In his first game after being traded from the Bulls, this mofo shows a pulse. Not only that, but he gets his 3rd double double of the season (and first since the 3rd of January). Furthermore, but his 12 points (season high, by the way) came on 5-6 shooting. True, he benefited from Lebron James’ presence and his passes, but still. He showed much more heart in this one game than in the entire season with the Bulls.

It’s obvious now that the Bulls were his rebound relationship. You know, to help him get over the Pistons quickly, he jumped into the Bulls lap, although he was clearly not happy to be with them and didn’t care much for them. And as it happens with rebound relationships, it didn’t last too long. Now that he managed to get over the Pistons, he is ready to move on. So he gets jiggy with the Cavaliers. Fuckin’ Ben Wallace, man.

Do I sound bitter ? Suppose so. But my beef is less with Ben Wallace and more with the Bulls organization itself. When they saw “the body” had morphed into “the corpse”, they should have just cryogenized his ass on the bench. They had no problem banishing Tim Thomas and he had a similarly huge contract. So why not show some consistency in applying your policies and ban the Monica of Headband-Gate from games and practices as well ? Tell him to sit his ass home and wait for his checks. And then wipe your ass with them before sending them and hope his afro falls over his face one night and suffocates him so you can take his salary off the books.

But looking at the picture above, I can’t help but wonder if perhaps there is an explanation on why Skiles and then Boylan were playing this guy 30+ minutes a game despite him sucking ass. I think Skiles and Boylan were absolutely terrified that he might go on a ‘roid fueled rage and eat them alive. What they didn’t know and what his game made obvious was that by the time he started playing for the Bulls he was no longer on ‘roids, but on Prozac.

Well, not really. Let me start by saying that I have a man crush on Dwight Howard, and I love watching him play. Which means I kinda have to watch Rashard play as well. And each time I watch him play I wonder what part of his game made Otis Smith think believe that he was worth over 20 million per year. Since he’s a good scorer, but not a great scorer or a great passer/play maker, I suppose it’s his defense that must have impressed Otis Smith.

In fact, his elite defense is what got him on the next installment of Better Basketball’s “Better Defense” DVD. It’s a 3 part series talking about defense, blocking shots and rebounding (focusing on defensive rebounding). Here are the covers:

Ok, enough joking. All season long I’ve been hearing how poor Rashard (pun intended) is having such a hard time on D cause he’s a SF who has to guard PF. Can you PLEASE cut out the crap ? He’s 6′10. Most of the starting PF’s in the league are 6′10 or shorter*. Dude is tall and sufficiently athletic to be able to defend opposing PF’s. He should bulk up a little, but I suppose those damn weights are so heavy and you have to lift them so many times to gain some muscle that he just gave up. If he ever tried. I mean …. those contracts are guaranteed, baby. Guaranteed. That means you don’t need to pump iron to get the money. All you need to do is to be able to pick up a check.

And his lack of defense is hurting the Magic a lot. For example, against Toronto when Bosh scored 40 points on like 138% FG shooting, the Magic could have used a tall athletic defender to slow Bosh down. They had to try to use Howard on Bosh at times, but this was not a good thing, cause Bosh has the range to shoot long 2s and if Howard would have tried to close in and take his jump shot away, Bosh would use his quickness to go to the basket.

Rashard would have been the best option against Bosh had his defense been even passable. It’s not like Bosh was taller than him, or bigger. They both are 6′10 and weigh 230 lbs. Not like Bosh could have easily shot over Rashard or he could have pushed him under the basket. But defense is 90% about effort, and Rashard is just not willing to put in the effort.

So it’s a shame that this joker (Otis Smith) saddled the Magic with one of the most horrendous contracts in the league’s history. This absolutely killed their flexibility and now, when they need a true PG to get Howard the ball and a PF who can play D and rebound well, they don’t have the means to get them, except if they get lucky and find them with late-1st or 2nd round picks or if they manage to get them with the MLE. In the end Rashard’s contract may lead to Howard’s departure from Orlando, at which point Otis Smith better go hide in Antarctica, cause Magic fans may not take very well yet another disappointment after Shaq’s departure and Grant Hill’s failed 7 seasons with them.

