HOOPLOG: Kurt Thomas

Raja and Kurt Spurs stoppers?

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 10:55:33 -0800

Raja Bell and Kurt Thomas were brought to the desert for just this purpose - for defending Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, for helping shut down the San Antonio Spurs....

Whatsa Matter With …

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:22:19 -0800

Manu Ginobili?
Don’t say we didn’t warn you. All through his playoff run, all through the offseason, we warned you. A super-hot playoff run doesn’t mean that those stats are going to carry over to the following season. But that said, I don’t think anyone expected a statistical drop like this. His shooting is a disaster (under 30%), and other than a few hot streaks he’s really been almost nonexistent in the Spurs offense.

Still, he’s showing signs of improvement. His 13 boards and three steals last night were encouraging, as were his 37 minutes. But the fact is, the Spurs added some serious depth last year, and that’s only a bad thing for Ginobili. Despite the hot playoff run, I don’t think you can expect him to be much better than he was last year, and maybe some of those 3rd-round picks that were spent on him could have been spent better elsewhere.

Larry Hughes?
Last year, Hughes was the 1A to Gilbert Arenas’ 1 in the Washington offense. He was given free reign a lot of the time in the offensive system, chucking 20-footers and driving the lane with regularity. He also had the ball in his hands plenty, leading to a career-high 4.7 assists. Meanwhile, his defensive abilities meant he was put up against the other team’s best perimeter player, so as the on-the-ball defender he managed to come up with a ton of steals. Oh yeah – and on top of all that, it was a contract year.

Now, he’s a clear second-banana to LeBron James. He is much more of a spot-up shooter on the Cavs, as LeBron and Eric Snow/Damon Jones both control the ball more on offense. He won’t approach the 18 shots per game or 4.7 assists of last year, and in fact maybe he shouldn’t have been picked in the 3rd or 4th rounds either.

Jamal Crawford?
One day, twenty years from now, Jamal Crawford and Darko Milicic will sit down and have a nice meal and reminisce about the time the were stuck in Larry Brown’s doghouse. But until then, Crawford is going to have to fight his own battles in New York. His minutes have gone from 37 in the opener to 24 to 17. His points, from 11 to 4 to 2. He’s clearly the odd man out right now in New York, and its tough to get out of that position when Larry Brown is your coach.

Jamal Crawford might be the highest-drafted player to land on the waiver wires this year without being injured. Brown has no patience for players like Crawford – high-turnover, low-FG% types who needs the ball in his hands. It’s much to soon to actually drop him, but there is no reason he should be in the starting lineup for anyone.

Kurt Thomas?
You know, I could have just as easily picked Jim Jackson for this spot, or even Raja Bell or James Jones, but I’ll stick with Thomas as the biggest disappointment so far. Despite Amare Stoudamire being out of the lineup, Thomas is seeing only about 23 mpg, and even worse, he’s only grabbing 4.3 boards.

So what’s the problem? Well, the problem is, the Suns have found that they can go with an incredibly small lineup and still win. But so far they’ve played only Dallas and Sacramento, two teams who love to run just as much as the Suns, and the Lakers and the Jazz, two teams who, really, aren’t very good. Once the Suns are forced to play a big man in the middle, that man will be Thomas, and hopefully his stats will turn around a little in the coming weeks.

Suns Hold Off Lakers' Late Charge

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 10:17:30 -0800

Kurt Thomas, James Jones and Raja Bell all made clutch baskets down the stretch to lead the Suns to a 122-112 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, who wasted an outstanding effort from Kobe Bryant.

The Knicks best center is umm Jackie Butler?

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 10:21:51 -0800

Last season, the Knicks ended the season with undersized Kurt Thomas at center. Since then, they’ve spent close to 90 million hoping for uprades with Jerome James and Eddy Curry. So naturally, it’d be considered an uprade. But there’s a few problems, James has been hurt and Curry is still out of [...]

Overall Rankings: 61-90

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:33:25 -0800

1 to 30
31 to 60

This is where things start to get tricky. In the first four or five rounds, you have to take the best player available. There is a limited number of true impact players, and the more you can get your hands on, the better. By the time you get the middle rounds, you need to start addressing team needs. Most of these players have specific strengths and weaknesses and are pretty interchangeable, really.

