as rumored, spurs buyout the eurocontract of aron baynes, sign him to a 3.5 yr deal. good rebounder having a really nice year, not super athletic, 6-11 260 aussie who went to wash st.

What [Nellie] really needed was a guy like Ben Wallace, hyper athletic and fast who could run, block shots, rebound, and play great D, but would be happy with 7 shots a game.

I wonder if he ever explored prying Rodman free from the Pistons after 1991.

Who wouldn't want to see Nellie coaching Rodman?

Woj reporting on twitter that the Maloofs are on the verge of selling the Kings for $500 million to a Hansen-Ballmer-led Seattle group, which would play in Key Arena for two years before moving into a new arena.

according to RAPN David Robinsonis pretty much the greatest player who ever lived

Others have jumped on the SAC->SEA story - sad, completely unsurprising development. Happy for Seattle fans, at least.

Yeah, it's always a little sad to see a team move. This is a lot like Baltimore getting the Browns, but not as big of a deal.

I am sorry for Sacto, but I will still cheer for the neoSonics

according to RAPN David Robinsonis pretty much the greatest player who ever lived

He absolutely should be in the discussion much more than he usually is.

I thought 304 was a sarcastic response to 301 until 308 showed up. I just figured RAPN was a Spurs blog I had never heard of and David Robinsonis was a play on David Robinson+Sabonis as a measuring stick for the new Spurs signee.

think jon meant rapm - regularized adjusted plus minus. tracked at stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com - a smarter, better version of +/- that sometimes yields crazy results.
if so, i thought it was really high on jordan.

I would think that a hypothetical David Robinsonis would undoubtedly have been the greatest player in NBA history. So would a Magic Russell. Or LeBron Chamberlain. Or Joakim Price (plus - imagine what his painting would look like!).

I am curious about NBA franchises in states with legal marijuana possession and consumption. (I realize this already applies to the Nuggets) OTOH, maybe DeMarcus Cousins will...relax...a little.

LeBron Chamberlain

Would still only win one championship.

Joakim Price

Is this Mark Price? Or am I blanking on a great?

Who has the bigger internal conflict? Magic Russell trying to be half-Laker and half-Celtic at the same time, or Ardavidas Robinsabonis serving in the Navy while half-Soviet?

That Drazen Bias documentary was so heartbreaking.

yes, RAPM. I think Robinson was the league leader in 8 of 9 seasons, 90-96 and 1998.

It was really down on Hakeem Olajuwon's offense

Bill Simmons ?@BillSimmons
Yahoo's report on Sea-Sac sale: http://tinyurl.com/arbhm9j . Add from me: Relocation fee TBD. Chair of NBA's Relocation Committee? CLAY BENNETT.

I actually did not know this (or did, and forgot). Amazing.

Is this Mark Price? Or am I blanking on a great?

Yeah. I was going for someone that would make a fun combo.

Ken Berger ?@KBergCBS
Rick Adelman will miss his second straight game due to personal reasons tonight against Oklahoma City, the Timberwolves announce.

Nothing's going their way this year. Geez.

Chair of NBA's Relocation Committee? CLAY BENNETT.

That's a bit cruel, isn't it?

That's a bit cruel, isn't it?

Then again, he's certainly qualified. I do think there may be a conflict of interest here though.

That's a bit cruel, isn't it?

Then again, he's certainly qualified. I do think there may be a conflict of interest here though.

i don't see that at all. it's actually essentially the same situation. the team is for sale because the arena is #### and the city/state won't pay for a new one (which is a fairly legitimate stance, imo), while the purchaser is buying the team with the specific intention of moving them.

i mean, it does kind of reek of the fox being in charge of the hen house, but that's what sports business is these days.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Derrick Rose is dunking.

i don't see that at all. it's actually essentially the same situation. the team is for sale because the arena is #### and the city/state won't pay for a new one (which is a fairly legitimate stance, imo), while the purchaser is buying the team with the specific intention of moving them.

The Sonics would not have been sold to Bennet if he expressed a specific intent to move them. That was the basis of the the court case against him (ie- were his efforts to work with the city fraudulent).

