Fantasy Basketball Daily

Milwaukee signed Tyronn Lue to a 2 year, $3.9 million deal.  Lue will backup Mo Williams.  The signing definitely leaves Phoenix in a bind for a backup point guard.

The Chicago Tribune’s latest article takes a look at the Luol Deng and Ben Gordon contract talks.

Minnesota signed Craig Smith to a 2 year deal.  Terms were not disclosed.  The Wolves now turn their attention to Ryan Gomes who is looking for the full mid-level exception, however that looks less and less likely with every Kevin Love rebound.

Summer League:

• Kevin Love put up 18 points and grabbed 17 rebounds in Minnesota Loss.
• J.J. Hickson put up 18 points, 6 rebounds in Cavs loss.
• Donte’ Green scored 17 in a Rockets win.
• O.J. Mayo had 20 points, 5 assists in Grizzlies loss.
• Marreese Speights scored 24 in a Sixers victory over the Wizards.

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated reports that there may be problems between Josh Smith and coach Mike Woodson.  Mannix says that Smith has stated that he isn’t interested in playing for the Hawks if Woodson is the head coach.  Sources say the relationship is beyond repair.  You have to wonder if this might be one of the factors keeping other teams away from Smith.  In another sign that things might not be going that well with Smith, the Hawks brought in Kwame Brown and Randolph Morris for tryouts.

Pick Axe and Roll has some good analysis of the Marcus Camby trade.

Marty Burns of Sport Illustrated takes a look at players who could be available for trade.

Tonight’s NBA Summer league TV:  Dallas v. Sacramento at 6:00 pm EST and Washington v. Philadelphia at 8:00 pm ESt.

New Orleans agreed to a deal with James Posey for 4 years, $25 million.  Boston lost out on Posey due to complications with the luxury tax.   

Cleveland signed Daniel Gibson to a 5 year contract today.  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.   Gibson had surgery on the left ankle that caused him to miss 18 games last season and he is already back on the court playing and expects to be ready for training camp.

New York plans on signing Anthony Roberson on Wednesday to a 2 year, $1.6 million deal.  Stephon Marbury looks less and less likely to be returning to the Knicks and Chris Duhon should move into the starting point guard spot without Marbury around. 

The USA Select Team was announced today and includes LaMarcus Aldridge, O.J. Mayo, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Luther Head, Al Horford, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Martin, Derrick Rose and Rodney Stuckey.  The team will scrimmage against the US Olympic team to get them ready for the Beijing games.

Josh Smith just lost another job opportunity as the LA Clippers traded for Marcus Camby.  Smith had also been a target of Philadelphia, who filled their opening with Elton Brand.  It is looking more like Smith might actually end up back in Atlanta.  The team with the most money to spend is Memphis, but I’m not sure they have even considerd Smith.  Conley, Mayo, Gay and Smith.  Yeah, that might be a pretty good core for about 10 years.  Of course, you have to keep Denver in the back of your mind too.  Surely they are looking for a big man now, but I’m not sure they would move Kenyon Martin to center to allow Josh Smith to slide into the power forward spot.  The also say they are very limited by the luxury tax, we’ll see.

I keep hearing all this talk about the free agent summer of 2010, especially LeBron James, so I took a look at the 2010 expected free agent list.  Not a bad group, but what I think alot of people are missing is that these guys are all going to be two years older when 2010 rolls around.  I can appreciate planning ahead, but are some teams putting too much emphasis on the possibility of these players still possessing their current form and/or not getting hit by injuries?  How much planning goes down the drain if LeBron or Kobe blows out a knee?  And is it really worth putting your fans through watching a horrible product on the court for the next 2 years just to have a shot at these possibilities?

Derrick Rose’s MRI results came back showing only a ‘mild’ case of tendonitis in his right knee.  Rose admits that he has had the condition since his freshman year, so it is pretty certain that the Bulls were aware of it prior to drafting him.  Hopefully, they just sit Rose from basketball for a month and let him work on strengthening the surrounding muscles.

The hidden nugget that everyone is missing in Denver is the $10 million trade exception that Denver gets in this trade.  The exception allows Denver to take back that much more than they give up in any future deal. The exception can be used one year from the date of the trade and could provide Denver with alot of flexibility to make a very big move, especially considering all the money that they save by avoiding the luxury tax as a result of shipping Camby out.  Also, the Nets offered Marcus Williams, Josh Boone and Nenad Krstic for Camby, but Denver chose money over those young players.

