Erick Blasco

How does Jefferson help the Jazz become more than a 5-7 seed that loses in the first or second round every year. The Jazz have been annihilated inside by every team they've faced in the postseason the past few years, except the Rockets. Everybody scores on Utah. Yeah Jefferson will produce, but the Jazz defensively will still be the Jazz. That's not a good thing. Acquiring Jefferson is the kind of move that indicates the Jazz are fine with a second round ceiling. Turkoglu, for whatever reasons hated the system in Toronto. It's probably just a front for him to save face for his awful year, but he wanted out of there. Turkoglu can handle but he needs a good screen to create separation. Robin Lopez has a wide body, I'd be surprised if the Turkoglu trade doesn't simply pencil Lopez in as next year's starting center.

The summer days lazily drift by, but not for NBA general mangers still maneuvering to make their teams better. Let’s examine the latest round of trades and what they mean for each new employer and each new employee. Charlotte acquires Erick Dampier, Eduardo Najera, and Matt Carroll from Dallas for Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinca After suffering through an ineffective season marred by injuries and foul trouble, Charlotte shipped off Tyson Chandler for a more reliable center. Dampier doesn’t have the defensive range of Chandler, but he’s more forceful inside, and less brittle. Because Gerald Wallace is an undersized power forward in Charlotte, the Bobcats need to make up for their lack of defensive bulk in the frontcourt. Dampier should do that, improving an already solid defense. Offensively, Dampier doesn’t provide much, but he’s always been a terrific offensive rebounder, and finisher around the rim. Matt Carroll is a shooter to store at the end of Charlotte’s bench, while Eduardo Najera is a hard-working scrapper on his last NBA legs. The Bobcats didn’t acquire a player who could create his own offense, but they gave up two non-scorers for three non-scorers who are better defenders than what they gave up going the other way. Discounting the financials of the deal, the Bobcats improved themselves on the court. Grade: A- Dallas acquires Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinca from Dallas for Erick Dampier, Eduardo Najera, and Matt Carroll The Mavericks are an older team that doesn’t cover as much ground defensively as it once did. Therefore, acquiring the rangy Chandler can serve as a boost to their defense. He’s quick enough to show on screens, to rotate along the interior, and to block shots, while doubling as a sturdy post defender. Chandler’s injury and foul problems are mitigated by having Brendan Haywood on the roster. Ajinca is simply a project big who won’t be a factor in the NBA for a while, if ever. Chandler is a different kind of defender than Dampier, and a better fit right now than Dampier. Najera and Carroll weren’t major parts of Rick Carlisle’s rotation, so the Mavericks, like Charlotte, upgraded themselves on the court. Grade: A- Utah acquires Al Jefferson from Minnesota for Kosta Koufos Jefferson can score in a multitude of ways on the block. He carves out space with a wide body down low, has soft touch on his hooks, and can even put the ball on the floor provided he only has to go in a straight line to the basket. Jefferson has even improved his jump shooting to be a respectable threat outside the paint. He’s certainly the same caliber of back-to-the-basket scorer Carlos Boozer is. However, whereas Boozer could create his own offense from the high post, and was an above average passer, Jefferson’s effectiveness rapidly diminishes the farther away from the paint he is. Jefferson isn’t a willing or able passer, and isn’t turnover prone because he’s too busy attempting shots, even against double teams. He does compare to Boozer in another area of his game—defense. Jefferson’s a slow-to-move, slow-to-recognize player who seldom offers defensive resistance. With Jefferson on the roster, the Jazz will have a low post option to throw the ball into should their various flex sets not produce any offense, plus another effective screen/roll player. However, Jefferson won’t space the floor the way Boozer could, and is just as poor a defender. Essentially trading Boozer for Jefferson is a parallel deal, one that won’t make the Jazz significantly worse or better. Given the way their interior defense has been shredded the past two seasons by the Lakers, you’d think they’d prefer to go in a different direction than acquiring a poor interior defender. Grade: B- Minnesota acquires Kosta Koufos from Utah for Al Jefferson For a team as devoid of firepower as the Timberwolves are, it’s almost unthinkable that they could give away a reliable post scorer and not get anything of value in return. Instead of Jefferson, the T-Wolves have Koufos, a poor facsimile of an NBA player, and will start the unimpressive Darko Milicic at center. Yes, it’s painfully obvious that the combination of Al Jefferson and Kevin Love wasn’t going to cut it and one of them had to go. Neither is particularly athletic, and neither plays any semblance of effective defense. Minnesota values Love’ complementary attributes—his rebounding, his passing, his jump shooting—so they held on to him. Instead, of finding a player who Love could work off of—a post scorer who could draw doubles and pass, an athleticic shot blocker, a wing who could create his own offense—the T-Wolves simply gave Jefferson away, failing to improve their roster. Grade: F Phoenix acquired Hedo Turkoglu from Toronto for Leandro Barbosa and Dwayne Jones After a disastrous season in Toronto, Hedo Turkoglu moves west. On the surface, his last three places of residency will have employed basic tenements of the same offense. Orlando, Toronto, and Phoenix are all high screen/roll offenses with up to four three-point shooters on the floor with a big man setting the screen and rolling. The difference between Turkoglu’s strong play in Orlando to his miserable season in Toronto is the personnel. In Orlando, Dwight Howard’s screens pulverized Turkoglu’s defenders, while Howard’s hoopward rolls sucked in help defenders to collapse on him at the rim. Turkoglu’s three-point shooting punished defenders for going under the screens or for making ineffective closeouts. Meanwhile, his height, handles, and vision allowed him to see where the collapsing help defenders were coming from before making on-point passes. In Toronto, defenses didn’t have to worry as much about Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani as rollers, so defenses didn’t have to suck in as much. Left to his own devices, Turkoglu is an ordinary scorer and playmaker. With Phoenix, who will be Toronto’s primary screen/roll man? Robin Lopez looks the part, but can he be successful without Amare Stoudemire. Hakim Warrick shouldn’t pose too many sleepless nights for opposing coaches either. As such, Turkoglu will be asked to handle the ball less in Phoenix, and to be more of a spot-up shooter, something he certainly does well. Expect an improvement over last year, but don’t expect him to return to Orlando form. Goran Dragic’ emergence made Leandro Barbosa obsolete, as Dragic supplies terrific talent without the reckless decisions that plague Barbosa. Grade: B Toronto acquires Leandro Barbosa and Dwayne Jones from Phoenix for Hedo Turkoglu The Raptors won’t miss Turkoglu’s lack of production, his deflections of criticism, or his overpaid contract. On the downside, the Raptors are now thin at the small forward position and will need to make a move to fill their gap. Barbosa comes in as a player who could supply offense in a pinch as a backup, but he’s another awful defender on an awful defensive team that desperately needs a defensive backbone. Barbosa isn’t a player who’ll make Toronto better, but they saw a chance to get out of Turkoglu’s contract and took it. Grade: B-

