Category: NBA (Page 479 of 595)

      Yao Ming lost for season

      February 27, 2008 /

      Yao Ming has a stress fracture in his foot and will miss the rest of the season.

      This is devastating news for the Rockets, who will find it difficult to hold on to a playoff spot without their franchise center. Teams like Utah, New Orleans, Golden State and Denver are probably breathing a little easier knowing he’s out. There was talk of a 50+ win team missing the playoffs for the first time in league history, and Houston just has to win 13 of its remaining 25 games to reach that mark, so it still could happen.

      More importantly (for Houston), are the Rockets going to reconsider building around an injury-prone player? Is Yao Ming injury-prone? He played in all 82 games in each of his first three seasons, but in the last three, he has only played in 57, 48, and 55 games, respectively. He is only 27, so conventional thinking would say that he has four or five years left in his prime, but at 7’6″, one has to wonder if his body will be able to hold up that long. Right now, it’s not looking too good.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Tradewatch: 2/26

      February 26, 2008 /

      Let’s take a look at how the big-name players involved in all those pre-deadline trades are doing for their new teams. This is the way to read the line: Pau Gasol, who is 9-1 in games played for the Lakers, has averaged 22.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.5 blocks per game since the trade.

      Pau Gasol (Lakers): 9-1, 22.0p, 7.1r, 2.9a, 1.5b
      Jason Kidd (Mavs): 3-1, 8.3p, 6.8r, 11.3a, 3.8s
      Shaquille O’Neal (Suns): 1-2, 8.7p, 11.3r, 1.7a, 1.3b,
      Shawn Marion (Heat): 0-5, 16.6p, 11.0r, 3.0a, 2.8s
      Mike Bibby (Hawks): 1-4, 11.8p, 5.4a, 2.0r
      Ben Wallace (Cavs): 1-0. 12.0p, 10.0r, 1.0b, 2.0s
      Wally Szczerbiak (Cavs): 1-0, 10.0p, 1.0r
      Drew Gooden (Bulls): 0-2, 14.5p, 8.0r, 0.5b
      Larry Hughes (Bulls): 0-2, 13.5p, 3.5r, 2.5a

      The Gasol trade is obviously working out for the Lakers, but it’s too early to tell how these other trades are going to affect each team’s record. I’ll update Tradewatch every two weeks through the end of the season, so be sure to check back.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      More on the Cavs trade

      February 24, 2008 /

      As a Cavs fan, I love the trade, just because it finally rids them of Larry Hughes. Hughes is a good guy but he was a disaster on this team. Bill Simmons agrees, as he now claims the Cavs should be the favorites in the East:

      As for the other big trade this week, kudos to Danny Ferry for somehow getting four of the best five players in an 11-player trade. That has to be some sort of record, right? I already made the case for Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West helping the Cavs in my Trade Machine piece Wednesday (scroll down to trade 4A), but the Chicago guys pushed the deal over the top for me. First, Drew Gooden needed to go — he was too inconsistent and too much of a bonehead, and we neared the point when a fed-up LeBron might punch him in the face during a game about three months ago — and Joe Smith gives the Cavs steadier minutes and reliable production with those minutes. (Maybe Smith’s ceiling isn’t as high as Gooden’s from game to game, but when you have LeBron you need consistency from the rest of the guys more than anything else.) Second, the fact Ferry was able to trade an overpaid guard who actually drove a frustrated Cavs fan to create a site called www.heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com and update it every day … I mean, even if you got back a dead body for Larry Hughes, it would have been a moral victory.

      Instead, the Cavs got back the Artist Formerly Known As Ben Wallace, someone who stopped being an elite rebounder and shot-blocker about three years ago, but someone with playoff experience and the ability to defend bigger guys like KG, Shaq or Duncan. He certainly makes more sense for the 2008 Cavs than Larry Hughes did. Anyway, I thought the Cavs could win the East before this trade, simply because none of the Eastern teams have someone who can match baskets with LeBron in a close game. Now? They’re the favorites. Look, I love the Celtics, I watch them every game, it has been the most enjoyable season in 15 years. … But a playoff series almost always comes down to one question as long as both sides are relatively equal:

      Which team has the best guy?

      Well, LeBron is better than anyone else in the East. So if you were beating Cleveland this spring, it was happening because your supporting cast was significantly better than LeBron’s supporting cast. That’s why this trade was so dangerous for Boston and Detroit; it shortened the sizable gap between guys 2 through 12 on Cleveland and guys 2 through 12 on Boston and Detroit. Now LeBron has four shooters who have shot 40-plus from 3-point range at least once in their career (Wally, Delonte, Boobie Gibson and Sasha Pavlovic), three seasoned rebounders (Wallace, Smith and Anderson Varejao), a scoring center (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) and, best of all, no Larry Hughes screwing up everything. LeBron is in a much better place than he was last year, and what’s even more frightening is that he has been playing out of his mind since last April. I know the Celtics are 41-11, and I know the Pistons have been there a million times … but still, how could you bet against LeBron in the East when he’s playing like this?

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, NBA

      Blockbuster trade finalized before deadline

      February 21, 2008 /

      Here’s the deal:

      The Cavs get Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West, Joe Smith, and a future second round pick from Chicago.

      The Bulls get Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown.

      The Sonics get the expiring contracts of Ira Newble and Adrian Griffin along with Donyell Marshall, who has one year remaining on his contract.

      Whew!

      I like Delonte West a lot; he and Szczerbiak will give the Cavs two more good shooters to spread defenses. It looks like the Cavs are gambling that Ben Wallace just needs a fresh start. If he can give them a season or two of the defense and rebounding he was known for in Detroit, this should be a worthwhile trade. Larry Hughes never really fit in with the Cavs, so it’s probably a good idea to try something different. He is more of a playmaker, and he didn’t get an opportunity to shine since LeBron handles the ball so much. By making the trade, the Cavs aren’t sacrificing much of the projected salary cap flexibility that they should have in the summer of 2010. They can try this new core for a year or two and see how things go.

      In Gooden, the Bulls finally get a decent post scorer and they are rid of Wallace, who has a pretty awful contract. At first glance, it doesn’t look like Hughes is a very good fit, but it was probably a requirement that they take on his contract in order to unload Wallace.

      By essentially giving away Szczerbiak, Seattle earns even more salary cap flexibility this summer.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

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