to 2008?  This is the same guy who cost the team $11.6 million in a sexual harassment lawsuit, right?

Why does Knicks ownership continue to want to have anything to do with this guy?  I just do not get, it is not as though he allegedly got a raw deal a couple of years ago when the team had no choice but to remove him as head of the team.  It is not as though he showed any sort of acumen at being someone who knew what he was doing as a personnel guy.

The Knicks made one playoff appearance during Zeke’s tenure at the top and that was his first year there and they did not even finish the season with a winning record.  From that point on the team got progressively worse as Thomas gave slightly above average talent crazy contracts.  The deal he struck for Eddy Curry was a colossal mistake.

He seemingly would go out and sign guys to exorbitant free agent deals or trade for guys who were simply more interested in playing on the big stage in New York City than actually winning championships.  Eddy Curry, Jamal Crawford, Steve Francis, Nate Robinson, Quentin Richardson, Zach Randolph, etc.

Now that the team is beginning to dig out from under the mountain of crappy contracts Thomas acquired they want him back to help make personnel decisions again.  Is it that they have all this room under the salary cap and they do not know which player to piss the money away on?  Or, do they need help in negotiating an extension for Eddy Curry?  After all his deal is up at the end of the season and he is only 27 which means he still has a good four or five years of mediocrity left in him.

At a time when you are trying to sell your fans that the team is moving in the right direction and rebuilding around Amare’ Stoudamire don’t the Knicks think it a bad PR move to put Thomas front and center again?  Talk about a kick in the gut to Knicks fans.  What little room for optimism they had that the team was moving in the right direction after landing Stoudemire and Ray Felton and dealing for promising young big man Anthony Randolph starts to go away with the news Zeke is going to have a hand in the future of the team.

Just as New Yorkers are starting to get excited about the Knicks again they have to go and bring the guy back who ruined their taste for the team in the first place.  The one thing this ultimately proves is the Knicks will never be relevant in the league again until James Dolan sells the team to someone who has half a clue.  Don’t be surprised if Thomas figures out a way to get Donnie Walsh ousted and re-assumes control of the team within the next two or three years.

Shaquille O’Neal

Shaq is clearly at the end of his career, but he can still give a team a good 20 to 25 minutes a game off the bench.  He gave the Cavs 12 points and 6.7 rebounds while playing roughly 23 minutes per game last season.

The big question with Shaq is whether his ego will let him play for a minimal contract next season.  There has been some interest in the big man from the Hawks but they are only able to offer him some portion of the mid-level exception which represents a huge pay cut for Shaq and the Hawks are not really seen as a team where Shaq would be the missing piece to make them contenders.

There was some speculation that the Heat were interested in bringing him back, but there has yet to be an official offer made and the Heat have even less money than the Hawks to offer him after giving the bulk of their exception to Mike Miller.

A lot is going to depend on whether Shaq is interested in getting the most money possible or whether he can accept taking significantly less if it means playing on a contender like the Spurs, Mavs, or Heat.

Tracy McGrady

About a week ago it seemed like T-Mac to Chicago was almost a done deal, but know the Bulls are waffling a bit and have yet to ink him to a deal.  The hangup seems to be whether McGrady can accept coming off the bench or not.  The Bulls have it in mind that McGrady would be a guy to come off the bench and backup Ronnie Brewer and Luol Deng at the shooting guard and small forward positions.  McGrady seems to think that he still has another year or two as a starter in him.

McGrady could probably give a team 10 to 15 points a night off the bench but it seems unlikely that his knees are going to let him play 30 to 35 minutes a night as a starter.  The thing he will need to decide is whether he wants to go be a starter on a fringe playoff team or come off the bench and accept being a role player on a contender.

Like Shaq, where McGrady ends up will depend on his ego.  He knows he is not going to get a big pay day given all the questions around the health of his knees and lackluster production in New York at the end of the year.  There is some growing speculation that he may end up in Miami now.

