February 6, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Raptors forward-center Andrea Bargnani (7) passes the ball as Boston Celtics center Jason Collins (98) defends during the first half at the Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

With Derrick Rose coming back soon, the Bulls could be looking to make some moves for the second half of the season.

With the trade deadline only a couple of weeks away, the latest NBA Trade Rumor has the Bulls and Toronto Raptors discussing  deal that would send Carlos Boozer to Toronto in exchange for former No.  1 overall pick Andrea Bargnani.

Marc Stein of ESPN.com of  first reported the rumor and did note that more pieces will need to be added as Boozer makes $5 million more than Bargnani this season.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, says talks were initiated by the Bulls. Talks aren’t currently active, but could be revisited by the Raps and could also expand to include Nate Robinson and John Lucas III.

It would be  big deal for the Bulls, who would finally be able to unload  Boozer’s hefty contract. In addition, Bargnani would give the Bulls the perimeter shooting that they are desperately missing. Bargnani is averaging 15.9 PPG and 4.3 RPG in 22 games this season.

Boozer would give the Raptors, who already made a big move in acquiring Rudy Gay,  a legitimate post presence in their attempt to make a push for the playoffs. He is  averaging 15.7 PPG and 9.6 RPG in 45 games.

The proposed deal makes some sense for both teams, but I can’t see it happening as it makes less sense from the Raptors perspective.

Boozer makes over $15 million this season and is set to make over $16 million next season and that is a contract Toronto just doesn’t need right now.  In addition, adding Boozer would put the Raptors well over the luxury tax line next year.

However adding a post-player such as Boozer could make the up-and-coming Raptors a handful in the Atlantic Division for the Knicks for the next couple of seasons.

However, my gut feeling is that this deal doesn’t happen. It’s just another big name being rumored to change teams. There is just too much financial problems the Raptors could see in the future by making this type of move.

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With the Cavs having lost the unstoppable Delonte West (plus I think some other guy?), how bad will they be? You might be surprised by our take. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

We already examined how much teams improved/regressed during the off-season, but now we’ll talk about how they stack up against each other.  Meaning, we gave Orlando a zero for their summer and the Wizards a +2, but now we’re here to tell you that yes, of course Orlando is still gonna be far better.  For those who haven’t seen those posts on off-season grades, click the following links to see what we had to say about the Northwest, Atlantic, Central, Southeast, Pacific and Southwest Divisions.  Also, we’re only gonna be talking about the regular season here.  So even though we don’t think the Celts will be a top two team record-wise, it doesn’t mean we think they’re incapable of making it through the gauntlet again.  Lastly, some teams will be put in clusters ‘cuz they’ll likely end up with similar records and what does a victory or two here and there matter?

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1. Rather than a standard A through F grade or going for a scale of 1-10, we shall use a system that my friend Noriko loves: -5 through +5.  It helps differentiate things a bit more, ‘cuz like if a team gets a C-, it’s better than an F, but is it good?  With this scale, you can instead give the team a +1, which shows that they improved the team, but only marginally.  Or maybe they get a zero ‘cuz they didn’t hurt the team or help it.

2. These grades are not, I repeat, NOT, about how good teams will be.  It’s purely about how good their summer moves were.  For instance, the Sacramento Kings may get a higher grade than say the Orlando Magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m insane and think the Kings will be better than the Magic.  It simply means I like the Kings’ draft of DeMarcus Cousins more than the Magic’s signings of Quentin Richardson and Chris Duhon (although I haven’t fully examined those teams yet, so I dunno what grades they’ll get).

3. The grades are not just based on how good the players are, but also their contracts.  Joe Johnson is definitely a top 30 player, but with Atlanta giving him $120 million/6 yrs, the largest contract of anyone this summer, his signing turns into a negative.

4. Grades will be scaled based on what each team could have done.  Meaning the Lakers, a team over the salary cap, get major kudos for snagging Steve Blake, Matt Barnes, Theo Ratliff and bringing back Shannon Brown with their limited financial flexibility, but if say the Knicks, with all their cap space, had only made those moves, I’d pan ‘em.

5. Fit matters.  I like Kirk Hinrich a ton, and had he gone to the Pacers (a team that desperately need a point guard before yesterday’s Collison trade), I would’ve raved about the move.  However, Washington acquiring him is a bit odd considering they already have PGs in John Wall and Gilbert Arenas.