I suppose I can stop being bitter now. On the other hand, I have to start rooting for Cousins and Evans instead of just hoping they do weird stuff.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Derrick Rose is dunking.

in related news, according to the philadelphia daily news, andrew bynum has been cleared to resume participation in the 16th street "Y"s wii sports tournament.

he is visibly excited.

The Sonics would not have been sold to Bennet if he expressed a specific intent to move them. That was the basis of the the court case against him (ie- were his efforts to work with the city fraudulent).

I suppose I can stop being bitter now

If it were my team that'd gotten moved, I would never, ever stop hating the owner to stole them away. Never. I'd be okay if Bennet never got anything other than bile from the people of Seattle for the rest of his life.

I understand the hatred of Bennet, and I do think he is a dishonest person, but the Sonics weren't MY team since I grew up with Minnesota and moved to Seattle while they were in the process of packing up. I am going to treat the Sonics like I do the Mariners- they are #2 behind the Twins and Timberwolves.

Love is out 8-10 weeks. Ouch

in related news, according to the philadelphia daily news, andrew bynum has been cleared to resume participation in the 16th street "Y"s wii sports tournament.

How is his hair celebrating?

---

Kirk Hinrich is out tonight with his 6th different injury this season. Unfortunately, none of the the injuries have succeed enough yet to give him an extended break.

Love is out 8-10 weeks. Ouch

I guess their big step forward is next year, then. Damn.

On the other hand, could this be a possible good thing? The Wolves have Pek and Love and some guards, but they could use a wing scorer. If they fade away a bit, that gives them a nice lotto pick in their arsenal for next year, right?

I'm just trying to look at the bright side here.

It was abundantly clear that the Sonics was moving to OKC the day they were sold.

The first Seattle-OKC playoff series is going to have great crowds.

I'd be okay if Bennet never got anything other than bile from the people of Seattle for the rest of his life.

I'd say Bennett deserves every bit of vitriol Seattle fans want to throw at him, with Stern close behind. That being said, if Stern is going to allow Seattle to "steal" the Kings from Sacramento, a podunk city/town that nonetheless supported the hell out of their mostly horrible team for 20 years, just to make up for the fact that he allowed one of his best friends to steal the Sonics from Seattle in the first place then he's doubly a dick.

I would like to see Muggsy Barkley play.

Rochester Royals -> Cincinnati Royals --> Kansas City Kings (--> KC/Omaha Kings) --> Sacramento Kings --> Seattle Whatevers.

That's one movin' around franchise

Does Bennett technically still own the rights to the "Supersonics" name?

he does but the owners of a new seattle team get them for free, iirc

Woj reporting on twitter that the Maloofs are on the verge of selling the Kings for $500 million to a Hansen-Ballmer-led Seattle group, which would play in Key Arena for two years before moving into a new arena.

oh ballmer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE

Hornets beat the Rockets in a weird game, the Rockets completely imploded in the 4th, though it seems that the ref were particularly awful this game.

Since Seattle is in King County, maybe they keep that name? (The question of which King that is is a story in itself.)

On the other hand, could this be a possible good thing? The Wolves have Pek and Love and some guards, but they could use a wing scorer. If they fade away a bit, that gives them a nice lotto pick in their arsenal for next year, right?

Posssible upsides to this trainwreck of a wolves season:
* Better draft pick
* The rest of the team develops as much as possible and continues growing and developing (since they are a young team), especially...
* D Williams has even more chance to develop into something that was worth the second pick overall. Becoming valuable, at least in trade, is the upside (downside is at least they know he never will and move on).
* Expectations in MN are tempered to a more realistic level. At the start of the season it was a bit over the top and this should reset things, so that maybe we can be pleasantly surprised going forward.

But overall it is a disappointing year, because injuries suck and the most important thing this team needed is for Love and Rubio to click, to grow together and to have all the other pieces grow and learn around them. I think they may have all the parts to build a good team, but we will never know if they can't be healthy and play together.

