Tim Duncan, the Big Fundamental, goes to work on New Jersey

How do they do it?

They do it with defense.

The San Antonio Spurs have the best record in the Western Conference. They just extended their longest winning streak of the season with a 10th win in a row against the Vince Carter New Jersey Nets. They are one game better than the Kobe Lakers.

San Antonio 81 – New Jersey 70

That’s right, 70 stinking points.

“Think about this. They won the game shooting 33 percent,” New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said. “That just shows you how good they are. Those guys are the gold standard. They make you grind it out.” source

Tim Duncan

As usual, it was Tim Duncan leading the way.

Tim Duncan had 29 points and 12 rebounds for his 37th double-double of the season, and the Spurs overcame their offensive struggles to beat the New Jersey Nets 81-70 on Tuesday night for their 10th straight victory.

Manu Ginobili added 12 points.

New Jersey

No more Jason Kidd in New Jersey, so now it is Vince Carter leading the way with 19 points. New point guard Devin Harris had 13 points.

One had to realize that before it was all said and done that San Antonio would be back in the saddle leading the way in the Western Conference.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Spurs be in the NBA Finals once again?

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Jason Kidd cannot pass on a good deal

New Jersey seems intent on trading Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks, so GM Rod Thorn traded Kidd again to Dallas.

The new deal — as reported by various media outlets Sunday night, all citing anonymous sources — has Kidd and forward Malik Allen going to Dallas for point guard Devin Harris, center DeSagana Diop and swingman Maurice Ager, plus a few new pieces: retired forward Keith Van Horn and Trenton Hassell.

New Jersey also will get two first-round draft picks and $3 million.

Van Horn and Hassell replace Jerry Stackhouse and Devean George. source

Rod Thorn was not done there, he just went right on trading with Dallas.

In a separate transaction, Dallas will acquire Antoine Wright for a second-round pick.

Hey, why not? Gotta a deal working with Dallas myself, if the commissioner allows by dead great grandfather to be included in the deal.

Van Horn hates paperwork

Talk about a guy that really hates his paperwork. Keith Van Horn never got around to filling out his retirement forms for New Jersey. That is why he can be included in the trade.

How does that work?

And why did you attend his retirement party a year ago. Feel kind of foolish now, don’t you?

Aaron McKie returns

Now it can be revealed that the same stuff took place in the Memphis Grizzlies to Los Angeles Kobe Lakers Pau Gasol trade.

the Los Angeles Lakers had to extricate the 35-year-old from a coaching job in Philadelphia before signing-and-trading him as part of their package for Gasol.

Nothing fishy there, since you only have to convince the league you are serious about playing for the new team. Yeah, right.

Money talks

Apparently there is not much to show are far as desire to play with the amount of money being thrown around. Keith Van Horn was not sure he wanted to leave his business interests in Colorado.

Sources close to the process insist, however, that the league has not imposed any time requirements for staying with the Nets that Van Horn must meet to collect the full $4.3 million he’s scheduled to receive for the rest of the season. source

Hmm, 4.3 millions reasons to leave Colorado.

Anyway, Kidd was traded to Dallas and may being playing as a Maverick with Dirk Nowitzki and company as soon as Wednesday.

If not, Rod Thorn can always trade him again.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Jason Kidd take Dallas to the title?

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LeBron James All Star MVP – Time to get out of Dodge err Cleveland!

With David Stern happy to have NBA Marketing Icon LeBron James as the MVP of the 2008 All Star game, the world can move on.

If you had to lay odds, it had to be James as MVP.

The NBA is a marketing organization, not a sports organization. Right now the future of the NBA seems secure, with possible expansion out of the USA and many stars in the league, but it can change fast and David Stern knows that.

Don’t get me wrong, LeBron is so good he probably would win the MVP of the All Star game anyway, almost every year.

It wouldn’t be long until these pulsating final minutes of this fabulous All-Star Game ultimately belonged to the genius of its Most Valuable Player with 27 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. It wouldn’t be long until commissioner David Stern passed him his second trophy at 23 years old, and the world would see who the star of stars was again at New Orleans Arena.

“LeBron is a freight train when he goes to that basket,” West coach Byron Scott sighed. “He’s so big, and so strong – so quick and so powerful. It’s hard to stop him when he gets the momentum going like that.” source

Now it is time to plan for LeBron to leave Cleveland.

The Cavaliers will have a hard time putting together consistent teams in Cleveland.

Over the summer, LeBron, Bryant and Jason Kidd were grumbling teammates with Team USA. Bryant wanted out of Los Angeles. Kidd wanted a trade to Cleveland. And James just wanted someone to share the burden with him. Well, the two point guards whom Cleveland GM Danny Ferry had tried to obtain for two years – Kidd and Mike Bibby – are on the way to Dallas and Atlanta.

The NBA needs to keep LeBron on the highest stage possible. That stage would be the NBA Playoffs and probably at least the Conference Finals. Hopefully the Championship series itself.

