Trades I do adore / put your stars on the block for expiring contracts / and holla at me when Lebron’s in a Nets uniform. Let me slow down a bit as I’ll get to that Lebron part in a minute but for now just

So congrats NBA, you did it, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks but you have managed to pull me back in. Thanks to these trades the NBA is once again FAN-tastic, as one of those corny ass commercials loves to put it. As I have said I was bored with basketball too many fouls, refs have too much control on the end of the game ( and I’m not even talking about the cheating ones ) stars get special treatment and there are too many average teams. Well the last couple weeks has changed that, now we still have a bunch of terrible teams, which is fine with me since I was ignoring them anyway, but the league needs to cut down to about 20 teams, please Stern get that NBA Europe idea out of your head NOW. Now the East is still a 2 team race with the Lebron’s with just an outside chance of making things interesting, but wow how the West has Changed.

Let’s start with the first and frankly the most important trade and thats the one that catered to Mr. Kobe Bryant. You have to give Lakers GM Mitch Kupcheck credit cause not only did he get a big crucial piece to add to a potential championship run, in Pau Gasol, but he gave up NOTHING for it, WOW, imagine if he caved in last year and gave away Bynum for Kidd. Kidd wouldn’t fit in the triangle offense, the only offense he won’t fit in because it makes the point guard into a shooter and they wouldn’t have Bynum who everyone now knows is for real. Right now as constructed if Bynum comes back healthy and Kobe’s pinky holds up I think they are easy favorites to win the Championship as Kobe seems to actually like playing a good teammate and finding people for open shots. With Gasol and Bynum on the blocks Odem and Kobe spreading the court and D Fisher always being left open for wide open jump shots this team is gonna be damn tough to stop. Kobe is one of the best defenders in the game and Gasol and Bynum will cause teams fits on the D as well. Funny how things work just a couple months ago Kobe was crying to anyone and everyone get me out of here now I can’t imagine him being any happier. The only problem lies in that pinky, it’s a serious injury cause it’s on his shooting hand, yeah he has been playing through the pain now, yeah he has a high pain threshold ( so I’m told, how the fuck would I know, I wish I pelted him with rocks to see for myself but I haven’t ) but what happens when he re-injuries it in a couple weeks or a month and he can’t play through it and needs season ending surgery. Listen I get the West is jumbled only 4 games difference from 1st to not making the playoffs but I think they can miss him for six weeks and still get in the playoffs once Bynum comes back, and I would rather be a 6 seed going into the playoffs with a 100 % Kobe than a higher seed with an 80 % Kobe but thats just me. Regardless this post is about the trade and this was a work of art from Kupcheck. However I have to think the Grizzles lost bad, they had to be able to get something better than Kwame ” The flaming faggot (c) Michael Jordan ” Brown for Gasol.

Now here comes the most interesting trade and the hardest to predict what will happen. The answer all revolves around which Shaq are the Suns getting ? At first thought the idea of parting with Marion seems absurd look at his numbers across the board he does everything shoots, drives the lane, passes, rebounds, blocks shots, good perimeter D, problem is he is a whiner who wasn’t happy and continually let everyone know it. The Suns players had enough of him and must love having him not in the locker room anymore. Listen this guy was complaining he wasn’t getting paid enough and the Suns ( one of the cheapest teams in the NBA never willing to go over the luxury tax ) should pay him more. Never mind he was already getting paid 2 mill + a year more than Steve Nash or Amare Stoudamire, he was getting disrespected. GTFOH I damn sure don’t want him on my team. So we got the addition by subtraction theory in play, which granted only goes so far because well the Matrix is THAT good but what it comes down to is how determined is Shaq. Every time Shaq felt the need to prove himself he responds by being, well Shaq and he can’t be stopped, but does he have it in those knees anymore ? Everyone is complaining Shaq cripples the suns they can’t run and gun like they want to, why not ? you need 4 people to run the open floor and Shaq, when healthy, is as good as it gets at getting a rebound and hitting his outlet passes. Also people realize Shaq’s an old man now and the Suns know this they are smart, you won’t see too much of him in the regular season when he gets healthy just enough so they all feel comfortable with how he fits in and in the playoffs. He will be used smartly, they will space his time and he will be in the game early in the quarters getting hacked early and often so the Suns will be in the bonus with 6-8 minutes left in each quarter, at which point they take him out and start making free throw after free throw. Shaq’s size and presence is still enough to scare people from driving the lane and he immediately adds a toughness to them they haven’t had, assuming he can hold up health wise I can’t see this being a bad move, because realistically I didn’t think they were winning it with Marion so why not take a boom or bust chance, if nothing else you get to inject some Shaq in your city.

As for this third trade ( which has taken what feels like 8 weeks to get done, and 12 years off my life ) it is clearly the least important as far as this year goes, but as far as I’m concerned and the soon to be Brooklyn Nets are concerned it’s easily the most important. We will get to the BK Nets in a minute but first lets look at the Mavs. Let’s just say if I was running the Mavs I’d of stayed put. Yeah Kidd is gonna help get everyone else open shots but in the West he is gonna get embarassed on D by the likes of Tony Parker and Chris Paul his knees can’t keep up, and trust me as a Nets fan he will play through the pain like a trooper but you can clearly see the pain in him come playoff time. The Mavs other problem was giving up their only solid defensive big man Diop, so how do they expect to defend Shaq, or Duncan or Bynum and Gasol ? With Erik Dampier, pardon me I had to laugh at that. Now for arguments sake lets say this trade does make the Mavs slightly better than they were a week or 2 ago are they better than the Suns, Lakers, Spurs ? Hell to the no and they probably still won’t be better than the Hornets, Jazz and maybe the Warriors ( B.Diddy will eat Jason up all day ) . All I can really say is Rod Thorn is a genius cause somehow he convinced the Mavs this trade would make sense and I can’t see how he did it. The only time you sell your future ( Harris ) for now is if you think it gives you atleast a 50 % chance of winning it all and or all your stars on on there last years, and neither is the case here, yup you guessed it the Mavs lose. Speaking of losing Devean George is really gonna lose, this jackass refused to be part of the deal ( after asking to be traded a couple weeks ago ) because he didn’t want to lose his right to get signed to a max contract, news flash for you George your avg. @ 3 points a game and your a guard who is gonna give you anything, let alone a max contract. This guy just killed his career cause you know Dallas will shun him as will the rest of the league. Who is gonna take such a delusional selfish player, who provides next to nothing on the court, good luck fading into obscurity George.

Ok so now I’ll get to the Nets and the genius that is Rod Thorn. Everyone in the NBA knew Kidd wanted out and with his high salary and age it was gonna be tough to move, this all kills his trade value yet somehow someway Thorn got exactly what he was looking for ( well not exactly Hassell will take up more space than Stackhouse’s buyout would of, just another case of people not knowing when to keep their mouth shut ) he got a great young point guard who is locked up real cheap for years to come ( 6 years at just under 4 mill a year ) and he got a bunch of expiring contracts, which is a hot commadity in the NBA. So now he has a young solid nucleus of Harris, Jefferson, Boone and Sean Williams ( who are really starting to play good basketball ) and in the next couple years he will have all the cap room in the world and what you ask is he looking to do with that cap space ? Thats right you all remember Jay-Z owns a part of the Nets and King Lebron has made no secrets about wanting to throw the ROC up in BK for Hov, so while it maybe a few years away still you best get used to seeing Bron Bron in a BK Nets uniform and remember you heard it here first.

* throws the ROC up *