61. Shareef Abdur-Rahim – Career averages: 20 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.1 spg, 0.8 bpg, 47% and 82%. Was always healthy before last year, could be bargain this low.
62. Kyle Korver – Will lead the league in 3s – probably by a lot. Philly isn’t very deep (especially after C-Webb goes down), so PT shouldn’t be an issue, plus he grabs his share of steals.
63. Kurt Thomas – Not a whole ton of upside, but he’s missed just five games in four seasons and will be a key part of one of the league’s top offenses.
64. Chris Paul – A bit of wishful thinking perhaps, but he should have every opportunity to run with the starting job and backup Claxton has a knack for getting injured.
65. Damon Stoudamire – Should fend off B-Jax and be a solid #2 PG; you know he’s not shy about launching 3s.
66. Stromile Swift – At the very least, should average around 2 bpg, and that C-eligibility is pretty sweet, to boot.
67. Jalen Rose – Not the most exciting pick, but he should be on the court enough to rack up some pretty nice numbers.
68. Tony Parker – Remember, he’s just 23 and has gotten better each year; fixing his FT% and continued improvement will make him as solid as the rest of the PG in this batch.
69. Grant Hill – Can’t see production or health getting better this year, only worse.
70. Samuel Dalembert – Another one of those failed sleepers picks that can provide nice value the following year; could be the next in the Camby/Chandler mold.
71. Kenyon Martin – Always overrated; usually fights injury issues and just doesn’t fill up the box score all that much.
72. Jamaal Magloire – We think you’ll probably be able to slip him by later than this; don’t forget he was 14/10 with 1.2 blocks and 47% and 75% before injury-marred 04-05.
73. Stephen Jackson – Depth and sanity issues, but he’s a 3-point gunner who gets decent steals.
74. Antawn Jamison – He might get more trigger happy from long range, which would help boost his overvalued stock.
75. Marko Jaric – He’s been an FBB favorite and an FBB most hated; brings a nice combo of 3s, assists and steals, but health has always been a major, major issue.
76. Tayshaun Prince – If you’ve made some risky picks, he’s a guy you can plug in for the entire season and leave alone.
77. Carmelo Anthony – Probably the single most overrated player in fantasy, but young enough to improve.
78. Jason Williams – Just sense trouble in Miami; also, has missed at least 10 games in three of last four seasons.
79. Josh Childress – This kid could blow up, and you’ll want to get in on the ground floor; I see Tayshaun Prince, others see Shawn Marion – could realistically land halfway between the two.
80. Drew Gooden – Hard to ignore last year’s 28th place finish on the player rater, but he always seems to rub folks the wrong way and this is a deep squad.
81. Caron Butler – Don’t at all expect more of April’s numbers, just hope he can regain his rookie steals magic.
82. Luke Ridnour – He’s almost a solid #2 PG, and if he can get up to 37 mpg, he surely will be.
83. Quentin Richardson – Actually averaged 2.5 ppg less last year than with the Clippers; great rebounder for a guard.
84. Jamal Crawford – Expect lots of people to be scared to draft Knicks; there’s a certain risk involved, but this late you can afford to take a chance.
85. Deron Williams – Just remember that Jerry Sloan can be an extremely frustrating coach, and he is a rookie point guard.
86. Mike Dunleavy – Hey, it’s a contract year and the Warriors could put up 120 regularly.
87. Antoine Walker – Fewer minutes may make percentages more bearable, but will have negative impact overall.
88. Andrew Bogut – We tend to tread very carefully with rookies on FBB; it’s all about how many steals and blocks he can give you.
89. Raef Lafrentz – If he can repeat last year’s unspectacular but healthy season, he’ll be a bargain this low.
90. Shane Battier – With Memphis’s thinned-out roster, more PT will be available for the stat stuffer – especially when the inevitable injury hits.

2005 Fantasy Tiers by Position: Power Forwards.

Thu, 06 Oct 2005 08:54:32 -0800

Taken early, a power forward can really help shape your draft. Taking a center-esque PF like Elton Brand in the first couple rounds means you can hold off on a center for a good while. Taking a PF that can step outside and knock down a three like Dirk Nowitzki early means you can wait a bit before taking a SG or SF, and concentrate on the scarcity positions.

