Trevor Ariza should not be so surprised. He played great. Anyway…

Kobe did it, after a few failed attempts and a whole lot of drama he has succeeded in leading the Los Angeles Lakers to the top of the NBA, and finally without Shaquille O’Neal there to throw his coattails under everyone. This marks Kobe’s 4th championship, tying O’Neal’s tally.

Other big news is of course Phil Jackson winning his 10th championship, making him the all-time leader for coaches. For more on that look a couple of posts down.

You can check the box score here and see the stats for yourself, but of all places, Canada.com seems to be the first place with a nice summary of the game:

Despite falling behind by nine points in the first quarter, the Lakers stepped on the gas in the second, reeling off 16 unanswered points, a run keyed by Trevor Ariza, and took a 56-46 lead at the half. The Lakers were in front by as many as 18 in the second half and didn’t allow the Magic a rally to send the series back to Los Angeles.

The 15 titles by the Lakers are two shy of Boston’s all-time record. It was also a sense of redemption for the Lakers, who lost in the Finals to the Celtics last year. It’s their first time raising the trophy since 2002, the last of three consecutive championships.

Over the course of this series, the Magic never seemed to have things go their way. In fact, watching the games, even when Orlando was winning by considerable margins I felt like it would only be a matter of time before the Lakers steamed back. The inconsistency of the Magic play didn’t instill any confidence in me, and it doesn’t seem to have done much for the Orlando players either.

Credit Kobe Bryant though, he may not have had any incredible performances in this series, but his excellence each night more than enough makes up for it. He’s a deserved Finals MVP.

I’m not going downtown tonight.

There’s been a lot of talk flying around after last night’s ousting of the Cavaliers by Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. One of the most common lines has been about Lebron James’ behavior following the game. Refusing to shake hands and subsequently skipping the post-game press conference has put all kinds of opinions out there as to the ups and downs of his reaction to the loss. Coupled with recent comments by Lebron (which you’ll find below) and a congratulatory e-mail he reportedly sent to Howard, blogs have been burning up with comments. Robert Littal from Black Sports Online had this to say:

From NBA.com

“It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them,” he said. “I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them. That doesn’t make sense to me. I’m a competitor. That’s what I do. It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”

Someone needs to tell Lebron James to grow the hell up. You win like a Champion you lose like a Champion no matter how hard it is. I am very disappointed in him. A competitor and winner respects his opponent regardless of the outcome.

Lebron sounds like a spoiled rich kid who when he lost “took his ball and went home”. He has a long way to go in his maturity to be considered The King of the NBA. Wasn’t even man enough to call Dwight Howard. An email? Seriously Lebron? You would have been more successful on Twitter.
Once again I am very disappointed in his behavior.

Well, I can’t deny that LeBron acted a little bit poorly after the game. As “The Kingâ€� I guess he should really be able to act like one. However, perhaps this just goes to show that he’s human. Let’s remember that he spent his whole season with his eye on the championship, racked up the NBA’s best record, won the league MVP award, and swept his previous playoff opponents. That’s quite a bit to see go up in smoke in one night.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, the Lakers finally made it out of the Western Conference semi-finals. Certainly took them long enough. Arash Markazi from Inside the NBA at Sports Illustrated had an interesting quote after the game:

When Kobe Bryant was asked what he learned about the Lakers after a grueling seven-game Western Conference semifinal series against the Rockets that culminated with an 89-70 win Sunday, he didn’t hesitate before answering.

“That we’re bipolar,” Bryant said with a straight face.

Ya think? While I still whole-heartedly feel the Lakers are the best team in the West, it makes the upcoming series against the Nuggets seem like less of a sure-fire thing. The Lakers, and Kobe Bryant especially, really need to get their act together, take the proper meds or whatever, and regain some consistency.

Their general level of play is high enough that most teams can’t touch them even on an off night, but the Denver Nuggets have a lot of fire in their eyes. Their games haven’t been as well publicized as any of the other potential conference finalists. But as any Detroit fan can tell you, with Chauncey Billups leading them anything could happen when he meets the Lakers.