You can’t market Tim Duncan.

As much as it hurts your intrepid author (a huge Pistons fan), the League does not want anymore San Antonio Spurs vs. Detroit Pistons series. To fans outside of those teams, it is boring. They play defense.

Think of Kevin Garnett’s Boston Celtics vs. Kobe’s Lakers.

Think of Steve Nash and the Shaq bringing the Suns in to play LeBron James when he is on the Knicks (without Isiah).

Jerry Stackhouse may not be all smiles if the Jason Kidd trade does not go through

Jerry Stackhouse gave an interview saying New Jersey would buy out his contract, then after the 30 day waiting period, Stack could return to the Mavericks in a prearranged deal. source

This is illegal. It is called tampering. The league may not allow Jerry to return to the Mav’s if the trade happened.

Mark Cuban does not want to lose Stack.

Wow, this just keeps getting better. First, Devean George and his Bird Rights, and now Jerry Stackhouse and tampering.

Just think how happy David Stern must feel to stick the dagger in Cuban for once.

Losing Stack to gain Kidd, may hurt the Mav’s depth, but still would improve their team.

This deal just got more complicated, but will still probably happen in some form or another.

LeBron wants action

Meanwhile, LeBron James is upset that the Cavaliers have done nothing to try and get Kidd, in spite of LeBron’s lobbying for Jason. It is doubtful that the Nets would leave Jason Kidd in the same conference.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will Dallas and New Jersey get this deal done in time for the trade deadline?

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Jason Kidd not going anywhere right now!

Wow!

In what looked like another blockbuster trade of an Eastern Conference team to a Western Conference team, did not happen.

Whether this trade gets done or not is up in the air right now.

There appears to be a contract snag with one of the players to be traded, Devean George.

Dallas Wins

Dallas went out and beat Portland anyway.

George started because of an injury to Josh Howard — and went 0-for-11. He had no points, four rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes.
…
Dallas also was without starting point guard Devin Harris (ankle) and key reserve Jerry Stackhouse (hamstring). A bigger distraction was talk that Harris and Stackhouse were part of a deal that would bring Kidd from New Jersey in a deal that also would include George and reserves DeSagana Diop and Maurice Ager. source

The contract of Devean George has a no trade clause and his agent, Mark Bartelstein is meeting with George to discuss it.

George was supposed to be among the players headed from Dallas to New Jersey, but he blocked it because of a virtual no-trade clause as part of a contract status called “early Bird rights.”

After Dallas beat Portland on Wednesday night, Mavs coach Avery Johnson said there was “zero” chance the deal would get done, but added that was “as of now.” source

The trade deadline is Feb 21st.

Here is an explanation of how Larry Bird or Early Bird Rights work.

Without the player’s consent when the player is playing under a one-year contract (excluding any option year) and will have Larry Bird or Early Bird rights at the end of the season. This includes first round draft picks following their fourth (option) season, who accept their team’s qualifying offer for their fifth season. When the player consents to such a trade, the team loses its Larry Bird/Early Bird rights, and the player is considered a Non-Bird free agent. Note: when there is an option year involved, they can get around this regulation by invoking the option prior to the trade. source

Sounds like there is an out, but Devean will have to give up the Early Bird Rights and then New Jersey would lose the rights to George at the end of the season.

NBA Basketball Fan Question How much would Kidd change Dallas?

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Who was that masked man?

Boston continues to roll, just stocking up on victories left and right. The Celtics are also getting all the pub that goes with it.

Geez, Garnett is even leading LeBron James in the All Star voting! There are not any Pistons even close in the voting.

And then there is the Big Three thing with Garnett, Allen, and Pierce, as they hope to imitate some of the success of the real Big Three of Bird, McHale, and Parish.

All of this kind of leaves the Pistons lurking in the shadows.

If you happened to catch the Pistons playing the Celtics in Beantown the other week, you witnessed a playoff style game with the Pistons pulling it out in the end. In other words both teams were really trying the whole game.

Now the Pistons are putting on an impressive streak of games and the NBA better look up and take notice, because the Pistons are taking no prisoners.

The Pistons continued their roll, crushing the Nets, 101-83, on Wednesday night. It was their sixth straight win, their 13th out of the last 15 and their sixth straight over New Jersey. source

Without any of those first team all stars, the Pistons rely on different players on different nights always looking for the mismatch and always staying in the team concept.

“We got cooking,” Billups said. “We were getting the shots we wanted. Our defense picked up in the third quarter and our shots were going in — that’s a deadly combination.”

Hamilton, who averaged 23 points against the Nets (12-16) in the Pistons’ previous five wins, hit all five of his shots in the third. The Pistons’ 31 points in the quarter came from Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, McDyess and Billups.

“I was going good, and the guys were finding me,” Hamilton said. “They were getting me shots in rhythm. It’s always fun to play against New Jersey. I consider them one of my hometown teams, coming from Philly.”

Even Lawrence Frank, coach of the Nets is impressed.