* here’s the list: Boozer (6′9), Jamison (6′9), Reggie Evans (6′8), Chris Bosh (6′10), Gooden (6′10), Ben Wallace (6′7, listed at 6′9), Josh Smith (6′9), Shawn Marion (6′7), Kenyon Martin (6′9), Ryan Gomes (6′7), Chris Wilcox (6′10), Harrington (6′10), Amare (6′10), Scola (6′9)

Celtics @ Suns

• Refs let the game free, and even if it got a little more physical, it was fun to watch.
• Shaq ain’t injured. That’s just in case you had any doubt. He was just taking his mid-season break and when he was traded he found the motivation to start playing again. At one point, Shaq out hustled Garnett for a ball. That right there tells you something about his motivation, cause Shaq hasn’t out hustled anyone in the past 5 years or so. Shaq finished with just 4 points but had 14 rebounds and 2 blk in just 26 minutes. It’s just his second game of the season with more than 11 rebounds: he had 14 rebounds on Nov 23, 2007 and he needed 34 minutes to do it.
• I think we can make it official: the Celtics have trouble against quick teams (Nuggets, Warriors, Suns)
• The Suns seem to be having fun again on the court. Earlier in the season I had a feeling that this team was not the same despite still winning a lot of games. And I was not the only one to notice that. Marion’s whining must have gotten on everybody’s nerves and took all the fun out of the game.
• Amare has been playing at a much higher level since Shaq arrived (as I was thinking about this, the commentators said he plays like a man possessed). He’s been the aggressor all night. He tried to make Garnett lose his temper while he kept cool despite taking a couple of elbows.
• The Suns really missed Barbosa in this game. He had to go to the lockerroom in the 1st quarter thanks to a Pierce elbow to the head and did not return.
• This was the most aggressive (from a physical stand point) I have ever seen the Suns play. They are like a kid that knows his big brother is just around the corner ready to jump in if things get nasty. Now they won’t take it if other teams try to bully them. This is what Shaq brings them, and I think it’s more important than his contributions on the court.
• This game was very very entertaining. Amare and Garnett have been jawing at each other from the very start of the game. Soon it turned into bumping. They each got a technical and there might be a rivalry brewing. If the teams meet in the Finals, it will be one hell of a series.
• At one point, Pierce missed a dunk. Badly. The entire arena laughed at his ass. Did I mentioned that I don’t like Pierce ? Well, I don’t.
• The Suns piled-up turnovers. Hard to believe they still won the game, but they did. Couldn’t be just the effect of adjusting to playing with Shaq. Couldn’t be just the (very good) Celtics defense either. The Suns were really sloppy and careless with the ball.
• The game turned into a grind-it out affair. The Suns only scored 29 points in 19 minutes. Usually they’d score this much in less than a quarter. This is the kind of game they would normally lose in the playoffs - slow, half court, lots of physical defense.
• I really wondered how Amare would do playing PF and if losing the quickness advantage he had when playing against centers would work against him. Well, I just got my answer: he’s much better on rebounding and help D. Probably the same thing as Ben Wallace: he benefits from playing next to a bigger guy which allows him to roam on D. Not being undersized anymore helps his rebounding as well.
• I have NEVER seen as many offensive fouls whistled in one game. NEVER. I suppose the only place where you can see something like this is a practice of Argentina’s national team.

Magic @ Raptors

I know it’s a little late, but I kept reading how Bosh “destroyed” Dwight Howard and I had to see that myself to believe it. So here goes:

• Bosh did most of his damage against other Magic defenders. Well, maybe defenders isn’t the right word to describe them, they looked more like traffic cones dressed in Magic uniforms
• Bosh did score some buckets when defended by Howard. One of them was a nasty dunk after a pump fake and a baseline dribble. The rest were really long 2s, some contested. Bosh just made shots that most players usually wouldn’t.
• Bosh took advantage of his superior speed. Howard was reluctant to come too close fearing Bosh would beat him off the dribble, so Bosh had enough space to take jump shots.
• Bosh ot 40 points, 5 reb and 5 ast, but statistically Howard was arguably better with 37 points of his own and 15 reb.
• Orlando has absolutely no idea how to defend a pick and roll. They often looked as if it was the first time they ever saw a pick and roll. The Raptors, and especially Calderon, took advantage of it.
• Calderon is one evil mother fucker. As Denzel Washington said in Training Day, he’s surgical with that bitch. He shot 8-10 from the field (and he often had a hand in his face) and had 13 assists with just 1 TO. As I said, SUR-GI-CAL. Let me be the 1st one to say that he should be the most coveted FA this summer. Forget about
• Delfino can shoot the 3p shot if he’s left open. And with Bosh drawing double teams and opponents also having to worry about other good shooters (Calderon, Kapono), Delfino is getting his fair share of open looks. In fact, his percentage from the 3p line (41.1%) is better this season than his FG% (40.7). Turns out bringing him was another good move by Bryan Colangelo.
• Jameer Nelson was a defensive liability. He got abused on defense and seemed unable to stay in front of his man.
• In the end, the Magic had little to no chance of winning the game with Turkoglu and Lewis shooting a combined 10-30 FG (3-12 from 3p).

