S-Jax Finally Traded

Looks like Stephen Jackson will finally be dealt to another team but he won't be on a team on his wishlist as he will be headed to a lottery bound Charlotte Bobcats. The Warriors will send their former captain along with Acie Law for Vladimir Radmanovic and Raja Bell. The move does give the Bobcats a scorer that they have sorely needed since the start of the season but dealing for Jackson can not solve their scoring problems completely. They should have gone the route commonly taken by most rebuilding teams. They should have been more patient with developing their younger players in DJ Augustin and Gerald Wallace, cleared cap space and improve through high 1st round picks. The Bobcats might earn a couple more wins and they might even contend for a playoff spot this season but this move doesn't put them in a better position for the future at all. Raymond Felton will be an unrestricted free agent next season and they won't have any cap space at all until after the 2010-11 season. The move might also mean that the Bobcats will only receive a mid 1st round pick in next year's draft. As blaze said, this move doesn't do anything for the Bobcats other than getting more points on the board and around 5 more wins. S-Jax's a fantastic complementary player on a contender but is a mediocre go-to-guy on a playoff spot contender in th East. I'm not sure if Jackson will be willing to play for 'Cats. Another trade? Highly unlikely but I hope so. For the Warriors, this move is a little shocking but not unbelievable. There have some rumors that Bobcats might be interested in Jackson in the past. Don Nelson has said they will do his best to send Jackson to a team on his wishlist(any Texas team, NY, Cleveland) but maybe no one was willing to pay the next 4 years on Jackson's contract. The move will create more flexibility for the Warriors as Bell's contract expires this season and Radmanovic's expires next season. Both are also quality shooters and are compatible with Nelson's system.

Some Early Thougths on the Young NBA Season

• Other than his combustibility, another disadvantage for the Lakers of having Ron Artest instead of Trevor Ariza is the spacing. With Trevor last year, the Lakers had at least 2 and at most 3 dependable 3-point shooters on the hard court. It's not just because Trevor is better shooter. Adding Ron-Ron to the mix also means that the Lakers will now have 3 guys who need to post up to be effective on the floor. Let's take the current starting five of the Lakers. Bynum, Odom, Artest, Kobe, Fisher. Now, Phil Jackson can not afford to make Ron a spot shooter 100% of the time he's on the floor. He has to place Ron on the block occasionally. Now, if Ron is on the block, Odom and Bynum will be forced to hang out around and become spot up shooters and they will left with only 2 guys outside the arc.(Kobe and Fisher). Odom is an able shooter but he is not a natural shooter. Bynum? You be the judge. Yes, those 2 guys can cut more to solve the issue a little bit but they can't cut endlessly. If Pau Gasol returns, he'll replace Bynum and the Lakers will have another perimeter shooter. Pau's still not a Ray Allen though. There's a big difference in having a midrange shooter than a 3-point shooter. Avoiding to post up Ron is not the solution. Ron can hit outside shots but I don't think he can hit at a consistent rate. Plus, it would be a waste if you made Ron Artest play like James Posey.
• A lot of people are making a fuss about the 0-2 start of the Cleveland Cavaliers and I can see where they're coming from. Their new acquisitions were suppose to make life easier for the King but they haven't so far. Anthony Parker is averaging 11ppg but on 33% FG shooting. Jamario Moon is averaging 5.5 ppg and 37.5% FG shooting. Not really nice shooting. Shaq's averaging 11ppg and 8.5rpg but I feel he hasn't been much of an impact so far. Defense is also not quite there. Their opponents averaged 98ppg and 44.9% FG shooting in the their 1st 2 games. The most important thing (guy) they're lacking is Delonte West. Other than Lebron, I believe he's the most consistent player of the Cavs last year on both ends of the floor. Hey, even Paul Pierce thinks they really miss him.
• What about the rookie class of this season? Dejuan Blair, 14 points and 11 rebounds. I've always been a big fan of undersized, hardworking, 2nd round draft pick power forwards. Paul Millsap? Carl Landry? They have always found a way to produce for their teams despite their size. I don't think the Spurs did a great job in drafting this guy. They just got lucky that most of the teams were scared of his past ACL injury. Chase Budinger, 11 points and 3-6 from beyond the arc. Who needs Brent Barry if you can have a younger version of him? (and I'm hoping he can be more) Ty Lawson, 17 points and 6 assists. I've been fan of this guy since I saw him play for the UNC Tar Heels. He might be small but this can run with anyone in the NBA and he's fearless.
• I might have made a mistake in my fantasy league when I picked D-Wade over CP3. My rational for the move was that CP3 has more help now that he has a Emaka Okafor. I was wrong. The NO Hornets still look like a one-man team even with the Chandler-Okafor swap. As JVG said, the Hornets need a wingman who can create his own shot. S-Jack is a possibility but is GS willing to part with him for the Hornets' junk? And is he enough to take NO to the next level? Micheal Redd is an intriguing option but there are still no signs the the Bucks are going to try to move him.