And now…

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What's that sound Boozer hears? Is it the roar of Chicago fans cheering him? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Carlos Boozer just agreed to a 5-year/$80 million contract with the Chicago Bulls, which could possibly bring them back into the LeBron sweepstakes. I wrote earlier today that it was hard to imagine LBJ leaving Cleveland to go to a team where he wasn’t assured to play with a big man, and now that no longer applies to Chi-Town. Will it make a difference? Has LeBron already made up his mind? Can this get him to change his mind? No one frickin’ knows.

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Rival executives will continue to try to convince the Hornets to make Chris Paul available in trades, pointing to the fact that Williams can simply slide the promising Darren Collison and his modest $1.4 million salary into that spot. When those teams get shot down, look for the Hornets — based on the hints we’ve received from more than one exec — to make Collison available as long as the interested party is willing to take back the cap-clogging contract of Emeka Okafor,James Posey or Peja Stojakovic with Paul’s backup.

Everyone’s talkin’ ’bout Tony Parker as a trade target, how’s about the much cheaper Darren Collison with Okafor thrown in as center?  Particularly since New Orleans wants to cut costs they’d be interested in Eddy Curry, unlike San Antonio.  We’d still be able to sign two max free agents, or one and keep David Lee with money left over.

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Alexis Ajinca was picked 20th but has only played 37 games. And he was a first rounder. What happens to players chosen 10 to 40 picks later? ...Usually not much. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

This year the Knicks have no first round picks, although there have been rumors that they might try to buy a late one.  On the other hand, they do have two second-round picks, and yet another rumor (as mentioned by ESPN’s Chris Sheridan) has them possibly buying two more second-rounders.  Me, I can’t help but wonder why?  Many fans seem excited about it and love talking about these hidden diamonds in the rough that we might find to help us turnaround.  My first thought is that if we truly do want to get LeBron or some of the big names to come here, how excited are they going to be about a roster with five rookies (particularly since none of ‘em would be lottery picks or even top 25).  My second thought was: how often do 2nd rounders even end up being valuable players, let alone useable?

I decided to do a little research to answer that question.  I looked at the draft classes from the five years from 2000-2004.  Why those years?  I figured rookies sometimes take a little while to hit their stride, so this means everyone’s had at least 6 years to finally hit their groove.  If they haven’t come into their own yet, we can safely assume it ain’t gonna happen.  I didn’t want to go too much further back though ‘cuz it wouldn’t have included the influx of foreign players.  Plus the year 2000 is cool.  Oh, and one thing to note is that the Charlotte Bobcats joined the league in 2004, so that year we’ve got 30 second-rounders, but the earlier four had just 29 guys each.

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Boozer's hands-off defense assures he'll never be confused for MJ. For LeBron, it's a different story... (source: Yardbarker.com)

On ESPNChicago there was a post today reporting Carlos Boozer stated that he

doesn’t believe his fellow free agents will view playing in Chicago — under the shadow of Michael Jordan‘s legacy — as a negative.

Initially this post was going to be titled “Boozer Wrong To Say MJ’S Legacy Not A Negative,” but after looking at it more closely, I realized that in his actual quote he said it wouldn’t be a negative for most free agents, not all.  It was ESPN, in the post’s title and the above opening line, who incorrectly turned it into a blanket statement about all free agents.  Let’s look more fully at what Booze actually said before I heap anymore abuse on him than I have in the past:

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Would YOU want to live in Cleveland? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

1. Okay, everyone knows about this quote ‘cuz the Chicago Bulls’ Joakim Noah has been relentless in his digs at Cleveland. When given a chance to recant after Game #2, he offered this nugget (amongst others):

“I never heard anybody say I’m going to Cleveland on vacation.”

For the other two quotes, check out the end of the article here.