Taken late, though, your options drop pretty dramatically. Power forwards don’t go terribly deep, mostly because anybody listed as a F/C is undoubtedly going to be played as a center. Luckily, there’s only one PF spot on your roster. Still, it’s nice to have a couple of options at every position, so try to grab two of these guys:

Tier One:
Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki

These guys should be off the board after four picks – maybe three. Garnett is up there with LeBron for the top player in the game, while Nowitzki might not qualify at center anymore, but still is an incredible value as a 7-category player.

Tier Two:
Elton Brand, Jermaine O’Neal, Chris Bosh.

These are your faux-centers. They block. They rebound. They score. If they qualified at center (as they all once did), they’d have incredible value. But they don’t. Still, with centers being at such a premium, guys who act like centers are pretty useful. It may be the difference between reaching for a guy like Zydraunas Ilgauskas in the 4th and being able to wait for someone like Nenad Krstic in the 7th or 8th.

Tier Three:
Dwight Howard, Rasheed Wallace, Pau Gasol.

Admittedly, Chris Bosh likely belongs in this group. But we here at FBB really like him this year. Also, Rasheed Wallace probably belongs with the Centers, but seriously, he’s not a center. We had to take a stand. Anyhow, these guys all could end up with top-25 value, but could also end up somewhere in the 40’s on the player rater at the end of the year. You can’t be terribly excited about any of them, but at some point they do become the best pick.

Tier Four:
Carlos Boozer, Kenyon Martin, Chris Webber, Zach Randolph

I’m not a huge fan of any of these guys. All of them are injury risks, all of them have question marks on the court, and a two of them (Randolph and Boozer) are really 3-category guys, and that’s it. Still, if they slip late enough and you can grab any of these guys in the 5th or 6th round, they could be great value.

Tier Five:
Antawn Jamison, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Tyson Chandler.

These are some small tiers, huh? But that’s just because this position is so thin and varied. Here are the guys that you know you can have on your team and they’ll produce as long as they stay healthy. They might not produce a ton, but they’ll at least have marginal value.

Tier Six:
Donyell Marshall, Drew Gooden, Al Jefferson, Kurt Thomas, Darius Songaila, Troy Murphy, PJ Brown.

This tier are guys who really have an outside chance of being really valuable, but could just as easily be terrible, but JUST good enough that you can’t drop them. Every position has this tier – with Small Forwards it was the third tier. Here, it’s the sixth. DM is a huge fan of Donyell Marshall and he wants him to be much higher, but too bad! I think Troy Murphy could just as easily be a Tier 4 or 5 player.

Tier Seven:
Nick Collison, Eddie Griffin, Joe Smith, Kwame Brown, Vladimir Radmanovic, Udonis Haslem.

This tier could really be broken into high-risk high-reward guys (Kwame, Griffin) and low-but-solid value (Radmanovic, Smith). But we’re tired of all these three-person tiers. Given injuries, playing time, etc., all of these guys might end up with mid-round value, but some things are going to have to fall into place before that happens. Still, they’re all worth late-round flyers.

Tomorrow, we’ll wrap up positional tiers, with Centers.

RealGM Ranks the League

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 13:52:01 -0800

Is this a joke?

Let's laugh through the Patrick Austin's RealGM team rankings together, okay?

He has the Heat at #1, ahead of the Spurs. Whatever. The Rockets are at #3, which is laughable considering the Pacers are at #4. The Rockets would have a tough time convincing people they were the third best team in the West. Hell, they're only the third best team in Texas.

Pistons at #5, Nets at #6. I think the Nets are top-ten material if they get SAR, but #6 is probably high. The rampant love for the Cavaliers spreading like The Clap puts Cleveland at #7 on the list.

I urinated myself when I saw Austin put the Knicks (yes, those Knicks) at #8. In the whole league. Not a typo. Here's Austin's take:

"You have to give credit to Zeke for landing Larry Brown. That move alone will put NY back into serious playoff contention."

Serious playoff does not equal the eighth best team in the land. That ranking means that the Knicks will be one of the eight best teams in the league. Sixteen teams get into the playoffs. Err, moving on...

Dallas is way low at #9. The Mavericks might be the second best in the West. The Lakers show up at #10, where Austin proclaims that Kwame "could bust out and become a new Jermaine O’Neal." Don't hold your breath (or maybe do).

