NBA Weekly Digest

"We want to send a message that we're for real and we're going to compete and hopefully we'll need to be dealt with." - KobeBryant after scoring 52 points against Dallas in an overtime victory for the Lakers.

JasonKidd May Not Be the Solution

I said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm not sure how much this Jason Kidd trade does for the Dallas Mavericks... In their first 7 games with Jason Kidd on the squad, the team went 4-3, with all of their four wins coming against sub-.500 basketball teams that have no chance of making the playoffs, except for the Chicago Bulls, who may have an outside chance of making the post-season... in the Eastern Conference... As you can imagine, their 3 losses were against teams that are contending. The first one came against the New Orleans Hornets, and Chris Paul made it seem as if he was the 2001 version of Jason Kidd, while the present-day Jason Kidd was a slower version of himself. Paul put up 31 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists, and 9 steals (of which the majority of those were off of Jason Kidd), and he did it in a practical route of the Mavericks. Of all the teams that are going to make the playoffs, the Hornets are supposed to be the youngest and most inexperienced one, and yet on that night, it looked like the Mavericks would have trouble with them if they matched up in the post season. [Read more...]

NBA Fantasy Power Rankings

Now that the trade deadline has passed us, it is time for a complete overhaul of the NBA Fantasy Power Rankings. The trades have completely changed the landscape of the league, and it seems quite evident that buy-outs and waiver-wire acquisitions are still in the works... But assuming no one of great importance will be bought-out, the NBA is pretty much set for its playoff run. And March is when most teams begin to gear up for the post season and start vying for playoff positioning. That means players have to step it up, and they even have to play defense, too!... So what players have ascended into the Power Rankings' elite status since the passing of the trade deadline...?

1. LeBronJames (30.3 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 7.5 apg) - Really? What else does this guy have to do? He is completely dominating his opponents and it is becoming quite embarrassing. His shooting percentage is higher than it has ever been at 48.6%. And he is even making his free throws, which renders him virtually flawless. He leads the league in PER at 30.08, and his rebounding has even increased since the last time we did the power rankings. LeBron was probably the biggest benefactor of a trade in the Eastern Conference, because GM Danny Ferry added some offensive firepower and defensive help to his Cavaliers roster. Now the Cavs and LeBron seem poised to make a run at one of the lead dogs in the East and perhaps put an end to everyone's' talk of a Detroit-Boston Eastern Conference Final. [Read more...]

The Capitalism of the NBA... On the Court!

Does anyone else have a problem with this? The fact that two players under the contracts of other teams at one point in the season could be shifted to another team with the former team not making the move in the interest of competition...?

That just seems ridiculous to me, but that is what happens in the Association. Afterall, we did just witness a possible trade that would have sent Dallas Maverick Jerry Stackhouse to New Jersey, where it was alleged that he would be bought out and would return to the Mavericks 30 days later. And then of course, that trade was replaced by another one in which a retired player would come out of retirement to sit on the bench and collect a paycheck, in order to send a Hall of Fame point guard to a championship contending team in the league's toughest conference.

I mean does this league reek of foul play or what? [Read more...]