So much for Jackson’s wish to be traded to a contender. He’s headed to Charlotte as part of a four-player trade.

In a deal that NBA front-office sources said came together quickly Sunday night and received the needed league approval Monday morning, Golden State sent Jackson and guard Acie Law to the Bobcats in exchange for veteran swingmen Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic.

Let’s see — Jackson has three years left at the tune of $28 million. Radmanovic has one year left for $6.9 million and the other two players (Bell and Law) are free agents after this season. So the Warriors are going to save about $21 million with this move, assuming they don’t re-sign either of the incoming players.

Radmanovic isn’t a bad fit for the Warriors in that he can shoot from long range and can’t play any defense. Bell is known as a hard-nosed defender but his best years are behind him.

Jackson has a reputation for being something of a malcontent, and he asked to be traded to a contender (only he goes to a bottom-feeding Charlotte franchise). If you’re running the Bobcats, why do you make this deal? What are the odds that this works out?

The Bobcats do get a versatile scorer. Charlotte is last in the league in scoring (82.4 ppg) and shooting percentage (39.4%), so he’ll help in the short term, but I don’t see how this improves the franchise in the long term. Jackson turns 32 this season, so he’ll be 35 when his contract expires, and his deal will drastically reduce the team’s cap space in the summers of 2011 and 2012.

This year, we’re doing a division-by-division preview with quick-hitting analysis for every team in the league. If a franchise is a legitimate championship contender, I’ll focus on what stars have to line up for a title run. If a team is a playoff “also-ran,� I’ll identify the weaknesses that have to be shored up via trade, free agency or draft over the next couple of seasons to make it a contender. If a team is likely to miss the playoffs, I’ll take a look at the salary cap, and provide a blueprint for how the team should proceed in the near future to get back in the postseason. At the end of each divisional preview, I’ll provide some (random) thoughts for the fantasy hoopsters out there.

For each division, I’ll pick the order of finish. You’ll also see the team’s league-wide preseason rank in parenthesis. Be sure to check back on Thursday for a preview of the Central Division and on Saturday for the Atlantic Division.

Orlando Magic (4)
The Magic were busy this summer, but did they get better? Only time will tell. Vince Carter, Brandon Bass and Jason Williams are in, and Hedo Turkoglu, Courtney Lee and Rafer Alston are out. Orlando fended off a strong run from the Mavs for the services of Marcin Gortat, and actually played Mark Cuban and Co. pretty well by stealing the up-and-coming Bass away in the process. It appears that Bass may start at power forward, which would move Rashard Lewis to small forward. Since the mismatches Lewis created at power forward were one of the Magic’s strengths last season, this may not be written in stone. Orlando also has the option of starting Mickael Pietrus at small forward and moving Lewis back to PF. But the biggest change to the lineup is the loss of Turkoglu and the acquisition of the 32 year-old Vince Carter, who will likely take over Turkoglu’s initiation of the offense. But keep in mind that the Magic made their playoff run without the services of All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson, and his return will be a significant boost to an already strong roster. The Magic didn’t just tinker with their Finals roster from last year, they made a pretty major overhaul, so it will be interesting to see how this group gels. Stan Van Gundy is one of the best coaches in the NBA, and the regular season should provide plenty of time for the Magic to work the kinks out. A deep playoff run is likely.

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They tried to dump him last season, but by willing to take on some salary, the Hornets are going to turn Tyson Chandler into Emeka Okafor.

That represents a striking departure from the Hornets’ recent cost-conscious efforts to move Chander.

The Hornets initially dealt Chandler to Oklahoma City days before the league’s annual trading deadline in February for the then-expiring contracts of Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith, only for the Thunder to rescind the trade 24 hours later because of concerns about Chandler’s long-standing toe problems.

The widespread belief around the league at the time and then during New Orleans’ subsequent discussions with Phoenix about swapping Chandler for the expiring contract of Ben Wallace — which Phoenix has since bought out — held that New Orleans was only interested in shedding Chandler’s contract in exchange for an expiring deal to create payroll relief.

Swapping Chandler (due to earn $11.7 next season) for Okafor ($10.6 million) will save the Hornets just over $1 million next season and cost them an extra $40-plus million over the final three years of Okafor’s deal if the 26-year-old exercises his $14.5 million option for the 2013-14 season. Chandler has just one year left on his contract after this season at $12.6 million.

This deal hasn’t been formally announced, but if it goes through, the Hornets look to be getting the better end of the trade. Okafor is no Pau Gasol, but he provides a little more offensive punch than Chandler. He has averaged a double-double for five straight seasons, and has improved his field goal accuracy from 45% in his rookie season to 56% last year.

Chandler’s play was lacking last season, mostly because a foot injury limited his explosiveness. After he failing the Thunder’s physical, one wonders if he’ll ever be the same again. The Bobcats are probably doing this to get out from underneath Okafor’s contract, which runs another five years at the tune of $62 million. While that’s a somewhat reasonable price for a good center, Okafor doesn’t have the offensive skills to justify that contract. He’ll bring some defense and toughness, however, which should help the Hornets stay competitive.