Philly's spot at #11 made me vomit in my mouth (note to wannabe NBA writers: when all a really bad team from a really bad division does is re-sign its own overrated players and prays that one the most overpaid players in all of sports gets healthy, that's not a good offseason).

The Nuggets show up at #12, probably five spots too low. It's a tough team, a physical team and it's a shooter away from the Western Conference Finals, in my estimation. The Bulls land at #13, which is about right, if a bit high. The Wizards follow at #14.

The Suns (yes, they of the 2004-05 WCF) land at #15. Inexplicable. Austin said, "Dealing away Quentin Richardson and the rights to Nate Robinson for Kurt Thomas could backfire big time." Yeah, who needs one of the better defensive bigs in the L when you could have a 5-foot-6 back-up rookie point guard and a shooter with a bad back?

Finally, we arrive at the Kings at #16. Austin says, "This team is slowly but surely falling further back in the West." And I'm sure with CWebb, Divac, Christie and Bobby Jackson still on the roster, we'd be poised for a ring? Whatever.

What follows is a mess with little rhyme or reason -- Seattle, Boston, Golden State (Austin writes that the team will surprise many - what? by missing the playoffs? no surprise here!), Portland, Utah, Milwaukee, Memphis, Minnesota, Charlotte, the Clips, Toronto, Orlando, New Orleans and Atlanta. Those last four look about right, though Toronto should be the worst team and N.O. shouldn't be much better.

Ah, August. Assinine opinion is here!

Joe Johnson leaving Phoenix

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 09:42:31 -0800

Link: JJ going to Hawks for Diaw, 2 picks.

I know Joe Johnson is a young player and he will improve his game in years to come. How much will he improve? That's to be seen. I think he's pretty close to hitting his ceiling right now and reading about the numbers being discussed as his salary make me think the Atlanta Hawks are simply desperate for help. Last season, the Hawks tried to get free agents to agree to sign with them and player after player decided to sign elsewhere, regardless of cap space, the players wanted to be in a winning situation, and Atlanta wasn't putting the W's up last season.

Check out the numbers. Johnson is reportedly set to get $70 million over the next five seasons with an estimated balloon payment of $20 million up front. Wow... I mean, he's a good player but that kind of money is usually reserved for someone who's accomplished something in the league and you can't help but think an owner like this is superficially inflating the market for other players who get better numbers than Johnson.

Johnson played in an offensive scheme last season and thrived in a system where the ball was shared equally from point guard Steve Nash. The Suns had fun with that system and you could tell. Now if Johnson finds himself in Atlanta with limited options to help him, any opponent knows who to key in on. He won't perform to the same level in that kind of environment. After a season or two, the Hawks may find themselves regretting the kind of contract they game Johnson.

The two lottery protected picks going back to Phoenix with Boris Diaw might be the most precious component for the Suns. If they keep playing the game they played last season and with the addition of Kurt Thomas, who can play the center position, the Suns might not have an early pick in any draft anytime soon, and with the strength of the Eastern Conference this season improving, i don't see Atlanta's picks dropping out of the lottery anytime soon. The Hawks will have a few years to get better before they lose their first round picks.

Report: Larry Hughes Signs With Cavaliers?

Fri, 08 Jul 2005 09:12:38 -0800

A rumor circulating late Thursday night said that Washington Wizards unrestricted free agent shooting guard Larry Hughes has agreed to sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers. An initial source seemed highly unreliable, but realgm.com, a very reliable site that first broke the news of the Quentin Richardson-for-Kurt Thomas deal, featured ...

Knicks exercise $2.15M option on Sweetney

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 14:40:21 -0800

Knicks keep Sweetney as Thomas' replacement

by SportsTicker

NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks are counting on Michael Sweetney to replace the departed Kurt Thomas at power forward.

On Thursday, the Knicks picked up the $2.15 million option on Sweetney's contract for the 2006-07 season.

As the ninth overall pick...

Knicks-Suns complete Thomas-Richardson trade

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 22:02:16 -0800

Suns send first-round pick Robinson to Knicks

by Associated Press

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns used their first-round pick to select Nate Robinson on Tuesday night, then sent him to New York to complete the trade of Quentin Richardson to the Knicks for Kurt Thomas.