I used to spend most of my free time in high school playing video games. Then college came. By my sophomore year, I was only playing a handful of games at friends houses. Now I'm 22 and I haven't played any video games since playing Call of Duty New Years Eve. I've just gotten into text sims so I guess I'm kind of getting into video games again, but yeah, as you get older, your priorities change for the most part. That being said, I know a 37-year old who still plays video games almost religiously (mostly fighting games like Street Fighter or Tekken).

No he wouldn't, Redd was a shell of himself last year, and would be worse this year. He was short on most of his jump shots last year, and his athleticism was sapped---and he was never really athletic to begin with. His defense was poor, and he can't create his own shot as well as he used to. Salmons isn't a bad shooter, and is better in nearly every non-shooting category than Redd. Add in that Salmons can create his own looks, can make plays with his passing, and that the Bucks played very well with him on the court, and he'll at least get the chance to start until it looks like he's having a bad season and the Bucks start losing games. At this stage in their careers, Salmons is a better player. I wouldn't be surprised if Redd is traded before the deadline with his expiring contract.

He could be a decent rotation guy, sure. He has some offensive skills, and you're right about Detroit being a tough situation for him. Remember though, the T-Wolves expect Darko to be their starter based on what-if's. Normally I'd be fine with starting a project seeing as the T-Wolves are rebuilding and looking for any talent at all. But Milicic is infamous for being notoriously lazy and self-absorbed. Players with that kind of character background don't usually blossom as they get older. He doesn't want to put the work in. You know what rookie actually did put the work in and forced Larry Brown to give him minutes? David Lee. He was a bench warmer when he was drafted and worked his way into the rotation simply based on his effort. Next thing you know, he's an all-star a few years later. That's how you earn playing time. Darko expects it to be handed to him. Now he HAS been essentially handed a starting position and I have no confidence that he'll do much with it. He's spent his whole career pouting instead of working so I doubt whether he has a sophisticated enough offensive package that will perform at any kind of high level.