If Los Angeles can come into their next game on Tuesday with the same level of desire they showed against Houston today, they’ll get past the Nuggets handily. But with even the star-player admitting the team is mentally out of control, it’s anybody’s guess who will show up. If only this kind of wild variety made for more interesting basketball! The Houston/LA series was defined by a succession of surprise blowouts, something pretty boring for a neutral and bad for TV. I’m hoping the Nuggets can keep the Lakers on their toes.

Well, the Lakers are on their way to the NBA Finals to face Cleveland and give us a legendary match-up, oh wait a second…Seems the Houston Rockets, sans Yao Ming, weren’t quite ready to give up the ghost on this series. At least for one night, they showed the Lakers that they were able to step up their game when necessary. Aaron Brooks scored a career-high 34 points and Shane Battier drained 5 threes’ to lead the charge right over the dumbstruck Lakers. As quoted by the Associated Press on ESPN.com, Battier had some valid observations after the game:

“I’m not surprised,” said Battier. “It almost sounds cliche, but we’re a resilient group. We talk about bouncing back. Through adversity, through lineup changes, through trades, through injuries, we’ve never quit and we’ve never stopped believing.”

It was a serious spanking applied to the Lakers, and it’s something the Lakers need every few games or so. I don’t think I’m going out on a ledge here by saying that despite the loss, the Rockets don’t have a prayer of beating the Lakers in this series. The only real weapon Houston had that the Lakers seemed unable to fully counter, Yao Ming, is out with a broken foot.

Besides, Yao Ming wasn’t the turning point anyway, it’s not like the Rockets had much of a chance even with him at 100%. Now that LA’s had this little slap in the face, they’re gonna get real mad, and the next game would be a triumph for the Rockets if they can even keep it respectable.

That’s just what the Lakers do. They get lazy and get beat, then remember why they’re the most dangerous team in the league and win. It’s a lack of focus that may get them in trouble in the Finals, but isn’t going to be enough to worry anybody until then.

First off, pardon the crap pun in the title. With the Detroit Pistons now officially swept by Cleveland, Pistons fans are looking toward next season, as are the columnists. Chris Broussard of ESPN.com writes:

By letting Iverson and his $22 million walk along with Rasheed and his $13.7 million, Detroit will have roughly $17 million in cap space this summer.

With only a few other teams significantly under the cap and most teams trying to cut payroll rather than add it, the Pistons are in terrific position to improve their club. Impact players who are likely to be available as free agents are Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap, Ben Gordon, Marvin Williams, Hedo Turkoglu, Charlie Villanueva and Anderson Varejao.

On top of that, several teams may be looking to trade good players merely to gain financial relief, as New Orleans attempted to do at the trade deadline with Tyson Chandler. Detroit is in position to take advantage of whatever fire sales may take place around the league.

Detroit will have a very different face in the next season. Since their championship run in 2004, it’s been quite a steady rate of decline for Rasheed Wallace and company. Their victory over the highly favored Lakers was, while admittedly not the most exciting brand of basketball, nonetheless a wonderful series to watch. Despite the obviously overpowering talent of the final year that Shaq and Kobe were together on the court, the Pistons managed to generally outplay and outshine them in all 5 games. Their victory was a great upset and a wonderful example of a team beating individual talent.

Will that same mentality exist in Detroit at the start of next season? I can only hope so. In this time when a superstar seems a necessary component to winning, the Cavaliers for example, it was quite refreshing to see fundamental and basic basketball strategies win the day over the flashier favorites.

This year’s playoffs don’t have much of a hope for something like 5 years ago happening again. The Lakers look like pretty heavy favorites (in fact the only team with a semi-shot at beating them is Lebron James and the four other guys he plays with), but with Joe Dumars still a proponent of the solid-D, pass-heavy team play of past Detroit teams, it may be a great year next time around for Pistons fans, but something of a snoozer for everybody else.

