There was a lot of player movement in the off season with Jefferson to the Spurs, Artest to the Lakers, ‘Sheed to the Celtics, Miller leaving the 76ers, Gordon to the Pistons, Thomas to the Mavs, Okafor to the Hornets, and Turkoglu to the Raptors, but maybe the most intriguing move was Shaq to the LeBrons…er..Cavaliers.

Cleveland needs to keep LeBron in Cleveland and that could change next year, but so far they have done little to prove to LeBron that there will be any players of consequence helping him to fight for a NBA title.

Now some would argue that getting Shaq changes all that. Steve Nash makes such an argument.

Nash’s Phoenix Suns traded O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers last month, where the 37-year-old center will try to bring James his first championship.

O’Neal is “still a great player, but LeBron is going to be the focal point,” Nash said. “I think he’s happy with that. At the same time, he’ll get a lot of opportunities to be in the spotlight, and he’s great at it.”

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Will Shaq help or slow down Cleveland?

Cleveland still seems likely to lose LeBron after only finding Mo Williams and Shaq to add to the team after 6 years. Mo did not show up in the playoffs and Shaq is 37 years old.

Photo source Newscom

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Ben Wallace staring down an opponent

Basketball in Cleveland is LeBron James. But did you know that the Cavaliers have the 3rd highest payroll in the NBA?

No, you didn’t. How could you, the team is loaded with no names.

One of those no names would just prefer to stay that way. His name is Ben Wallace and he makes more money in salary than LeBron James by 100 grand. Don’t worry about James, though. He makes mega millions through endorsements.

Big Ben or Clock Tower, as Rasheed Wallace used to call him, is just happy to be on a team that wants him, after suffering through a bad time playing for the Bulls.

After carving out an image of a quiet, yet fierce, defensive force in Detroit, Wallace’s perception and bank account changed when he signed a $60 million free-agent deal with the Bulls in 2006. Within days of showing up at training camp, Wallace was immersed in controversy for challenging the Bulls’ rules banning headbands and loud music in the locker room, among others. The sub-par season that followed only increased the heat.

Last year, as the Bulls got off to a rocky start, his relationship with Coach Scott Skiles went under the microscope. Neither ended up finishing the season with the team.

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Cleveland wanted Ben to be the savior to a team that seemed to need a defensive presence on the blocks. You know now that the Bulls were really a team disintegrating right before our eyes. It was plagued by youth, selfishness, and lack of talent. It was a team driven by Scott Skiles until his message just wore out and they could go no farther.

Oh yeah, Ben Wallace is much happier to let LeBron James and Mo Williams get all the attention, so he can just play as hard as he can.

Photo source Newscom

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It had to happen sooner rather than later.

John Hammond has signed on to be the General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks. John has been right there with Joe Dumars for 7 years. He is ready for his own team.

The Milwaukee Bucks have hired John Hammond as their new general manager, hoping the former Detroit vice president can bring some of the Pistons’ success to a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001.

“He is a proven NBA talent who has played an essential role in a winning NBA organization,” Bucks owner Herb Kohl said in a release distributed Friday night during the third quarter a 102-86 loss to Boston that dropped the Bucks to 26-53.

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Oh, the Bucks just don’t realize how lucky they are to get this guy. Having heard him speak numerous times on the Piston pregame show, John worked closely with Joe Dumars to build and keep the Pistons strong. The man knows basketball.

John Hammond will be missed by Coach Flip Saunders and President and GM Joe Dumars

Image details: Detroit Pistons Introduce New Coach Flip Saunders served by picapp.com

John turned down jobs at Toronto and Portland already, just waiting for the right opportunity. Joe Dumars and John can usually be seen sitting together at every game. It seemed like every sentence out of John’s mouth was “Joe and myself have been talking about…”.

You can expect John to assemble a strong team around himself, perhaps stealing some personnel from the Pistons.

As for who will step into Hammond’s spot in Detroit, there’s no talk yet of front-runners — but there are several internal staff members who could become candidates. George David, the director of player personnel, has been with the Pistons for 11 years. Director of basketball administration Jeff Weltman joined the team last summer but has 20 years of NBA experience; he was assistant general manager in Denver for five seasons and spent 13 years with the Los Angeles Clippers.
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An interesting speculation by ESPN has John letting Coach Larry Krystkowiak go and hiring Rick Carlisle. Coach Carlisle was fired by the Pistons so they could hire Larry Brown. Rick is an excellent coach that preaches individual responsibility and calls all the plays from the bench. He runs a very tight ship, in fact often too tight and upsets many people around him. They could win with Rick, but he would not last long. He would be the coach to put the seriousness back into the franchise.

There will not be much talent to begin with, but Rick Carlisle has never let that stop him before.

Hammond inherits a roster made up of one star – shooting guard Michael Redd – and a smattering of young talent – Mo Williams, Charlie Villenueva, Andrew Bogut and Yi Jianlian and a top-10 lottery pick in June’s draft.

This should be a very interesting hire.

NBA Basketball special comment John will turn things around in Milwaukee, but there is a long ways to go. Will he be given enough time?

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