Day 1 of the NBA off-season: A Running Diary

Tweet

Two weeks ago before falling asleep at 3 am in the morning (get the irrelevant reference?) I decided to check twitter one more time. The news I read put a huge smile on my face. Why? Because the NBA lockout was over!!! After reading some details about it, I decided to keep a running diary on the events of the first day of the off-season (December 9th). So that brings us to today, but before I begin, I'm going to write some of my thoughts on yesterday's crazy day which involved me spending more time on twitter than actually studying for my exam this morning.

The main story from yesterday was that the Lakers, Hornets, and Rockets had appeared to complete a 3 team trade involving Paul going to the Lakers, Gasol going to the Rockets, and Odom, Scola, Kevin Martin, Dragic, and a pick gong to the Hornets. Everyone had different thoughts on the trade, mostly saying how the Lakers got the best deal. I personally thought that the Lakers got weaker after this deal, unless they were able to get Dwight Howard in a future deal. Even with their struggles last year, the Lakers's main weapon has been their highly skilled big men (Kobe, as great as you are your big men were very important to the titles you won). No team could match their size in previous years. With Paul they get one of the biggest upgrades in a position ever (why does Fisher start on any team?) who can create for himself and others. I could ramble about how have an elite PG is not that significant, but I think I will save that for another article.

Anyways, what happened hours later was shocking to the rest of the league. Stern decided to veto the trade, since it was not for the greater good of the NBA. What the hell does that even mean? Each team got what they wanted, so it seemed to be a fair trade, but Stern wants stars to stay on their respective teams. I agree with this, but next year when Paul leaves (and he will) the Hornets will be left with nothing.... Hopefully, the vetoing doesn't have a large effect on the moves made today, so I will have something to write about.

Today we already got some terribly sad news. Brandon Roy will retire due to career threatening knee problems. Roy was a warrior and one of the best tier B superstars and I feel bad for any hard working athletes who experience career ending injuries, especially ones as young as Roy. On a side note, imagine if Oden and Roy were healthy and the Blazers had a starting lineup of Felton, Roy, Wallace, Aldridge, and Oden....scary.

What to expect today: Terrible contracts handed out that will question why we had a lockout in the first place? (probably just to piss the fans off) Problems with the Hornets making trades, especially involving Paul. 3/6 of the Nuggets best players last year being rumoured to return even though they're stuck in China until March.

Anyways, I will keep up with trades/rumours and signings from now until I go to bed.

2:28 - First official deals, looks like big baby Davis is getting a 4 year $26 million deal from the magic and Grant Hill will resign with the suns for 1 year, $6.5 million.
Random Davis signing, I thought he was going to get traded for Bass, maybe it's a sign and trade? I will share my thoughts when I know exactly what's going on there.
The Hill signing is pretty useless. I think Hill should go to a contender, but maybe he will at the trade deadline or next summer.

2:56 - Chuck Hayes is about to sign a deal with the Kings for 4 years, $21.3 million.
This helps the Kings, since Hayes can do a lot (indicated by his triple double last year) and will give it his all every night. A front court of Cousins, Hickson and Hayes looks like it could be very effective, especially against teams with weaker front courts. I know Daki will be happy about this signing.
They also just re-signed the scoring machine Marcus Thornton to a 4 year, $31 million deal-Edit. Now the Kings look really good and they will be competitive in a few years.
3:11 - Magic use their amnesty clause on Arenas. I wonder if anyone is going to pick him up?
Suns have used their amnesty clause on Vince Carter, apparently saving them $14 million this year.
It's funny how both were great a few years ago and now no teams want them.

4:43 - No trades or signings in the last hour and half, but it looks like the Hornets, Lakers, and Rockets are back in trade talks...this should be interesting.
Also the Raptors look like they're going to sign Gary Forbes (why?) and they have a potential trade for Pietrus which would involve giving the Suns a second round pick.
First of all why does Brian Colangelo hate 2nd round picks?
Secondly, this team loves mediocrity. I know each team has a minimum amount to spend, but Forbes (for 2 years apparently), Magloire and Pietrus (even though he brings good defense) are not the best ways to go about spending your money. Really close to calling it quits as a Raptors fan. They have until the start of the 2013-2014 season to show that they're going in a positive direction, otherwise it will be the end of my time as a Raps fan.
5:35 - Three more deals done. Thad Young re-signs with the 76ers for5 years, $42 million, Daequan Cook re-signs with the Thunder for 2 years, $7.5 million, and Derrick Brown signs with the Bobcats for the minimum, 1 year.
Great job in keeping Thad by the 76ers, even if they had to overpay a little. He brings efficient scoring and rebounding off the bench for them.
Thunder get to keep Cook who is great shooter off the bench for a fair deal.
I don't really have an opinion on Brown, but the Bobcats are terrible. Who is their franchise player? Maggette?