Shannon Brown

Brown and the Lakers have a mutual interest in each other, the problem is the Lakers cannot afford to pay him what he can likely get elsewhere.  Brown is a nice energy guy who can give a team 8 to 10 points off the bench.  It would probably be in Brown’s best interest to go to another team as he is going to remain stuck behind Kobe and Derek Fisher for the time being and could get more minutes elsewhere.

The Bulls and Jazz are said to be showing the most interest in Brown outside of L. A.

Jerry Stackhouse

Stackhouse says he still wants to play this season and he closed the regular season on a high note averaging 10.1 points and shooting .463 from the field for the Bucks off the bench in the month of April.  He struggled in the playoffs against the Hawks though.

He could potentially be a nice bench player on the wing for a playoff team next season.  They may need to give him nights off early in the season to keep his legs fresh for the stretch run though.

The Heat, Bucks, Bulls, and Mavs are all thought to be in the mix for Stack’s services.

Allen Iverson

Iverson’s team says he intends on trying to catch on with a team next season.  His time in Philly last season was rather underwhelming.  He can no longer play 40-plus minutes a game like he did when he was in his prime and the Sixers were lucky to get 30 minutes a game from him last season.

He could still be a nice scoring option off the bench if his ego is willing to let him accept that kind of a role.  One of the issues I had with him in Philly last season was his insistence on being a starter.  His presence was taking playing time away from some of their younger guards like Lou Williams and Jrue Holiday.

Roger Mason

The addition of Richard Jefferson and progression of George Hill significantly cut into Mason’s minutes last season thus causing his numbers to suffer.  It is kind of surprising he is still on the market.  He is really not worthy of being a starter in the NBA but he would be a good addition to a team looking for a scorer off the bench.  Mason is a strong 3-point shooter who can give a team 10 to 12 points per game and is worthy of someone giving him some portion of their mid-level exception.

Ronald Murray

Like Mason, Murray can give a team 10-plus points off the bench.  His shooting numbers dropped off a bit last season but he is still worth a look as a veteran bench scorer.

Javaris Crittenton

Will Javaris Crittenton ever live up to the hype he had coming out of high school?  Crittenton is only 22 years old and has shown some flashes of what he can do in his brief career.  He could be a nice addition for a team with an established point guard looking for a young, inexpensive backup to develop.

Adam Morrison

Will anyone give Morrison another shot?  His career has been a complete disaster with him struggling to stay healthy.  We all knew he was not going to give a team anything defensively or on the glass, but, he has never shown an ability to be able to score at the NBA level which was supposed to be his calling card.  Someone may take a chance that they can jump start his career, but it will only be as someone to fill out the 13th or 14th spot on the roster.

The rumor mill has Paul wanting to go to Orlando, New York, Dallas, or Portland, with the Magic currently being his top choice.

It was initially reported that he wanted to go to the Knicks and team up with Amare’ Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony setting Knicks fans into a tizzy.  The problem with that is Anthony cannot become a free agent until next summer and with an expiring CBA and lockout looming on the horizon it seems highly unlikely that he is going to pass on the 3-year contract extension worth over $60 million that is currently on the table.

The fact that Paul has switched his tune from New York to Orlando leads one to believe that ‘Melo told Paul that he is going to take the extension and stay in Denver for the time being.  The new Collective Bargaining Agreement is reportedly going to be more owner friendly and could end up cutting the max dollar amount veterans can receive by up to 30%.  Anthony would be crazy to pass up on current offer on the table.  He could potentially be walking away from $15 to $20 million in guaranteed cash if he did.

Another reason Paul has switched to Orlando is the fact that New York has little to offer the Hornets while the Magic have more intriguing trading chips.  The Knicks have Eddy Curry’s expiring contract, Raymond Felton and little else to offer the Hornets.  The Magic have Vince Carter’s expiring contract and Jameer Nelson.  Nobody wants to come see Eddy Curry wallow in mediocrity, while adding Carter would at least give them something of a gate attraction and help keep them somewhat competitive.

