Category: Fantasy Basketball (Page 251 of 274)

It’s a done deal.

The New Jersey Nets have acquired guards Devin Harris, Trenton Hassell, Maurice Ager, center DeSagana Diop and forward Keith Van Horn along with Dallas’ first round draft picks in 2008 and 2010, and cash considerations from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for guard Jason Kidd and forwards Antoine Wright and Malik Allen, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today.

I think Devin Harris is going to be a very good point guard, so the wildcard of this trade is Antoine Wright. If the Mavs don’t get to the Finals during Kidd’s second stint in Dallas, then Wright will have to turn into a player for this trade to be considered a good one.

Here is some good insight from ESPN’s Mark Stein. He makes a good point about the Mavs’ last two playoff exits and the need for a change in the locker room.

Deaven George blocked the first trade, but the Mavs and Nets figured out another way to complete the Kidd-to-Dallas trade.

After having one trade proposal fall through and another come close to suffering the same fate, the Nets and Mavericks nailed down an agreement Monday night that should have the future Hall of Fame point guard in a Dallas uniform by tonight.

“It appears it’s a go,” Nets president Rod Thorn said in a statement released by the team Monday night.

After the teams’ first agreement fell apart last week, they settled on a new one Sunday night – with Kidd, forward Malik Allen and swingman Antoine Wright going from New Jersey to Dallas in exchange for 24-year-old point guard Devin Harris, forwards DeSagana Diop and Trenton Hassell, guard Maurice Ager, two future first-round draft picks, $3 million and semi-retired former Net Keith Van Horn, whose rights the Mavericks own.

The latest holdup was due to the fact that Van Horn had to agree to report to Nets camp even if he has no intention of playing for the team. In order to include him in the deal, the Mavericks signed him to a three-year contract, with $4.3 million guaranteed this season. Since the league wants to be sure there are no salary cap shenanigans going on, it is requiring Van Horn to stay with the Nets for at least a month.

Though Van Horn would receive a huge payoff for doing virtually nothing, there was no guarantee he was going to be willing to agree. Since he’s already earned more than $80 million over the course of nine seasons, money may not be an issue for him. However, it looks as if he’s now a willing participant.

Fate smiles on Keith Van Horn again. He’s going to get another nice payday for showing up in New Jersey for a month. Not bad.

Kidd will give Dallas a toughness that has been lacking there for years, but it still feels like the team is mortgaging its future for a quick fix. Kidd should make the team better for a year or two, but if the Mavs don’t hit pay dirt in the playoffs, then they’ll be regretting trading away Harris and those two first round picks.

Still, it’s nice to see teams rolling the dice a little bit this year.

Everyone has seen the Superman dunk by now, but here’s a better look at the tip dunk and the off the back of the backboard dunk. Be sure to watch the full highlight of the tip dunk because in the first shot of the dunk it’s unclear just what he did.

This guy is a phenom.

The superstars were all on display Sunday night at the NBA All Star Game, and while I do have some random thoughts about the game, I really want to talk about those players who just don’t get enough love. That’s where my 2008 All-Underutilized Team comes in.

Dwight Howard was simply phenomenal in tonight’s Slam Dunk competition. Here’s his most memorable dunk of the night:

But this dunk was even better (sorry for the bad quality). Be sure to watch the replay.

That’s just sick.