Ball Points (9-26-09)

• The Stags' record finally has a blemish. The Letran Knights just handed them their first loss of the season yesterday and they did with conviction with an 80-63 victory over the NCAA's no. 1 seed. The Stags struggled with the physicality of the Knights all game long and Knights might just have found the Stag's Achilles' Heel. The two lone representatives of the NCAA in the Gilas program, Jazul and Guevarra, were impressive in this one as they scored 27 points a piece. This might be a blessing in disguise for SSC-R as this loss will give Ato his first chance of preparing for a game right after a loss. It's not going to be easy though as they are set to face the rampaging JRU Heavy Bombers next Monday. JRU is also looking to bounce bask after barely beating AUF 85-81 last Wednesday. It's going to be interesting to see how this Stags will react right after a defeat.
• Smart - Gilas defeated the Singapore Slingers 70-67 last Wednesday. As I said before the result of this game hardly matters. The goal of SBP is to expose these guys to the international game to prepare them for the 2011 Fiba -Asia tournament (qualifier for the 2012 Olympics). JV looked very impressive in orchestrating the offense. I think he's much more comfortable when he's not appointed as the main man of the team. He's going to have less pressure on himself with guys like Ababou, Barroca and Aguilar on the team. A lot of CJ Giles in this one. He provided the team with a reliable option in their half court sets and a lot of highlights (Check out the 0:55 mark of this video). The team also needs to run a little bit more and refrain from depending on CJ to produce in the half court. Japeth was also impressive in this game. He seems to be comfortable with Gilas. (maybe because he's the star of the team. haha) Barroca ended up with only 6 points because he missed a couple of shots he usually makes. He is coming off a lot of drama and maybe he still needs some time. This team is still incomplete as the collegiate tournaments are not yet done. The 2 Fil- Australians were non-factors in the game as expected. This team still has a lot of potential and I'm hoping that they'll be the answer to our woeful showings in past international tournaments.
• Stephen Jackson and Carlos Boozer are still with their teams as training camp approaches. It looks like Jack will still be a Warrior this season as their aren't any ideal situations for him right now. It also doesn't help that he just recently signed a large contract extension and contenders are already loaded in his positions. Utah is also having a lot of difficulty of finding a trade partner and having Boozer around might mess up the team's chemistry. The team's frontline is also clogged up. Their top 4 frontliners are a combined $48M approximately in salary this year compared to the defending champions' $41M. Look for Boozer to be pursued more by the other teams when the trade deadline approaches as he is on an expiring contract if he is not yet traded before the season starts.
• It looks like we're going to finally see the Spark back in the PBA's next season. BGK surely will welcome the return of their man and this should make the perennial contender even stronger this season. His return will also move Helterbrand back to his natural position, PG. Helterbrand has gotten used to being the team's SG but I'm not expecting him to struggle returning to his old position especially now that he has his partner back with him.
• The UAAP Men's Basketball Championship Game 1 has been moved to October 1. The Juniors' and Women's games scheduled today were also suspended due to the typhoon.

Ball Points (Inspired by patayangbutiki.com’s Butiki Bullets) (9-22-09)

• Finally! Something wrong about Ateneo! The credit goes to blaze for finding this story. This is an issue worth following. If Jobe is proven ineligible before the finals, will the Eagles be even allowed to play in the Finals? Maybe that’s why he's not part of the roster anymore. This may mean another suspension to perennial Final 4 contender next season. Nothing’s final yet and maybe this is just a propaganda to harm ADMU’s reputation. UPDATE: CHED has already released a statement regarding the issue and they have stated that Jobe is eligible for tertiary education. Nice try FEU but better luck next year.
  
• As reported here and here, Smart - Gilas will be facing off with the Singapore Slingers tomorrow in a tune -up match. The result will hardly matter in this one. The main goal of the Gilas program is to expose these young collegiate stars to the international brand of basketball. Smart-Gilas will also be reinforced by 2 Fil-Aussies in this game. Basketball isn't a popular sport in Australia so I'm still skeptical if this guys can make an impact but I guess looking for more players all over the world won't hurt. The SBP should try looking for players are around 6'6" to 6'10" who are versatile enough for the international game. A guy like Nikkah Bahrami wouldn't hurt their cause as well. UPDATE: Gilas won 70-67 behind Cj Giles(21 points), Aguilar (14 points) and Casio (10 points).
  
• I was looking for some highlights of Nikkah and I stumbled upon this video. The reporter was asking about the death of one of his teammates and I don’t think the reporter knew he was asking about Nikkah’s brother, Aiden. The reporter even asked for the name of the player. (Aiden died in car crash with his fiancé. Iran did pretty well without the other Bahrami and they even defended their FIBA-Asia crown against the heavily favored Chinese National Team)
• Looks like Warriors are having some difficulty in accommodating Jackson's request. The teams on his wish list are all deep in the 2 and 3 spot and I don’t think they’ll be able to create space for the Warriors’ captain. (Cavs have The Chosen One, Moon, West and Parker. Spurs have Ginobli, Jefferson, Mason and now Bogans. Mavs have Marion, Howard and Terry. My Rockets have Ariza, Battier, a couple of promising rookies and hopefully a healthy T-Mac.) These teams may choose to play small ball but their rosters are still too deep to find a spot for him. Even other contenders like the Celtics, Magic and Lakers are deep at his positions as well. If he wants to join a contender this season, he’ll have to live with the fact that he might not get to play in the end game. Moving to New Orleans might make some sense especially with inconsistencies of Peja. Ending the game with CP3, Capt. Jack, James Posey, David West, Okafor/Peja(small ball?) isn't too shabby at all. Trading Mo Pete and Devin Brown for Capt. Jack will work financially. The move also frees up Golden State of committing to Jackson for 4 years since Brown’s contract will last for one more year while Peterson’s will only have 2 more years. The question is will Bower accept a 4 year contract averaging about $8.8M annually for a player who won’t guarantee you a spot in the Conference Finals. Sure he’ll improve the team and make bring CP3 a smile on his face but the Western Conference still has a lot of talented and deeper teams that are itching to dethrone the Lakers.