I am sure Paul also looks at Orlando and sees himself as being the missing piece to get them over the top.  He likely also realizes that Dwight Howard is a better all around player than Stoudemire is.

When it gets right down to it though it is probably going to take a third team to make any deal happen for Chris Paul.  With Darren Collison averaging 18 points and 9 assists per game in 37 starts last season the Hornets do not need to get a point guard back in a deal for Paul.  Teams like the Magic and Knicks will have to bring in a third team that is interested in taking Felton or Nelson in addition to one of the big expiring contracts in a deal.  They need to find another team willing to part with one or two young players and/or draft picks for a player like Felton or Nelson and the cap relief that comes along with Carter or Curry’s contracts.

The Hornets have taken the stance that they have no interest in dealing Paul and new Head Coach Monty Williams and General Manager Dell Demps plan to try and sell Paul on giving them a chance to show what can happen under new leadership.  The problem with that is what have Dell Demps and Monty Williams done to win Paul’s support?  Neither guy has any experience building a roster or running a team as GM or head coach.

For the time being, however, it does not really matter if Paul wants to be dealt, the Hornets do not have to oblige.  He is still under contract for two years and Hornets can make him honor that contract if they choose to do so.  Will the Hornets trade Chris Paul?  For now, unless an offer comes along that just blows them away I do not think New Orleans will actively seek to trade him this summer.  They owe to themselves to see if they can make an attempt to build a winning team around Paul.

However, if the Hornets continue to wallow in mediocrity next season I do think the Hornets will start to think long and hard about dealing him while they can still get top dollar for him.  If the Hornets finish ten games out of a playoff spot again next season then look for them to actively seek the best deal for Paul.  Until then don’t get your hopes up just yet Knicks and Magic fans.

The move is mildly surprising given that the Lakers are the two-time defending champions and the Bulls are seen as legitimate contenders to come out of the East next season.  Utah is still a strong team but are not seen as a legitimate threat to knock the Lakers off in the coming season.

It is being reported that Bell’s familiarity with Jerry Sloan’s system and gratitude for Sloan giving him his first big break in the league were deciding factors in his decision to return to Salt Lake City to possibly finish out his career.

It is also being reported that contingent upon Bell passing his physical this deal means the Jazz will not match the offer sheet given to rookie shooting guard Wesley Matthews by the Portland Trail Blazers.  While the Jazz really wanted to hang onto Matthews who was better than advertised during his rookie year, going with Bell is the safer play.

Nobody knows if last season is as good as it is going to get for Matthews while Bell has proven, when healthy, to be a guy who can score 12 to 14 points a game and is a better 3-point shooter.

Harrington gives them someone to plug in at power forward to help off set the potential absence of Chris Anderson and Kenyon Martin at the start of the year as they recover from knee surgery.  He has the ability to step away from the basket and shoot from the outside which should open the lane up a bit for Carmelo Anthony to make magic happen around the rim.

The downside to Harrington is he is not the defensive presence that Anderson and Martin are.  Martin and Anderson are both strong rebounders and solid shot blockers and Harrington is a sub-par rebounder for a 6′ 9″ forward and does not block many shots.

This move along with the recent signings of Shelden Williams and Anthony Carter effectively means the Nuggets will not match the offer sheet given to Linas Kleiza by the Toronto Raptors.  While Kleiza is significantly younger than Harrington is, Harrington is the better overall player.

It is an overall solid pickup for the Nuggets, the question now will be whether they can make up the difference in rebounding by swapping out Kenyon Martin for Al Harrington.

It seems like a good fit for both teams as the Timberwolves no longer felt that Jefferson fit into what they want to do under Kurt Rambis while the Jazz were figuring out how they were going to replace Boozer’s 19 points and 11 rebounds per game.

So far this summer the Timberwolves have re-shaped their front court by signing big men Darko Milicic and Nikola Pekovic and dealing for Michael Beasley to go along with Kevin Love.  The Wolves saw Jefferson as too slow and not athletic enough to play in the more uptempo style that Rambis is trying to bring to Minnesota.

