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Maverick fans have to be drooling. Mark Cuban has let it be known that he would pick up the two worst contracts on the Hornets in order to get Chris Paul.

It makes the mind swirl to think of the Dallas Mavericks picking up Chris Paul to play on the same team as Dirk Nowitzki. You would have a former MVP still playing at a very high level with a future MVP candidate adding some much needed full court speed.

Chris Paul defies the laws of gravity

Dirk is still one of the top mismatch players in the league, presenting an interesting combination of size and long distance shooting ability. If you added in Chris Paul, just think of the explosiveness on the Mavericks. Chris is a penetrating point guard and they rule the NBA right now.

So why would the Hornets let this deal happen?

In a word, contracts. They have way too many dollars tied up in longer contracts.

Who would the Hornets want to get rid of so badly that they’d be willing to part with Paul? Peja Stojakovic ($13.39 million next season and $14.26 in 2010-11) would definitely be part of the deal. Chandler ($12.3 next season and $13.2 in 2010-11) probably would be included, too. Morris Peterson (due a total of $12 million over the next two seasons) or James Posey ($19.5 million over three seasons) are other possibilities.

Stojakovic’s contract ranks among the worst in the league. He’s had a very good career, but he’s an oft-injured 40-percent jump shooter these days. But he is the starting small forward for a playoff team.

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Photo source Newscom

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Michael Curry will try to right the Piston ship

The NBA is proud to bring a brand new coach to your area. They did it for 8 teams.

Think about that. 8 new coaches.

Ever heard of a brand new coach immediately winning it all? It has probably happened, but not to my knowledge.

Usually you just fired the last coach because the team stunk so bad he could not make them win.

So this year we bring you the 8 trying to make the magic happen.

Michael Curry, Pistons

Curry, 40, was an assistant to last year’s coach, Flip Saunders, who was fired. From 2000 to 2004, Curry was president of the National Basketball Players Association. He’s also a former NBA vice president for basketball operations and played for six teams in an 11-year career.
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Michael is lucky. He inherits a veteran team with a real honest to god chance to win it all. The team knows him. The GM, Joe Dumars, knows him. Heck, the hotdog vendor in section 133 knows him. Michael Curry was a defensive minded team oriented over achiever as a player. He even used to plan out bike trips and movies for when the players were on the road.

But can he coach? Well, he can as an assistant, but can he as the head coach?

Vinny Del Negro, Bulls

Del Negro, who has no coaching experience at any level, follows interim coach Jim Boylan, who replaced Scott Skiles. Del Negro, 42, formerly was assistant general manager for the Phoenix Suns and played for five teams in a 12-year NBA career.

Scotty Skiles and Jim Boylan is a tough act to follow. Vinny has his hands full with that crew in Chicago. Skiles whipped and beat them to play defense and play as a team. Boylan found out they are lacking depth, size, speed, etc. Good Luck!

Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat

Club President Pat Riley named Spoelstra, a seven-year assistant, to succeed him. Spoelstra, 37, is the youngest coach in the league.

This guy just has the job on loan until Pat Riley sees a good enough team to take over. Sure doesn’t hurt to have Dwyane Wade and the Matrix auditioning for jobs.

Larry Brown, Charlotte Bobcats

Have witnessed Larry up front with my Pistons and he is an amazing coach and complicated man. He is always chasing after something that is missing in his life. Some think he is looking for his father that left him at young age, not literally, but figuratively.

Larry will put them in half court sets and make them play playoff style basketball. If teams listen, they win, but most young players do not want to play that way. Example: Chauncey Billups was close to a triple double one night and Larry pulled him and said “You don’t have a clue as to how to play point guard for me, do you?” Think about it.

Rick Carlisle, Dallas Mavericks

This one will be fun to watch. The Dallas Mavericks and Dirk Nowitzki were often shooting before crossing half court and now will be playing half court. Rick was the Piston coach before Larry and he alienated so many people that he had to be fired with a winning record. Chauncey Billups used to say they knew exactly what plays would be run in the last two minutes as Carlisle called all the plays. Rick also does not like to double on defense. Can Dirk defend?