Wade's coming in for a landing. A free agent landing. (source: Yardbarker.com)

After ESPN’s focus on LeBron James’ free agency last week, this week they turn to Wade:

Henry Abbott, TrueHoop: Wade has complained openly about wanting to play with better teammates. The Heat have schemed blatantly to get major cap room. They are required to sign about a dozen more players. And there are tons of free agents on the market. It’s a lock the Heat will add lots of new talent. It’s not at all a lock, however, that one of those new players will be LeBron James or Chris Bosh. James, I think, will be in Cleveland, and deep-pocketed front offices in Chicago and New York will be pushing hard to add top-shelf talent. Most likely is that the Heat convince Wade to stay with a revamped roster in which he’s the only superstar … unless New York or Chicago can talk Wade into leaving.

First, let’s make it clear it’s less that Wade’s complained and more that he’s made it clear he wants to win.  ”Complaining” makes it sound like he’s some spoiled kid, but he’s said what any star should say: he wants a chance to play for the title during his prime.  While his buddy LeBron has been rather nebulous in his desires, Wade’s been pretty clear and forthright: he wants to stay in Miami as long as they’re competitive.  So while I think it’s extremely unlikely Wade will leave Miami, I gotta disagree with Abbott on his conclusion that Wade will remain there even if he’s the only star.

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Andrew Bogut, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, David Lee, Kevin Love, Troy Murphy, Steve Nash, Joakim Noah, Chris Paul, Zach Randolph, Gerald Wallace and Deron Williams.

Me, I was surprised to learn that Gerald Wallace has averaged over 10 rebounds a game this season, but what surprised Ridiculous was the one player I hid:

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The Celtics' Rajon Rondo drives to the hoop and is shocked to find that the Knicks have a 7-footer playing defense there. Meet Earl Barron. (source: Yardbarker.com)

Two seasons ago the Boston Celtics were the cream of the crop with Kevin Garnett leading their monstrous defense.  Last season they started out strong until KG went down with a knee injury which kept him out of the playoffs.  As a result, they struggled to get past the Chicago Bulls, then were eliminated in just the second round.  This year Garnett is back and ostensibly healthy.  But the mojo is gone.

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Al Harrington passes out exhausted after setting a Guiness Record for "Most Bad Shots In A Minute" (source: Yardbarker.com)

In last night’s game, the Utah Jazz came out not just on fire, but darn near explosive.  In the first quarter they shot 7-for-7 from the three-point line, whipping up 44 points in just 12 minutes.  It seemed like another blowout.  However, the Knicks kept fighting, miraculously tying the game in the third.  In fact, they even had a shot at taking the lead when Tracy McGrady was fouled on a three-point shot “attempt.”  I use quotes there ‘cuz it was one of those annoying plays where the defender has their arm sticking forward, so the star player forces contact, pretending to shoot.  Yes, I shouldn’t sound bitter ‘cuz it was our star player who got the shots, but I hate that rule.  Players like Kobe, Paul Pierce and Reggie Miller always do this lame move.  And actually Danilo Gallinari’s done it a bunch and will likely continue to incorporate it into his game.  I think they’ve gotta get rid of both that rule and the one where you get your defender to jump into the air on a pump-fake, then jump into him for the foul.  I don’t get why they can’t just tweak the rule slightly so that it’s only a foul if the defender initiates the contact.

Wait, wait, how’d I get into this diatribe?  Oh yeah, the point was that TMac had 3 free throw attempts with the Knicks down by one at the end of the third.  He hit the first to tie it, then just had to hit one of the remaining two to give the Knicks’ the lead for once.  He missed ‘em both.

It was a fitting omen, ‘cuz bizarrely enough what cost us this game wasn’t our defense for once, but our inability to put the ball through the hoop.  In the fourth quarter we only managed 11 points.  The Jazz struck for just 16 points, and those five points were the deciding margin.  What happened?  Well…

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Joe Johnson – Atlanta Hawks

As we discussed after the recent Knicks/Hawks game, JJ has a nice relationship with Coach Mike D’Antoni from their time together in Phoenix, plus the Knicks have somehow managed to look competitive this year in the three games he played against us.  When JJ was on those D’Antoni Suns teams, although he was huge for them, at the time he was considered to be at best their fourth most important player (after Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudamire & Shawn Marion).  Joe rightly felt he could be more, a centerpiece, and he wanted to be paid accordingly.  Having achieved all that with the Hawks, he now has reached the point most vets get to: the main thing he wants now is the chance to play for a championship.  He is even one of the few stars who has literally put his money where his mouth is and has stated he’d be willing to take a bunch less money to be on such a team.