And now we get the the most interesting part: the block buster trade between the Cavaliers, the Bulls and the Sonics. Chicago got Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown from Cleveland. Cleveland got Ben Wallace, Joe Smith and a 2009 second-round pick from Chicago and Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West from Seattle. Seattle got Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall from Cleveland and Adrian Griffin (know around here as the mummy) from Chicago.

For the Bulls

I think that not even the Perdue for Rodman trade made the Bulls fans as happy as they are now. And considering that they are fully aware of how bad Hughes sucks (as documented here), it tells you just how much they wanted to get rid of Wallace. He’s been welcomed with open arms in Chicago and fans hoped he would be the one to lead the Bulls to the next level. But he only came to get the money while wishing he was still in Detroit with his buddies.

Joe Smith was a decent player for a decent salary - one of the few Bulls’ players who were actually worth the money they were paid (or they were seeking). Him being thrown in the deal should have meant getting expirings back instead of Larry Hughes. But even like this, it has the benefit of creating some more playing time for Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah.

At the same time the arrival of Hughes creates the same kind of problems for the back court. With Hinrich, Gordon, Hughes, Duhon and Sefolosha fighting for minutes and with Boylan’s idiocy well documented, it will probably be Sefolosha that will lose minutes. It should be Duhon but he’s always been preferred by Skiles as a starter and Boylan is just mini-Skiles. I can’t really explain why except if he’s been giving them great blowjobs. Oh, wait. I remembered: he’s a shooting star.

What this trade does for the Bulls except for opening time for the young bigs is give them a real shot at making the playoffs. Which would not be such a great idea since they would be destroyed by the Celtics, Pistons or Magic. So for this reason alone it would be good if Larry Hughes would continue to take a lot of bad shots. The Bulls need a superstar, and since John Paxson is unable to get one in a trade, their only chance is the draft. So the smart thing to do for the future of the team would be to tank the season.

For the Cavaliers

They replace Hughes with a guy that can actually shoot (Szczerbiak 46% FG this season, 49.1% FG for his career) and they also replace Gooden with Joe Smith. Joe Smith is actually outperforming Gooden for the season. Smith averages 11.2 ppg on 46.6% FG, 5.3 reb, 0.9 ast, 0.5 stl, 0.6 blk in just 22.9 minutes. Gooden averages 11.3 ppg on 44.4% FG, 8.3 reb, 1.0 ast, 0.7 stl, 0.6 blk in 30.7 minutes. Per 40 minutes Smith pretty much owns Gooden and now that he gets to play with Lebron look for his numbers to improve.

Delonte West will take Eric Snow’s minutes at back-up guard. And that is a good thing, considering Snow has been shooting 15.8% from the field this season. That’s right. 15.8%. That is a guy who even started 5 games this season.

Above all these, the Cavs get Ben Wallace. He won’t do too much these days. Certainly won’t play elite defense, won’t provide elite rebounding (31 in the NBA in rebounds per 48 minutes). He won’t provide leadership or advice to the younger players. He might provide some hair care tips to Varejao, but that is about it. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: he will want at least 30 minutes of “action” per game (where “action” in his case means not giving a crap, not playing much D, killing the offense and taking the occasional fade away turn around jumper that hits the shot clock). And he might just reveal your team’s plans to his pals in Detroit if your team plays them in the playoffs.

If he doesn’t find his motivation the way Shaq did when he moved from LA to Miami and now from Miami to Phoenix, the Cavs might be better off buying him out so maybe Detroit wants him back from a minimum salary. If he does get motivated he should benefit from playing alongside Z, which would allow him to roam on D like he did in Detroit next to Rasheed. But my guess is Ben Wallace would only be happy back in Detroit.

In any case, the Cavs made a move that should improve their chances of reaching the ECF. If the playoffs were to start now, they’d have to beat Toronto, Boston and then Detroit or Orlando in order to make the Finals. This would be a very difficult path, but at least now they are better prepared to handle it. And with Lebron leading them, they might just pull it off.

