Category: News (Page 57 of 199)

      Magic, Rockets and Nets also on Carmelo’s short list?

      August 18, 2010 /
      Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony (15) drives past Utah Jazz guard Deron Williams (L) and Wesley Matthews in game five of the NBA Western Conference quarter-final playoffs at the Pepsi Center on April 28, 2010 in Denver. Denver beats Utah 116-102 to avoid elimination. UPI/Gary C. Caskey Photo via Newscom

      We can add a few teams to the list of Carmelo Anthony’s ‘acceptable’ trade destinations.

      Ken Berger of CBSSports reports:

      Melo would accept other destinations as well, and the Magic are believed to be at the top of his list along with the Knicks, according to a person familiar with his strategy.

      Chris Mannix of SI.com has a source that says Anthony is interested in being traded to the Rockets or the Nets, as well.

      Multiple league sources familiar with his situation told SI.com that Anthony would also be open to signing a long-term deal with Houston or New Jersey should either of those teams offer the Nuggets an acceptable trade package.

      Getting Anthony, 26, to agree to an extension is the key to any deal as he can become a free agent after the 2010-11 season.

      The trade and the extension would probably have to happen simultaneously for any team other than the Knicks to risk trading for Melo. The Knicks on the other hand could probably trade for Anthony with the confidence that he’d want to re-up next summer. As a side note, the Knicks are reportedly offering Danilo Gallinari and Eddy Curry for Anthony, which is an Anthony Randolph short of the deal I suggested a few days ago.

      I don’t think Denver is all that interested in financial relief, because they could just let Anthony’s deal expire next summer. They need to get a good young player or two and/or one or two first round draft picks. The Rockets have the the rights to the Knicks’ first-round draft picks in 2011 (Top 1 protected) and 2012 (Top 5 protected), but they just traded away Trevor Ariza, who could have been the key name in a possible package.

      But how about Kevin Martin, Jared Jeffries’ expiring deal and one or both of those first round picks? That would give the Nuggets a youngish, reasonably-priced shooting guard to replace some of Melo’s scoring.

      The Magic could offer Marcin Gortat, Mikael Pietrus and Brandon Bass for Anthony, though Gortat is probably the only quality starter in that offer. The Magic’s first-round picks aren’t as valuable as Houston’s since the Knicks still project to be worse than Orlando. The Magic do have the advantage that they are in the Eastern Conference, assuming the Nuggets would prefer to trade Anthony out of the conference.

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      Projected carries in KC, Houston, Indy, Buffalo and Oakland

      August 18, 2010 /
      DENVER - JANUARY 03: Jamaal Charles #25 of the Kansas City Chiefs rushes against the Denver Broncos at Invesco Field at Mile High on January 3, 2010 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

      Chris Wesseling of Rotoworld has released updated carry projections for the entire AFC, but let’s focus on five teams: the Chiefs, Texans, Colts, Bills and Raiders.

      We’ll go one by one:

      Jamaal Charles: 220
      Thomas Jones: 140
      Kestahn Moore: 30

      Charles emerged as the Chiefs’ MVP last year, averaging 20 carries and 121 rushing yards once hit he the starting lineup at mid-season. The projection above accounts for Jones in slightly more than a Willis McGahee-type short-yardage/inside role, giving Charles just under 14 carries per contest. Throw in three receptions per week and it’s enough to leave Charles as a borderline RB1.

      Obviously, these numbers disregard the fact that TJ is still atop the depth chart and the head coach is telling the press that Charles’s role is ‘undefined.’ While it would seem incomprehensible to fantasy owners that Haley would limit Charles’s touches given how well he played last season, the news out of KC should not be ignored. TJ has been overlooked everywhere he’s went and while I’m hoping for a 60/40 split like we see here, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more 50/50.

      Arian Foster: 215
      Steve Slaton: 125
      Jeremiah Johnson: 20
      Chris Henry: 10

      The line for now trendy Foster love starts behind Rotoworld. We were hyping the former Tennessee star as a Dynasty deep sleeper once the Texans snatched him up after last year’s draft while promoting him as the potential answer in Houston by mid-November. Although Ben Tate’s season-ending broken fibula has killed Foster’s sleeper potential for this year, it certainly offers more clarity in this backfield: Foster is Batman; Slaton is Robin. Draft accordingly.