Now don’t misunderstand: he knows he has a very good thing going with the Hawks and that they are a really, really good team.  He’s not gonna just leave them to play on a mid-level Knick team.  So ignore this quote in the NY Daily News:

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New Yorkers, rightfully, are worried that this is an all-or-nothing proposition.  Basically, unless we get LeBron James or Dwayne Wade, we’ll just be a slightly above average team.  Kinda like how we looked with Crawford & Randolph.  While there are other studs available this summer like A’mare Stoudamire, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, none of ‘em are mega-stars who ensure you’ll have a legit shot at winning a championship.  Those second-tier guys just assure that you’ll make the playoffs.  Even if you do get two of ‘em.

So if we don’t get Plan A, does that mean Plan B is doomed to fail?  Not necessarily.  Most Knicks fans are worried about Plan B, but that’s ‘cuz they assume it means not just that we sign two lesser talents, but that we sign them to more than they’re worth.  The fear is that we do something like the Pistons did this summer, when they had a bunch of cash and felt compelled to spend it, thus overpaying for Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva, both of whom are currently coming off the bench for Detroit.  Likewise, several years ago a few teams cleared cap space to sign Tim Duncan and Grant Hill.  After Duncan stayed with the Spurs and Hill went with Tracy McGrady to Orlando, Chicago paid a bunch of money to some scrubs just to say they got someone.

Now if Isiah was still in charge, sure, we all know he would definitely follow that path, but doesn’t Donnie Walsh deserve the benefit of the doubt?  Besides the remarkable salary dumping job he did for us, he had quite a run with the Indiana Pacers.  Not only did he assemble enough talent for them to constantly be in the top of the east during the late 1990s, but he even got that team to Finals against the Lakers in… what was it, 2000?  And after that within a year or two he had completely rejuvenated that team, getting rid of Rick Smits, Mark Jackson, Dale Davis, Antonio Davis, Jalen Rose, and turning them into a young Eastern Conference contender around Jermaine O’Neal, Brad Miller, Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Jamaal Tinsley, and the still effective Grandpa Reggie Miller.  This was a team that seemed poised to make it to the finals for the next few years until the unfortunate Malice At The Palace, players-and-fans-scuffle.  Has a team ever been turned around that quickly with a completely new cast?  The Lakers new team is still built around Kobe, one of their two supernova stars from their earlier three-peat.  The old-time Celtics won like 11 championships with various supporting stars, but they all centered around Bill Russell.

Fine, you say, we’ll give Walsh a chance.  But if he doesn’t get LeBron or Wade, what can he reasonably do to get the rest of the cream of the crop?  The key is getting some supporting parts at reasonable prices.  Houston has been excellent at that, getting solid unflashy guys like Shane Battier, Trevor Ariza, Luis Scola, and Carl Landry on the (relative) cheap.  Get Chris Bosh and Joe Johnson to agree to slightly less than the max, and then try to snag Ray Felton, Brendan Haywood, Josh Childress, Shannon Brown, Rudy Gay, Manu Ginobili, Kyle Korver, or Mike Miller on the cheap.  Maybe David Lee or TMac will agree to a lesser deal.  It would be pretty solid to have a line-up of Bosh, Lee, Gallo, Chandler, and Felton with Childress, Brown, Miller & TMac coming off the bench.

Yes, that’d still probably only get us to 4th or 5th in the East, but here’s the thing: it also would keep us out of the tax.  Since you personally don’t have to pay the tax as a fan, you probably don’t care, but it matters a bunch.  Why?  It means that the following summer, 2011, when Eddy Curry’s $11.3 million salary comes off the books, we can use that full amount to sign someone else.  If we give out excessive contracts this summer, we’ll go over the cap and won’t be able to add anyone new after we get rid of Curry.

With that $11+ mill, we could have a real shot at such 2011 free agents as Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Greg Oden, Jason Richardson, Samuel Dalembert, Jeff Green, David West, Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Shane Battier, Aaron Brooks, Tayshaun Prince, Rodney Stuckey, J.R.Smith, Nene, Caron Butler, Joakim Noah, Boris Diaw, Kendrick Perkins, Jamal Crawford, Al Horford, and some guy named Carmelo Anthony.  Adding just one of those guys to the above roster would probably elevate the team to one of the East’s elite.  Adding Melo would bring a very real possibility of winning multiple championships.