The deal has been in the works for some time, but...

2005 NBA Draft Preview by Gabe Kahn

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 09:39:13 -0800

Welcome to another round of NBA Roulette, more commonly known as the NBA Draft. As always, my crazy friend 'Neal and I get together and see if we can predict where each player will land in the first round using team needs, past tendencies and overall guess work that we like to refer to as "logic." It's a lot like throwing darts while blindfolded without even knowing if you're facing the target. As if it's not challenging enough, general managers everywhere love messing with our guesses by trading their selections even as the draft is going on. Last year, we got five out of 30 picks right, and, here's the kicker, we felt pretty good about ourselves. So take everything we say with a grain of salt, especially because 'Neal is at his caffeinated best during the draft. It's a sight to behold. Trust me.

Like every year, these picks were all made with the assumption that every team will select in this order, and that no trades will be made. Also like every year, I'll slow dance to Lady in Red with the 8-pound piece of machismo that is my dog if that actually happens. Onto the picks:

1. Milwaukee Bucks
Andrew Bogut- How can they pass on a potentially dominant big man when they desperately need a center?

2. Atlanta Hawks
Marvin WIlliams- Yes, they're stacked at the wing, but Williams is the type of player you build around.

3. Portland Trailblazers
Martell Webster- Assuming they keep this pick, and we're assuming they don't, Webster will be their man. Don't expect it to happen, though.

4. New Orleans Hornets
Chris Paul- From day one, Paul's been the best point guard in the draft. After all is said and done, that should still be true.

5. Charlotte Bobcats
Deron Williams- They wanted either Paul or the other Williams, but they'll be content to select the second best PG in the draft and team him up with Emeka Okafor.

6. Utah Jazz
Raymond Felton- Jerry Sloan needs a point guard and will either try to use this pick to trade up and grab Deron Williams/Paul, or he'll be content with the best PG available.

7. Toronto Raptors
Gerald Green- Considered by many to be the best talent in the entire draft, Toronto has needs everywhere except power forward and Green could be in the mold of Vince Carter.

8. New York Knicks
Channing Frye- Assuming Kurt Thomas is traded to Phoenix, Isiah Thomas will need more help than ever at center.

9. Golden State Warriors
Charlie Villanueva- The Warriors are a lousy team with depth at almost every position. Center is the weakest, so they'll take the most versatile big man left on the board.

10. Los Angeles Lakers
Fran Vasquez- Without a good option at the point, Phil Jackson will try to make up for the Lack-o’-Shaq. They’d like to move up and grab Green, though.

11. Orlando Magic
Antoine Wright- Wright is too good to pass up on this late in the draft. Will this move spell the end of the Stevie Franchise era in Orlando already?

12. Los Angeles Clippers
Yaroslav Korolev- Of all the rumors regarding promises, this one seems most likely to be true.

13. Charlotte Bobcats
Danny Granger- With Okafor, Primo Brezec and now Deron Williams, Bernie Bickerstaff now needs to fill up his wing positions. Granger is a ready-made contributor.

14. Minnesota Timberwolves
Sean May- Minny can get away with using an undersized PF because Kevin Garnett can make up for May's lack of length. We like this pick.

15. New Jersey
Hakim Warrick- Jersey hopes that Warrick will remind them of Kenyon Martin.

16. Toronto Raptors
Andrew Bynum- Since the Raptors are going to have to wait for Green to develop, they might as well wait for Bynum, too.

17. Indiana Pacers
Francisco Garcia- Larry Bird would probably like to add to Indiana’s point guard depth, but Roko Ukic has contract issues and Jarrett Jack is too much of a stretch at 17, so he'll try to replace Reggie Miller instead.

18. Boston Celtics
Chris Taft- Danny Ainge has never been concerned with taking the popular player. Ukic is a possibility here, too, and Danny might consider trading down. Say what you want about Taft's attitude, but the kid can play.

19. Memphis Grizzlies
Roko Ukic- The Griz need to replace Earl Watson and drafting Ukic allows them to trade Jason Williams for someone other than a point guard.

20. Denver Nuggets
Joey Graham- Denver needs a shooting guard and they'll be thrilled if a guy as good as Graham is still around this late in the draft.

