Its deadline day! Deadline is 3pm Thursday (TODAY!)

[nasty daddy]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3255700

The proposed Rockets-Hornets deal would give New Orleans two veteran scorers, and a little more size with Bells, off the bench. The Hornets also remain interested in re-signing forward Chris Andersen if his drug banishment is lifted by the NBA, although the wheels are turning slowly on his application for reinstatement. New Orleans also has reached out to unsigned free agent veteran P.J. Brown.

[Liqourish]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3255700

The proposed Rockets-Hornets deal would give New Orleans two veteran scorers, and a little more size with Bells, off the bench. The Hornets also remain interested in re-signing forward Chris Andersen if his drug banishment is lifted by the NBA, although the wheels are turning slowly on his application for reinstatement. New Orleans also has reached out to unsigned free agent veteran P.J. Brown.

C'mon Joe, reach out to Dale. DO IT!!!

[nasty daddy]

http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=300025257

DETROIT PISTONS

Trades: Acquired Primoz Brezec and Walter Herrmann from the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Nazr Mohammed; Acquired Juan Dixon from the Toronto Raptors for Primoz Brezec and cash considerations.

Analysis: The Charlotte trade was pretty inconsequential, but Hermann isn

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/pistons/news/langloi ... 80221.html

WINNERS: Los Angeles Lakers

[nasty daddy]

http://blogs.chron.com/stevecampbell/20 ... e_its.html

By the time the Rockets arrived for their Thursday morning shootaround, the lockers of Bonzi Wells and Mike James were empty."It's a sad day,''

Tracy McGrady said. McGrady couldn't put a happy face on the Rockets sending Wells and James to division rival New Orleans in return for veteran guard Bobby Jackson and rookie guard Adam Haluska. The Rockets have won nine consecutive games to move into the Western Conference playoff picture.

They broke up their momentum, their winning mojo, to bring in a soon-to-be-35-year-old to back up point guard Rafer Alston.

[nasty daddy]

http://info.detnews.com/redesign/blogs/ ... logid=1199

In his first press conference, he told us he wanted to be a Piston for life. Sadly, young Primoz Brezec only lasted 17 games. He wasn't a bad guy. He tried to be about the right things. But there have been so very few who fit the Pistons' mold less than he did. He was too hyper, too loud, too, well, odd. More importantly, though, he was too unproductive. For all his hyperactivity, the guy just didn't do anything when he was in the game.

But here's the deal with the trade: The Pistons had to get some scoring off the bench. There was too much pressure on rookie Rodney Stuckey to score. If Jarvis Hayes wasn't hitting shots, that second unit wasn't scoring. Juan Dixon should be able to help. He will also help defensively. He's a tough, pesky defender. He plays with an edge that will be popular here, with the coaches, teammates and fans.

The fallout will be two-fold. Flip Murray will be bought out, probably today, and waived. (Watch him hook up with an Eastern Conference rival and drop about 20 points on the Ps.) The second fall-out will probably be less minutes for Arron Afflalo. He will be used in defensive situations, but unless he's on the floor with some consistent scorers, he struggles. The thing is, Arron was probably going to lose minutes even without the trade. Lindsey Hunter is going to be that defensive specialist come playoff-time. None of this is to suggest that Afflalo is out of the Pistons' plans. He's played more than most rookies who have come through here and, as hard as he works, his offensive game will get better and his role will grow. Just not this year.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.ssf/ ... de_ma.html

Some teams don't take into account the stability of a team when making trades, according to Flip Saunders. The Pistons coach told Stoney and Wojo that the blockbuster deal bringing Ben Wallace and Wally Szczerbiak to Cleveland might put the Cavs at a disadvantage against the Pistons."I though Gooden was an extremely important player," he said. "When he played against us, he always seemed to really give us a lot of problems.""And Hughes is the guy at least with the ability to chase Rip around because of his size and quickness. And so, they're losing two guys that I feel had the ability I feel to really hurt us a little bit."

Saunders said very little about the trade that sent Primoz Brezec to Toronot for Juan Dixon. "Juan is a perimeter guy that has the ability to defend and score, boost our bench a little bit," he said. "When they [the bench] struggle scoring, that's when we have some problems sometimes."

The fourth quarter play of Amir Johnson in Wednesday's loss to the Bucks caught Saunders' eye. "He continues to move up the ladder with his ability to play for us and the minutes he's going to get."The fourth quarter of that game seemed to signal a turnaround for the suddenly slumping Pistons, whose rally bought them within a three-point shot of forcing overtime. Saunders says he's noticed Rip Hamilton's post All-Star slump, a phenomenon he's also noticed in past seasons.

Audio of the interview on WDFN with Flip in the link above^.

[Low-Ki]

It sounds like Dixon will be auditioned to be the new Hunter - a pesky defender who can either score in bunches or grind our offense to a halt. I think Stuckey is too big to be the pesky point guard defender.

I just don't understand why we are positioning ourselves already for next season (Dixon trade, not moving Herrmann) when we're still in the thick of things this season and could have used some help now.

