NBA Rumor Mill (1/26/07)

The NBA is one of the easiest professional leagues to make transactions. With only 5 starters, each player, team and lineup is monitored closely by every NBA general manager. Memphis GM Jerry West actually admits to watching every minute of every NBA game.

With that said, there should be a few moves before the February 22nd trade deadline. According to a statement Robert Horry made this week, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he will not make any roster moves. The Spurs were rumored to have interest in Morris Peterson of the Raptors among others and rejected a trade for Corey Maggette that included Brent Barry and Beno Udrih. The Pistons have said the will not deal Jason Maxiell nor Antonio McDyess. Dumars is shopping Nazr Mohammed, Dale Davis and Flip Murray.

The Los Angeles Clippers and the New Jersey Nets are talking about sending Shaun Livingston and Corey Maggette would to the Nets for Marcus Williams and Vince Carter.

Jerry West claimed he would not make any trades this year. This week, Grizzlies center Pau Gasol declared ready to be shipped. West is known to be exploring options with the Chicago Bulls. Names like Andres Nocioni, Loul Deng or Ben Gordon have been mentioned. The Chicago Bulls also own a top pick in this years draft. Kevin Garnett has been rumored to be moved from Minnesota to Chicago for months. Who knows what Kevin McHale will do next. The Nets are also interested in landing the 7 foot center.

AK47 could be on the block as well. After Jazz coach Jerry Sloan complained about Kirilenko's work ethic, Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz basketball operations senior VP said they were NOT putting AK47 on the block.

In a coaching rumor, the Minnesota Gophers are trying to lure the services of current Pistons coach and U of M alum, Flip Saunders. Flip has denied wanting to come back and coach the Gophers Men's basketball team, but apparently he is considering an offer.

After the 8 player swap from Golden State to Indiana, I thought there would be more moves coming. A lot of talk, not a lot of action is what I've been seeing. The trade deadline is now less than a month from now, so we should see more excitement from the NBA soon.

NBA Rumor Mill (1/19/07)

Rumors are flying around the NBA of more transactions. Newly acquired Piston Chris Webber could actually turn out to be a Knick and Newly Acquired Pacer Mike Dunleavy could become a Clipper.

The trade deadline is in late February, but teams are already testing the waters. Sacramento is looking to deal Artest who is a cancer in the locker room, go figure. Don't be surprised to see the Kings dump their players with attitudes (Bibby, Artest) at the trade deadline to try and jump-start a team with problems, including the perception that coach Eric Musselman has lost the players.

The Pacers have been busy, bringing in Dunleavy and Diogu and dumping Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington. Now, rumors are that the Pacers are looking to deal for Maggette. If the Clippers Maggette for Dunleavy, Mike Jr could be coached by his dad, Mike Dunleavy Sr. That would be interesting. Playing time might be political, like house-league.

The Clippers could end up trading for Artest. Artest says he doesn't want to be traded, he said, "I'm under contract right now with the Kings, and I like Sacramento. I'm definitely happy in Sac."

Not only are the Pacers considering dumping Dunleavy, Jermaine O'Neal's name has been whispered as departing as well. The trade seems more likely to happen this summer, but GM's and scouts say it could happen before next month's trade deadline. One source hinted that the Denver Nuggets' Marcus Camby or even the Sacramento Kings' Brad Miller could be parts of a package involving O'Neal. Damn, the Nuggets, Pacers, Pistons and Kings all need to sit down and work out a blockbuster.

New Jersey Nets has been considering trading Kidd or Carter. Carter is the most likely to go because his future is in doubt due to that fact that he can become a free agent this summer. The Nets won't rule out anything, but would rather keep Kidd.

The Pistons are trying to find a decent back-up to Rip Hamilton and are pursuing Morris Peterson of Toronto and Bonzi Wells of Houston. The Pistons center Nazr Mohammed is in the trade talks. The Timberwolves, who are trying to trade Marko Jaric are considering trying to land another big man and are competing for the services of Mohammed. The Pistons are said to be willing to listen to offers for any of their non-starting big men Nazr Mohammed, Antonio McDyess, Dale Davis and Jason Maxiell.

