Archive for June 27th, 2012

WATERCOOLER CHAT: HOUSTON TAKING STEPS, FINANCIAL PLAY FOR PISTONS, CARMELO’S TIME

BASKETBALL

 

In the NBA, with the draft approaching things are starting to get hot.  Teams want to move up, use picks to trade for players, get more picks later in the draft, etc… Tuesday we saw our first trade prior to the draft, as the Houston Rockets have traded shooting guard Chase Budinger to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for the Wolves’ #18 pick.  Now, what’s happening here?  The Wolves get a much-needed shooter/scorer in their back-court and the Rockets get yet another draft pick in the first round.  The major not-so-secret rumor here is that the Rockets want to trade into the Top 10 and use that pick and a few other players to get Dwight Howard from the Magic.  This is risky for the Rockets, however, because if they DID acquire Howard, they would essentially be renting him for 1 year, because he becomes a free agent after that.  The Rockets are betting they can convince Howard to stay in Houston, but almost nobody believes they can.  But, if you’re the Rockets, you have to take a risk like this, because Houston has been pretty irrelevant for the last 10 years.  It’s time for them to take steps toward the title.

And, in another pre-draft trade, the Detroit Pistons are sending shooting guard Ben Gordon and a 2013 pick to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for swing-man Corey Maggette.  This move is more of a financial play for the Pistons, who unload Gordon’s huge contract.  But for the Bobcats, Gordon is actually a nice piece of their rebuilding as it’ll give them a trusted shooter in the back-court going forward.  But many believe there’s a chance that the Bobcats trade their #2 overall pick for a few picks and some much needed players. Then again, teams like ‘upside’ and there is no better ‘upside’ player than the guy they take with the #2 pick.  Right now, most believe that will be Kansas’ Thomas Robinson.  We shall see.

And finally in the NBA, 2003 was one of the biggest drafts in NBA History.  It boasted LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh — all of whom now have a championship.  Except… there is one superstar from that draft who isn’t on their team and still doesn’t have the title.  That would be the #3 overall pick Carmelo Anthony (who fell in Denver’s lap after the Pistons selected the all-time draft bust in Darko Milicic).  Carmelo thought that going from Denver to New York to play with Amare Stoudemire would get him closer to the title, but clearly, finishing in the 78 spot this year and getting swept by the Heat (former 2003 draft alum) — they’re not exactly close.  So Tuesday, when asked about LeBron, Carmelo said, “My time is coming”.  Maybe… but it’s hard to imagine the Knicks beating the Heat anytime soon.  Then again, if they can get healthy and cohesive, they have a solid team behind Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, and emerging players Landry Fields, Iman Shumpert, and of course Jeremy Lin.  Plus, they had a solid record when head coach Mike Woodson took the reigns after D’Antoni was fired.  All in all… good luck Carmelo.

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