      I didn’t jump on the Foster bandwagon until earlier this summer, but with Tate’s injury, he looks like he should vastly outplay his current draft position (9.02 over the last week). Look for his ADP to continue to rise. I’d start thinking about picking him in the 7th or the 8th. He played very well at the end of last season, has drawn rave reviews from the coaching staff this summer, and it’s clear that the team doesn’t view Slaton as a feature back any longer.

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      Clippers owner proves that he’s still out of touch

      August 18, 2010 /
      Mar 1, 2010; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling (left) and Dave Winfield (center) watch during the game against the Utah Jazz at the Staples Center.

      Funny read by the T.J. Simers of the L.A. Times, who interviewed Donald Sterling at a recent team event:

      A couple of months ago this was going to be the summer of all summers for the Clippers, a fresh start, a chance to hire a new coach, $17 million in cap space to go after LeBron or other big names like him and make a huge splash.

      And so they signed Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes.

      Or, as Sterling put it, “If I really called the shots we wouldn’t have signed Gomes and what’s the other guy’s name?

      “You know, they told me if we built a new practice facility we’d attract all the top players in the game,” Sterling adds. “I guess I should have doubled the size of this place.”

      Good stuff. Simers asked Sterling about how the public dispute with former coach and GM Mike Dunleavy might have affected LeBron’s decision:

      Sterling says he can’t understand why LeBron didn’t listen more intently to the Clippers’ overtures, which included $100 million and unstated things being done by Staples Center to enhance the L.A. invite.

      But picture LeBron sitting there, free agency yet to begin, and reports out of Los Angeles the Clippers are pinching pennies and embroiled in a public dispute with their former coach and last two GMs.

      “If you resign from The Times, what rights do you have?” Sterling says. “The lawyers say [Dunleavy] quit.”

      He says the NBA deals in litigation every day, missing the point the Clippers cannot afford such messy nonsense when trying to rehab a horrendous reputation.

      “In the overall picture,” Sterling continues, “[Dunleavy’s] situation is not that important.”

      Reminded again he’s in charge of the Clippers, as well as the lawyers, and he owns almost every building on and off Wilshire in Beverly Hills — why not just take care of Dunleavy and avoid such a public embarrassment?

      “And not listen to the lawyers?” he says.

      Sterling has a reputation for being a penny pincher, but he has been willing to spend of late. Still, the organization is a joke. In the last 34 seasons, the Clippers have made it out of the first round of the playoffs once — once! — and during that span, they’ve only made the playoffs four times. In a league that rewards poor play by giving teams early picks in the draft, that level of ineptitude is mind-boggling.

      However, there is hope in the form of Blake Griffin, who looks like he can be the real deal if he can only stay healthy. It’s going to take a superstar with a big heart (a la Kevin Durant) to drag this franchise out of the doldrums and back to respectability.

      Is Griffin that guy? Only time will tell?

      “What’s the other guy’s name?”

      Classic.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      LeBron would change ‘nothing at all’ about “The Decision”

      August 17, 2010 /

      GQ interviewed LeBron James before and after “The Decision,” and is publishing a story in the September issue chronicling those pressure-packed days surrounding that widely-panned ESPN special.

      Moehringer had unprecedented inside access: a pair of face-to-face meetings shortly before The Decision and a follow-up phone call six days after the fact. During that postmortem interview, when Moehringer asked James what he’d change if he had a do-over, James replied, “Nothing at all.” Bottom line: LeBron doesn’t really care how it went down.

      James on Cavs owner Dan Gilbert: “I don’t think he ever cared about LeBron. My mother always told me: ‘You will see the light of people when they hit adversity. You’ll get a good sense of their character.’ Me and my family have seen the character of that man.” He went on to say that Gilbert’s post-Decision screed “made me feel more comfortable that I made the right decision.”

      Wow, he wouldn’t change a thing about “The Decision”? This guy really is living on another planet. How could someone be so pigheaded as to not admit that the hour-long special was a bad idea?

      And while I agree with the sentiment about Dan Gilbert’s character, by preceding his wise little anecdote about his mother with a reference to himself in the third person, he loses all credibility.