With a declining Chandler and Peja Stojakovic’s out-of-control contract, New Orleans looked to be in a tough spot, but this just goes to show that if you’re willing to spend in this economy, you can acquire some talent. If Okafor works out and the Hornets gel, they’ll be back in the thick of things in the West.

Raymond Felton is having a tough time coming to terms with the Charlotte Bobcats on a new deal.

“We’re definitely not close as far as what we’re discussing and what we think fair market [value] is for Raymond,” Bradbury said Wednesday, a day after the meeting.

While Bradbury declined to discuss numbers, he indicated there was a surprisingly hefty difference in the deals he and Higgins proposed for the restricted free agent point guard.

Felton, the Bobcats’ first-round pick in 2005, has maintained he wants to stay in Charlotte. After averaging 14.2 points and 6.7 assists last season and winning over coach Larry Brown, the Bobcats have made re-signing him a top offseason priority.

The Bobcats could match any offer he receives, and Bradbury said he’s had some informal talks with teams. Felton could also sign the one-year tender of $5.5 million and become an unrestricted free agent next season.

Here’s what I wrote about Felton for our 2009 NBA Free Agency Preview:

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There’s a pretty good chance that the current top eight teams in each conference will be the same 16 teams that make the playoffs. According to John Hollinger’s playoff odds, the Charlotte Bobcats have a 4.5% chance and the Indiana Pacers have a 1.1% chance to earn a spot. The Bobcats are four games back of the Bulls and the Pistons with five games to play, so they essentially have to win out or go 4-1 and hope either Chicago or Detroit has a complete meltdown. The Pacers are five games back, so their margin for error is even slimmer.

In the West, the Suns’ recent play (2-4 over their last six) has whittled their playoff chances down to 1.2%. Last night’s game in Dallas was pretty much a must-win, but the Suns lost by 24 points. There is a logjam amongst the likely playoff teams in the West; #3 San Antonio and #8 Dallas are separated by just 3.5 games, so we could see a serious shuffling of playoff matchups over the last week of the season.

The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 19, and the biggest name on the trading block is Amare Stoudemire. The Suns appear ready and willing to trade their former 1st Team All-NBA player (against my free, unsolicited advice), so I decided to play along and come up with a potential trade scenario (or two) for just about every team in the league. I’ll go through the league franchise-by-franchise and discuss the chances of each team actually making a play for the 26 year-old All-Star. Each blurb will also contain a link or two – if you click it you can see the trade in the ESPN Trade Machine. (I wore that thing out!)

For the record, I don’t really care where he lands — I’m just happy that the Suns didn’t announce a deal as I was writing this opus. Now that would have been a bummer.

Let’s roll…

Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks are pretty much set at every position except point guard. Mike Bibby’s contract is up this year, so that’s the only hole going into next season. That said, they’d be more likely to offer some combination of forwards than they would Joe Johnson. How about Al Horford (young star), Marvin Williams (young star) and Zaza Pachulia (cap relief)? I don’t think the Hawks would be willing to part with Joe Johnson or Josh Smith.

Boston Celtics
There’s no deal that would work unless the Suns truly covet Rajon Rondo. KG and Paul Pierce are untouchable. Rondo and Ray Allen for Amare and Alando Tucker would work, but since the trade offers no salary cap relief for the Suns, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Besides, if they trade away Ray Ray and Rondo, who’s going to play guard for the C’s?

Just hours after being traded to Charlotte, Vladimir Radmanovic criticized his old team’s game plan.

“Being a Laker was a great experience,” Radmanovic told The Charlotte Observer before Sunday’s 96-92 loss in Miami. “But it was also frustrating not knowing when and how I’d play.”

“Phil’s system, great as it is, doesn’t give a role player much opportunity,” Radmanovic said. “For Kobe Bryant, it’s great. For Pau Gasol, it’s great. But role players don’t do much.”

The Serbian pointed to the value of his versatility Sunday. He told the Observer he’s comfortable at power forward or small forward.

“I’ve been playing 3 and 4 my whole career,” Radmanovic said. “Obviously I’m a little quicker than most 6-10 guys, so I can guard smaller players.”

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

“I can guard smaller players.”

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

I’ve spent more time than I’d like to admit focusing solely on Radmanovic on the defensive end. Sometimes I’ll just watch him for a series of possessions just for a laugh. The guy is absolutely lost on that end of the court. Lost.

He has no awareness, is unable to see both his man and the ball and is always caught out of position. If he were a rookie or maybe a second-year player, the Lakers could have worked with him. But he’s 28 and it’s tough to teach an old dog new tricks.

You don’t have to be the quickest guy in the world to be a decent defender. You just have to understand positioning and know where you’re supposed to be on the court. Radmanovic doesn’t, and that’s why the Lakers traded him.

I can’t wait to see what Larry Brown does with this guy. Radmanovic might very well force him into retirement again.

In one of the most random trades ever, the Lakers and Bobcats traded disappointments.

The Charlotte Bobcats traded managing partner Michael Jordan’s first draft pick on Saturday, sending struggling forward Adam Morrison and reserve guard Shannon Brown to the Los Angeles Lakers for forward Vladimir Radmanovic.

