The Bulls signed Ben Wallace (and acquired P.J. Brown and one year of his contract for Tyson Chandler's enormously long/overpriced deal)
The Hornets went insane and signed Peja Stojakovic, Bobby Jackson, and traded for Tyson Chandler.
The Lakers signed Vlad Radmanovic.
The Clippers signed Tim Thomas.
The Hawks signed Speedy Claxton.

Like I said...a whole new NBA. And the free agent signing period hasn't even officially began.

Here is my mock draft, usually when a player does well in the tournament, their stock goes up in the draft. Teams are gonna pass on Sheldon Williams, due to poor tournament performance. He’ll be the next Elton Brand and will help that Hornets go to the playoffs next year. I put Reddick with the Jazz, looking at the Jazz's draft history they pick over hyped white dudes, who can’t play in the NBA. Hopefully the Sonics get Brandon Roy, he and Ridnouer will form the best back court in the league circa 2110. I only did college players that I have seen play and one Eurotrash dude that Espn ranked high. I guessed the teams that will end up with the highest lottery picks.

 1. Bulls from knicks- joekim Noah.  Had a good tournment, he could really develop 

2. Portland Trailblazers- Adam Morrison. Keep him local.  

3. Charlotte Bobcats-  Tyrus Thomas

4. Atlanta Hawks-Lemarcus Aldridge

5. Toronto Raptors-  Randy foye

6. Orlando Magic- Josh Mcroberts

7. Golden state- Andrea Bargani. The bay area better have ample olive oil and garlic.

8. Boston Celtics- Dee Brown

9. Timerwolves- Rodney Carney

10. Supersonics- Brandon Roy

11. Rockets- Al Hortford

12. Bulls- Ronnie Brewer

13.Utah jazz- J.J reddick. Another white person playing basketball in Utah, I don’t understand.

14 Hornets- Sheldon Williams. Every team will regret passing on him

15. 76ers- Maurice Ager

16 Indiana- Jordan Farmar.  

17. Sacramento-leon powe

Rudy Gay was going pretty high but he will end up a second rounder, due to poor performance in the tournement    

It was an odd twist of fate, but the Atlanta Hawks could have ended up being the Boston Celtics. Sort of. The franchise started as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (the cities being Moline, Ill., Rock Island, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa), in the NBA's inaugural season, 1946. Red Auerbach was their coach. Among their first draft picks were Bob Cousy and Bill Russell. But they traded Cousy to The Chicago Stags (who later folded, with the Celtics then snapping him up), also traded Russell, moved to Milwaukee, then to St. Louis, and finally, in 1968, to Atlanta. Got all that?

The Hawks are also known for: one NBA Championship (1958), coach Lenny Wilkens (he won his 1,000th game there), Dominique "The Human Highlight Reel" Wilkins, and of course, Zelmo Beaty. Want to learn more? Check out these nifty blogs:

3. Hawks Blogteam that's not doing so well, they sure seem to have quite a few solid blogs. Hey, we admire that.
2. Impending Firestorm. Great spot for Hawks commentary, is very consistent, plus, what's this? A juicy plagarism controversy?
1. Atlanta Hawks Blog. The best Hawks analysis around.

Indiana is a pretty good test. They aren't the Indiana everyone thought they'd be - they're underachieving quite a bit, given the Artest Fiasco.

But that doesn't mean the Pacers aren't trouble - look at what they did to Golden State a couple days ago. Giving this team an early lead is like giving them a can of spinach - you've absolutely got to get out ahead and try to hold them off.

I'm pretty glad Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird haven't found a taker for Artest - I've been personally tormented over the question of whether I'd want him in Sacramento. When we're losing bad and looking horrible, I think, "Yeah, what do we have to lose? At least he'll be interesting."

But when our offense is playing well, when we're getting the stops we need to win games, I'm less excited. I like having a team full of sane, if not elite players. It lets me sleep at night.

Someone is going to take him, though, and I kind of hope it's not someone in the division. The Lakers with Artest is frightening. I'd be relegated to praying for Ron-Ron to go Hannibal Lector on Kobe. I wouldn't be horribly concerned if the Warriors got him - they couldn't get that motley crew together in time to make it matter. The Clippers become a lot better, even if they move Corey Maggette, because a lock-up defender is the one thing they lack.

Minnesota seems like a no-brainer; Denver is so crazy about Artest that you'd think they could make it work. If I were the Pacers, I'd give Ron-Ron his wish and work out something with the Knicks. Artest deserves nothing less than to play for the hardest coach on a horrible team in front of his people, who will no doubt refuse to put up with his crazy Hoboken bullshit.

(Can I get into a witness protection program now? Please?)

To the early morning lineups!

INDIANA
PG - Jamaal Tinsley? I really need to brush up on my Indiana Pacers.
SG - Stephen Jackson, former World Championship/Atlanta Hawk
SF - Danny Granger, heralded rookie
PF - Jermaine O'Neal, superstar
C  - Jeff Foster? Again, I need to brush up.