Every year, Bill Simmons runs down the MVP race from No. 450 to No. 1 (don’t worry, he skips over a lot of players), and this year is no different.

450. Elton Brand
Dramatically edged out Gilbert Arenas and Tracy McGrady for the coveted LVP (”Least Valuable Player”) Award. Here’s what pushed it over the top: Not only did EB destroy Philly’s cap through 2035, he left the Clips with enough cap space that they reacted the same way looters react during a riot. They wanted to walk out of the store with something … or in this case, Marcus Camby, Ricky Davis, Zach Randolph and a 27-inch Sharp LCD. In a floundering economy, should they have guarded that extra cap room and bided their time like The Team That Shall Not Be Named did? OF COURSE!!!! OF COURSE!!!!! When you include Brand’s luring of Baron Davis to the Clippers, causing the Warriors to overreact with $66 million for Corey Maggette and Ronny Turiaf, you could argue that Brand murdered one franchise and gravely wounded two others. Sounds like an LVP to me.

…

166. Manu Ginobili
Ways I’d dissuade my stars from participating in the Olympics or World Basketball Championships if I owned an NBA team: $1 million under-the-table bonus for NOT participating; free lease of a brand-new Maybach every year; bribery with help from a secretly recorded sex session with a hooker I hired to seduce them; blowing up the aforementioned Maybach as a final threat not to go; and finally, kidnapping.

Simmons goes on to compare Wade’s career with Jack Bauer’s, and describes all the different reasons why ___________ is his 2009 MVP.

Ball Don’t Lie has some choice words for Ron Artest after Houston’s loss last night to the Lakers.

Artest destroyed the Rockets offensively. He shot terrible perimeter looks from inside and outside the three-point arc despite any indication that he deserved those looks, or could hit them on an efficient or consistent basis. 11 points on 16 shots … do you know how bad that is? How much that hurts a team playing in what was essentially a one or two possession game the entire night?

We knew Artest’s ability to help or hurt the Rockets would not come in the form of some lame suspension or locker room issue, but in how he controlled his usage. And he, and Rick Adelman to a large extent, could not cage the pit bull on Wednesday. And it killed the team’s chances of winning.

(Note to Adelman and Daryl Morey … you get paid to cage the pit bull, so cage the pit bull. The overriding fear is that Artest will stop playing defense if he isn’t getting offensive looks, and that’s a reasonable fear, mainly because Ron has done it in the past. Doesn’t matter. He single-handedly lost a game for you tonight, on the defensive end as well. The difference between good and legendary coaches, guys like Phil Jackson and Coach Pop, is their ability to cage the pit bull.)

With Tracy McGrady out, Artest is the main wing threat for the Rockets, and if he can’t find a way to play efficiently offensively, Houston is in for another first round exit from the playoffs.

After the season, Jamal Crawford can opt out of the final two years of his contract. Those two years would pay him $19.5 million, so given the current state of the economy and the coming “nuclear winter” for NBA free agents, it’s highly unlikely that he’d be able to find that kind of money in the open market. But Tim Kawakami says that Golden State head coach Don Nelson is pushing the guard to opt out.

I’ve heard that when Nelson explained Crawford’s recent one-game benching, he spoke about getting the younger players more time, etc, etc.

But Nelson also told Crawford that he was doing the complete benching in order to help Crawford’s per-game averages, all the better for when (or if) Crawford opts-out, which Nelson very much wants him to do this summer.

That is a loud and clear NBA message, by the way. By even mentioning the opt-out (Crawford can erase the final two years and $19M+ on his deal), Nelson was indicating to Crawford that Nelson wanted him to opt-out.

Even more, Nelson was suggesting that Crawford HAD BETTER OPT-OUT or else Nelson would probably make sure that the situation next year isn’t to Crawford’s liking.

My understanding is that Crawford’s reaction was the same as any proud player’s reaction: Why in the world should I be pushed into a decision like that?

Nelson is trying to shove Crawford into opting out, and therefore messing up Crawford’s marketability, which, in the end, probably will drive Crawford NOT to opt out this summer.

