Trade Deadline

That ended up being one of the most boring trade deadlines in recent history. A handful of money saving moves and an average PG highlighted the day. I suppose the Bulls had the best day from a pure value standpoint. Nocioni isn't a great player and he tends to be absent minded when on the court. The Bulls could have gotten just Salmons for him and it would have been a good trade but the Kings want less money on their roster, so they shipped him and Miller out for Nocioni (whose contract, ironically, runs longer than the players the Kings traded at about $6.5 mill a year) and a pile of wasted talent.

Not sure what the Kings are doing with their petty money saving moves (traded a 2nd rounder for cash and the right to buy out Sam Cassell a few days back) since they aren't actually trading away their worst contract. If you want to rebuild, then you need to get your worst contract off the books, and that would be Beno Udrih. He's taken a step back in development and honestly I'm not sure what the Kings expected of him. Hopefully not improvement from last year because he's really not that talented, but he has sadly gotten worse.

Thankfully the Warriors didn't make a trade as it probably would have involved the ultra talented Anthony Randolph.

Lamar Odom: How Not to Play Basketball

Lamar Odom may best be known as the (now) starting PF of the Los Angeles Lakers. Few people know that he has a tendency to make mistakes that 12 year olds are prone to. He got himself traded for Shaq though, so I guess he did something right. Here are a couple videos showcasing the basketball IQ of Lamar Odom.

Cause Everyone Dreams...

Have you ever found yourself asking "what if my team hadn't let _____ go? ", or more specifically, "what if my team didn't trade Robert Parrish/Kevin McHale for JB Carroll, traded Wilt for Connie Dierking, and Vince Carter for Antawn Jamison? Would we not have missed the playoffs for so damn long?" OK, I guess that only applies to Warriors fans but you get the picture.

To get off of my Warriors centered tendencies I've chosen to profile a couple of moves that could have changed the Memphis/Vancouver franchise forever (or at least gotten them a playoff victory).

To give you a capsule of their futility, here's their team record history: http://www.nbauniverse.com/teams/records_memphis_grizzlies.htm

1) Pau Gasol and a 2nd round pick traded for Javaris Crittenton, Kwame Brown, Marc Gasol, Aaron McKie, 2 1st round picks

The most hilarious arguments I hear are from people trying to say this ended up being a good or at least helpful trade for the Grizzlies. Usually these arguments come from Laker homers, but here's what they usually sound like (and why their claims aren't true):

Kwame Brown gave Memphis SO MUCH CAP ROOM!!! - No, it actually didn't. It allowed them to barely gamble on Josh Smith this offseason with a comical offer.

Javaris Crittenton haz a lot of TALENTZ!!! Plus they got a 1st rounder for him! - Javaris Crittenton can't shoot and never had a ton of potential outside of being a tall PG who can pass. He ended up being traded for a first rounder...that the Grizzlies originally traded for the one year rental of Juan Carlos Navarro. So Crittenton in the original deal ended up being the Grizzlies own draft pick. Niiiice.

Then the rest of the argument is basically that Marc Gasol is known as the better Gasol in Europe (I think the correct translation is "bigger" Gasol, not better Gasol) along with a couple trivial things. The biggest head scratcher that I hear about this deal is that the Grizzlies would not have the team they have if they didn't trade Gasol. Which is plain stupid.

Gasol missed half a season with the Grizzlies, he could have played about 20 games that season and then sat out the rest of the year with some BS injury. The Grizzlies would get a high draft pick (OJ Mayo in the Kevin Love trade) and Gasol. So instead of Gay and Mayo they get Gay, Mayo, and Gasol. Fail.

This post will be finished later when people start caring about the Grizzlies...