The dog days of summer sure are long for hoop fans. We must subside on NBA table scraps, grainy summer league highlights, YouTube Rutger park moments and various pro-am pickup games across the nation. While the Association is on break, our appetite for hoops hardly takes a hiatus.
While I enjoy the summer league highlights, I put little stock in the run-and-gun style and alley-oop offensive sets. If I wanted to entertain myself with such hoops I would dust off the old Super Nintendo and fire up a little NBA Jam...a timeless classic.
It has been a few weeks since we last checked in with the NBA and the news it had to offer, so lets have a quick peek in and see what has been happening in the Association. A brief check-in reveals news of little consequence; Phil Jackson being mentioned in Kendrick Lamar’s rap, Dwight Howard has a new shoe design, Michael Jordan dunking a basketball in jeans, Kendrick Perkins working on an offensive game and Mike Bibby deciding to continue his playing career.
I’ll save you the bother of reading such useless drivel and I will recap the news of some, albeit minor consequence. The larger scale signings and announcements are over and done with and we are stuck with the following table scraps till training camps get rolling.
We will get started by talking about the former Orlando Magic Al Harrington. Harrington appears ready to sign a contract with the Washington Wizards, pending the completion of a physical. Harrington could be a solid signing for the Wizards so long as his health is good and the dollars aren’t too high. Harrington could bring some athleticism and scoring punch to a rather post-dominated frontcourt. A healthy Harrington could spark that offense and might just propel the Wizards to a seventh or eighth seed come playoff time.
The Miami Heat have attempted to bolster their frontcourt as well by signing free-agent Greg Oden. Oden is such an unproven commodity at this point in his career that forecasting his fantasy worth at this point is an exercise in futility. One thing's for certain and that is that Oden won’t be rushed to regular game action and his true worth to the franchise, if any at all, will be felt come playoff time. Oden could be a very well rested big man who could provide 15-20 minutes a night come playoff time of rebounding, shot altering, post-up, paint presence.
The news out of Minnesota involving their new draft pick Shabazz Muhammad is not good. It comes as no surprise to me that Muhammad is already proving to be a distraction for the Wolves. Why they even drafted a player with such character issues...again, is beyond me. Shabazz was sent home from the rookie symposium for a rules violation and as much as we would like to high-five the young man and say atta-boy; rules are rules and one must obey them.
Muhammad has already drawn the ire of Flip Saunders for this this little indiscretion as Flip has already thrown out the D-League as a potential landing spot for the much-hyped and oft-criticized young man. Heres hoping that the Wolves follow through on this and actually send Muhammad to their D-League affiliate. A solid dose of reality might just right this young man’s path and if it doesn’t then his first NBA contract could just be his last.
Speaking of contracts, two high profile players are already generating contract discussion as LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are entering option years. Cleveland could barely afford to lose yet another #1 overall pick and while Irving seems committed to Cleveland his verbal non-committals are cause for concern. The only possible; however, unfathomable possibility has Irving declining a max-contract from the Cavaliers only to see the Cavs sign over the franchise to LeBron. As unlikely as it sounds, speculation on their movement will continue all season long and it is sure to reach fever pitch once the season comes to a close.
Our last stop on the ‘what is barely relevant’ NBA news cycle is that after a head scratching offseason, the Milwaukee Bucks appear to be making a smart move for a change. This would entail the re-signing of their promising young center Larry Sanders. While I love Sanders and his game, I would nonetheless be hesitant to pay him like a David Lee; $12 million a season is a lot of money for a player who just might have reached his potential.
Sanders could very well be the next consistent double-double threat; however, he lacks the offensive skill set that would see him average 18 ppg. I agree in so much as the Bucks would be smart to lock Sanders up for another four or five years, but I would caution about throwing around an eight-figure annual salary deal to him. If the Bucks can get Sanders to agree to a more cap friendly Anderson Varejao-type deal of around $8 million per season, then that would be a no-brainer.
Well that concludes yet another NBA news and notes and until such time as the NBA can generate headlines in an offseason ala the NFL; we shall remain content with our snippets of news worthy scraps.