Jason HeimThe NBA: Not Quite Ready for Vacation
June 23rd 2009 21:26
Category: Basketball
I'm going to make a fully shameless plug for my buddy's up and coming blog in the headline of my own blog post. If you consume sports, you'll enjoy the perspective of a division 1 college athlete as he shares his thoughts from that point of view. He linked to me in his opening post, so I figured I'd return the favor. Besides, he's been BEGGING me to bounce some of my robust readership over to him. I'm only kidding.
On to the good stuff. I have to admit that I was sad the NBA was going away after the Finals ended. I also have to admit that I moved on to the next in-season sports just like most people did. I knew that the draft was this Thursday and that I'd most likely watch and be captivated for 3 days after, but I was not anticipating the headlines that arose on Tuesday.
News of a major trade (and some rumored major trades) took me by surprise, as the Milwaukee Bucks sent Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs for a refurbished bus, a box of deflated basketballs, and a flat screen. Oh wait, those things would have actually helped the Bucks. They really acquired Bruce Bowen, Fabricio Oberto, and Kurt Thomas from the Spurs in what is clearly a salary dump in preparation for the free agent bonanza of 2010.
The deal scares me as a Laker fan because it reflects an urgency in the Spurs that will bring them back into the West's elite for the next 1-3 years. The Spurs are the only team out West that truly can hang with the Lakers as presently constituted. The deal itself was never rumored before it was reported, and seemingly came out of nowhere.
On the rumor front, a less likely deal involving 3 players from the Pistons and the Celtics' Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo has surfaced. Detroit appears to have no interest in dealing its core for Rondo and/or Allen, so this seems to be nothing more than empty rumor.
That's all we have so far, but the NBA Draft is known to generate trade buzz earlier in the week every year, so teams might not be done throwing around blockbuster trade proposals. And if not, we've already had 1 blockbuster to tide us over until the inevitable draft day trades and surprise draft picks. With names like Blake Griffin, Ricky Rubio, James Harden, Jrue Holiday, and Stephen Curry, the NBA Draft is compelling television.
Stay tuned, I know I will.
P.S.
I will probably recap the draft and any trades/surprise moves that are made and offer some analysis heading into the free agent season.
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