21. Phoenix Suns
Ike Diogu- Phoenix has a tendency to draft good players, regardless of need. Diogu's ability to play both the 3 and the 4 fits in well with the Suns. Not to mention that it’s rumored Phoenix made a promise to him.

22. Denver Nuggets
Johan Petro- Nene's slow development and undetermined position leaves Denver weak at the 5-spot. The Ghost of Skita will scare Kiki Vandeweghe away from Martynas Andriuskevicius

23. Sacramento Kings
Rashad McCants- Getting McCants should make up for the loss of Cuttino Mobley.

24. Houston Rockets
Wayne Simien- They need a PG, but they need a PF, too. Simien is a bit small, but that's not so bad when you're playing next to Yao.

25. Seattle SuperSonics
Martynas Andriuskevicius – Without any legitimate players left on the board, they'll take a flyer on Andriuskevicius, leave him in Europe for a couple years and see if he develops. Because so many of their players are going into free agency, the Sonics are a real wild card here.

26. Detroit Pistons
Jarrett Jack- The Pistons wouldn't mind having someone to put behind Chauncey Billups besides Lindsey Hunter and Carlos Arroyo. Jack is steady, if unspectacular.

27. Utah Jazz
Julius Hodge- After selecting Felton, the Jazz still have a hole at SG. If they select Hodge, they have an opportunity to go very big with Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko in the front court.

28. San Antonio Spurs
Andray Blatche- The Spurs will eventually need a center. They can afford to wait by selecting Blatche.

29. Miami Heat
Matt Walsh- With Eddie Jones possibly on the outs in Miami, the Heat will need a good role-playing small forward to step up.

30. New York Knicks
Monta Ellis- Troubled that, with Frye and Bruno Sundov, he has too much size, Thomas will take a PG with the final selection in the first round.

Mock Draft, pt 2

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 18:36:11 -0800

For picks 1 through 13, check out Friday's post.

14. Minnesota Timberwolves
Who they will take: Antoine Wright
Who they should take: Francisco Garcia
Minnesota is a team that needs to draft based on attitude. They way under-performed last year, and they need to plan for a future without dead weights like Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. I like Garcia here because of his passing ability, but Wright isn’t a terrible choice.

15. New Jersey Nets
Who they will take: Martell Webster
Who they should take: Ike Diogu
New Jersey, if they could, would spend their draft pick on a great doctor to make sure Jason Kidd and Vince Carter stay healthy next year. While they should take a rebounding PF, they’ll go for the Kerry Kittles of the future in Martell Webster. This pushes Carter to the 3 and Jefferson to the 4. I’d much rather have them at 2 and 3, respectively.

16. Toronto Raptors
Who they will take: Ike Diogu
Who they should take: Ike Diogu
Toronto is in a tough spot. They’ve got Alston, Rose, and Bosh as defiinite starters. They took Granger at 16, but now they wish they had taken a big there, so they could take Garcia here. That said, there’s not a spot for Garcia and Bosh needs help down low, so they go for the top-rated big left on the board in Diogu.

17. Indiana Pacers
Who they will take: Francisco Garcia
Who they should take: Francisco Garcia
Indiana is my pick to win the East next year. Last year everything that could have possibly gone wrong did, and now they’ve got Artest coming back with a vengeance. Yikes. They could really use some size to back up Jeff Foster and Dale Davis, but Garcia is too good to pass up here.

18. Boston Celtics
Who they will take: Roko Ukic
Who they should take: Johan Petro
Payton isn’t long for the C’s, so Ukic is actually a pretty good pick here. But really, how far will you get with Mark Blount and Raef LaFrentz in the middle?

19. San Antonio (in trade with Memphis Grizzlies)
Who they will take: Joey Graham
Who they should take: Joey Graham
Joey Graham keeps slipping and slipping, and finally San Antonio moves up to get him, giving Memphis their first round pick (#28) and Beno Uridh, who will take over at point for Jason Williams, who has fallen into Jerry West’s doghouse.

20. Denver Nuggets
Who they will take: Martynas Andriuskevicius
Who they should take: Rashad McCants
Denver is pretty sure they want Andriuskevicius here … and the fact that Phoenix is salivating over him means they definitely take him, because he won’t be around for them at 22. They’ll stash him in the D-League for a couple years and once Marcus Camby breaks down for good, he’ll be ready. Hopefully.