If you bite on a pump fake, you deserve to be called for a foul, no excuses. That's how Jeff Van Gundy would play 2K10, and that's how you all should play!

http://nbaplaybook.com/2010/07/16/jordan-hills-post-up-struggles/#more-3516

You will find out that Q-Rich is as streaky as they come from downtown but it won't stop him from putting up shots.

I don't have the article with me, but I think Basketball Prospectus had a breakdown of probable or estimated shooting percentage. Basically there's an expectation for each player to have a three-point shooting percentage based on that player's previous percentages, age, and comparable players. They found that during the beginning of last season, when Duhon was shooting 24%, there was something like a 0.6% chance of him actually shooting that number. It was one of the most extremely unlikely slumps a player could have. Then he got red hot and was shooting at such high percentages that there was only a tiny percent chance that he would shoot so phenomenally well. Then he concluded the season with a slump that lasted basically from the first week of January to the end of the season. It was nothing but crazy slumps and streaks the whole year round. I have another round of deals I'll be looking at sometime towards the end of next week. Q-Rich will be there.

I just don't think he's that good, especially considering how they essentially sent out Al Jefferson to create room for Milicic. What happens if he turns in a mediocre year or worse? Then what? They'd be on the hook for three more years and they don't exactly have another center waiting in the wings (unless they move Love to center with Beasley at the power forward. Imagine that duo defending your paint.). If he does play well, then it'll be the first time Milicic will have shown anything. I'm all for realized potential, but players with work ethics as poor as Darko don't usually snap their fingers and "get it."

http://www.otrbasketball.com/forums/topic/13958-breaking-down-the-trades/ I looked at most of the early trades with this article. You can see Lee, Maggette, and much more!