5:48 - Rip Hamilton has been bought out (not using the amnesty clause) by the Pistons.
Great news for my Bulls, since they have a chance to sign him now. In my opinion, they were 1 scoring SG and a motivated Boozer away from winning last year.

6:49 - I'm going to comment on two deals that are done, but not official yet (I can't wait anymore).
The Knicks use their amnesty clause on Billups, and sign Chandler for 4 years, $60 million.
This deal is great for the Knicks since it gives them an excellent front court that will be amongst the leaders in rebounds and blocks (Turiaf and Stoudemire already had high block averages last season). Chandler was Dallas's 2nd or 3rd best player in the playoffs last year, so he should bring the same intensity/a defensive presence to the Knicks. Waiving Billups was a smart move since he did not fill well in the D'antoni system, but I like the guy so hopefully he gets picked up the a contender. The Knicks only need a decent PG and they will have of the top teams in the East.
The other deal involved the Clippers signing Caron Butler to a 4 year, $30 million deal.
This deal is not bad for the Clips since they get a proven player at SF which filling a need. However, Butler is a mid range shooter and will take up some of Griffin's space on offense. Defensively, Butler will improve the Clips perimeter defense and provide some veteran leadership. The biggest problem is that Butler is not the healthiest player, so he might go down mid season with a random knee injury, leaving the Clippers to play Gomes (who is subpar) or Aminu (who is not bad, but needs a lot more time to develop) at the SF spot.
Talks are dying down, but hopefully something else interesting happens tonight!

8:00 - Wilcox signs with the Celtics for a 1 year, vet min deal and Oden's 1 year extension for $8.9 million has been agreed upon.
Wilcox adds some much needed depth to the Celtics front court, because lets fact it, Garnett will not be playing the whole season due to the intense schedule.
The Oden deal is good (very high risk, high reward), but he has suffered a set back in his rehab. The details for the set back were not discussed, but all I know is that the Blazers can't catch a break.
Chandler deal update: The Chandler deal may turn out the be a sign and trade by the Mavs. This would set them up in a good position for next years free agent class.

8:16 - Forgot to include the man with loads of hustle, Jeff Foster resigns with the Pacers for 1 year. Great to see him still playing in the league.
McGrady, Jason Collins and Benson (rookie) have been signed by the Hawks, the terms unknown. I thought McGrady would go to a contender. At least the Hawks know now that they won't be getting out of the 1st round again.
Jeff Green to sign with the Celtics for 1 year, unknown amount. He brings much needed youth to the Celtics. Despite a disappointing year last year as a Celtic, he will be very important this year with the tough schedule and the team's old age. He was quite a good college player and had very solid years in OKC, so I believe he should produce this year playing at the sf/pf spots.

11:50 - 3 more deals have happened since the last log.
Turiaf has been traded to the Wizards for cap space relief. This trade gives the Knicks enough cap space to sign Chandler officially. Turiaf provides the Wiz some defense and leadership off the bench.
The Mavs are close to a deal with Carter. I don't understand this from the Mavs perspective since Vince is a fraction of himself from a few years ago and is still the laziest player in the league. Fernandez will now get less minutes even though he's a better player than Carter. Side note: Imagine their starting lineup in 2005...Kidd, Carter, Marion, Dirk, Haywood..now that's amazing.
The main deal is West being signed (3 years under $30million) and traded to the Celtics for Jermaine O'Neal and a player to be named. Wow at the Celtics. Rondo, Allen, Pierce, West, KG with Bass*, Wilcox, and Green off the bench is very solid. Still a few pieces away, but they are going in a good direction. West is a true example of a player caring about winning since he accepted less money to go to a contender which I respect.
*Looks like there was an exchange of Bass for Big Baby.

Final note, looks like the Chris Paul trade might be finalized by tomorrow.
I'm going to bed now, hopefully you enjoyed this interesting first day of the NBA off-season.

Goodnight