For the Sonics

They get expirings for players with longer contracts - Szczerbiak had one more year after this one, at over 13 million). In the process they also improve their chances of winning the lottery. They just got rid of Kurt Thomas and now with Wally gone, they will give Minnesota, Memphis, Miami and New York a run for their money in the race for most losses.

Houston sent Bonzi Wells and Mike James to New Orleans for Bobby Jackson mostly in order to get under the luxury tax. Jackson’s best days came when he was a back-up in Sacramento. He plays similar minutes to Mike James with similar productivity, so that’s a wash. However, now that Bonzi Wells is gone, if McInjury misses another bunch of games, they will have no one to replace him.

For the Hornets Bonzi is an upgrade over Morris Peterson. In 3 less minutes per game Bonzi averages more points on a better FG%, more rebounds, more assists, more steals and more blocks. And his production might increase as a result of him playing next to Chris Paul. If this happens, the Hornets stand to get the most out of this trade.

Making this trade mildly interesting is the fact that the 2 teams meet this evening and each of them is riding a winning streak (5 for the Hornets, 10 for the Rockets). Regardless of the trade, I think the Rockets’ winning streak is not looking good. McInjury’s been playing a little better, but Chris Paul is on a whole other level right now.

UPDATE: What do you know ? McInjury can still play. He can still dominate. Makes you wonder why the hell doesn’t he do it more often. But then you realize he’s related to Vince Carter, so that must explain it. Meanwhile the Hornets can thank Peja for stinking it up with 3-10 FG and just 1 rebound in over 30 minutes.

In a very Spurs like move, the San Antonio Spurs aquired Kurt Thomas for Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and a 1st round pick in 2009. Just like they did the past years, the Spurs kept their main trio and continued to shuffle the parts around them. This time, they get an upgrade at the PF/C.

Kurt Thomas was pretty effective against Tim Duncan in last season’s playoffs and had Donaghy and Stern not screwed the Suns, Kurt Thomas might have been enough for them to go past the Spurs and win that title. If Robert Sarver was not a cheap sonofabitch, the Suns wouldn’t have needed to trade for Shaq in order to have some size in the paint. Well, they didn’t really need Shaq anyway, but you get the point. But Sarver decided to pay the Sonics to get Thomas’ expiring contract off his hands, and now the Spurs seized the opportunity and got a player that can help them in the playoffs.

The most interesting part would be if the Sonics buy out Brent Barry and after the mandatory 30 days period also known as the Gary Payton rule, he returns with the Spurs. That would be just what was supposed to happen with Stackhouse in the Mavs-Nets trade, but Stackhouse didn’t keep his piehole shut so Cuban had to spend a “little” more cash (about 11 million more) to get Kidd. Gregg Popovich vehemently criticized the Gasol trade and would have probably opposed the initial deal between the Mavs and Nets that had Stackhouse returning to Dallas. But I suspect he wouldn’t be nearly as upset if the Spurs managed to do the same thing (only much more quietly) with Barry.

Celtics @ Warriors

• Oracle Arena probably has the best atmosphere of all the NBA arenas (at least from what I can tell on TV) and the fans are incredible. It must be great to play there, even as an opponent of the home team. The crowd being into the game for more than just free BigMacs makes the game 10 times more entertaining to watch.
• Just like last season when he signed with the Pistons, Chris Webber is underrated. He may not be able to run with the Warriors, but if Nellie picks the right spots when to use him, he can really contribute. He did a good job in his time on the floor and got 3 blk in just 20 minutes. Not bad for an old man with creaky knees.
• Monta Ellis is absolutely amazing. Not only did he score 26 points and dish 9 assists, but he was the focus of the Celtics defense, more so than Baron Davis himself. He managed to beat double and triple teams and he was getting double teamed even outside the 3p line. Boom Dizzle made the winning shot and had a great game himself, but Ellis was Da Man in this one.
• B-Diddy went as far as calling Monta the most talented player on the team in the post-game interview.
• Stephen Jackson was on his feet the whole time, yelling indications. You’d say he was the coach and Nellie was some casual fan. If you think about it, Jackson would make an interesting coach, a great motivator for sure. Cause you know he’d pistol whip whoever didn’t listen to what he said. And all his players would run the fast break AND play All-NBA defense knowing that if they don’t, their coach might bust a cap in their ass.
• On one occasion during a time-out Jackson went and said something to Mikael Pietrus which left Pietrus with an astounded look on his face. My guess is that he said something along this line: “I saw Pierce causing you problems on defense. Here, take my gun and shoot him. Just make sure you got him right, cause that mofo survived like 50 stab wounds.”
• Not much to say about Boston: they played great D yet the Warriors came up with some miracle shots.
• Garnett may still be rusty, but he pulled down 15 rebounds in just 30 minutes. Didn’t even realize how many he got till I saw the boxscore
• How many times was Tony Allen burned on a last second shot ? Everybody’s been raving about how well Paul Pierce has been playing D. In that case, shouldn’t he ask to guard the opponents’ best player on the last possession ? Why let a young unexperienced player coming of 2 knee surgeries defend the players who are known for taking their team’s last shot ? To me, Pierce still looks like he wants to be the hero on offense. He forces the issue too often. Of the Celtics’ big 3, he’s the one who, in the end, may prove he’s not yet ready to sacrifice his ego for the team.