I repeat: What in the world is Nelson doing? If you guess that he’s trying to make things as messy as possible, either to shake up the Warriors or to make his firing (with TWO YEARS and $12M left on the deal after this season) as inevitable and quick as possible…

Exactly. Given Nelson’s actions, it only makes it more likely that Crawford would stand his ground and choose to play out the final two years of his contract. The only way I can see an opt out in this scenario is if the situation in Golden State is so bad that Crawford decides it’s not worth the money to stay. Nelson would be better off trying to work with Crawford, but it seems like the two are past that point. The guy is averaging 19.6 points and 4.4 assists per game — it’s not like his contract is dead money. Sure, he has never been known as a good defender and he’s not an efficient scorer (41% FG%), but that shouldn’t be a surprise to the Warriors. Crawford has been in the league for eight years — what did they expect? (And since when did Nelson put a lot of stock in defense?)

One of the things I’d like to see in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement is non-guaranteed contracts. Teams should be able to cut a player if they are underperforming, injured or if the relationship has just run its course. As a consequence, the team would have to pay 50% of the player’s salary for the remainder of the contract. If the player is picked up on waivers, his new team would pay the other 50%, essentially getting him at half price. If he clears waivers, he becomes a free agent and would be able to sign with whomever he likes. This system would reduce the number of dead contracts around the league (which would make management happy) and allow for more player movement in bad situations like Crawford’s (which would make the players happy) while still allowing for some security if a player is injured or his game disappears. This, combined with shorter contracts — three years when a player signs with a new team, four years when he re-signs with his current team — would make it a lot tougher for bad general managers to get their teams into salary cap hell. (I’m looking at you, Ernie Grunfeld.)

He missed the entirety of the 2007-08 season with microfracture surgery on his right knee and now he has a chipped left kneecap which has bitten a good chunk out of this season. The Trail Blazers mishandled the injury, calling it “day-to-day” when in fact it should have been labeled from the start as a potential long-term injury. Jason Quick of The Oregonian does a nice job of breaking down the timeline and Oden’s resulting frustration.

All the while, questions, both inside the Blazers locker room and in public mounted: What is going on? Is he really trying to get back? Why isn’t he playing by now?

Oden was stung by the mounting criticism. A national radio talk show called him a “lemon” and a “bust.” He thought a local columnist questioned his desire to return.

“I get portrayed wrongly, like I don’t have a heart,” Oden said. “But I sit there and I try to explain to people what is going on, and it’s like they aren’t listening to me.”

There is pain, Oden says, and not just any pain, but biting pain. He said it so many times in interviews that he started saying it more demonstratively, in hopes that his louder tone would finally get someone to believe him.

“I don’t know how else to put it: There’s a difference between sore and painful, and this is painful,” Oden said.

He says if the team pushes him to play, he will do it. He just doesn’t know how effective he would be. He can’t run as fast, he can’t jump as high and he is not as agile.

“Look, I’m tired of sitting; I want to get out there,” Oden said. “But damn, if I did go out there and play, it may be worse having me out there. They’d be playing four-on-five most of the time.”

“To this day, there’s still no real timeline,” Oden said. “It’s 7 to 10 days and then see how it feels. Yeah, well, what if the 7 to 10 days comes and it doesn’t feel good? I’m sitting here like everyone else going. ‘What the …?’ I hope one of these days I don’t feel it, but right now, I do.”

I’m really rooting for this kid. He has had a rough go of it in his first two years, but he definitely flashed some potential this season. Keep in mind that he’s just 21 and if he can ever get his knees straightened out — that’s a big IF, I know — he has the ability to become a very good starting center in this league. He’s averaging 9.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks this season and if he can get enough experience and figure out how to stay out of foul trouble, he could be a force. (His PER of 17.80 is 12th amongst centers, ahead of Al Horford, Marc Gasol and Andrew Bogut.) Moreover, he seems a like a thoughtful, worldly guy, and I’d like to see him succeed.

