NBA Blog

I must admit, I was furious when I heard about the Spurs-Rockets trade.  Jackie Butler and Luis Scola for a European player that does not want to return to the U.S. and a future 2nd round pick?  That is terrible.  Today, the real reason for the deal will become evident.  Spanoulis does not want to return to the U.S. and the Spurs expect him to make a formal request to have his contract removed from the books.  He is in the final year of his rookie contract, and because the Spurs are over the luxury tax threshold, this would save them close to $4 million.  Butler was not going to get minutes this year for the Spurs, because he is too big, too out of shape and too weak defensively.  However, I am still not a fan of this trade.  I really like Luis Scola’s toughness, rebounding, and ability to do the little things on both ends of the floor.  He is also a better scorer than Fabulous Fabrico Oberto. 

Butler for Spanoulis is something of a wash because it saved the Spurs money and Butler may not even get much time for the Rockets this season.  But, I still do not like the deal.  The Rockets needed some help in the post, specifically at power forward, and the Spurs gave two post players away for a 2nd round pick.  They should have held out for more.  There is speculation that several other teams showed plenty of interest in Scola.  If that were the case, I am sure the Spurs could have at least pried one or two more 2nd round selections from some teams.  Many teams just throw their 2nd round picks around freely without ever considering the possibility of landing a talented player. 

For those of you that want to do a little more learning about front-loaded or back-loaded player contracts, and why they are used, take a look at this article from realgm.com

• For 364 days out of the year, San Antonio is my favorite team.  But on draft night, I am going with Portland.  Paul Allen and Kevin Pritchard have been thoroughly entertaining over the past two seasons.  They go about the draft in a manner that can best be described as frantic.  Seriously, they cannot sit still during the draft.  It is like watching an eight-year-old with ADHD who just downed 12 jolt colas, 4 red bulls, and 27 packs of sour patch kids.  They cannot be stopped.  I believe the final tally was 11 trades in two consecutive drafts.  It has to be some kind of record. 
• Portland did a great job last night by finally cleaning house.  All of the relics of the Jail Blazers are finally gone, and they have a tremendous young core of players to start over with.  Frye, Rodriguez, Jack, McRoberts, and Fernandez can all be solid NBA players, while Roy, Aldridge, and Oden will be superstars.  Nate McMillan will have a lot of fun toying with his rotation, because of the versatility of Fernandez, McRoberts and Roy.  They’ll go extremely big, but still be able to get up and down the court.  It will be great to have the Rose Garden rocking again.
• Phoenix sold another pick last night.  I just don’t get it.  They realize that they are allowed to use those things, right?  This year they sold Rudy Fernandez to Portland.  Last year, they sold Sergio Rodgriguez to Portland.  Rodriguez easily could have been their back-up point guard.  Two years ago they sold Nate Robinson.  Last year they also passed on Rajon Rondo.  I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if team Colangelo were still running the show.  Then again, if team Colangelo were still involved, I’m pretty sure Kevin Garnett would be wearing the PHX right now, because he would have shipped Amare’s lazy, no-defense, slow rotation, no practice, selfish rear-end to Minnesota for the chance to win at least two titles while Nash still has something in the tank.
• Houston now has three point guards who shoot first, two shooting guards, two injury-prone centers, and no small forwards or power forwards.  At least they drafted Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry about 15 picks too early.  That was borderline retarded. 
• Isiah continued to impress by trading for headcases with long-term contracts.  But he always gets the best player in the deal.  I just don’t see the Eddy Curry-Zach Randolph-Stephon Marbury trio ending well.  Get ready for some fireworks.
• Get ready for a mega-blockbuster deal.  Golden State has been trying to get Kevin Garnett, and by dealing Jason Richardson last night, they picked up a $10 million trade exception.  That means they would only have to come up with roughly $12 million in contracts to land Garnett.  I wonder what type of package would be necessary to get him.  Do you think Brandan Wright, Al Harrington, Monta Ellis the exception and two future firsts would get it done? 
• Another possibility for Golden State is to make a run at Kobe Bryant, because Mitch Kupchak and the Buss family certainly did not help themselves last night.  They drafted a point guard who is not NBA ready, just like last season, even though they don’t need a point guard for their current head coach.  In the words of Scooby-Doo, “Ruht-roh!”  Kobe is definitely gone, and soon.