Free Agency. Day 7

Well, the day started with the biggest news of this free agency. Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh are joining forces in Miami. The Miami Heat now have 4 players on the roster. Until I see how does Pat Riley fills that roster I'm not grading these moves. Sure, they are a heck of a star , if they get the right players they could really become the class of the East. In the other hand, 8 minimum players with two superstars and 2 roles players is not what you would call a "blueprint for success" ( Bad joke, sorry).

Something you have to give to the Heat, they are so far the winners of this free agency madness. They got two max agents and rumors point that Lebron is about to join them. Now you have to ask yourself, does a Bosh/Wade/Lebron teamed with Beasly, Chambers and 7 minimum players can win the title? It's all about those 7 players. If Riley get an enforcer, a couple of shooters, a pass-first point guard and smart players they would be the favorites.

A news came out in the middle of all this. Kevin Durant signed an 5 year extension ( $86m) with OKC. No meetings. No drama. No ESPN special. Just a little sign in the dotted line and get back to bastkeball. I tweeted about this and I'll say it again. Aren't we barking at the wrong tree? Isn't the way Durant is behaving how Lebron suppose to behave? Critics of Lebron have always say that he is more focus on becoming a global icon and make his "brand" stronger and stronger. Basketball appears just to be a way to get there.

After the Wade/Bosh announcement the Knicks/Bulls/Nets started to scramble around looking ways to entice Lebron. There were reports flying left and right about Knicks and Bulls talking to Boozer. The Nets were in talk with David Lee. Just after noon we heard that Boozer signed with the Bulls ( 5 yr/somewhere between $75m and $80m). Which makes things even more interesting. Now Lebron have a better idea of what are his choises:

1. Heat with 4 players on their roster ( Wade, Bosh. Chalmers and Beasly)

2. Bulls with a core of Rose/Noah/Boozer

3. Knicks with Amare and some help from Gallinari

4. Cavs

I don't know about him but Chicago is looking pretty hot.

At the end of the day was also reported the Ray Allen is going back to Boston (2yr/$10m).

As I'm typing this twitter has gone insane. Broussard is reporting Lebron is headed to Miami.

Playoff Preview: Lakers vs Thunder

(1) Lakers vs (8) Thunder

In every piece written about playoff predictions that give this series to the Lakers the words " It won't be easy" would be printed somehow. What is wrong with the Lakers? The not only have looked disinterested, the have look BAD. Kobe is hurt and for whatever macho/I'm legend reason he wont acknowledge it. Ron Artest has look out of place all season long. Fishers sucks. Their bench sucks. Bynum just wont remain healthy for an entire season. IMO the main issues is that they keep ignoring how good Pau Gasol is, easily the second best big behind D12, and somehow he takes 8 shots less per game than the 46 FG% shooter Kobe Bryant? Do we still buy the "Kobe going to work" stuff?

If just ask me they got lucky with this match up. You know the Thunder is going to blow a game or two on poor late game execution ( They are young and naive, you know?). Westbrook hasn't look as good lately so that takes the only capable ball handler in pressure situation ( Even though he is also still pretty young) and they have shown a little tendency to drift away from their defensive execution.

We are still going to have at least 6 games of the beautiful game of Kevin Durant, the sometimes graceful Kobe Bryant and the bad looking but damn good post game of Pau Gasol. Also, we are going to get a lot of BITCHING! You can put whatever money on that one

Basketball Gods prediction: L.A. Lakers on 6

Win Scale (From 1: "The refs gave them that game. Are they really this bad?" to 10: " This is the best team ever! Make me yours" ) 4

Joy to the League. Part II

Indiana Pacers: Jamaal Tinsley is still alive and they are 15-13 playing in the Eastern conference.

New Jersey Nets: Richard Jefferson is becoming a scoring machine thanks in part to the way Jason Kidd is playing (11.3 ppg, 10.3 apg, 8.8 rpg, 1.8 spg). They got back Marcus Williams this past month.

Seattle Supersonics: Kevin Durant. Jeff Green. They're going to be in rebuilding mode for the next 3 years at least but Durant ofensive proweness will help the cause, on an off the court.

Philadelphia Sixers: Billy King is out. Andre Miller's still playing for them so there is hope that once they trade him they probabbly get something good and valuable in return.

Houston Rockets: Yao Ming generates them lots of money. They are pretty good team when TMac is healthy.

L.A. Clippers: Chris Kaman will give them some comfort in case Elton Brand leaves. Rebuilding using a big man of the 2003 class as centerpiece is not that bad.

Sacramento Kings: Ron Artest hasn't gone wild yet. They are winning a fair amount of (11 -15) games without Bibby, Martin and Shareff

Washington Wizards: Caron Butler is playing more and more like a true star which is a very good thing because they need somebody to care more on winning games than self promoting his own ass (Sorry Gilbert the Basketball Gods are huge fans of your blog and your antics and everything you do, including your game, but they do know which is you priority)

Memphis Grizzlies: New coach, new system, new star. Rudy Gay is leading the team in points (19.6 ppg ) and showing some true leadership skills. Mike Miller have also been a bright spot this season. And Gasol is happy playing with his buddy Calderon.

Chicago Bulls: They had a shot at greatness for the second time in franchise history. Now they've fired their coach and their GM likes to give gifts to everybody around the league.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Al Jefferson and the rest of the team play hard night after night and they seem like a close team.

Charlotte Bobcats: Michael Jordan called out Felton and the rest of the team. They responded with 2 straight wins. That's the best thing MJ have done for a basketball team since 1998

Miami Heat: Wade appears to be headed to the All Star game and Riley still haven't abandoned the ship.

New York Knicks: Their fans can be very organized

Bad Old Times

Yesterday I was watching in NBA TV game 7 of the 2000 western conference finals between the LA Lakers and the Blazers. That was bad... really bad, I was rooting for the Blazers, but this was specially painfull for me because Scottie Pippen as always been one of my favorite players, second I hated those Lakers, from Kobe actitud to Rick Fox mere prescense . Dont get me wrong (if you yell it to somebody that doesnt give a hoot, u have been Steven A. Smith for a second...sweet!) Shaq had a great season, Phil Jackson did a great job getting that kind of season out of Shaq, and getting more than jeers from guys like Harper, Fox and Shaw, everybody was doing what they were supposed to do,thats a weird thing to say about the Lakeras nowadays, but well, I disgrees...I'm very good at it... The point it's I had always blame the collapse of the Blazers in the fourth quater to Scottie and coach Mike Dunleavy, they were the leaders of the pack after all. But (yeah..that's a big but, I like big buts and I can not lie...but I disgress..) after watching again I realized I have to blame everything on Portland going totally cold for like 7 minutes and on LA D which was getting tighter and tighter after each Portland missed shot, LA wasn't that hot either but Portland cold streak was ridiculous. S0, I was a little more "content" because it wasn't Scottie's fault, he did run the ofense, was a presence defensively, he took the shots LA D gave him, the blazers just couldn't buy a shot, at one point they missed 13 straight, granted most of them were jump shots and no drives to the basket. It wasnt coach Dunleavy fault either, the plays to post up sheed and bonzi were there, the shooters were there, the shots just didn't go in! Sheed missed like 5 straight shots, no easy shots but it weren't impossibles neither, at least for him. Oh well, it was a good game after all.

Nothing new in the news today, we could use this slow day to learn something about the soon to be rookies ,things like Al Hortford is showing some skills as well as the philly kids. Kevin Durant might start to get the hang of it, just might! The good old Nellie and the Warriors found the next JRich, good for them!