The economy is really starting to take its toll on professional sports, and the NBA is no different. Bad contracts are bad even when the economy is pumping, but they really stand out in tough times like these. So I decided to look through the payrolls team-by-team to try to identify the worst contracts in the NBA. I expected to list 15-20 names, but I ended up scribbling down 68. That’s right, there are no fewer than 68 bad contracts in the NBA.

I didn’t include any of the players that are in the final year of their contracts because…well, what’s the point? They’ll be off the books in a few months anyway. Instead, I wanted to focus on those contracts that are going to haunt teams for years to come, so to be eligible, players have to have at least a year left on their current deals.

It’s tough to compare someone making superstar money to an average, everyday role player, so I split these 68 contracts up into three groups: the Overpaid Role Players, the Not-So-Super Stars and the Injury-Prones. I will rank them from least-worst to most-worst with the thinking that I wouldn’t trade the player for anyone further down the list but I would trade him for anyone previously mentioned. So, for example, if a guy is listed #7 within a particular group, I’m not trading him for anyone ranked #6-#1, but I would think seriously about moving him for a guy that is ranked #8+.

So let’s start with the role players and go from there…

(Note: In most cases, I don’t blame the player himself for his outrageous contract. The fault lies with the general manager that inked the guy to the deal. However, this rule goes out the window if the player has a history of only producing in his contract year – I’m looking at you, Tim Thomas.)

Don’t look now, but Russell Westbrook is on fire. He’s still not shooting the ball particularly well (40% on the season), but check out his February averages:

20.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 5.9 apg and 1.2 spg

He even had his first triple-double the other night when he posted 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks.

Here are Rose’s February numbers:

15.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 6.8 apg and 0.9 spg

Rose is shooting 47% on the season, so he’s a much more efficient scorer.

Still, Rose jumped out to a quick start this season in the ROY race, so it’s interesting to see someone close the gap. I suspect Thunder fans are feeling pretty good about the possibility of having two straight ROY winners. That’s a good way to build a franchise.

Westbrook needs to work on his jumper, but other than that, he looks like the real deal.

After losing to the Thunder Monday night, Mark Cuban was highly critical of his team.

After the Mavericks were humiliated Monday by an Oklahoma City team playing without its top two scorers, Cuban lashed out, and for the first time indicated that there are no untouchables on the team.

“It’s only one game, which I keep reminding myself of today. But let’s just say I wasn’t happy with our preparation, execution or effort. Not only did it look like we had no idea what we were doing, but we did it without effort. The effort and energy, on both sides of the ball, by each player will decide their future with the Mavericks.

“If each player can’t take the personal initiative to make every game important and play like it, I don’t see them being here next season. The ball won’t always bounce the way we want it to, but every player can control their level of effort. If it’s not important enough to them to lay it out every game the rest of the season, they won’t be back. I don’t care what their contract is. I would rather turn over the roster 100 percent than subject fans to another game like last night.

“This team has the talent to win in the playoffs. But that’s only going to happen if all 15 guys know and execute their assignments and play every possession like it’s important.”

Cuban’s comments are totally justified. The Thunder played without Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, starting a lineup of Russell Westbrook, Kyle Weaver, Thabo Sefolosha, Nick Collison and Nenad Krstic. Ouch.

This is the first time that Cuban has indicated that Dirk Nowitzki might not be untouchable anymore. He’s exactly right about how there are nights when the ball doesn’t go through the hoop or that the other team can’t miss, but the effort should always be there. These guys are making millions of dollars to play a game, and while the rest of the economy is tanking and people across of the country are losing their jobs, the least the Mavs can do is play as hard as they can while they’re out on the court. Anything less is an embarrassment and a slap in the face of their fan base.

The Mavs are on notice.

It looks like the Spurs will be able to make a moderate free agent addition in their quest for another title.

Barring an unforeseen snag, Drew Gooden will be joining the San Antonio Spurs later this week, according to NBA front-office sources.

Sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday that Gooden — waived Sunday by the Sacramento Kings before the midnight deadline to be eligibile to play in the playoffs with another team — has made known his intent to sign with San Antonio after clearing waivers Wednesday.

Gooden was pursued by several playoff-bound teams this week, including San Antonio’s divisional rivals in Dallas and New Orleans.

But the Spurs have nearly $1.5 million remaining from their mid-level salary-cap exception to offer Gooden for the rest of the season, as well as a shot at title contention.

San Antonio should be a great fit for Gooden…

Stephon Marbury played 13 minutes off the bench last night and went 4-6 from the field, posting eight points, two assists, a steal, a rebound and three turnovers. More importantly, he helped the shorthanded Celtics beat the Pacers, 104-99.

I saw his second half stint and he played solid defense and found Ray Allen for an open jumper. It’s going to take him a while to get back into the groove, but there is so much focus on how he fits in with the Celtics that I think he’s going to bend over backwards not to be a headache.

With the second pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons select…

Darko Milicic.

This is the blackest mark on GM Joe Dumars’ otherwise solid record guiding the Pistons, but six years later, the Milicic pick is having a domino effect on the franchise. While Dumars did successfully dupe the Magic into trading a first round pick for Milicic in 2006 (which resulted in the selection of Rodney Stuckey in the 2007 draft) the Milicic pick still haunts this franchise. Just take a look at the next few selections in that 2003 draft…

With the trade deadline in the rear view mirror and players tied to their current teams at least until the summer, it’s a good time to take a look ahead at the free agent class of 2009. Given the state of the economy and how so many teams are saving up for the class of 2010, some are suggesting that this summer’s free agency could be a “nuclear winter” of sorts, no pun intended. The salary cap and luxury tax thresholds are likely to decline for the first time in years and that has GMs and owners around the league scrambling to cut salary where they can.

There are three types of free agents: players with early termination options (ETO) or player options (PO), restricted free agents and unrestricted free agents.

Players with ETOs or POs

This group includes Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O’Neal, Al Harrington, Jamal Crawford and Mehmet Okur, but it’s highly unlikely that any of these guys will hit the open market given the kind of money they’ll be making by extending their respective contracts. Of this group, Hedo Turkoglu, Anderson Varejao and maybe Carlos Boozer are the only big names that are likely to hit free agency. Boozer has already stated that he’s going to opt out, but he may decide against it if he doesn’t come back strong from his injuries. Turkoglu — the reigning Most Improved Player — is having another nice season, but he’s not playing quite as well as last year. Still, he can command more than the $7.3 million he’s due to make next season. Varejao could stay with the Cavs and make $6.2 million next season, but he and his agent (Dan Fegan) have been looking for more. Varejao wants a long term deal but it seems he and the Cavs disagree on how much he’s actually worth.

For the most part, guys in this group are going to be conservative and play out their contracts.

Well, the Stephon Marbury saga is over, at least in New York.

Marbury is now eligible to play in the playoffs for another team because his release from New York comes before the league’s Sunday deadline.

With Marbury expected to sign for a pro-rated share of the league’s veteran minimum, Boston’s financial risk is minimal if the experiment doesn’t work and the Celtics decided to subsequently cut Marbury.

It’s believed that Marbury will be forfeiting in excess of $2 million from his $20.8 million salary this season, which would net the Knicks twice that much because of the luxury-tax savings involved.

The conventional wisdom here is that he’ll soon sign with the Celtics, who have been trying to shore up their bench all season after losing James Posey to free agency and P.J. Brown to retirement last summer.

I’m happy that Marbury and the Knicks have been able to part ways. If he does sign with Boston, it will be interesting to see how he fits in with the defending champs.

Yes, it’s 12 days old and the trade deadline has passed, but if you haven’t had the chance to check out his annual trade value opus, it’s a good read. He ranks the top 40 players by total trade value (i.e. age, upside, salary, talent, etc.). Here’s what he has to say about Tim Duncan:

4. Tim Duncan
His finishes in the Trade Value column since 2001: No. 2, No. 3, No. 1, No. 2, No. 1, No. 3, No. 3, No. 4. Uncanny. Speaking of consistency, check out his 12 regular seasons (including this one) split into groups of three seasons …

Duncan (first three years): 22-12-3, 52 percent FG, missed eight games.