D Williams has even more chance to develop

Williams is playing pretty well right now. He is putting up the same per game numbers (so people think he hasn't progressed) but he is playing 4 fewer MPG. His PER is up from 12.9 to 16.1 and his WS/48 has doubled from his rookie year by virtue of better rebounding and shooting that went from very bad to OK. He is also stretching the floor better on offense (39% 3's, good on longer twos). Since Love got hurt, he is averaging 13-5 with 50% shooting in 20 MPG. He still has defensive limitations as a SF, has trouble finishing at the rim, and is overly passive sometimes in offense, seemingly because he doesn't always know what to do. Still, he looks a lot better to me so far this year. A big part of it is the ability to cross-match the forward sports with Cunningham (and AK at times). My favorite Williams moment of the year was last night when he beat Serge Ibaka on a jump ball.

Also, Love and Rubio have been on the court together for 28 minutes this year.

Stealing this idea from the Basketball Jones podcast:

Dirk for Dwight: who says no?

I have Minnesota on League Pass this year, and they are decent even without Rubio and Love. But I think at this point, Utah has the inside track on the 8th spot. Minnesota may be very good next year, though.

As to the Dirk/Dwight thing, the Lakers would be:

1. Adding another guy in his 30s with health and defensive issues, who is currently sporting a 14.9 PER.
2. Handing Howard, their only good defender, to Mark Cuban, whom 99% of Lakers fans loathe.

I assume that Cuban would pull the trigger on it, but he may also figure that if he waits, Howard is bailing on the Lakers anyway. I also assume that Dirk has some kind of NTC, although he might agree to it since Nash is here. If it actually got to the talking stages, the Lakers would probably want either Mayo or Collison coming along with Nowitzki, in exchange for Meeks or Blake/Duhon. D'Antoni would also want to ask about his old SSOL stalwart Shawn Marion.

I would actually say the opposite and see Dallas saying no. Besides the personal ties Dirk has to the franchise/Cuban, why would Cuban trade for (a not healthy) Howard without a guarantee of him staying, especially in a season that's going nowhere?

why would Cuban trade for (a not healthy) Howard without a guarantee of him staying, especially in a season that's going nowhere?

Because it puts him in the driver's seat for getting Howard in the off-season, which is what he wants to do anyway. As it stands now, he can't offer Howard as much money as the Lakers can. Also, Dirk has been outspoken the last week or so about his unhappiness with the team in Dallas and Howard, banged up though he is, is seven years younger than Nowitzki is. They are "going nowhere" with the team they have now, as Nowitzki himself has said in the media, and Nowitzki's deal ends next year, so they may be thinking about dealing him in any case.

Like I said, Cuban might not do it, and I don't think it will happen, but I think Cuban and Nelson would be more likely to trigger on it than Buss and Kupchak would. Howard's rep is in tatters and his career is in a bad patch, and his back may prevent him from ever being what he was. But he is still a guy that you try to get if you have a chance. Put it this way: he is a lot more likely than Nowitzki is to be the best player on a Finals team over the next four years.

Yeah, I'm mostly with robin (and was thinking partly of Dirk's recent comments). Though it's also possible both teams would say no. Cuban may still be committed to trying to pair Howard and Dirk, rather than swap one for the other.

Also, is it just me or has there been strikingly little discussion of the Heat, here and elsewhere? I guess it makes sense, given that their preeminence in the East is mostly undisputed, there's been little or no drama around the team, they have nothing to prove, and they're playing roughly to expectations.

Anyway, they're only 5-5 over their last 10 games, FWIW.

Also, is it just me or has there been strikingly little discussion of the Heat, here and elsewhere? I guess it makes sense, given that their preeminence in the East is mostly undisputed, there's been little or no drama around the team, they have nothing to prove, and they're playing roughly to expectations.

Anyway, they're only 5-5 over their last 10 games, FWIW.

You summed it up in your first paragraph. Unless they have injuries or some unforeseen breakdown of some sort, they'll almost certainly win the East. A 5-5 stretch in what are basically the doldrums of the season (Christmas through February) just says to me they're conserving energy or not as focused as they could be, while often getting other team's best efforts.

PJ might be right about Cuban not doing it, but the 2011 team is far in the rearview in Dallas--Chandler, Kidd, Terry, Barea--all gone. And obviously, while there would be no guarantee, Cuban is smart; he wouldn't trigger unless he was pretty damn sure Howard was staying.