By having a few reasonable, desirable smaller contracts, we could also trade Curry’s expiring contract in the middle of next season, so we wouldn’t even have to wait for 2011.  Like by next year the Celtics will finally have to accept that Kevin Garnett is so half-dead he’s practically a zombie.  They realize they need to blow up the team, so they decide to get rid of Paul Pierce for an expiring contract.  He makes more than Curry, but we throw in Mike Miller to make things work.  Using those contracts would also help if say someone like Melo wants more than that $11 mill.  We basically give a Mike Miller to a team for free (like only getting a second round pick in return), and then we have like another $3 mill available to pay Anthony.

The point is that it’s not LeBron/Wade or mediocrity.  It’s about not returning to the ways of Scott Layden & Isiah Thomas (& honestly lots of other GMs), and overpaying mid-level players.

With a few of them likely to sit out this summer so they don’t injure themselves before they get a new contract (in other words the guys the Knicks would chase after: LeBron, Wade, Bosh, plus A’mare Stoudamire who made the pool too), it does provide some openings.  Not to mention that say a banged up Kobe might need to take the summer off to get his body healthy again.  Of course, included in those free agents-to-be are none other than David Lee, so he himself might have to bow out.  Oh, and another thing in Lee’s favor is that once again the Knicks’ coach Mike D’Antoni will be one of the assistant coaches on the USA team.  It’s always nice having someone on the inside to help plead your case.

Anyway, the remaining invitees include the Denver Nuggets’ Chauncey Billups, LA Lakers’ Lamar Odom, plus a who’s-who of all the young and upcoming players in the NBA according to ESPN: the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant (pretty much a lock to make the final roster since he almost made it last time and he’s only gotten better), Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose,

Minnesota‘s Al Jefferson and Kevin Love; Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo of Memphis; Philadelphia‘s Andre Iguodala; Boston‘s Kendrick Perkins; Indiana‘s Danny Granger; New York‘s David Lee; New Jersey center Brook Lopez; Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook; Portland‘s LaMarcus Aldridge; Charlotte‘s Gerald Wallace; and Clippers guard Eric Gordon.

The Americans will choose a group from the roster to take part in their minicamp in Las Vegas in July. They are expected to play an exhibition game in New York before heading to Turkey for the world championships, which they haven’t won since 1994.

Possibly Want?

…except Deron Williams.

Sorry to get your hopes up, but it’s being reported that the Jazz really want to move Carlos Boozer, and the rest of the roster for that matter.

Let’s take a look at the Jazz roster, shall we?

NO. NAME
5 Carlos Boozer PF
9 Ronnie Brewer SG
44 Kyrylo Fesenko C
47 Andrei Kirilenko SF
26 Kyle Korver SG
41 Kosta Koufos C
23 Wesley Matthews G
34 C.J. Miles SF
24 Paul Millsap PF
13 Mehmet Okur C
17 Ronnie Price PG
8 Deron Williams PG

Now, this team is young, but Sloan wants a contender now and has realized this team is going nowhere. They’re going to blow it up, so who could the Knicks use?

At first glance Okur and Korver come to mind. The more shooters the better and pairing Okur and Lee actually might increase Lee’s production. I have ZERO interest in Boozer, so I’m not even going to dive into that one.

It’s unfortunate they’ve already traded Maynor because I really liked him coming out of VCU. He’s a winner and has a great work ethic. Although, PG isn’t really a need right now.

So if the Knicks want to help the Jazz on their firesale, I say Walsh see what they’d like for Okur and maybe Korver. Other then that nobody on that roster is really attractive for a lot of teams.

Jazz are going to have some problems.

Adding Boozer is a disaster waiting to happen and fortunately enough he’s being courted by several teams, which means we don’t have a great shot at adding him to our clustered frontcourt and to tell you the truth I really hate Boozer as a player and person.

A lot of teams have forgotten how he pledged to stay with Cleveland a few years back and then bolted to Utah for more money.

He’s still that same power forward with no defensive mechanics and a guy you can’t take at his word.

Please stay away from this overrated drama queen, Donnie Walsh.

Oh yeah, and here’s the linkage.

Do Not Want.