Now that the shockwaves sent through the NBA by the summer's early blockbusters have settled, we're settling into a more familiar offseason routine; ludicrous lowballing, obnoxious over-paying, shitty trades and contract re-neging: it's all become disturbingly familiar. Here's a quick recap of what we've seen so far:- Surprising nobody, the Ricky Rubio tug-o-war ended with the Spanish prodigy returning to Europe to fulfill his current contract and mature as a player. A lot of people get caught up in the hype and forget that, despite the poise he showed in the Olympics last summer, he's still 18 and has a lot of improving to do. He'll be much more ready to contribute in a couple years and will keep potential NBA employers anxiously watching Euroleague Pass at 3 am far too often.
Shrewd move by Minnesota; a lot of people questioned their tactics on draft night, but they now have a promising, athletic (albeit undersized) guard and the league's most intriguing trading chip.
- The Pistons made the biggest free agent splash, tossing big dollars at Charlie V and Ben Gordon to replace the aging stars that are presumably leaving gaps at the 2 and 4. While it's debatable whether this was money well spent (staying under the cap for next summer anyone?), it's hard to argue with the addition of an explosive scorer and a versatile forward who can spread the floor. Something about these acquisitions (namely the abysmal thought of Gordon and Rodney Stuckey co-existing in a backcourt) and the nature of Joe Dumars makes me feel like some more moves might be made...
- Speaking of Dumars, his most illustrious draft selection is on the move again: the New York Knicks are the new proud owners of Darko Milicic, the papier-mache figurine that Detroit decided was more worthy of their draft pick than..well..the legnthy list doesn't need to repeated again, you all know. It's anyone's guess if Mike D'Antoni can summon a shred of the basketball ability Darko was once thought to have, but I'd have to assume a player who's shown all the offensive prowess of a confused giraffe won't be a good fit here either.
- And speaking of troubled big men, the Clippers ousted Wack Randolph; a move that rids of them of a complacent locker room deadweight and leaves an unmolested starting spot for that Griffin kid everyone's talking about. Had to be done. They had 4 potential starters at the 4 and 5, Randolph was the most obvious casualty.
- Not resting on their laurels, the champs went out and added Ron Ron the Rottweiler to replace Trevor Ariza, who assumes Artest's old post at the 3 in the Houston Rocket Crash (honestly..has a squad that took the eventual champs to game seven 2 months ago ever looked so bleak?). He'll be looked upon to fill the same role; be an aggressive wing defender and hit open 3's. While he's older and slower, Ron Ron's a tougher player, better scorer, passer and ballhandler; generally an upgrade. Artest can be the ultimate catalyst in LA, and most indications from last season point to him being a reformed psychopath, one who focuses his intensity on winning games instead of demolishing media equipment. If his ego can remain unphased by the LA aura and Kobe's omnipotence, then the Lakers will only be tougher to beat.
- ...And no offseason would be complete without a quizzical blunder from the Toronto Raptors, who recently saved the Blazers from overpaying for Hedo Turkoglu with an 11th-hour screwball that commits $50mil + to a 30-year old who barely averages Eastern All-Star numbers and waited a decade to prove himself as more than a seventh man. Real Cool. They now boast yet another soft player who can stretch defenses and score from a lot of places, but does nothing to address their glaring deficiencies. What's Hedo going to do for them that Bargs and Delfino aren't already? O yeah, shackle them financially when he's a washed up plug averaging 15/3 with an untradebale contract. Next season.
What's going down next? Will the Phoenix firesale finally consume Amare? Is Joey D done re-tooling the Piston engine? Are the Raptors going to become the next NBA name to relocate to Europe? Stay tuned folks...
