Three years ago, Gilbert Arenas was playing as well as anyone in the NBA. Though never rewarded as an MVP, he was on the short list of best players in the NBA and an NBA All-Star. Injuries and knee surgery derailed his surging career.
But new Washington Wizards coach, Flip Saunders, seems to think Arenas is back to full strength. Read his comments, as reported by Yahoo! Sports:
I don’t see any difference as far as the things that he does now that he was doing three years ago, when he was one of the MVP candidates
That is a scary proposition for the rest of the NBA East, even if you consider that the Wizards were embarrassing last year.After Eddie Jordan was fired 11 games into the season, injuries & inconsistent play sent this team spiraling to the bottom-depths of the NBA. But in the last 6 months, the Wizards have significantly upgraded a roster that produced a franchise-low 19 wins last season. Some of it has to do with players returning from injuries — notably Arenas but DeShawn Stevenson & Brendan Haywood were injured much of last season also.
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How is it possible that a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer and potentially the most athletic sub 6-footer in the history of the NBA can’t get a job? Has the NBA changed that much that a one-time scoring champ and a guy that averaged 20+ points just 1 season ago is unwelcome on any team?
If you ask Allen Iverson about his off-season, the “Answer” is YES!
So what happened from to The Answer in 1 season that makes him kryptonite to NBA GMs. Most will tell you it is chemistry. His foray in the Motor City did little to impress, as Iverson was unable to adjust to a smaller role. GMs want no part of a high-profile role-player if he doesn’t want to put the team first. Look at what “stars” have done for the LA Lakers with Lamar Odom coming off the bench; or the Boston Celtics’ Big Three sacrificing their individual numbers for team wins. If Iverson wants to succeed, he will have to adjust.
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How quickly the mighty have fallen. Like the auto companies, Detroit Pistons basketball has gone from a model of efficiency to a barren wasteland. The exodus of aging stars will help their salary cap, but new additions Ben Gordon & Charlie Villanueva will not add wins.
Remember when you could write-in the Detroit Pistons to the Eastern Conference Finals? That was just a few short years back. The nucleus of Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Antonio McDyees (and one-time All-Star Ben Wallace) made the rough-and-tough Pistons a force in the East. But now, the team has gone in a different direction.
Ben Wallace didn’t feel the love and left for Chicago in 2006. The Pistons held it together as guys like McDyees & Jason Maxiell stepped it up. But desperation (and the beginning of a rebuilding effort) was apparent when team president, Joe Dumars, traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson. The move was “supposed” to be for salary cap purposes. Iverson would hang for a year, then be released to free up cap-space for the 2010 bonanza. The unintended effect was that Chauncey was the glue that held the Piston’s ship together. Iverson was an unmitigated disaster and Chauncey spearheaded a revival in Denver.
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Not that it really matters, but Greek basketball is providing a second home for some decent NBA role players.
Greek basketball giants Olympiakos just signed Von Wafer to a $10 million deal over two years. Considering he was making less than $800 grand with Houston, it is simple to see why Von Wafer jumped. The same could be said for Linas Kleiza, who played his college ball at Missou but hails from Lithuania. He netted a two year, $12 million deal. No NBA team, in a smaller salary cap era, can compete.
What does it mean for the NBA? Probably not a lot, although you might see a watering down of a lot of good bench players over the next year. Josh Childress started the European exodus with his deal to Greece. He left the Atlanta Hawks to get big money in Greece. Now the Hawks are back in the playoffs and he is averaging 14 pts a game in Greece. But, he has a hefty bank account.
Von Wafer was a good shooter from distance, averaging 39% from the 3-point line. And if asked to score, he could fill it up. Linas Kleiza was a terrific “7th Man” who could plan multiple positions, decent defense, and shoot from the perimeter. Though the Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets won’t be seriously impacted, they will lose some valuable contributors.
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Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the Boston Celtics have agreed in principle to a one year contract for Shelden Williams.
I find it interesting that Adrian Wojnarowski decided to say that the Celtics “land” Shelden Williams. Really?!? Land is the word you use? I was thinking something along the lines of “begrudgingly sign” or “throw in the towel and sign” Shelden Williams.
Two years ago the Atlanta Hawks made their second worst draft choice of this decade (not counting the Chris Paul pass-up) by drafting Shelden Williams ahead of Brandon Roy (and Rudy Gay). Shelden played sparingly and was an undersized center and timid power forward. He was shipped to the Sacramento Kings (with some other throw-aways) for Mike Bibby and Atlanta never looked back. Shelden barely cracked a young, injury-riddled rotation in Sac-town, and Bibby went on to lead the Hawks to the 4th seed in the East.
So what is in store for Shelden in Boston? Front row seats to one of the most competitive teams in the NBA. I see him getting 8-10 minutes if the Celtics are able to re-sign Big Baby, and maybe upwards of 18 minutes if the Big Baby goes elsewhere. Shelden can still rebound, but not from the C spot. He needs to play power forward and his offense is very limited.
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The NBA loves drama. In fact, that is the tag line for TNT who shows a lot of games, “we love drama.”
In their infinite wisdom, David Stern and the rest of the NBA brass has scheduled for Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to meet on Christmas Day! Wow, nothing exemplifies the yuletide spirit more than two guys that, despite their best efforts to fake it on TV, really don’t like each other.
Shaq has just switched over to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a trade from Phoenix. Cleveland got a Hall-of-Famer, albeit an old one; Phoenix got a stick of gum and salary cap flexibility. The Cavs, now with Shaq, are a legitimate threat in the East. Though they will be not be a clear favorite, they will certainly match up better against the Celtics and Magic. Just having Shaq’s presence on offense will open up the floor for shooters. On defense, the Big Diesel can still bang with the best of them.
Kobe is fresh of this 4th NBA Championship, the first he earned solo. Sure, he had help from Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, etc…but this championship was his. Now that they resigned Odom, all the pieces are in place for another big run…and they will remain the favorites in the West.
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