2011 NBA Trade Deadline Madness!

With the NFL season all wrapped up and March Madness still a few weeks away, this typically means no excitement when in comes to sports this time of year. Most of the NBA games are still pretty meaningless on a day-to-day basis (with the playoffs still a few months away), so the insane amount of activity that occurred right before the trade deadline really injected some life into the sportsworld!!!

Usually the deadline comes with a lot of hype, but passes us with not much activity. Rumors start swirling in early December but usually don't amount to much more than just that. Due in large part to all the big name players switching teams this last summer, NBA franchises made more meaningful transactions than ever this past week! As a fan of the NBA, I don't see how anyone could have been disappointed with all the activity that occurred! Most of the rumored transactions happened, along with many more that we could not have imagined. Here is a summary of all the moves:

• Bobcats' Wallace goes to Trail Blazers
• Celtics send Daniels to Kings
• Rockets' Brooks traded to Suns
• Thunder trade for Nazr Mohammed
• Rockets' Battier traded for Thabeet
• Cavs get Erden, Harangody from Celtics
• Celtics trade Perkins to Thunder
• Clippers' Davis to Cavs for Williams and Moon
• Hawks ship Bibby to Wizards for Hinrich
• Warriors, Nets make trade for Murphy
• Hornets land Landry from Kings
• Deron Williams goes to New Jersey
• Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks
• James Johnson traded to Raptors

For a detailed breakdown on each of the trades listed above, check out this NBA Deals Page. This flurry of activity will drastically reshape the NBA landscape over the next half a decade. Many of these deals have provided teams will the arsenal needed to succeed immediately (Knicks & Thunder) and others the chips to rebuild for the future (Nets, Cavs, & Rockets).

I think that the Oklahoma Thunder made the most impactful deals that are going to help them more this year than any other team. By acquiring Kendrick Perkins and Nazr Mohammed right before the trade deadline, they gave themselves the interior defense to stop the Lakers and Spurs in the paint. I would not be surprised if the Thunder make it through the Western conference that has been weakened by trades. Assuming that the Thunder have enough time to assimilate the new players into their gameflow, they are my surprise pick to win the West and challenge the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals!!!



Lebron & Bosh Still Dealing the Pain!

The last year and a half in the NBA has been CRAZY!!! Now that Deron Williams and Carmelo Anthony have capped it all off with their trades in last 48 hours, we have witnessed a handful of elite players imposing their will on the David Stern and the rest of the league. Free agency, or at least the threat of free agency, has drastically reshaped the NBA's landscape, and maybe not for the better.

Teams have quickly learned from the free agency tornado that swept the nation in 2010, that once a superstar decides he's leaving, you have got to prepare your organization for life without them. Contrary to the comments made by Masai Ujiri, general manager of the Nuggets, Denver and Utah made out pretty well when considering the situation. Both teams had the opportunity to acquire current NBA-ready talent, building blocks for the future, and most importantly, salary cap relief. These teams have a real chance for both immediate and longterm success, unlike my favorite losers, the Cleveland Cavaliers!

The Cavs (and on a lesser level the Toronto Raptors) were blind-sided when "The King" left them high and dry on national television. While it is tough for me to respect the actions of Carmelo and Deron, at least they gave their former teams a fighting chance at some kind of future. The combination of poor decision making by Cleveland's front office and being repeatedly stabbed in the back by a secretive & self-centered Lebron James, has left them as the red headed stepchild of the NBA. So while it might be hard for the fans of the Nugs and Jazz to forgive Anthony and Williams right now, you have to give these guys some credit for not screwing their former fans out of any future hope!

Check out the decision:

Blake Griffin Can't Stop the Justin Bieber Express!

 As a fan of both the NBA and unbelievably awesome music, this All-Star Weekend was a dream come true for the fans (the actual game was even mildly entertaining at times). We got to see the absolute raw power of one of the most talented, rising stars in all the world (that's right, Justin Bieber) and Blake Griffin.

With all the attention of the NBA world being focused on the Carmelo trade situation 24-7, it was a relief to have some fun & entertaining basketball related stories to discuss. Over the past couple of years, most of the pregame competitions have had the hype, but have not delivered a product worth watching in the end. While a few of the contests and entertainment still missed the mark (Haier Shooting Star Competition & the Far East Movement), the overall festivities received two thumbs up from me.

In an effort to attract a preteen, female audience to my site, I will briefly discuss the man of the minute, Justin Bieber. The MVP of the Celebrity Basketball Game put on quite a show, or DID he? The most valuable player of this game came from the losing team and sported a plus/minus of -10? For the people reading this that are strictly Bieber fans, that's like lip syncing the lyrics to Never Say Never in front of a stadium full of fans, you just don't do that! While I don't want to hate on the Biebs, my pick for MVP was Lil Romeo! Romeo led the double digit comeback in the 4th quarter but got Biebered out of the trophy. We all knew that Master P could ball, but now we know that the basketball gene runs deep in the Miller family!

Finally, the dunk competition rocked! All four contestants proved their worth, with Blake Griffin leading the charge in the end. I thought that the Serge Ibaka legit, free-throw line dunk was greatly under appreciated and that it was prearranged that Griffin and Javale McGee would be in the finals. And while a few of the dunks were a little gimmicky, the competition might finally be headed back in the right direction! Great job by all the contestants!