There’s a nice early-season matchup between the 2-1 Boston Celtics and the 3-0 Houston Rockets tonight on NBA TV. So far, the addition of Ron Artest has been a good one as the Rockets have won their first three games by an average of 11 points. Wins over the Grizzlies and Thunder aren’t exactly impressive, however, so a win tonight against the defending champs would give the Rockets some more credibility.
Category: Fantasy Basketball (Page 213 of 274)
I wouldn’t classify this as “must-see,” but LeBron is pretty funny in this one. Plus, it never hurts to look at Nicole Scherzinger for three and a half minutes.
With LeBron James on the bench to start the fourth quarter, Mo Williams led the Cavs on a 13-0 run that pushed Cleveland past Dallas, 100-81.
How’s this for a stretch of possessions to open the fourth quarter of a close game: Long jump shot, longer jump shot. Feed a teammate for a layup, then swish another jumper. Get another assist, then nail a 3-pointer from so deep that your defender walks away saying, “Whooo.”
“That’s what they expect,” said Williams, acquired in August to ease the load off James. “Tonight was a great sign. It was a long summer for me, two surgeries. I expected to get going kind of slow, but it was frustrating when you’re used to making shots, making plays.”
The Cavs are just 2-2, but Williams hasn’t hit his stride yet. He’s averaging 13.5 points and 4.8 assists, while shooting 43% from the field. Last season, he averaged 17.2 points and 6.3 assists, while shooting 48% from the field. But with two offseason surgeries and a new offense to learn, it’s tough to expect Williams to hit the ground running. My only concern about the trade (for the Cavs) is that he’s a player that is at his best when he has the ball in his hands. That’s fine when LeBron is on the bench (such as his terrific run in the fourth quarter), but when LeBron is in the game, Williams will have to defer and learn to be a spot up shooter. That’s a tough adjustment to make.
This is going to be one of the more interesting storylines to watch not only for its effect on the Cavs’ fortunes this season, but also to see how it affects LeBron’s future in Cleveland.
One of the by-products of the Billups-for-Iverson swap is that the Detroit Pistons will have a ton of cap space in the summer of 2010, when LeBron James and a number of high-profile free agents could potentially hit the free market. Henry Abbott of TrueHoop goes through the options.
Down the road the Pistons becomes the driving force of big-time free agency as soon as Iverson’s contract comes off the books next summer. The Pistons will combine a winning environment, one of the most respected general managers in the game, and — depending on salary cap levels that are yet to be set, and extensions that may yet be given to existing Pistons — likely enough cap space to sign two free agent players to max contracts over the next summers of 2009 and 2010.
Feast your eyes on this list of players who will be available. 2010 free agents include LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Ray Allen, Tyson Chandler, Manu Ginobili, Richard Jefferson, Joe Johnson, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Redd.
The two that jump out to me are, of course, Chris Bosh and LeBron James. They played together nicely on Team USA, and now Dumars can at least entertain the notion of signing not one of those two, but both.
A team that suspects one of those players might leave via free agency in 2010 might be compelled to realize some value for the player by dealing with a team under the cap like the Pistons in the summer of 2009. (The NBA’s rules about matching up salaries in trades only apply to teams that are over the salary cap. Once Iverson’s big contract is off the books next summer, the Pistons will be able to deal freely.)
Other than Tayshaun Prince and Jason Maxiell, no other Piston is currently signed through 2011 (though the franchise is likely to exercise its option on Rodney Stuckey’s rookie contract). That puts Detroit’s payroll at an estimated $19 million for the 2010-11 season, which should give the team major salary cap flexibility during the summer of 2010.
Abbott thinks that the Pistons can turn this cap space into two premier players. Throw in Prince, Maxiell and Stuckey, and that’s a nice core.
Update: The Pistons signed Rip Hamilton to a three-year extension worth $34 million that would presumably keep him in Detroit through the 2013 season.
According to Pistons Insider A. Sherrod Blakely of MLive, the Nuggets and Pistons have agreed to a blockbuster trade.
The Detroit Pistons have reached a tentative agreement to trade Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson. Neither player was at this morning’s shoot-around. Team officials said that more information would be forthcoming later today.
See this trade in the ESPN Trade Machine.
I do like this trade for the Nuggets. The Carmelo Anthony/Allen Iverson experiment simply wasn’t working and, if this trade does indeed go through, they would acquire one of the league’s best point guards. Billups is tough-minded and would bring a heavy dose of defense to the Nuggets, who really struggle in that area of the game. AI is 33 and Billups is 32, so it’s not like either team is getting vastly older or younger with this deal.
As for the Pistons, I know they wanted to shake things up, but I’m not sure what this does for them. AI does bring more offensive punch, but he can be a liability on defense. Iverson did average more assists than Billups did last season (7.1 to 6.5), so he is a better playmaker than his reputation would indicate.
Read more about the future implications of this trade in my post, “Detroit now a possible landing spot for LeBron?“
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