Duncan (next three years): 23-13-4, 51 percent FG, missed eight games.

Duncan (next three years): 21-12-3, 50 percent FG, missed 31 games.

Duncan (last three years): 20-11-3, 52 percent FG, missed five games.

Then, remember that he also played 155 playoff games and averaged a 23-13-4 with 50 percent shooting, plus first-class defense and leadership. And sprinkle in the little fact that no Duncan team has ever lost even 30 games in a regular season. Translation: Greatest power forward ever, most consistent superstar ever and you cannot sleep on him in May and June.

I do take issue with a few of his rankings…

Yao at #7? Too injury prone.
KG ahead of Deron Williams? Garnett is too old.
Nash at #23 (ahead of Rondo, Devin Harris, Mayo, Kevin Martin)? Seems awfully high for a 35 year-old.

There are a few others, but I’m not going to nitpick.

- The Celtics (and others) have offered Mikki Moore a contract. He had a solid 2006-07 season, but the 33-year-old’s career has gone downhill since then.

- Stephon Marbury and Knicks GM Donnie Walsh are going to meet tomorrow to try to hash out a buyout agreement.

- The Warriors are going to shut Monta Ellis down for a week due to stiffness in his ankle, the same ankle he injured mopeding around Mississippi.

- The Spurs were reportedly close to trading for Marcus Camby before last week’s trade deadline. Apparently, the Spurs would have sent Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto and George Hill to the Clippers. That’s basically a Hill-for-Camby swap, and I’m surprised that the Clippers didn’t jump on it. Hill is on track to be a starter-quality point guard in the NBA.

- Mike Dunleavy might miss the rest of the season with an injured knee.

You can blame it on the Grizzlies.

Ever since they traded Pau Gasol to the Lakers for a bag of peanuts and some slightly used underwear, NBA teams have become more and more fickle about pulling the proverbial trigger. With the state of the economy, and some owners desperately trying to cut payroll before the cap and luxury tax thresholds decline, it’s a buyer’s market out there. And those buyers are looking for Gasol-type deals. On the flip side, Chris Wallace took all kinds of grief over that trade and general managers around the league don’t want to follow in his footsteps.

After two or three weeks of covering all of this trade chatter, the biggest deal to speak of is the Shawn Marion/Jermaine O’Neal swap and that happened almost a week ago. Sure, guys like Brad Miller, Andres Nocioni, John Salmons, Rafer Alston, Larry Hughes, Tim Thomas, Chris Wilcox and Drew Gooden changed zip codes, but I doubt any fans out there are sporting wood at the idea that one or more of these players is joining their team.

This year’s trade deadline was mostly about teams setting themselves up financially for the next two summers of free agency. Even though there were a number of big names bandied about, the Marion/O’Neal deal is the only semi-blockbuster trade of the season. And, barring some last-minute, late-breaking deal, we have these five teams to blame…

5. San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs were in talks with the Nets about acquiring Vince Carter and also spoke with the Bucks about Richard Jefferson. Either of those players would have been a nice addition, but the Spurs just don’t have the pieces (or the balls) to pull off a trade like that. They were willing to trade for Carter, but they didn’t want to give up Roger Mason or George Hill. So they offer the Nets Bruce Bowen and Fabricio Oberto. Great, the numbers don’t even add up. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t really think that the Spurs should have given up Mason and/or Hill to acquire Carter. They’re arguably the second-best team in the West and their current lineup, if healthy, is likely to give the Lakers fits if the two teams meet in the playoffs with a less-than-100% Andrew Bynum. Plus the Spurs are notoriously conservative when it comes to messing with their chemistry. Jefferson wouldn’t have been a problem in that area but Carter might have been. So the Spurs stand pat. Shocker.