Jordan’s first major decision after becoming part owner with the final say on all basketball decisions was taking Morrison with the third overall pick in the 2006 draft over Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay and others.

Morrison and Brown were never a good fit. Morrison’s defensive deficiencies didn’t mesh with Brown’s style, and Morrison had failed to hit shots consistently, struggling in a starting role the past four games after small forward Gerald Wallace suffered a partially collapsed lung and a broken rib against the Lakers on Jan. 27.

Morrison, who cut his trademark hair short before this season, will get a chance to crack the Lakers’ rotation and become an outside scoring threat. Morrison, who averaged a national-best 28.1 points for Gonzaga in 2005-06, missed all of last season after tearing a knee ligament in a preseason game.

Morrison, due about $5.3 million next season in the final year of his rookie contract, was averaging just 4.5 points while shooting 36 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3-point range.

The deal also gives the Lakers some salary-cap relief. Radmanovic is owed $6.5 million next season and $6.9 million a year later in a player option.

Since he plays so little (and for the Bobcats), I haven’t seen much of Morrison since he entered the league. His PER (6.02) is brutal and his career shooting percentage (37%) is equally awful. The Lakers are rolling the dice that the guy just needs a change of scenery. He’s a decent three-point shooter (33%) and if he can get his confidence back, maybe he can help his new team. After all, he’s just 24 and still has a little upside.

With this trade, Lakers’ GM Mitch Kupchak rids the team of one of his worst signings — Radmanovic. He’s a good shooter, but he’s completely lost defensively and can’t be trusted on that end of the court. Morrison may turn out to be equally as bad, but the Lakers get out of the last year of Radmanovic’s contract, which runs $6.9 million in the 2010-11 season.

ESPN’s John Hollinger thinks that the Suns’ deal to acquire Jason Richardson is a veritable steal:

The deal for Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley and a 2010 second-round pick cost him only Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and Sean Singletary, and it immediately restores the Suns’ flagging hopes of breaking back into the West’s upper crust. Phoenix Suns GM Steve Kerr has faced a lot of questions during his short stewardship of the Suns, but the only question to ask after Wednesday’s trade with Charlotte is whether he was wearing a ski mask.

Raja Bell is not the player he was two years ago, so this trade is essentially Jason Richardson for Boris Diaw, so let’s take a look at each player’s numbers:

Richardson: 27 years-old, 18.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.6 apg, 44% FG%, 46% 3PT% (37% career)
Diaw: 26 years-old, 8.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.1 apg, 57% FG%

Since Diaw plays fewer minutes (24.5) than Richardson (35.1), it’s wise to compare their Player Efficiency Ratings as well. Richardson (16.97) is the 14th-ranked shooting guard while Diaw (13.47) is #48 amongst power forwards.

Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal are a little long in the tooth, so this is a “win now” move for the Suns. The trade doesn’t put them in bad shape for the summer of 2010, when they’ll have to re-sign Amare Stoudemire and try to attract another player to replace O’Neal and Nash, whose contracts expire after the 2009-10 season.

Richardson is a tremendous scorer and will fit nicely if the Suns try to push the tempo again. Currently, they are #14 in the league in pace, so with the arrival of O’Neal, and to a lesser extent Terry Porter, these are not the run-and-gun Suns that we saw under Mike D’Antoni. Even if they keep their current pace, Richardson is a good shooter and should thrive alongside willing passers like Nash, O’Neal and Grant Hill.

As for the Bobcats, I’d say that the Larry Brown Era is not off to a very good start.

Offseason Movement: The Bobcats re-signed Emeka Okafor to a big contract, which will keep the big man in Charlotte for the foreseeable future. The team hired Larry Brown to take over as head coach.
Keep Your Eye On: D.J. Augustin, PG
The Ray Felton Era may be over in Charlotte. The team drafted Augustin #9 overall, and it looks like they want him to be the point guard of the future. Brown is notoriously tough on his guards, so it will be interesting to see how this position battle evolves over the course of the season. The team has talked about playing Felton at off guard, but he doesn’t shoot the ball well and Jason Richardson will likely get most of the minutes there, so I’m not sure how that’s going to work.
The Big Question: Does Larry Brown still have it in him?
Brown is known for turning teams around. With the team building around Okafor, Richardson and Gerald Wallace, he does have some talent to work with. Can Brown get something out of Adam Morrison? It’s not a given that the 68 year-old has the energy or the stamina to succeed during the grind of another NBA season.
Outlook: The potential is there for a playoff berth in the East. If Brown can coax good play out of Augustin/Felton at the point, Richardson provides efficient shooting at off guard, and Wallace and Okafor continue to produce on the front line, then the Bobcats might be in business. The bench is a question mark, but that’s true for most of the teams in the league. If the team doesn’t buy in to what Brown is selling, we could be looking at another season of New York Knicks-style griping and complaining, only no one will care because it’s Charlotte.

Check out our NBA Preview page for a look at every team. We’ll be posting three previews per business day, which will take us up to the start of the season on Tuesday, October 28th.