The initial rounds of trading and free agency are accounted for with superstars making the biggest splashes. Since LeBron James and Chris Bosh have been talked about ad nauseam, let’s examine which other acquisitions will have their teams riding the crests, and which will have them needing life vests. Amar’e Stoudemire—New York Knicks The last time the Knicks acquired a surly, expensive, immature star, Stephon Marbury held the team hostage for half a decade. Amar’e Stoudemire by default shouldn’t prove to be that cancerous, but his presence hardly guarantees success. Stoudemire does bring a lot to the table. He’s explosive off the dribble from 18-feet in, with the kind of primetime athleticism that overwhelms most frontcourt defenses. He can score with his back to the basket, is an excellent mid-range jump shooter, and will even pass when he knows an assist is on the horizon. He’ll provide the Knicks with the reliable one-on-one scorer the team has lacked, while also doubling as a ferocious screen/roll finisher. Plus, his defense automatically is an upgrade over David Lee. On the flip side, Stoudemire has a subpar basketball IQ and no longer has the services of Steve Nash to serve him cookies on a platter. Stoudemire’s also proven to be antagonistic when he’s getting fewer touches than he feels he deserves. How long will it take Stoudemire to lash out when he realizes that Toney Douglas or the rumored Raymond Felton aren’t quite MVP-caliber point guards, or that defenses can devise schemes structured to strictly take him away without Steve Nash reading defenses and manipulating them. Moreso, Stoudemire’s sad-sack defensive awareness gives back much of the production he puts up. Perhaps Stoudemire can provide just enough firepower to push the Knicks into the playoffs. But there’s also an equal chance that the reunion of Stoudemire and Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni ends in disaster. Grade: C- Raymond Felton—New York Knicks Felton’s a solid point guard who can run an offense and who posted the most efficient shooting percentage of his career last season by taking fewer shots and improving his three-pointer. Still, a career 33% shooter, Felton will have to continue to improve his jump shooting to be an asset in the Big Apple. If not, teams will simply go under screens in screen/roll situations, not allowing Amare Stoudemire free reign to roll to the basket. The last non-shooter the Knicks signed to run the point was Chris Duhon. That didn’t work out too well. Felton could be a similar disappointment. Grade: C Carlos Boozer—Chicago Bulls Carlos Boozer provides the back-to-the-basket scorer the Bulls have lacked for a decade. He has a number of quick spins or fadeaway jumpers in the pivot, is an excellent screen/roll player, and has the quickness to create offense from the high post as well. He’s too short to be an impactful defender, but pairing up with Joakim Noah will alleviate some of his defensive shortcomings. Finally the Bulls have an inside-outside pairing that can create havoc in the playoffs. Grade: A Kyle Korver—Chicago Bulls Chicago struggled with their offensive spacing without Ben Gordon last season, something Korver’s presence will take care of. Korver’s an excellent catch-and shoot player who also knows how to work without the ball and will execute an offensive set. He’s an average defender who can’t create his offense, but he fills a needed role in Chicago. Grade: A- Drew Gooden—Milwaukee Bucks Gooden can shoot and rebound consistently, and can sometimes drive, post, and defend. Gooden’s problem is a lack of focus that leads to mistakes or passivity. However, he’s better than Ersan Illyasova and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute at creating his own shot and rebounding, and is nice insurance at center should Andrew Bogut suffer any setbacks with his various arm and wrist injuries. Grade: B Chris Douglas-Roberts—Milwaukee Bucks Chris Douglas-Roberts is an attacking two-guard who can finish around the hoop, but he’s a poor jump shooter which limits his effectiveness. He fell out of favor with New Jersey’s coaching staff by complaining about his playing time during the entire season 2009-2010 season. With the Bucks, he’ll mostly likely be the team’s fifth wing once Michael Redd comes back and likely won’t see much burn either. How long will it take for him to wind up in Scott Skiles’ doghouse? However, Douglas-Roberts has talent and Milwaukee didn’t give up anything (a second round pick) to acquire him. If he can understand his role and improve his jump shot, he can become an asset this season and into the future. Grade: C Daequan Cook—Oklahoma City Thunder A shooter who shoots too many blanks, Daequan Cook isn’t NBA material. Expect him to ride the pine in Oklahoma City. Grade: F Morris Peterson—Oklahoma City Thunder Morris Peterson is on the decline, so he shouldn’t factor too heavily into the on-court happenings of the Thunder. What he will provide is a veteran wing to mentor Kevin Durant and James Harden who can hit an occasional three-pointer. Grade: C Martell Webster—Minnesota Timberwolves Webster’s a solid defender and three-point shooter who also gives the Timberwolves a package of athleticism and court IQ they haven’t seen from the wing. That said, he can’t create his own shot, something the Timberwolves desperately need from their wings. Grade: C+ Darko Milicic—Minnesota Timberwolves Darko has spent his entire career griping about playing time under the assumption that he’d be a big time performer if teams would only commit to giving him 30-plus minutes a night. Not only is he self-absorbed and delusional, but he’s never come close to providing glimpses of potential indicating that he could be an NBA featured player. As is, Darko has a modicum of offensive talent packaged into mechanical post moves, but he has poor basketball IQ and can’t defend a statue. The Timberwolves are the only team in the league that would willingly start Darko. Consider this season, Darko’s final opportunity to prove himself. Grade: D Michael Beasley—Minnesota Timberwolves Beasley’s lack of refinement hurt him in Miami, where he was too unpolished to play smart, winning basketball. In Minnesota, the expectations are non-existent, and Beasley will have room to make mistakes as the T-Wolves’ featured player. His defense is horrendous, he’s slow to understand what defenses are doing, and his feel for the game is poor—but he has undeniable talent, something the T-Wolves haven’t had much of recently. With the T-Wolves expected to be down in the dumps for several more seasons, taking a flier on Beasley could pave huge dividends down the road. Grade: A Steve Blake—Los Angeles Lakers The perfect fit for the Lakers, Blake knows how to run an offense, is crafty off the bounce, and is a terrific three-point shooter. Point guards in the triangle don’t have as much responsibility as in other systems. Blake’s main responsibilities will be bringing the ball up, making the correct trigger pass, reading the defense, and either cutting or spotting up based on how the defense reacts to the machinations of the triangle. Given that Blake has a high basketball IQ, these things will come quickly to him. Expect him to split time with Derek Fisher, getting more playing time in the middle of halves, with Fisher getting the bulk of the minutes and the beginnings and the ends of halves and games. Grade: A+ Chris Duhon—Orlando Magic Duhon’s a smart pick-and-roll guard who makes terrific passes on rolls, and sees defenders sagging from the wing or corner. However, he’s a subpar shooter who was dreadful for much of last season. What’s there to keep teams from going under screens when defending Duhon, preventing open roll lanes for Dwight Howard? At least, unlike Jason Williams, Duhon’s a sound decision maker and a quality perimeter defender. Duhon should prove to be a better backup than a starter. Grade: B- Kirk Hinrich—Washington Wizards Hinrich is still a pesky perimeter defender who can handle and run an offense. His competitive nature will give John Wall someone to emulate, while also keeping Gilbert Arenas off-the-ball at all times. Hinrich’s ability to spot up and shoot will also allow him to play alongside either guard for short stretches. A smart pickup for a team devoid of good role players. Grade: B+ Randy Foye—Los Angeles Clippers Foye’s too short to be a two-guard, and is too shot happy to be a point guard. He does do a decent job as a playmaker off the bench for teams that need energy from a second unit. He’s a useful backup, but the Clippers are in trouble should anything happen to Eric Gordon. Grade: C+ Ryan Gomes—Los Angeles Clippers Gomes understands the game, but isn’t able to create his own offense, and doesn’t have three-point range. With a Clippers team that features far more playmakers than Gomes is used to from Boston and Minnesota, he should be able to carve a niche for himself as a backup forward who knows how to manufacture offense without the ball. Grade: B- Brian Cook—Los Angeles Clippers All Cook wants to do is stand at the top of the key and launch threes. He needs to shoot them at a high clip because he can’t do anything else. He can’t defend, he can’t finish, he won’t pass, and he’s devoid of physicality. Couldn’t the Clippers just keep Steve Novak? Grade: D-