      The author of the piece, J.R. Moehringer, answered a few of TrueHoop’s questions. One thing he said was especially interesting:

      …but it seems to me that [James] has one formula for success in his life and that comes out of his high school experience.

      This really comes across when you watch the “More Than a Game” documentary about LeBron and the Akron Fab Five. He thrives, he’s happiest, he does his best when he is surrounded by friends. He just didn’t feel like that was happening in Cleveland. It seems pretty clear that Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh aren’t just the best talent he can surround himself with, but they’re a combination of talent and friends. He’s looking for camaraderie. That’s the formula that has worked for him — and the only one that has worked for him. And that comes out of his early childhood when he was completely alone in the apartment he shared with his mother, not knowing his father, not knowing when or if she’d come home. It seems to me these were formative scarring moments that created this need for constant intimate contact. It came across to me watching the documentary. It came across to me reading Buzz’s book. And it especially came across to me when he was introduced to the fans in Miami with Wade and Bosh by his side. He’s not just looking to win. He’s also looking to be happy, and he’s only happy when he’s surrounded by people he cares for and trusts. He’s at his best when he has his brothers in arms around him and he’s at his worst when he’s completely alone.

      This puts his decision into a different context, especially when those rumors about Delonte West are thrown into the mix.

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      It’s on — Nuggets reportedly willing to trade Carmelo

      August 17, 2010 /
      Denver Nuggets interim head coach Adrian Dantley (L) talks with forward Carmelo Anthony during the first quarter against the Utah Jazz in game one in the first round of the NBA playoffs at the Pepsi Center on April 17, 2010 in Denver. UPI/Gary C. Caskey Photo via Newscom

      Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post writes that the Nuggets don’t want to go the way of the Cavs or the Raptors and lose their superstar with basically nothing to show for it.

      There is no way Denver can afford to lose the face of its franchise for nothing as a free agent.

      The Nuggets are now considering a strategy to part ways with their 26-year-old star forward, according to a league source.

      After quietly gauging trade interest in Anthony for weeks, the team’s consternation has only risen as he has made no move to accept a $65 million offer for a three-year contract extension that was formally presented more than a month ago.

      The Nuggets don’t want to get LeBron’d.

      Well if that doesn’t cause the trade offers to come flooding in, I don’t know what will. It should be noted that the Nuggets don’t even have a general manager at this point, so one would think that little piece of business should take priority. It’s hardly fair to the new GM to trade your superstar away before he takes his job.

      What can the Nuggets get for Melo? Well, he’s obviously a coveted player, but with his reported interest in playing in the Big Apple and the leverage of a three-year extension in his back pocket, most teams won’t bother to give up the farm only to rent Anthony’s services for one year.

      The two most serious offers will likely come from the two teams in the New York area — the Knicks and the Nyets. The Knicks could offer Danilo Gallinari, Anthony Randolph and maybe Wilson Chandler as well, while the Nets could put a package together that includes Derrick Favors and Terrence Williams.

      The Knicks have the upper hand because they are reportedly Carmelo’s first choice.

      So if you’re running the Nuggets, would you take Gallinari and Randolph in exchange for Anthony? Let’s not forget that the Knicks just traded David Lee away in order to land Randolph, who has shown a lot of promise and is just 21 years old. In eight games as a starter this season, he averaged 12-6 and 2.4 blocks in just 23 minutes of playing time. In 2008-09, he started 21 games as a rookie and averaged 10-9 and 1.4 blocks in 25 minutes of playing time. And that was playing for Don Nelson, who yanks guys out of the lineup faster than you can say ‘headcase.’

      Meanwhile, Gallinari averaged 15-5 in his second season for the Knicks. He’s just 22 years old and is a 6-10 ‘stretch 4’ who hits threes at a 38% clip.

      If the Nuggets can land both players and maybe get a future 1st round draft pick out of the deal, they can move forward and build around Randolph, Gallinari and Ty Lawson. That’s not bad. It’s better than the alternative, anyway.

      But would the Knicks pull the trigger? Maybe they’d rather wait a year, sign Anthony outright and hold onto Gallinari and Randolph. A lot can happen in 12 months, and there’s a school of thought that they should strike while the iron is hot, but they could also bide their time if they feel like the chances are good that they’ll be able to sign Anthony next summer.

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