Good article by Hornets 24/7 on the limitations faced by New Orleans in the free agent market.

It is looking like Thaddeus Young my have some serious fantasy value in Philadelphia this season   There is some talk of moving Andre Iguodala to shooting guard and playing Young at the small forward spot.  One NBA rep said that Young was one of the top three players in the Las Vegas summer league, so he definitely has the ability.

Somebody is getting fired over this promotional stunt involving the Spurs’ Coyote mascot.  Really bad planning.

Doug Smith of the Toronto Star reports that Carlos Delfino is likely headed overseas to play in Russia for something in the neighborhood of $5 million a year. Probably better than he would get in the NBA. 

According to BulletsForever.com, JaVale McGee is a long way away from being ready for the NBA.  I haven’t seen him play yet, but take a look next time and see if the comments are legit.

NBA.com reports that the Los Angeles Clippers have traded a second round pick to the Denver Nuggets for Marcus Camby.  Wow, didn’t see that one coming.  Camby will replace Elton Brand and give the Clippers some strong defense.  Surprising that Denver couldn’t get more for Camby, but it looks like they may have another move up their sleeve to replace him.  It will be interesting to see what big man they have their eye on. 

Rumors are surfacing of a Ron Artest to Miami for Shawn Marion deal.  The sticking point on any Artest deal is what Sacramento would package with him since Artest is owed about $7 million this year and Marion is owed around $17 million.  Sacramento is trying to rid themselve of Kenny Thomas, but that is probably going to be a deal breaker.

If you haven’t seen it, check out Stephon Marbury’s new tattoo.  Not sure what he was thinking on that one.  Didn’t Steve & Barry’s go into bankruptcy?  Guess they didn’t own the Starbury design.

Brian Schmitz reports that Anthony Johnson is returning to Orlando to take Keyon Dooling’s roster spot.  Johnson gets a 2 year, $3.8 million deal.  He should send Dooling a thank you card for turning down that exact same offer.  Hey, if Dooling doesn’t want it, I’ll take it…

David Thorpe of ESPN.com has a good article reviewing the standouts of summer league. 

BulletsForever.com posted a nice piece on the performances of the Wizards’ summer league squad.

Tonight’s summer league games on TV:   NBA TV has the Phildelphia 76ers v. Los Angeles Lakers at 8:00 pm EST and Sacramento v. Portland starting at 10:00 pm EST. 

Yao Ming is trying to get back into action at the Stankovic Cup, which is a tune up tournament before the Olympics.  Seems like China is putting alot of pressure on Ming to return before he is ready and Houston can’t be too happy about that.  I wonder if Ming would be pushing so hard if the Olympics weren’t in Beijing.

Summer league:

• Kevin Love put up 18 points and 13 rebounds in his summer league debut.  
• Jerryd Bayless scored 28 and showed some awesome leaping ability.
• Wilson Chandler scored 26 and Danilo Gallinari added 14 in Knicks win.
• O.J. Mayo hit a 69 footer on his way to 18 points in a Memphis loss to Spurs.
• J.J. Hickson had 26 points and 9 rebounds in a Cavs loss.
• Donte’ Greene signs contract 5 minutes before game and then scores 40 in Houston win.
• George Hill scored 14 and showed some good defense guarding O.J. Mayo.

Great article from Clips Nation on Zach Randolph.  Some speculation that the Clippers may be looking to obtain Randolph to fill the open power forward spot vacated by Brand.  The deal was shot down initially, but that might have just been the first offer of a longer process.

Miami’s search for a point guard continued when Tyronn Lue skipped his physical for the Heat.  Just skipping a physical with no warning is a really strange move and I hope there isn’t some underlying problem with Lue that he didn’t want to come to light.

It’s great to see Etan Thomas back doing basketball exercises after undergoing surgery last year to repair a leak in his aortic valve.  It is scary to imagine what could have happened to him without the top notch healthcare that these professional athletes receive.

Orlando has been talking with Jason Williams about filling the backup point guard position behind Jameer Nelson.  Nelson’s fantasy value will take a hit with Williams on the team, as Orlando didn’t show much patience with him last year.  Jason Williams is better than Nelson’s previous backup, Keyon Dooling, so keep an eye on this fantasy situation.  As for Dooling, it is getting clearer that he is probably done in Orlando.