Seattle will try to offer a big man such as Robert Swift for Pistons' Dale Davis. Memphis GM Jerry West has denied any involvement in trades. The Grizzlies may choose to drop Eddie Jones. Jones has not been effective this season, if he is dropped he would hope to sign with a contender, perhaps Detroit. Should be another interesting couple of weeks in the NBA.

Fantasy Golf: Sony Open in Hawaii (Jan. 10, 2007)

Vijay Singh won just one tournament all of last year. Singh was able to capture his first win of the season in the first tournament of the season last weekend at the Mercedez-Benz Championship. Is this a Signh of things to come? Adam Scott finished 2nd and my pick to win it all, Furyk, finished well off the lead at 18th overall.

My other picks last week, J.B. Holmes and Trever Immelman finished 4th and 3rd. In the Yahoo.com fantasy golf format I scored 171 which is good enough to be 3rd in my league after one event. "Expert" players from various credible fantasy sites scored Greg Vara: 193, Erik Planer: 227, Matt Romig: 140. I'm in the 71st percentile. Overall Yahoo rank: 40,010.

As for the Sony Open in Hawaii, I feel I was a weekend early on my Furyk pick, and he should win this weekend.

Class A
Starter: Vijah Singh
Bench: Jim Furyk

Class B
Starter: Robert Allenby
Starter2: Anthony Kim
Bench: Chad Campbell
Bench2: J. B. Holmes

Class C
Starter: Troy Matteson
Bench: Dudley Hart

Weekly Insight:

Furyk knows Hawaii, he could end up winning this weekend. An interesting pick is rookie Anthony Kim, he is hit or miss this weekend in his first ever PGA tour tournament. Other rookies to watch this year are Andrew Buckle, Johnson Wagner and Anders Hanson. I'm leaving Holmes and Furyk on the bench for the first couple rounds because I used a start for them last weekend (Remember you only get 10 starts to use per golfer, and there are 30 plus events).

Fantasy golf is closer to fantasy baseball than fantasy football. In fantasy football the first free agent pick-ups are often good for the entire year (Marques Colston, Maurice Jones-Drew). Golf is more like baseball, some golfers don't play well early and are usually their best towards the end of the year.

NBA Rumor Mill (1/10/07)

The NBA rumor mill is churning. All the losers of the Iverson battle are looking to improve their line-ups before the All-Star break, which is considered the mid-point in the season.
Besides the typical talk about where KG is going, or why Artest is unhappy and wants to go - there are a few more NBA trades that could go down. These trades might not move heavy-duty names, but could impact the ProTrade market.

WHERE TO START!?

Biggest names:

Corey Maggette, SF, LAC -- I dont see Maggette staying in LA. Miami, Utah and San Antonio are among some of the NBA squad trying to acquire a veteran like Maggette. The Heat also like Artest (so-- I mentioned Artest). Utah is looking at Luke Jackson? as a possible signee. San Antonio could be looking at Morris Peterson as well. Mo Pete Might make more sense for SA, but Maggette can score from the wing better than Bowen or Finley.

Jason Kidd, PG, NJN -- The recently divorced Kidd is being talked about as a possible move for the Nets who are trying to do everything they can to spark their season. People are talking about a possible trade from New Jersey to Los Angeles.

Chris Webber, PF, PHI -- They brought him for AI. Now that AI is gone, Webber wants out and the sixers might buy out his contract. The Lakers are apparently interested in negotiating with Webber. The Nets need a solid PF, maybe they could work something out in a blockbuster three way trade between LAC, NYJ and PHI.

Earl Boykins, PG, DEN -- There are not enough balls to go around in Denver with AI on board. Boykins could be dealt to the Cavs who need a back-up QB to Eric Snow or whoever they have trying to run things (Texas Rookie Daniel Gibson - shoulda stay in school and played with Kevin Durant right now).

Finally, the most real thing that could possibly go down soon is a 3 team deal involving a bunch of bums, aka good buys on protrade. The Hawks, Blazers and Wizards are trying to send each others bench players to each other. The Blazers would send Jamaal Magloire to Washington, while the Wizards would send Brendan Haywood and Jarvis Hayes to the Hawks, and the Hawks would send Salim Stoudamire, Esteban Batista, and Lorenzen Wright to the Blazers.

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/hawks/index.html

Being an NBA GM would be a sweet job. FIRE KEVIN MCHALE!