Category: Fantasy Basketball (Page 196 of 274)

NBA trade deadline scuttlebutt

Rich Bucher reports that the Warriors have offered up Andris Biedrins and Anthony Randolph for Chris Bosh, and presumably made a similar offer to the Suns for Amare Stoudemire…J.A. Adande has a source that says that there is a “zero” chance that Stoudemire lands with the Raptors. It seems that Toronto is just not ready to move Bosh, even for a shot at Amare…Henry Abbott says that while most teams are overvaluing their players right now, there are two teams — Golden State and Chicago — that are ready to deal…The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports that the Suns may actually prefer Tyrus Thomas over standout rookie Michael Beasley…NorthJersey.com says that Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Cleveland are all interested in acquiring Vince Carter, but that it’s unlikely that the Nets will send him to an Eastern Conference team…Cleveland.com reports that since the Cavs will be without Sasha Pavlovic for 4-6 weeks that the team is probably going to stand pat with the roster they have. Wally Szczerbiak has been playing better of late and the team believes in its roster… David Aldridge says that despite their denials, the Clippers are very interested in trading Chris Kaman.

Vladimir Radmanovic criticizes Lakers, unintentional hilarity ensues

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.

Stoudemire speaks out about trade rumors

Amare Stoudemire has never been shy about voicing his opinion, and nothing has changed now that he’s on the trading block.

Amare Stoudemire knows he’s on the trading block, and he knows we know. While most athletes would dodge questions about rumors with trite cliches, Stoudemire was refreshingly honest following Sunday’s win in Detroit.

“I know about the rumors. I know what teams are looking. I know what teams want me,” Stoudemire said. “I pretty much know everything — I know what’s going on. I’m definitely in the loop on what’s happening.”

For outside observers, what’s happening is very confusing. The Suns have clearly taken a step back, but if shaking up the roster is the solution as opposed to riding things out, shouldn’t moving the 26-year-old franchise cornerstone be the absolute last resort?

You’d think so, but as Stoudemire sees it, the Suns are motivated as much by their bottom-line as they are putting the best team on the floor. “I think it’s all about what they want to do and what they’re trying to do financially,” he said. “I think their main focus is their financial intake.”

“I heard Avery Johnson say one time I was a bad locker room guy or whatever,” Stoudemire said. “That stuff’s totally B.S. — we get along so well inside the locker room, we hang out with each other probably more than any team in the league as far as camaraderie, as far as hanging out together. We try to enjoy ourselves.”

As one reporter pointed out, several of the Suns have described Stoudemire as being one of the most social players on the team. “That’s my thing, that’s why I don’t understand what Avery Johnson was saying or Tim Legler on NBA Shootaround when they said I was a bad locker room guy. That’s not me. That’s not me.”

“I take pride in really keeping everybody’s spirits up in the locker room, just being that guy that keeps everybody happy and smiling and having a good time,” he continued. “Shaq [is] that way, as well. So with our personalities, we just enjoy ourselves. And even though we went through a bad losing streak there for a minute earlier in the season, we still stayed together, we still kept our motivation, we still had fun. We knew one day [if] we’d stay together it’d turn around.”

Most players field such questions with cliches or gruff non-answers, so it’s refreshing to see Stoudemire talk about it so honestly. He addressed the concerns over his presence in the locker room and is generally upbeat about all the trade talk. I’d like to see someone ask him about the criticism about his defense, but I think much of that is Phoenix trying to justify trading him in the first place.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — you just don’t trade a 6’10”, 1st Team All-NBA talent who is just entering his prime. It’s highly unlikely that the Suns are going to get equal value — just look at last year’s Pau Gasol trade. They’ll probably get a young star, but not someone that’s on Stoudemire’s level.

The funny thing is that Suns fans have turned on Amare, and with this news out in the open, I think something will happen prior to the Feb. 19 deadline. I think it has to. With this many teams competing for his services, someone will offer the Suns something they want.

If he still hasn’t been traded by Thursday, I’m going to offer up 29 trade scenarios for Amare — one for each team.

Lakers beat Cavs in impressive fashion

The Cavs were up 61-51 at halftime, but a 22-8 run to start the third quarter put the Lakers in control of the game, and they went on to win, 101-91. That run included an 11-0 spurt at the start of the quarter, and Mike Brown failed to call a timeout to stop the bleeding. After all, the Cavs are still a young team, so they are not as adept at playing through adversity as, say, the Celtics, Spurs or even the Lakers. I kept waiting for Brown to call a timeout but it never happened, and in many ways, that shift of momentum at the beginning of the second half was the difference in the game.

But it didn’t help that LeBron James shot 5 of 20 from the field. He had a near triple-double (16 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds) but he’d be the first to admit that he didn’t play very well. It’s not often that the Cavs get 57 combined points from Mo Williams, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Wally Szczerbiak and still find a way to lose, but they did just that today.

After the loss of Andrew Bynum for 8-12 weeks, the Lakers have to feel great about completing this five-game road trip with consecutive wins against the Celtics and Cavs. Kobe was apparently battling the flu, but still managed to outscore LeBron (with 19 points) and hit a crucial rainbow jumper with just 2:48 remaining to put the Lakers up six. Lamar Odom (28 points, 17 rebounds) continues to play big basketball in Bynum’s absence, and is doing wonders for the contract that he’ll be signing this summer as a free agent.

So with a 1-3 combined record against the Celtics and Lakers, do the Cavs make a move with Szczerbiak’s expiring contract or do they stand pat and hope for the best? I think they have to do everything they can to win a title (or at least get to the Finals this year) if they hope to keep LeBron next summer, but clearly they have to hold out for a deal that has a great chance to make them better. I think they could package Szczerbiak with Hickson (and maybe a first round pick or two) and get themselves an impact big like Jermaine O’Neal.

Is that worth the risk? Well, O’Neal had 22 points, nine boards and nine blocks in a recent loss against the Lakers and his contract expires in 2010, so it wouldn’t affect the team’s cap flexibility in the long term.

Spurs’ supporting cast keys big win in Boston

The Spurs posted an impressive win over the Celtics, 105-99, which marks the first time this season that Boston has lost two consecutive games at home.

Check out the Spurs’ possessions down the stretch:

3:20 Matt Bonner misses 25-foot three point jumper
2:34 Manu Ginobili misses 23-foot three point jumper
1:57 Matt Bonner bad pass (Kevin Garnett steals)
1:19 Roger Mason misses 27-foot three point jumper
0:45 Matt Bonner makes 14-foot two point shot
0:20 Roger Mason makes 24-foot three point jumper

It’s not often that you see an NBA team go away from their stars for that long in crunch time. The trio of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker only combined for one shot attempt in six possessions over three full minutes. The Spurs started that stretch leading, 90-87, fell behind 93-90, and then ultimately went ahead, 95-93, on the made shots by Bonner and Mason.

Bonner co-led the Spurs with 23 points on 10-17 shooting, and led the team in shot attempts. George Hill was 3-3 and scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter with Duncan and Parker on the bench.

Kevin Garnett led the Celtics with 26 points, but after hitting two jumpers to give his team the lead, he missed a key 17-footer with 0:28 to play.

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