Muresean got minutes, and Eddy Curry had a season with like, 20 points a game. You have to name players that never got minutes, like the aforementioned Seung-Jin, or Pepe Sow, or Bruno Sundov, or Pavel Podkolzine, mostly guys who were drafted in the 2nd round, played maybe two games, and were generally useless. How can you compare scrubs who never play to find one who was worse than any other other? These guys never did anything at all.

Nothing really to add to this---but add Woj to your bookmarks, the guy knows a lot about the behind-the-scenes workings of the NBA.

Maybe they can be a seven or eight seed and get swept in the first round.

Oh yeah, the guy is totally being serious. I can't wait for the sharks with fricken laser beams to shoot balls through miniature hoops too.

Mutually agreeing to part ways does not always equal firing.

Well, how can you NOT associate Boris Diaw with the romantic era composers? Have you heard the music he makes on the court? Combine that with his multi-tooled skill set, and I propose his new nickname be "The symphonious swiss-army knife!"

Then let him go and use the money to sign three better players.

But look at what they did. They acquired talent in Gooden and Maggette for nothing in Bell and Gadzuric. They upgraded two positions. Keep in mind, their alternative after Maggette to start at the wing is Carlos Delfino. The Bucks played a Hawks team that flat out quit last postseason and still couldn't beat them. They had so much trouble scoring and generating offense when Jennings wasn't hitting his jumpers. They added offensive versatility, and Gooden isn't a worse defender than Illyasova, or Gadzuric. People assume that Maggette's a dog...the guy works hard on offense and puts teams in the penalty just by cutting hard. He's the only perimeter guy the Bucks have who can put the opposing team in the penalty. He won't complain because he'll be one of their go-to options and he'll be playing for a coach who'll get him to buy in. They hope that by giving him a shorter leash defensively, he'll play hard on that end. Yeah, the contracts are long, especially for Gooden. What major free agent wants to play in Milwaukee though? Carmelo Anthony isn't playing for the Bucks next year. Milwaukee's making a play to win a playoff series this year and they've put themselves in position to do so. They still have a huge chip with Michael Redd's golden expiring contract ready to fetch them a piece at the trade deadline. People hated on Maggette in Golden Sate because Monta Ellis is a golden boy despite being just as ball hungry, just as bad on defense, and even more inefficient. Maggette's a nice scapegoat. But the dude can still play and fill a role the Bucks badly need.

It also depends on when the team wants to be competitive. They didn't clear all this cap space and sign Amare to develop projects.

lol, ,I had no idea that was my 1000'th post. Thanks for pointing that out! And yeah, the Warriors have gotten rid of projects and upgraded their frontcourt with Lee. Wright's one of the most polished players on their team, and they'll have money to play with next offseason when Gadzuric and Radmanovic' healthy sized contracts come off the cap.

News was just breaking as I wrote this and I want to wait for most deals to be finalized. I'll probably have a free agent write up this weekend, and then a third article taking care of everything I didn't catch early next week.

It's because when Yi does see the floor, you'll wish you had Ross on your team not seeing the floor.

They'll try to bring Ridnour back if they can afford him, and Thomas if he wants to come back. Stackhouse will probably try the old sit out half of a season and see if the Bucks need him in February.