In Jefferson the Jazz are getting a player who is similar to Boozer in style of play and slightly bigger and younger.  His numbers dropped significantly in his first year back from major knee surgery last season.  He still managed to post 17.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per game though.  In the year and-a-half prior to getting injured Jefferson had averaged 21.8 and 11.1 rebounds per game.

What makes the move even more curious is the contract they gave to Paul Millsap last summer.  When the Jazz matched the offer sheet he signed with the Trail Blazers last year it was widely assumed that he would ascend to the starting power forward spot when Carlos Boozer inevitably left via free agency.  Millsap has proven himself more than capable when given the opportunity to start averaging 15.9 points and 9.9 rebounds in 49 career starts.  It is curious that they would go out and get a guy due to make $42 million over the next three years when they have a perfectly good solution already on the roster.

At any rate it should be interesting to see whether Jefferson flourishes into the player everyone thought he would be coming into the league now that he is playing on a winning team with one of the best ball distributors in the league on his team in Deron Williams.  Jefferson has never played on a winning team nor has he ever played with an elite point guard so it should be interesting to see how his game develops for the Jazz next season.

The Heat needed to add a big man like Haslem who is willing to go in and scrap and fight under the basket.  He is exactly the type of role player they need to compliment Chris Bosh.  The potential issue with Haslem though is he really is not big enough to play center and is a power forward.  Bosh has little interest in playing center and prefers to play to power forward spot.

While Haslem gives them some needed toughness and scrappiness the Heat still need to find a legit big man to play the center position.  Haslem and Bosh will not cut it against teams like Boston, Los Angeles, and Chicago that feature legit center/power forward combos.

Miller gives the Heat someone who can play the two and three and is one of the better 3-point shooters in the league.  The question is what other role does he fit for the Heat?  Dwyane Wade and LeBron James play shooting guard and small forward respectively.  It remains to be seen if the Heat envision a lineup where Wade is the point guard and Miller is the starting two guard, or if Miller is the 6th man who comes off the bench to provide scoring and 3-point shooting.

Unless the Heat goes the route of having Wade as the starting point guard they will still need to make a move to add a point guard who is going to be a more reliable shooter than Mario Chalmers was last season.  Chalmers showed some potential his rookie year but saw his shooting drop to just .318 from beyond the arc last season.  They need to add someone to the starting five who is going to hit 40% of his three point shots to keep defenses honest.

The team could theoretically go with a lineup that features Wade, LeBron, and Miller as the three wing players which would solve the issue of getting a shooter on the floor, the question is whether it would be good enough defensively.

It is being reported that Phoenix is set to deal Leandro Barbosa and the little used Dwayne Jones to the Raptors in exchange for forward Hedo Turkoglu.

Since the season ended Turkoglu has made statements saying he wanted out of Toronto and since rescinded them.  Dealing Turkoglu is probably in the best interests of both the player and the team at this point.  The Raptors are looking at a transition phase as they figure out how to replace Chris Bosh and Turkoglu never really seemed to fit in with the Raptors last season.

Landing Turkoglu helps to soften the blow of losing Stoudemire but it is not enough to replace him.  While Turkoglu is a solid scorer and adept at creating offense with the ball in his hands he is not the rebounder or shot blocker that Stoudemire is and prefers to play on the perimeter as opposed to the post.

Turkoglu is expected to start at power forward for the Suns next season while Barbosa will finally get a chance to compete for a starting job in Toronto.

It is also being reported that the Suns have reached an agreement with Childress on a five-year contract.  There is no word on what the Hawks will receive in return for Childress.  The deal comes as no real surprise as it was widely expected the Hawks would never be able to match any significant offer made to Childress after breaking the bank to retain Joe Johnson.

These acquisitions now give the Suns a bunch of athletic forwards and shooting guards but no real post presence whatsoever.  The Suns remain competitive, but minus finding a low post scoring presence they will not present a serious threat to the elite teams in the West.  The Suns best post player is either Robin Lopez or Hakim Warrick which is not scaring any body in the NBA.  The Suns will probably be able to score with anyone but they will not be able to stop anyone and will get killed on the boards next season.