Fox Sports provides a look at the top 10 trade possibilities.  Sean Deveney takes a look at the scraps that are left over this free agency season.

David Lee still isn’t sure about his future with the Knicks.  Lee would be a great fantasy play if New York could just get rid of Zach Randolph, but it appears from their recent dealings with the Clippers, that it might be difficult to unload Randolph to their liking.

It is very quiet in Atlanta regarding Josh Smith and Josh Childress.   Sekou Smith reports on what is happening with the Hawks. 

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Eric Gordon injured his hamstring and will miss the rest of summer league.  Probably a good move by the Clippers to shut him down.  Gordon really has nothing to prove in summer league since his talent and scoring ability are clear.  Rest him up and get him ready for camp.

There is a rumor circulating that the Clippers could be after Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala.  I doubt that there is much to this as Philadelphia is looking to make a run now and I’m sure Iguodala has had the opportunity to talk with Brand about how LA treats it’s players.  Brand was out campaigning for Iguodala and Louis Williams on Sunday saying, “Management has let me know they will match any offer.”  Doesn’t this situation seem extremely ironic given what Davis went through with Brand and LA?

Ron Artest is lobbying hard for a trade to the Lakers.  He recently had an interesting email exchange with Marc Stein of ESPN in which he states that he is now his own agent and also feels he is being mistreated by the Maloofs.  His actual agent, Mark Stevens, said he knew nothing of Artest’s decision.

The Cavaliers are making progress in signing Daniel Gibson and Delonte West.  Gibson appears to be closer to getting a deal done than Delonte, but it looks positive for both.

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reports that the Magic have offered Keyon Dooling a 2 year deal worth $3.68 million.  Not sure why Dooling would take this offer when he can get much more than that on the open market.

Anthony Randolph of the Warriors rolled his ankle in Sunday’s summer league game, but was able to finish.  He didn’t look too affected as he had a monster put back dunk after returning.  He may sit out the next one to let the ankle heal up.  He didn’t have quite as awesome a game as he did in the opener, but still looks pretty good.  Marco Belinelli had a good game going for 25 points, but remember, he also looked good last year and was glued to the bench most of the season.  Janny Hu of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Warriors are intent on having Monta run the point this season.  I’d say that is just posturing to keep them from looking so desperate in trade talks to acquire a replacement for Baron Davis.

Dwyane Wade was back on the court playing in Alonzo Mourning’s charity event and reports say he looked to be in great shape, even throwing down a few dunks.  Wade is now off to play in the Olympics in August.

We finally get a look at Kevin Love tonight as the Timberwolves take on the Dallas Mavericks in summer league action.  It will be interesting to see where his strengths and weaknesses are when he squares off against NBA caliber competition.

Condolences to Muggsy Bogues and his family as his girlfriend of five years, Sharon Smith, passed away on Thursday.  Muggsy was one of my favorites and I wish him well.

Ever wonder what happens to all of those NBA players with names you can’t pronounce, much less spell?  I was doing a little research on Will Bynum and James Singleton and ran across some names from the past who were playing Euroleague.  Included were:  Trajan Langdon, Loren Woods, Marcus Fizer,  Jake Tsakalidis, Sarunas Jasikevicious, Viktor Khryapa, Vassilis Spanoulis, Pape Sow, Zoran Planninic, Jeri Welsch and Mamadou N’Diaye.  And my personal favorite Euroleague player with the all time greatest basketball name, Gregor Fucka of Italy.  No kidding.  Hey, at least these guys are still collecting a paycheck.

Sean May is trying to make a return to NBA action with Charlotte and should get back on the court soon.  May thinks he can be ready for camp this year, but he had microfracture surgery in October and spent 14 weeks on crutches.  He has only recently started running.  I don’t hold out much hope for May being a factor this year after such a long layoff and he probably won’t end up on any fantasy rosters. 

Two games on NBA TV Sunday afternoon, Dallas v. Golden State  at 6:00pm EST and Memphis v. LA Lakers at 8:00pm EST.  In the first game, check out Anthony Randolph for Golden State.  He put up 30 in his first game, so let’s see if he keeps it going in this one.  O.J. Mayo should be the highlight of the second game. 

Ira Winderman of the Sun-Sentinel had some good notes on how Miami will use Shawn Marion and Michael Beasley.  Sounds like the Heat are planning on keeping Marion around this year.