From the Lakers' POV, it is a loser for basketball reasons. Even with the all the problems, the Lakers ORTG is 6th in the NBA and about the same as it was in 2010. It is the D, which is 22nd and dropping, that is killing them.

And Joe and PJ are right about Miami. My predictions usually suck, but I did say that I thought Miami would have regular-season stretches in which they were going at about 75% and would lose a fair number of games for a team with their core. They do have a few weaknesses, but I think that is mostly what is happening.

On that Laker trade, I think guys like us in a strato-type league would be more likely to do that trade because I think you can make a case for it on paper (even though robin is right, it would gut an already questionable defense). The real hangups would be the emotional ones- Dirk's ties to the city, his friendship with Cuban, and even LA.s long pursuit of Dwight vs. the short time of the on-court experiment. Another thought is that Vince might be useful in the short term for LA too. They're already "old as ####\" and he would help with the court spacing and has played at the three in some lineups.

I watched Dallas play the Kings last night. We talk about Dallas now and then, but here are some things I noticed about the Kings:

1. They are notably bad at playing active team defense. They work hard running around teams and generally play sound defense on the ball, but they are extremely late on rotations and especially cutting off drivers or guys rolling to the basket. It resulted in tons of fouls as they got to a guy just as he got to the rim with the ball.

2. Tyreke looked a lot better than the last few times I have seen him play. That explosion that allowed him to get to the basket whenever he wanted was there for most of the game. He is coming off of a knee injury so he is not at 100%, and I do not think he will ever be a #1 option if he does not improve his midrange or three point shooting (especially against opponents who are better at protecting the paint). Still, he scored about 20 points very efficiently and was one of the few guys who seemed to be at least marginally aware that his movement could help get his teammates open.

3. Cousins is a great offensive option but like many young bigs, needs to learn to pass out of the double team. There was one play where Collison switched on him and Dirk came to help so he just went through both of them, but there were at least 2 other instances where he was doubled and turned the ball over. I think he will learn. Some of the problem is that he has so many black holes around him. I really cannot see what Salmons and Garcia are giving them. Thomas is an ok sparkplug (no coincidence that he grew up in the same general area as Jason Terry, Jamal Crawford, and Nate Robinson) who is miscast as a starting PG. Really, the team's far and away top need is a distributing PG (also need more shooting- which could be partially addressed by reallocating some minutes- and a little more of a defensive presence in the middle unless Hayes/ Thompson plays better). If they drafted Lillard instead of Robinson, they would be better than Portland right now.

4. I think they are having trouble selling ads on their TV network because almost every commercial break would have the same 2-3 advertisers and many of them would double up on ads during the same break. They must have had 30 Pizza Guys commercials with Thomas in them during the game. The announcer even said "now there is a pizza guy who really delivers!" after one of his baskets.

5. As far as game flow, the Kings were up most of the game, but ran into a stretch in the fourth quarter where they went from up about 10 to down 4 through a lot of dead-end possessions and bad turnovers (again, lack of a real PG). Smart responded by playing a strange lineup of Thomas, Fredette, Thornton, Evans, and Cousins. Carlisle countered with Collison, Beaubois, Mayo, Carter, and DIrk. Dirk is still very out of sync. The Kings pushed the game into OT with that lineup when Thomas banked in a three to tie it in the last 10 seconds. They ultimately lost when Cousins fouled out when he and Carter got tangled on a loose ball and he kind of gave him a forearm shiver. It was a very weird play becaues it simultaneously looked like there was no way you could throw that type of forearm at a guy unintentiionally, but it also looked like he did not totally mean to do it. As soon as he made contact, he was trying to help Vince so he didn't fall down. The refs reviewed it and made it a flagrant 2, which was defensible. Sacto struggled to score from there and lost.

Bunch of good games tonight - BOS-HOU, NYK-CHI, SA-MEM, plus POR-GSW and OKC-LAL should be entertaining as well.

It was a very weird play becaues it simultaneously looked like there was no way you could throw that type of forearm at a guy unintentiionally, but it also looked like he did not totally mean to do it. As soon as he made contact, he was trying to help Vince so he didn't fall down.

I interpreted that as Cousins thinking, in the immortal words of Ron Burgandy, "I immediately regret this decision."