I guess it will all come down to who is brought in when Murray is cut.

[nasty daddy]

It sounds like Dixon will be auditioned to be the new Hunter - a pesky defender who can either score in bunches or grind our offense to a halt. I think Stuckey is too big to be the pesky point guard defender.

I just don't understand why we are positioning ourselves already for next season (Dixon trade, not moving Herrmann) when we're still in the thick of things this season and could have used some help now.

I guess it will all come down to who is brought in when Murray is cut.

It is sure starting to look like that.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 20376/1127

There were some moves made before deadline day: The Lakers acquired Pau Gasol; the Suns sent Shawn Marion to the Heat for Shaquille O'Neal; the Mavericks ponied up by getting Jason Kidd from the Nets; and the Spurs answered by getting Kurt Thomas from the Sonics for Brent Barry and Francisco Elson.

On Thursday, another leading contender in the West, the Hornets, got into the act. They bolstered their thin bench by getting Bonzi Wells and Mike James from the Rockets for Bobby Jackson. Hard to say how all of that will shake out, but the guess is, when it's all said and done, the Lakers and Spurs will be left standing. The Hornets are too inexperienced to make a lot of noise in the playoffs. The Mavericks and Suns made themselves intriguing, but not title-ready.

The Mavericks are too thin, thinner than before, in the frontcourt to beat the Spurs (Tim Duncan), Lakers (Andrew Bynum if he gets healthy and Gasol) and maybe even the Jazz (the only Western contender to stay pat with Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur). The Suns might get a short burst of energy from O'Neal, but he hasn't been able to sustain energy for a couple seasons. If the Suns have to slow their game down to accommodate him, they lose.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... 20376/1127

The good: L.A. Lakers: Stealing Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies elevated the Lakers to the top tier of West contenders. Only the Lakers and Spurs are on that tier.New Jersey: The Nets got rid of a player who didn't want to be there (Jason Kidd) and got one of the best young point guards in the league (Devin Harris), a decent post player (DeSagana Diop), some much-needed financial flexibility and two first-round draft picks.San Antonio: The Spurs bolstered their frontcourt by adding Kurt Thomas, and it only cost them Brent Barry and Francisco Elson.Atlanta: Getting Mike Bibby from the Kings won't vault the Hawks into the upper echelon in the East, but it makes them a playoff team.New Orleans: The Hornets made a huge upgrade in depth, landing Bonzi Wells and Mike James from the Rockets for Bobby Jackson.

The bad :Chicago: What exactly is the plan? The Bulls were able to rid themselves of Ben Wallace's contract and cleared some playing time for young Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah. But they took on another bad contract, Larry Hughes ($26.4 million) and another average front court player (Drew Gooden). Sacramento: The Kings didn't unload Ron Artest, which they had hoped to do. And after fielding offers on Mike Bibby for a couple seasons, the best they could get was a bunch of castoffs from the Hawks (Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Sheldon Williams and Lorenzen Wright). Dallas: The Mavericks, by adding Jason Kidd, did what they had to do to avoid losing another playoff series to the Warriors. The problem is, they still can't beat the Spurs.
The indifferent

The indifferent :Cleveland: Traded a bunch of average players with limited name recognition (Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons, Shannon Brown, Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall) and got back four average players with a lot of name recognition (Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West). The Cavaliers might have made LeBron James happy, but they only got marginally better. Phoenix: It was a bold and daring move, trading Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal. The Suns weren't going to win a title with Marion, so why not give it a shot with Shaq? Love it, just don't think it's going to work. Seattle: They lost Kurt Thomas, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West, but gained some financial relief -- which is victory enough at this stage of their rebuilding.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... /NLETTER04

Most NBA heavyweights made some kind of move to prepare themselves for the stretch. The Free Press ranks the top-eight contenders, based on how much they improved this month:

1. L.A. Lakers: Gave up peanuts to get 7-footer Pau Gasol, who will lighten star Kobe Bryant's scoring load and make for a fierce front line when young center Andrew Bynum (knee) returns.
2. Dallas: Point guard Jason Kidd should rev up an already flashy offense, but there are questions about the interior defense without center DeSagana Diop. Still, it was a good short-term deal.
3. Phoenix: Shaquille O'Neal isn't dominating anymore, but he will allow the Suns to grind out some possessions if they want. They gave up Shawn Marion to get him, though.
4. San Antonio: The defending champs wisely acquired Kurt Thomas to match up against the new big men out West.

5. New Orleans: Young point guard Chris Paul got more firepower -- and experience -- behind him with the additions of Bonzi Wells and Mike James.
6. Cleveland: Did bringing in Ben Wallace -- on the downslope of his career -- and Wally Szczerbiak really make the Cavaliers better than they were with Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes?
7. Pistons: No major acquisitions, but with their solid starters, young bench and playoff experience, they have the goods to beat anyone in the East.
8. Boston: The Celtics stood pat, not getting the help at point guard that analysts thought they needed. Still, they feature perhaps the best three-headed monster in the NBA with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.