Allen is a nice pickup for the Grizzlies.  It seems unlikely that he will challenge incumbent guards O. J. Mayo and Mike Conley for a starting job, but what he gives them is a veteran backcourt player who can come off the bench and be a defensive stopper of sorts.

Allen’s value is being able to defend the perimeter and harass some of the league’s better scorers.  He is not a lock down defender by any means but he excels at keeping guys in check.

He can play both guard positions but lacks the ability shoot from beyond the arc which is something the Grizzlies need to desperately upgrade this summer.  Memphis was one of the worst three point shooting teams in the league last season.

Danny Ainge was crossing his fingers and toes in hopes that he would be able to hang on to Allen.  Losing Allen is a tough blow to take for a team that is lacking any real veteran back court depth off the bench.  The team is currently looking at rookie Avery Bradley as their top guard off the bench.

On paper there is not a lot to be excited about in Cleveland, but it is not all bad.  They have some decent building blocks in guys like Antawn Jamison, Mo Williams, Anderson Varejao, and J. J. Hickson, the problem being they do not have anyone to build around with.  LeBron was the foundation that those players were laid upon to make the Cavs a contender in the east.

The biggest things hamstringing the Cavs are they traded all of their picks away in recent years to be able to add veteran players to put around LeBron in an effort to win with him.  The other is while they do have a decent amount of cap space to add someone they do not have a lot to add much and the deep end of the free agent pool has all but dried up.  Most of what is left on the market are restricted free agents and second tier players that playoff teams are looking to add in hopes they are the missing piece to get them to the next level.  There are no marquee names left

The biggest “names” still out there are Shaquille O’Neal and Tracy McGrady and neither of them have the wheels to be dominant players in the league any more.  The only other intriguing names out there are guys like Al Harrington, Ray Felton, Udonis Haslem, and Richard Jefferson, none of which are suited to be franchise type players.  The Cavs could potentially add one of the latter players and be a fringe playoff team in the east but that is about it.  Someone like an Al Harrington or Richard Jefferson probably puts them about on the same level as the Charlotte Bobcats.  A collection of two or three good players but no elite ones that make them serious contenders.

The question the Cavs face now is whether they should try and scrape together a team that could slide into the bottom half the playoff bracket in the east or do they blow it all up and start rebuilding?  They are still committed to Jamison and Williams for the next two years so a lot of what they do may depend on whether they can find someone to take either of those two contracts off their hands for younger players, expiring contracts, and/or draft picks.

The thing of it is though is there are not a lot of potentially intriguing names set to hit the open market next summer unless Carmelo Anthony does the unthinkable and turns down the contract extension on the table and hits the market under the CBA that is sure to lower the max amount players can make.  If ‘Melo does hit the open market it will be because he has his heart set on playing in New York anyway so it is probably a moot point.

Besides, given how much of an ass Gilbert has been in the aftermath of LeBron’s decision it seems unlikely that any marquee free agents are going to entertain the idea of going to Cleveland any time soon.  The city is not considered to be one of the hot spots around the league in the first place and Gilbert acting like a jilted bride left standing at the altar does not make things any better for him or the fortunes of his franchise.

My guess is the Cavs will try and deal away some of their veteran contracts like Williams and Jamison who might be of some value to teams looking for that extra player to get them to the next level with eyes on landing someone like Harrison Barnes, Perry Jones, or Jan Vessley in next year’s draft.

Their best bet to get back to being relevant again will be to try and stockpile draft picks in hopes they can land the right two or three players and building a good young core of talent the way Portland, Oklahoma City, and Chicago has done and then look to adding that one or two veteran players needed to put them over the top.  After all now that LeBron is moving on Quicken Loans Arena is going to be a ghost town next season and nobody in Cleveland is going to pay attention to the Cavs until they get that fresh young talent to re-energize the franchise.