21. Phoenix Suns
Who they will take: Johan Petro
Who they should take: Jarrett Jack
Phoenix is dying to get some defense, and Petro should be a decent backup for Kurt Thomas. But I’d like to see them get a successor for MVP Steve Nash. Let Jack grow under Nash’s Canadian wing for a few years.

22. Denver Nuggets
Who they will take: Rashad McCants
Who they should take: Rashad McCants
As a team that ran into a couple of rough stretches offensively last year, this is a great pick. If they treat him like the Bulls treated Ben Gordon, he could be invaluable to this team and a great competitor.

23. Sacramento Kings
Who they will take: Jarrett Jack
Who they should take: Charlie Villanueva
The Kings look for the next Bobby Jackson in Jack, who is a nice value pick here.

24. Houston Rockets
Who they will take: Wayne Simien
Who they should take: Wayne Simien
He’s the guy they’ve targeted since day 1. Villanueva is tempting but they don’t need 2 passive guys in the paint. Simien is a nice fit here.

25. Seattle Sonics
Who they will take: Charlie Villanueva
Who they should take: Charlie Villanueva
It’s between Villanueva and Chris Taft, and Villanueva has at least some upside. Taft seems like a bigger version of Terrence Morris.

26. Detroit Pistons
Who they will take: Linus Kleiza
Who they should take: Salim Stoudamire
The Pistons are deep just about everywhere so they’ll take Kleiza and stash him in the D-league for a year or two, but really, they could use a one-dimensional shooter like Stoudamire for late-game situations.

27. Utah Jazz
Who they will take: Luther Head
Who they should take: Luther Head
The Jazz prayed for Jarrett Jack to fall here, but they’ll have to settle for Head. Ha!

28. Memphis Grizzlies (from San Antonio)
Who they will take: Julius Hodge.
Who they should take: Julius Hodge.
Jerry West loves Hodge, and after the deal with San Antonio, they’ve got Udrih and Hodge to play the point, 2 of "Jerry’s guys".

29. Miami Heat
Who they will take: Mile Ilic
Who they should take: Salim Stoudamire
The Heat go for Shaq’s new backup, but they should be concerned about the short window that they have to win it all. Stoudamire would be a better choice.

30. New York Knicks
Who they will take: Chris Taft
Who they should take: Chris Taft
Hey, why not? At least he’s tall.

Isaiah at it again

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 13:33:46 -0800

Link: New York Daily News - Kurt getting run to Suns

As is my regularity, I'm going to stomp on the New York Knicks, more specifically, Isaiah Thomas.

After all the moves Thomas made last off season to "improve" the team while making the NBA salary cap a joke, you would think he would smarten up sometime and become more focused on putting together some character on the Knicks, not try to merge his own version of an All Star team. It's baffling to me that he hasn't figured this out yet, after all, during his successful NBA career with the Pistons, it was the team's character that made them the success they were and it was for that reason that you could never count them out of a game.

Thomas' version of an All-Star team has done nothing but disappoint regardless of their incredibly high salary.

The trade story today, is that Kurt Thomas will be traded to the Phoenix Suns for Quentin Richardson. This will give the Suns a legitimate center and with Richardson's departure, the starting lineup will go back to a more natural look, with Amare Stoudemire moving back to the power forward position.

But here is the kicker. The Suns signed Richardson to a lucrative contract last season which the Knicks are now going to take on for the $37.62 million over the next 5 seasons. Compare that to the $22.07 million Kurt Thomas is going to make over the next 3 seasons and that spells "cap relief".

You can't blame the Suns for eagerly picking up the phone when Isaiah calls. They were able to unload their most expensive problem on the Knicks when they traded Stephon Marbury and his incredible contract, which helped them build a team that finished with the best regular season record this season.

The Phoenix Suns modo should be, "With enemies like that, who needs friends".

Suns add size in NBA swap: report

Fri, 24 Jun 2005 13:33:21 -0800

Kurt Thomas, a power forward who averaged 11.5 points and 10.4 rebounds last season, has been reportedly traded from the New York Knicks According to the Arizona Republic newspaper, the National Basketball ...