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2011 NBA Draft and Offseason Blog

Written by Paul Banks of the Washington Times, and David Kay of the The Sports Bank.
Send Paul an e-mail here: paulb05 AT hotmail DOT com.
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2011 NBA Offseason Losers - Dec. 23

Los Angeles Lakers
Not only did their proposed deal for Chris Paul get vetoed by the league (or whatever David Stern wants to call it), the Lakers then panicked when Lamar Odom became unhappy and pretty much gave him away to the defending champion Mavericks for nothing. If you are going to give away one of your best players, at least trade him to a crappy team or send him to the Eastern Conference; not to one of your biggest challengers for in West. So now the Lakers will rely on free agent additions Josh McRoberts, Troy Murphy and Jason Kapono to possibly play significant roles off the bench this season. This team definitely took a step back this offseason.

New Jersey Nets
With all of their cap space, the Nets struck out on their attempt to land one of the top free agents and were also unable to acquire Dwight Howard via trade. So their biggest offseason acquisitions: DeShawn Stevenson, Shawne Williams and Shelden Williams. Ish. I will give them credit for learning from their mistakes of last offseason when they gave multi-year deals to guys like Johan Petro, Jordan Farmar and Travis Outlaw (who coincidentally enough was amnestied), and instead signing guys like Williams and Kris Humphries to short deals, so that they still have a good amount of cap space next offseason in hopes of re-signing Deron Williams and bringing in a free agent like Howard. That is, if they don't make a trade for Howard during the season.

Kris Humphries
First the disaster relationship/wedding/divorce/TV show with Kim Kardashian, then he is unable to find a team willing to give him a long-term deal, so he was forced to ink a 1-year contract with the Nets. I think his rep may have taken a worse hit than LeBron's did last offseason with that whole "Decision" debacle.

Boston Celtics
While some of the top teams in the East added key role players, the Celtics' depth actually got worse this offseason. The situation with Jeff Green needing open heart surgery is simply unfortunate, but now Boston has a bench comprised of guys like Brandon Bass, Chris Wilcox, Avery Bradley, Marquis Daniels, Sasha Pavlovic and Keyon Dooling. A shortened regular season will help their aging stars, but the Celtics will have a difficult time competing with teams like the Bulls, Heat and Knicks.

Mike again 12-25-2011 02:01 pm xxx.xxx.xxx.237 (total posts: 2)

Lakers got Mavs first rounder this year for odom

mike 12-25-2011 01:56 pm xxx.xxx.xxx.237 (total posts: 2)

you still have the clippers owning the twolves pick

Joe 12-23-2011 11:05 am xxx.xxx.xxx.204 (total posts: 1)

Walt, I dont think you understand what the Amnesty Clause does. The contract doesnt count against the payroll, but you still have to pay the player. You dont just get out of the contract for free. There was no point in using it on Rashard Lewis, because he can still at least play. Even if you are paying him a ton of money, he can still give you decent minutes. Plus, next year, he is a huge expiring that can be used as a trade chip.

Pete 12-23-2011 01:45 am xxx.xxx.xxx.167 (total posts: 1)

Dude Wizards don't amnesty Lewis because if they did, they would be significantly below the salary cap floor imposed on teams, forcing them to spend a bunch of money on an extremely weak free agent class. Makes sense that they wouldn't amnesty him because of that.

Walter 12-23-2011 12:11 am xxx.xxx.xxx4.88 (total posts: 10)

142

Ugh, what page is that on? Editing at 3 am apparently isn't a good idea.

Oh, and I'm always up this late during football season. My Russian gypsy neighbors are surprisingly quiet.

Peter 12-22-2011 04:25 pm xxx.xxx.xxx0.62 (total posts: 1)

Walter - Aren't you an English major? Or should I say, Engrish major?

"However, if Davis plays with a chip on his shoulder, he provides the Knicks with a much-needed veteran experience in the backcourt, and unlike Mike Bibby, can still productive in the downside of his career."

All kidding aside, you're doing a great job with this website.

BTW, what are you doing up at 2:55 AM? Are the Russians keeping you up? Or are you trying to spy on the hot neighbor next door?

Walter 12-22-2011 02:55 am xxx.xxx.xxx4.88 (total posts: 10)

Sorry about that. It was my fault (editing error). I posted the wrong logo. It's fixed.

Fitz 12-20-2011 08:03 pm xxx.xxx.xxx.242 (total posts: 2)

Dude can you please correct that Davis for Bass trade. Bass plays for Orlando, not Dallas. It is the most annoying thing seeing that big of a mistake on an otherwise good website

Fitz 12-19-2011 02:58 am xxx.xxx.xxx.242 (total posts: 2)

Bass plays for Orlando. Therefore Glen Davis is going to Orlando. Can you please correct this already

Bro 12-16-2011 10:44 pm xxx.xxx.xxx0.89 (total posts: 1)

The Pistons bought out Rip Hamilton's contract so they could still use their amnesty on Ben Gordon. I was hoping that the Pistons wouldnt resign Tayshaun Prince so we could land the first pick of the draft and get a stud to join our young core of Greg Monroe, Austin Daye and Brandon Knight. But, the Pistons are stupid so they will rely on bums like Charlie Villanueva and Ben Gordon to win us out of a good draft pick and stay mediocre.

Also... 12-16-2011 11:10 am xxx.xxx.xxx6.44 (total posts: 4)

The Pistons bought out Rip's contract, and didn't use their amnesty clause yet. God willing, Ben Gordon is next to go.

What an idiot 12-16-2011 11:08 am xxx.xxx.xxx6.44 (total posts: 4)

Way to keep on your trades, Paul and Dave!

Brandon Bass has been with the Magic for awhile now, kinda shocking Walt would let someone so in-ept write for his site.

rossfelhofer 12-16-2011 01:16 am xxx.xxx.xxx4.43 (total posts: 1)

the clippers are not done in free agency yet, they are going to have to sign another big man

A Chris Paul Fan 12-16-2011 12:23 am xxx.xxx.xxx.216 (total posts: 1)

Chris Paul is a great player, I think he's the best PG in the NBA and capable of making any team into an instant playoff team. That said the Clippers gave up way to much for a player with bad knees who may leave in a two years.

If they'd been able to keep Gordon or the draft pick then i'd like the deal a lot more. If Paul stays healthy and long term it'll make it a lot less lopsided. As of now i'd say it's a big win for the Hornets considering that Paul was leaving anyways and this was the best deal they could have gotten.

Of course if Eric Gordon realizes that New Orleans is a crappy basketball market and leaves as soon as possible it'll make it much worse for the Hornets.

David 12-10-2011 09:40 am xxx.xxx.xxx.159 (total posts: 2)

Glen Davis was traded to the Magic... Bass was on the Magic and got traded to Boston

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2009 NBA Mock Re-Draft

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NFL Picks - Feb. 3

2011 NBA Draft and Offseason Blog

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