Mike D’Antoni, New York Knicks

Mike has his hands full until the Knicks can clean house and find some D’antoni style players. He needs speed and outside shooting to go along with a pass first dribbling point guard, a la Steve Nash. Mike is a great coach and the players love his style. The ball gets shared and the pace is quick.

Can he play enough defense to win a title though?

Must be Michigan week in the NBA or something

Michael Curry, Detroit Pistons
Larry Brown, former Detroit Pistons coach
Rick Carlisle, former Detroit Pistons coach
Vinny Del Negro replaces Jim Boylan former assistant at Michigan State University
Before Jim Boylan was Scott Skiles former player at Michigan State University
Mike D’Antoni was brought in to replace Isiah Thomas former Detroit Piston
The D’Antoni wanted to trade Zach Randolph former player at Michigan State University
Terry Porter, former Detroit Pistons assistant coach
Scott Skiles, former player at Michigan State University
Scott will work for GM John Hammond and he worked under Joe Dumars of the Detroit Pistons.

Terry Porter, Phoenix Suns

A hustling guard as a player and an average coach at Milwaukee, Terry will have some talent to work with, but will drastically change the style for the Suns. Terry is a real believer in defense.

Scott Skiles, Milwaukee Bucks

Scott will have some hungry players in Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson. Maybe not enough talent to win, but that has never been an issue with Scott. He just wants you to bring the desire.

Photo source Newscom

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Steve Nash can play defense with his hands tied behind his back

Now that is something we are not used to, the Phoenix Suns adding defense to the lineup, but new coach Terry Porter wants more balance on the court.

Remember the legendary Suns vs. Mavericks games that included barrages of points from both sides? Steve Nash against Dirk Nowitzki. Well, forget that, it is not going to happen anymore. Rick Carlisle is running the Mavs and Terry Porter is running the Suns and both of them believe you need defense to win championships.

It is the end of an era in the West with maybe only Golden State hanging on to the all offense philosophy.

So what is Porter thinking?

“I don’t foresee scoring to be a problem going forward,” Porter said. “Are we going to be scoring 115 a night? Probably not. I’d like to be a team that defends a lot better. That’s going to be a focus of ours. And a team that scores in the 100s.

“I’m more of a traditional type of guy about guys playing the same positions and traditional sets. I’ll be running pretty basic NBA sets but just have different wrinkles than they’ve had in years past.”

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Hey, just trying to keep you informed.

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Dwight Howard is even helping other players dribble the ball

Medal play will now begin after the Redeem Team beat Germany handily 106 - 57.

Carmelo Anthony, always good for a quote, had this to say.

“It’s finally here,” forward Carmelo Anthony said. “We’re knocking on the door. It’s time to get down to business right now. We’ve got three games to accomplish what we’ve been waiting to do for four years.”

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The United States went off to a huge lead punctuated by a LeBron dunk to make the score 20 -3.

Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps made a huge impression on the Redeem Team.

After the game, the Americans celebrated in their locker room with Michael Phelps. He went 8-for-8 in Beijing, and that’s exactly what the U.S. is shooting for.

In a tribute to the record-setting swimmer, center Dwight Howard sported a pair of swim goggles at the postgame news conference, and he joked that he’s going to give the 100 meters a shot.

Dirk Nowitzki is not having a great Olympics so far and only had 14 points for Germany. By contrast, Dwight Howard had 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Be sure to check out all your Olympic news at NBCOlympics.com

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Check out this list of free agents.

Now you can see why the Pistons, Nets and other teams are clearing off salary cap room for next year:

Player option: Player has right to opt out of contract if he wants.

It is just amazing to even think about it.

It could become the most talented free agency class ever in professional sports in that there will be five players — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson — with already one NBA championship, two NBA Finals, four U.S. Olympic team invitations and 16 All-Star appearances among them and not one of them will be older than 30 in 2010.

If that doesn’t whet the appetite, then there will be an available 32-year-old former league MVP (Dirk Nowitzki) and a just-turned-31 Michael Redd, one of the game’s deadliest perimeter sharp shooters.