Wait. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ? Chris Duhon, of all people, was selected to take part in the Shooting Stars competition during the All Star Weekend. Chris Duhon has THE WORST FG% of the entire Chicago Bulls roster. That roster (still*) includes Ben Wallace.

What’s next ? Steve Nash in the dunk contest ? Reggie Evans in the skills competition ? Erick Dampier and Adonal Foyle in the 3p shooting contest ? Having Chris Duhon in a shooting contest is an insult to scores of Bulls fans who cringe every time he takes a shot. No wonder Chicago’s team lost to San Antonio who had 2 centers on it. Centers, at least in theory, don’t have much range and should have no place winning a shooting contest against a guard. Well, I guess except if that guard is Chris Duhon.

This was the worst thing of the All Star Weekend. The best thing was that because of his Superman stunt, Dwight Howard may end up being nicknamed Superman. Which would piss off a certain fat guy with a well documented obsession for Superman. Shaq sure loves eating, just not humble pie. And this would be a big piece of humble pie shoved down his throat.

* well, not any more, but it did when I wrote that sentence

PS: Yeah, I know  this post is a little late, but it took me a while to get over the fact that Chris Fucking Duhon was named to a competition that involves shooting

The Kidd to Dallas trade seems to have finally been closed. No more players blocking the trade for fear of losing Early Bird rights that won’t be used, no more players sticking a foot in their mouth. Unless David Stern elects to help out the Spurs one more time and disallows the trade on grounds that one of the players involved in the trade (Keith Van Horn) hasn’t been heard of for a while and is presumed to have been abducted by aliens.

No need to insist on the players involved or why it took so long, as it’s been well documented all over the net. What this trade means for the Mavs is that their window suddenly becomes much smaller. Assuming they can get 2 more good years out of Kidd after this season, which is doubtful, it will still mean Dirk and Josh Howard will be in their prime when Kidd retires/signs for less money while playing a smaller role. So if Dallas can’t win a title with Kidd, they may end up wasting some of Dirk’s and Howard’s best years looking for a PG.

But the Mavs felt they needed to make this trade, and after they proved they seriously lacked leadership in losing the 2006 finals and then getting mauled by the Warriors in last season’s playoffs, it’s hard to argue with their choice. Kidd may not be the same player as a few years ago, but he’s still a damn good PG and a leader. And he really wants that ring.

For the Nets, however, this is far more interesting. First, it means that they gave all those 60 million to Vince Carter for nothing. I hope they don’t expect him to lead the Nets from now on, or they’ll be in for a really rough awakening. Their best hope is to find a taker for his contract and get some expirings and maybe a late 1st round or some 2nd round picks. This is how low Vince Carter’s value is, which is a shame considering he has MVP caliber talent. Too bad he doesn’t have a heart.

Then, it means they are finally accepting the truth: they suck and they have no chance, not even in the East. Once they accept that, through a series of smart moves, they could position themselves well for the FA market of 2010 (when Lebron, Wade and Bosh become unrestricted FA), which will coincide with their move to Brooklyn.

If they tank a couple of seasons, they could end up with a few young stud players on rookie salaries and enough cap space to bring a superstar. This would make them contenders at a time when the current contenders’ windows of opportunity are closed (Suns, Mavs, Celtics, Pistons, Spurs) . As history has shown, it’s not only about having a good team, but having it at the right time (the 2004 Pistons would have no chance against the 1996-1998 Bulls or the 2000-2002 Lakers).