Wednesday, August 03, 2005

NBA Offseason Chatter


Toine is headed
to South Beach
The NBA announced the largest trade in league history last night and when the dust settled, the Heat had somehow managed to swap a decrepit Eddie Jones, Rasual Butler, and the always hilarious Qyntel Woods for Jason Williams, Antoine Walker, and James Posey. Has a team ever made a trade in which all three players they got back were significantly better than the guys they traded away? Whether it works out (imagine the look on Shaq's face when Antoine casts his first 28-foot brick) remains to be seen, but you have to commend Miami, they just upgraded their overall roster significantly with this move.

Weigh in here with all chatter regarding the NBA's offseason moves; we'll discuss everything from summer leagues to trades to free agency.

5 comments:

Jeff Dritz said...

For years I've been saying that Antoine Walker is a ruiner, destroyer of all teams good. We'll see if that plays out now. The guy just takes way too many shots. Nonetheless, it's a good deal for Miami, as long as he's willing to come off the bench.

Man, Atlanta is even gonna screw up the Joe Johnson trade. That'd be great for him, he'll be miserable by December if he ends up with the Hawks. Getting to be a star seems exciting at first, but he'll see how miserable it can be to play for a horrible team. Nobody's happy in those situations. Plus, he's not really a playmaker, which is what they're gonna try to make him be at the point.

Finally, I like the rumor that the Cavs are interested in Damon Jones. Their point guard situation is pretty broke (Eric Snow is not a starting point guard), plus they need a guy who can hit the 3-ball. Jones can do both, he'd be a good fit in Cleveland.

Anonymous said...

Antoine Walker will be Antoine Walker and cause so many problems Miami will curse the day they got him.

Anonymous said...

Saw the Power Forwards column over at WIS. Two things: even though Abdur-Rahim wound up with a different thing, he has to remain as one of the key free agent signings, right? And does Antoine make it four key PF's? He's not getting any love on this site, but he could be the key piece that puts Miami over the top.

Anonymous said...

Where are you guys?

Jeff Dritz said...

"Give us your tired (lazy), your poor(-spirited), your huddled (and non-hustling) masses"

These amendments should be made to the inscription on the Statue of Liberty after Isiah Thomas and the Knicks have, for the second year in a row, agreed to take a problematic, heartless player off the Bulls' hands. Last year Thomas took Jamal "Bombs away" Crawford, and now, he's taken Eddy "29 minutes, 2 rebounds" Curry.

This is the move that should finally end up costing Thomas his job. He gave the Bulls Mike Sweetney, Tim Thomas, Tito Jackson, and the Knicks' 1st-round pick for next year and 2 2nd-round picks for Curry and Antonio "I didn't realize he was still alive" Davis. Sweetney and Thomas are usable pieces for the Bulls this season, and will probably not be re-signed when their contracts run out after this season. Since there are no indications whatsoever that the Knicks will be a good team this year (Jerome James and his $25 million may beg to differ), the pick should be pretty good.

Thomas is staking his rep on Curry, a player who showed no interest, on and off the court, for the first 3 years. Last year, his final season before his contract ran out, he played decently on the offensive end (16.1 pts/game average), but was still awful on defense and the boards, and was content to be on the bench at the end of close games. I have a deep suspicion that the hideous tattoo on his neck says "contract year" in Japanese. Then, towards the end of the year, Curry developed a heart problem that prevented him from playing. The Bulls refused to let him play because they worried he has the disease that killed Reggie Lewis and Hank Gathers. Curry refused to take a DNA test to determine whether or not he has the disease. Apparently, these issues do not bother Thomas enough to think twice about signing Curry for 6 years and $60 million. It's ironic that Curry's health problems surround whether or not his heart is too big, considering the fact that anyone who watched his "effort" on the court was often left wondering if the problem was in fact the opposite. Nonetheless, I expect Curry to drop back into his regular, nonchalant form. Even if he continues to score, the NY media will tear him apart after every 33-minute, 2-rebound game (1/29 last season), 23-minute, 1-rebound game (2/25 last season), or 15-minute, 0-rebound game (3/4 last season).

Isiah Thomas just gave up 2 decent players with expiring contracts and what looks to be a pretty good 1st-round draft pick for a lazy, effortless, 1-dimensional player with serious health concerns. If I were a Knicks fan, I'd be handing out my season tickets to people on the subway. As a Bulls fan, I say: Sweet!