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LeBron James doing it alone as usual

Image details: Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics, Game 1 served by picapp.com

Don’t the Cavaliers know they are only renting LeBron James, that his destiny is bigger than Cleveland?

The Cav’s are in round two of the playoffs dueling with the Boston Celtics and Kevin Garnett. No, make that Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce. See, that is the problem with Cleveland. It is still just LeBron James, the King.

There are those that say James should stay in Cleveland. He went to high school in Ohio. He is an Ohio boy. Never mind the market is so small.

The Cavaliers deserve to keep James home for the core of his prime. They’ve already landed him in one NBA Finals. They’ve already honored their commitment to competing for a title by making the in-season deal for Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, and Delonte West, taking payroll and luxury tax hits along the way.

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Cleveland has only one chance to survive and that is to find star number 2. Kevin Garnett has two star number twos. Tim Duncan has Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Kobe Bryant has Pau Gasol. Dallas tried with Jason Kidd to Dirk Nowitzki. Phoenix tried with an aging Shaq to Steve Nash.

Wally, Joe, and Big Ben Wallace do not qualify as the number 2 that LeBron needs. There are no Scotty Pippens to LeBron’s Michael Jordan in that group.

Cleveland needs to find this number two star before 2010, the LeBron free agent date, the sooner the better or LeBron is out of here.

Where will he go? To a bigger market, most likely New York, most likely the Knicks.

In fact, Donnie Walsh wouldn’t have accepted the presidency of the Knicks if he didn’t think it was feasible that the team could get far enough under the salary cap to wine and sign James.

The Nets are also expected to join the bidding, as minority owner Jay-Z is a close friend of LeBron’s who has made no secret of his desire to see James someday pack the new arena the Nets are supposed to be putting up in Brooklyn.

New Jersey may struggle to get LeBron, because it is not the storied franchise that the Knicks have been.

And we know that LeBron loves Madison Square Garden.

James wants to go in as a Yankee, which is precisely why he wore the team’s cap — much to Cleveland’s dismay — during last year’s Division Series. He has big-city dreams, LeBron does. The lifelong Yankees fan is also a lifelong Madison Square Garden fan. Back in March, after managing 50 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds on the Knicks’ home floor, James beamed as he said the following:

“This ranks really high, just because of the point of where it happened, the mecca of basketball. I’ve dreamed about playing well in this building. To get a standing ovation in the greatest basketball arena in the world is a dream come true for me. It’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

Better get busy Cleveland. LeBron appears to just be a loaner right now.

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Byron Scott in with the new.

Avery Johnson out with the old.

That was the swan song of the Coach of the Year award.

New Orleans 99 Dallas 94

Top 10 reasons Hornets eliminate Mavs

10. Chris Paul at beginning of a potential Hall of Fame career, while Jason Kidd near the end of potential Hall of Fame career.

Chris Paul had 24 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds, and the Hornets held on for a 99-94 victory over the Dallas Mavericks to win their first-round series in five games.

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9. Dirk Nowitzki settles too often for jumpers, even when there is a mismatch on D.

8. Poor recognition of mismatches on defense by Dallas.

7. Poor defense by Dallas.

6., 5., 4., 3., 2., 1. No clue how to defend by Dallas.

Just in case you think the Mavs never played defense, there is proof that they did.

Dallas never led and was hurt badly by an 11-1 Hornets run after Nowitzki’s free throw had pulled the Mavs to 73-66 early in the fourth quarter.

Dallas played solid defense on New Orleans’ next possession, keeping the ball on the perimeter, but Pargo hit a deflating 3 at the shot clock buzzer.

Time to stop blaming Jason Kidd.

“We’re better than what we showed this series,” Nowitzki said. “The summer is going to be long. … You don’t want to say stuff when you’re emotional and disappointed. … You’ve got to look at what you can do to make the team better. We’ve got to look at it this summer again, but it’s not the time now.”

Nowitzki gave mixed reviews to the Kidd trade, which cost the Mavericks young point guard Devin Harris, a former first-round draft choice.

Dallas will probably be looking at firing former Coach of the Year Avery Johnson and adding some defense to their games.