“Detroit is one of the better teams in the league,” New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said. “It solidifies that we have to keep on working to get better. Look at their record against us; they are playing better than us. But it’s a long season and we are going to keep on grinding.”

So secretly the Pistons are looking great as usual and staying under the radar.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Have you noticed the Pistons?

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What do you mean ‘No Love’?

Jefferson, that is Richard, not Thomas, and that is hoops, not Congress.

And that is 4 commas in one short sentence.

Which fits, because Jefferson is only 6′ 7″ and 225 pounds. Not exactly Shaq sized, but in today’s NBA and the emphasis on speed and gliding to the hoop, Richard Jefferson is doing just fine.

The whole key is his health. Now that Jefferson has it and Vince Carter on one side and Jason Kidd in the middle, there is no stopping him. The problems lie in the fact that you can stop the Nets. They are 3 – 7 in their last three games and 10 – 14 on the season, all while Richard is second in the conference in scoring and heading for and All Star season.

ABC analyst Mark Jackson, who does Nets games for the YES Network, says Jefferson had been the most consistent Net in New Jersey’s first 21 games.

“You look at the impact he is having on ball games — win, lose or draw — he hasn’t disappointed,” says Jackson. “He is playing his best basketball and it is really fun to watch night in and night out.”

Though the 6-7, 225-pound Jefferson is having an All-Star caliber start, that wasn’t his goal.

“I didn’t want to average 20 points,” Jefferson says. “I didn’t want to make the All-Star Game. I didn’t want to do this or do that. I came in saying, ‘Hey, I just want to be healthy.’ And I’m glad I’m healthy.” source

Back at Arizona

You could tell Richard would be great when he met up with my Michigan State Spartans in his last year in college at Arizona back in 2001. My Spartans were led by Jason “Jrich” Richardson and the two met head to head. It was no contest. At that time Richard Jefferson was bigger, stronger, and just plain better. It was a shock to Spartan fans.

Get Rid of Richard Jefferson

Richard is healthy and teamed with Carter and Kidd and playing at a very high level. But the Nets are not winning and that is a problem. The talk is about breaking up the big 3 players.

Breaking this trio apart has been suggested before. It just seems appropriate now because if the floundering Nets are going to address the next phase of this franchise – contending for a title, filling that new arena in Brooklyn, etc… – they should be thinking trade right now, well in advance of the February deadline.

And they should trade Jefferson, who at 24.9 points per game, still has lots of value. The big hurdle is Jefferson, who will earn $12.2 million this year, still has another three years and $52 million left on his contract. But he should be moved to rebuild. source

Leave it to Rod Thorn and the Nets to always be moving the pieces. Gotta feeling that there are plenty of teams out there drooling at the prospect of picking up a player of Richard Jefferson’s caliber.

Will he stay or will he go? Nobody knows.

Break up the Big 3? Hey, thought the Big 3 was officially up in Boston now?

Rod ought to wake up and realize the Nets have historically stunk on Defense and have lacked a true presence in the middle for years.

Richard Jefferson is not the problem and besides, Richard is healthy!

NBA Basketball Fan Question Would your team trade for Jefferson?

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Ray says this uni will get dirty playing defense

Ok, who is picking the Celtics to go 82 – 0?

What no takers?

They are the only undefeated team in the National Basketball Association.

They have a 1 game lead in the Conference on the always there Pistons and the surprising Orlando Magic.

This time they were lead by Ray Allen as they beat the New Jersey Nets 112 – 101.

Ray had 27 points and 10 rebounds. Get this, Paul Pierce had 28 points and Kevin Garnett chipped in with 18 points 14 rebounds and 6 assists.

Just another easy win for the Celts.

“It was a tough win,” said Garnett. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They (the Nets) had a nice rest and they were probably sitting here waiting for us. They probably watched the game last night. We spoke about this last night, about getting a rest and coming out with some energy. We started out pretty slow but picked it up defensively.”

Here is a little secret that you can’t tell anyone about the Celtics, because if this gets out, oh my, it is not going to be pretty.

Are you sure you want to know?

Ok, you asked for it, the Celtics can play defense!

And, as coach Doc Rivers pointed out recently, he can actually teach and coach defense this year without his players looking at him as if he were talking about quantum physics. He now has veterans who have at least a passing knowledge of the concept.

“We’re all right,” Posey said after the Toronto game, when asked about the team’s defense. “We could be a lot better. But it’s the second game and we’re going to have many more practices just to tune it up a little bit. Once we get that done, we’re going to be really good.”

Posey arrived with the reputation as a defensive demon. Garnett has been a glass eater his entire career while also being a shot-blocking threat and an annual member of the All-Defensive Team, dating to 2000. He was a first-teamer for six straight years and has been second team the past two. source

Your intrepid author must caution you again that it is a long season and the euphoria will be replaced with the grind and then we will see, but the early returns are certainly shaping up well for the Boston Celtics.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Celtics play winning defense all year?

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