LeBron James is partying at the thought of all the NBA players available in 2009

Even with all the big name free agents in 2010, with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh in the group, the year 2009 could still be the year of the free agent.

Try this out for 2009.

Some of the Restricted Free Agents: Andrew Bynum, Marvin Williams, Jason Maxiell

Some of the players that can opt out of contracts: Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Rip Hamilton, Hedo Turkoglu

True Free Agents: Shawn Marion, Andre Miller, Rasheed Wallace

So what about money?
Some teams are loaded depending on what happens.

Thunder 25 – 30 million
Trail Blazers 15 – 32 million
Grizzlies 18 – 24 million
Pacers 11 million
Heat 10 million
Bobcats 10 million

Plain and Simple, there will be lots of player movement in 2009 in the NBA.

story source espn

Photo source newscom

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How can this be?

It is a reach even for 7′ 6″ Yao Ming to win 11 in a row.

Tracy McGrady playing consistently good?

Houston even trades two players away, do not suit up the guy they get and still keep winning!

How can this be?

Well, admittedly, most of the teams they beat were pretty bad teams, but they did just knock off Chris Paul and the Hornets (sounds like a 60’s rock group) and there were a couple of close scrapes with the Cleveland PreWallace LeBrons led by Cavalier LeBron James, which the Rockets managed to pull out.

Still… They are winning!

And get this, they have not lost in February and finish the month with games against the Big Ben-less Bulls, the Wizards minus Agent Zero, and the Pau-less Grizzlies (get it, paw-less Grizzlies, ok, bad joke).

Sounds like 3 more wins and an undefeated month to me.

Side Note: Your intrepid author was pretty harsh on Houston a while back and is currently flogging himself.

It seems the Rockets are worthy.

When both Yao and T-Mac are on, they are pretty hard to beat. In fact, they will kill you from inside and out.

But there is a new element developing and we will have to see if it stays when they play the better clubs.

The Rockets have held eight of their last nine opponents under 90 points. source

Coach Rick Adelman is trying to get this team to take small steps towards being a top team. Right now they are in a dog fight to just make the playoffs.

“I told the team, ‘You put yourself in position to make a move,’ ” coach Rick Adelman said. “It’s our season to make what we want to make of it. Are we going to take advantage of what we’ve done to get to this point? We’ve gotten back into the whole thing. Or are we going to go up and down?” source

Hard to complain right now. Winning can breed a certain level of confidence that will improve your play once the big boys come into town.

Learning to defend your home court is almost essential.

These are the lessons the Rockets learn as they feed off of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do the Rockets make the playoffs?

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Pau Gasol brings scoring to the Lakers

The Lakers essentially traded less than nothing to the Lakers for Pau Gasol.

In an unbelievable pickup the Lakers are right back in the hunt for the NBA Championship.

Wait a minute, is Pau that good?

No, but that is the beauty of it all, Pau Gasol does not have to be that good.

Right now he is a fill in for Andrew Bynum. When Bynum gets back you have a Pau Gasol that can put up points in the triangle offense, get some rebounds, give the Lakers more length, and present a mismatch on the floor at all times.

Have you ever seen this guy play?

He has a funky release on his jump shot, but it consistently goes in. Pau can knock down mid-range after mid-range jump shot with that funky release.

Other GM’s in the league are shaking their heads.

Around the league, the reaction of executives and coaches was unanimous: What a nightmare for us. When reached with the news, one Western Conference executive said simply, “Are you kidding? (Expletive) me.” source

They just realized that you will not get Kobe in a trade from the Lakers, he is going nowhere now and that the Lakers are for real. Suddenly Lamar Odom is a distant fourth option on this team.

Kobe celebrated by putting up 47 points on the Raptors.

David Stern

Think of the wild thoughts going through the Commissioner’s head right now. He has the golden memories of all those Boston LA series with Larry Bird of the Big Three vs. Magic Johnson and Kareem Jabbar.

Now, Stern is thinking Kevin Garnett of the Big Three (Ray Allen, Paul Pierce) vs. Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum.

Stern is smart enough to see he role the Pau plays in this and also to see the immense marketing dollars.

Funny how a single trade of a guy that no one was talking about can change things so quickly.

As for Memphis? They are just unloading salary and cleaning house. They are pathetic and know it. Time to start over.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Has Mitch Kupchak delivered?

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Andrew Bynum – the Lakers key hurts his knee

What a way to pull defeat out of victory.

Kobe Bryant was on to his usual outstanding performance and the Lakers machine was once again humming along as it has done so recently with victory after victory. Kobe ended up with 37 points.

The Lakers defeated the Grizzlies 100 to 99 with unlikely hero Kwame Brown taking his 38 percent free throw shooting percentage to the line and making the first one to give the Lakers their game winning point with 9.2 seconds left.

So the Lakers won the game, but it was what happened earlier that has players and fans concerned.

Unfortunately, in the 3rd quarter, Andrew Bynum went down with a knee injury.

Bynum is a player the Lakers can ill afford to lose. He has been averaging a double double and giving the Lakers size inside. Without Bynum, the Lakers will have to use Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm, when he gets healthy.

Andrew Bynum, a key factor in the team’s ascent to elite status at this stage of the season, sprained his left knee early in the third quarter of Sunday night’s 100-99 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, and will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury.

The 20-year-old center expressed the opinion as he left Staples Center following the game that his injury isn’t serious, but perhaps that’s simply wishful thinking.

“I feel all right,” he said, walking under his own power, although limping slightly, with a brace on his left leg while personal trainer Sean Zarzana carried a pair of crutches.

“It’s on the top of the kneecap, and a little on the right,” Bynum said. “I was pretty scared. But the X-rays were negative. I never heard a pop. Just when I bend it, it hurts. I’m feeling fine, it’s not as bad as I thought. I put ice on it, and it felt better right away.” source

NBA Basketball Phil Jackson factoid - The win was the 944th of Jackson’s career, tying him with Bill Fitch, his coach at the University of North Dakota, for sixth place on the NBA’s list. source

NBA Basketball Kobe Bryant factoid - Bryant became the 44th player with 1,000 career 3-pointers with his first of three in this game. The 3-pointer was introduced in the NBA before the 1979-80 season. source

The Lakers need Bynum to get healthy soon or an excellent season will begin to disappear. The Lakers are a half a game outside of first place in the Pacific Division just behind Phoenix and Steve Nash, but keep in mind the Western Conference is loaded with potential playoff teams. There is little room for drop off.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Can the Lakers continue to win without Andrew Bynum?

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