Kidd and Johnson never found a rhythm together, never found a common ground to make this work. And Mark Cuban did nothing in the losing locker room to end speculation that an NBA Finals collapse and two straight first-round playoff blowouts would end Johnson’s run as Mavericks coach.

“Nothing to say,” the Mavericks owner said, throwing a fistful of popcorn into his mouth.

“I pass.”

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Yes, Chris Paul was brilliant and outplayed Jason Kidd, but do you think for a minute Chris Paul would not have destroyed Devin Harris?

Dallas needs Defense.

NBA Basketball special comment Chris Paul sure is fun to watch. Go Hornets.

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The Rockets and Tracy McGrady could really use Yao Ming in the NBA Playoffs, but at least the Chinese will have Yao for the Olympics.

Check out this YouTube on his rehab.

With the aging of the Shaq, Yao Ming is the best true center in the NBA.

NBA Basketball special comment The NBA has gone to the more mobile power forward type centers like Amare Stoudemire or Dirk Nowitzki. Will Yao, Greg Oden, and Andrew Bynum and company bring back the true centers of old?

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In a game of two awesome point guards, it was the lack of defense that stood out.

Dallas came back in the fourth quarter with a 16 - 0 run to take the game. A game that Phoenix led from the get go and had a 13 point lead in the 3rd quarter.

Dirk scored 32 points on one ankle as the Mavs won 105 - 98.

Dirk Nowitzki signals he can score on one ankle or two

“Every team we’d played so far we were right there, on the road or at home,” Nowitzki said. “So it feels great to get finally over the hump. I think everybody in t he locker room was pretty hyped up that we had finally pulled this one out. Hopefully this could build some momentum.”

Josh Howard added 24 points and Brandon Bass 19 for the Mavericks, who used a smothering defense in a 16-0 run that put them ahead for good in a game the Suns had led nearly throughout. Phoenix went scoreless for just under 8 minutes, missing 12 shots in the process.

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The disturbing part of this game was the lack of defense on the pick and roll. In the playoffs, you have to be able to defend the pick and roll.

It got so bad in the second half that my TV was switched to The Lord of the Rings II. Rohan used excellent defense to defend Helms deep from the invading Orcs. It was playoff defense at its best.

Anyway, getting back to the game, it seemed like either team could shake a man loose on the pick and roll whenever they wanted. There was no cut out or rotation or trap or any of the myriad ways to defend. Nowitzki and Shaq both looked helpless on pick and rolls.

How do these teams plan on beating San Antonio and Tim Duncan or Utah and Darren Williams without defending the pick and roll?

NBA Basketball special comment It still has to be San Antonio in the West until better defense is played by the other teams.

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These two teams are on the TV right now and it is a classic matchup of great point guards. The kind you just don’t see any more. With Steve Nash and Jason Kidd, it is pass first then shoot. It is hard to find guards like that anymore.

Nash and Kidd with postseason seeding at stake probably isn’t much different than Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in late December. Nash and Kidd have combined for every season NBA assists title but one since 1999. Kidd has averaged 9.3 assists over his career; Nash is at 7.9. In head-to-head matchups, Kidd averages 16.11 points and 10.6 assists to Nash’s 18 and 6.8, but Nash’s teams have won 10 of the 17 contests, including nine of the past 10.

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Jason Kidd is pondering how to defense Steve Nash

What is so cool about these two is that everyone thinks it is the players around them that are so great, when often it is Steve Nash and Jason Kidd making them great.

Sure, it will be fun to watch how Shaq makes out in this game and will Dirk Nowitzki come back strong to make sure Dallas makes the playoffs, but my eyes will be following Steve Nash and Jason Kidd, because most of the time that is where the ball is going to be.

Check out how they view each other.

Nash, on Kidd: “I love his game. He’s a great teammate, a great point guard and his ability to do whatever it takes for his team to win is his signature characteristic.”

Kidd, on Nash: “He has the total package. . . . The unorthodox shots, his creativity around the basket. And I think the biggest thing is he’s not scared to make a mistake. That’s what he thrives on - being able to run a team - and he does it well.”

Anyway, the TV is calling my name, so gotta go watch the Nash and Kidd show.

NBA Basketball special comment Do you appreciate good guard play?

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