SACTOWN
PG - Mike "Still Not An All-Star?" Bibby.
SG - Kevin "Star of the Frosh-Soph Game During All-Star Break" Martin.
SF - Peja "Three-point champion" Stojakovic.
PF - Kenny "Ha ha" Thomas.
C  - Brad "Perennial All-Star" Miller.

The line: It's not up yet on Bodog, so I'm going to throw out a +2. And no, I wouldn't bet either way. Maybe an under, if the line is somewhere around 192.

Fun bet o' the night: How vehemently will Grant Napear argue against bringing Ron Artest to SAC? Your choices are a) more vehemently than his assertation that Bonzi did not call out Peja, b) more vehemently than his assertation that Bonzi did not call out Peja, or c) equally vehemently than his assertation that Bonzi did not call out Peja?

Sideshow most likely to be entertaining: Peja Stojakovic, rebounding beast. For what it's worth, Peja was very self-deprecating in talking about his 13 boards after Friday's game. He actually seemed human, as quoted by Sam Amick. But hell, he has seemed a lot more active in all aspects of the game since his last injury. Maybe something snapped inside him? Who knows.

Best matchup: Kings offense vs. Pacers defense. Can they throw up 60 in the first half and shoot over 50 percent from the field? Can Bibby get to his spots at will? Can Brad Miller explode into flames? Will KMart and Peja be able to attack the offensive glass like they did against LAC? If so, this (and probably every game) is a win.

6 p.m. start on Comcast. Watch some football, settle in for hoops. It's on!

In the wake of the Stro’/Rafer acquisitions and the Suns’ demise, the Rockets were the only team that appeared capable of threatening the Spurs. But the truth is that my hope for the Rockets had more to do with their city than their actual talent. Houston was having a breakthrough year, and it only seemed natural that the Rockets would participate. The city’s long-simmering rap scene finally exploded beyond the Texas and Louisiana borders, the Astros made their first World Series, and even Hurricane Rita knew enough not to fuck with Clutch City. Surely, this would be the year that T-Mac and Yao put it all together.

It has been said that the law is in the region and the region is in the law, but I like it best when this principle applies to sports. To some degree we all identify teams with the cities they represent, and it’s always more interesting when the makeup of a team says something about the city. Whether it’s the blue-collar play of the team from the Motor City, the glamour of the Hollywood Lakers, or the way the state of Utah seems to insist on the Jazz roster matching the complexion of the Alta snow. Houston 2005 offered such a tidy package of regionalism that it was impossible not to ponder things like, “What came first, the slow humid culture or the drank?” Or, “Is the success of TV Jewelry somehow related to a skyline of mirrored buildings?” I’m not sure about these questions, but I do know that Mike Jones is the rap equivalent of Enron, relentlessly hawking a product that never really existed in the first place. The Houston Hustle. An H-Town thang.

In this day and age the NBA and hip-hop are inextricably intertwined, so hopefully you’ll forgive me for heavy-handedly lumping together the city’s roundball team and rap scene. In all likelihood the city’s music and economics bear no real resemblance to the style of the Rockets (although Van Gundy slows more shit down than Michael Watts, and if Rafer, Stro, and T-Mac ain’t a screwed-up click I don’t know what is), but what’s important here is that the city has a strong identity. People at least have something they can attach to the Rockets. The same cannot be said for Houston’s I-10 rival, the San Antonio Spurs, and I’d like to submit that San Antonio’s lack of civic identity contributes at least as much to the Spurs=Boring perception as Tim Duncan’s game. What you know about the Alamo? What you know about the Riverwalk?

All of this leads me to a confession: even I’m bored with the Spurs. Sure, I still watch most of their games, but at this point it has more to do with duty and a desire to watch basketball than unbridled enthusiasm. Oberto is a bust and Finley can only contribute if he’s given 30 minutes a night. Ginobili has yet to get going, and it’s beginning to appear that his style is too reckless to ever keep him off the IR for long periods of time. What’s worse, they’ve become everything I said they weren’t when Shoals brought up the notion of “inevitability.” They open up 11 point leads only to squander them and hang on for the most uninspiring of wins. Sure, they’re 19-5, but if you’re going to be an elite team at least have the decency to dominate. They are now the oldest team in the league, and are capable of losing to anyone on the second game of a back-to-back, as evidenced by losses to the Hawks and Hornets. And while I’ll never be able to root against them, I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a part of me hoping for something new.

I wanted so badly for the Rockets to play that role. After watching them score consecutive road wins against the Warriors and Sonics I was even prepared to herald their resurgence in this post. But now Yao is out for the foreseeable future, joining Rafer, Bob Sura, Derrick Anderson, Jon Barry and everyone else on the Rockets’ injured list, leaving T-Mac and his bad back to keep the team afloat. Oh, well, I guess the West is going to suck this year. There is an upside to this, however. Doesn’t an awful West set the stage for a certain someone to rise from the microfracture ashes?