Built Ford Tough

Nice move for OKC to add big man depth and Charlotte dumps salary like they so desperately wanted.

I hate this trade for Phoenix Do they have any idea what direction they plan on going in? Talk about a treadmill team.

Dammit, beat again. 2-1 for Dash.

Deal is done. Thabeet and a 1st for Battier.

Kristic is also going to Boston in this trade.

Blah, you beat me to it by about 20 seconds.

I'll post another link when I get one. This is in that chat.

Robinson and a 1st for Parker? Robinson to Golden State for something? Any other rumoured Robinson deals out there that I have missed? Those are the only two I've heard discussed.

In this chat that I am constantly reading (and finding most of these "rumors" that I am posting throughout the forum) http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1504 says that the deal being discussed is Murphy and Biedrins for Jamison. Cavs would then buyout Murphy. Don't know what the Cavs are thinking taking on Biedrins' deal. Isn't is for another 3 or 4 years?

Forgive me if there is a Courtney Lee thread somewhere already. I quickly looked in both forums (Houston and Chicago) and didn't find anything. This isn't really anything surprising, as most people already knew this, but it should be interesting to see if the Bulls cave into the Rockets demand for Asik. Do they want Lee that bad? The ball is in their court.

http://espn.go.com/blog/TrueHoop/post/_/id/25400/sources-cavs-warriors-talk-jamison-deal I could see Murhpy and a 2nd or something for Jamison going down. Cavs cut a year off of Jamison's deal, buy out Murphy and ge ta 2nd in return for all of that. It seems realistic and I think it may be pretty close to working salary wise, although I haven't looked at any real numbers.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Pacers-offering-Ford-buyout-;_ylt=AnSfkjkHnQ_eLIvD7SuWyIu8vLYF?urn=nba-325747 Not really a shocker considering they have tried to buy him out more than once over the past year. I also can't see a trade happening with him. I read somewhere that the Blazers may be interested in signing him should he be bought out.

Apperantly two Western Conference teams have emereged as darkhorses, along with the Bulls and Celtics: Was from this chat: http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1504

I don't know how Parker has played over the past year as I don't exactly make an effort to watch the Cavs play, but if he is still the same type of player as he was for Toronto, he would be a nice pickup for a contender who is looking for a solid defensive, shooting veteran off of the bench. I think he would be a nice fit for the Bulls to fill their shooting guard hole, assuming he is still the same kind of player as he was in Toronto. If the Rockets insist on Asik for Lee, I don't see why they don't flip Miami's pick for Parker or something like that. He isn't as good as Lee, but he is worth more considering what they will have to give up to acquire him in comparision to Lee.

From the Basketball Prospectus chat that is still on going here: http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1504 I don't buy it at all. I can't imagine the day that Colangelo trades Bargnani. I'm sure when that happens LeBron James will announce he "is taking his talents to Canada".

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=355088 I don't really see much else happening for the Raptors. Maybe a trade that will ship somebody like Sonny Weems or Julian Wright for a 2nd or something if a contender is looking to add an end of the bench depth wing player. Other than that, the Raptors only real trade chips are probably Evans, Barbosa and Calderon, although I don't see anybody taking on Calderon's contract and Evans is still injured. That only leaves Barbosa and I don't really see much of a market for him. I know that Chicago was rumored to be interested in him earlier in the season, but that ship has sailed or else he would've been dealt somehow in the Johnson trade. One thing to keep an eye out for is that Joey Dorsey wasn't on the Raptors bench tonight against the Bulls. I don't know if it was because of an injury or what, but he wasn't at the ACC tonight. I would imagine any deal involving him would obviously have a few more pieces as Joey Dorsey by himself probably can't even land you a half eaten doughnut.

Nothing real major or anything, but figured I would post it. The Hawks don't really have many assets to work with outside of maybe Jamal Crawford and Marvin Williams (although I don't see much of a market for him). It was interesting to see that Pachulia wasn't playing tonight considering he has played in every Hawk game this season and, as far as I know and have read, he isn't injured or anything like that.

Michael Beasley is my hero. http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/179845_149450848450200_121566997905252_310225_4352555_n.jpg

Win or lose, this is the best Raptor game I have watched all season long. I don't remember the last time they played with this kind of passion and intensity. This is also the best game I have ever seen from Andrea Bargnani. I honestly have no idea when his stats are like right now and I couldn't care less if I found out that he has 15 points and 3 rebounds after the game. I have never seen him this involved defensively, on the glass and in creating plays. This is without a doubt the best all around game I have ever seen from him. It just baffles me why he can't give this kind of effort on the defensive end and on the glass on a regular basis. EDIT: Forgot to mention that Rose is making Calderon his bitch right now. Man, I almost feel sorry for Calderon right now. It must be embarassing to be constantly blown by and have the guy you are guarding make you look like a complete fool.

Boozer literally just pushes Amir Johnson out of the way on a rebound, no foul call. Ed Davis with a clean block, gets called for a foul. Jay Triano's reaction (and I quote): "[expletive]ing bullshit!!"

Bayless has had a rough game tonight. The offense has been just awful with him running it. A bunch of turnovers and poor shots. He came in and the lead went from 10 to 4 in about 1-2 minutes. Best part of the night so far was Devlin sounding absolutely shocked that the Raptors have a lead going into the 4th quarter. He couldn't even hide the surprise in his voice.

He has gotten away with A LOT of pushing and shoving down low. He could easily have about 4 fouls already. Not to take anything away from him as he has worked his ass off, like he always does, but there have been instances where he should've been called for a couple of fouls and either they weren't called, or given to a Raptor player. The Raptors frontcourt is severly outmatched, though. Either they are giving up way too much length when Davis and Amir are in and trying to guard Noah, or they are just physically outmatched when they are forced to guard Boozer. And of course, Bargnani is outmatched no matter who is on the floor. EDIT: Nice dunk by DeRozan, but Matt Devlin is going to drive me insane with this "No props needed" crap everytime DeRozan dunks the ball. That is three times already in this game alone.

Because you pointed out the obvious? It has been reported before that Williams wanted to be in a bigger market. You weren't exaclty posting anything ground breaking there.

Really nice job from Washington with the whole Hinrich situation. They see that the Bulls want to dump salary at the draft last year and take advantage of it by getting Hinrich. They basically paid Hinrich about $5M (Bulls sent money in the deal) and in return for that got 2 1sts in last years draft (Seraphin and Crawford) as well as a 1st in this years draft. The only Very shrewd magement on their behalf. (I realize they still have to pay Bibby for next year, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him flipped to a contender or bought out).

I think the defense that the Raptors have played in the 2nd quarter is the best I have seen from them in a long time. Davis and James Johnson in particular have been all over the place on the defensive end. They are, for the most part, contesting every single shot, creating turnovers, blocking shots and just being active all over the pace. It is leading to some easy baskets in transition too. Lets see how they do with Rose back in the game, though. I fully expect him to make Calderon look like the pylon that he is.