Many transactions and acquisitions have been made since The Decision. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past week, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ small forward decided that he will join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami to create a South Beach Superteam for the Miami Heat. All of this on a program featured on ESPN, the World Wide Leader in Sports. This created a lot of attention as there were haters, lovers, and everything else in between.
The LeBron discussion feels like as if it were yesterday, but his decision was actually about a week ago. A lot has passed, and if anybody even notices yet, a lot deals have been made as well. They are a lot key deals, featuring guys like Al Jefferson, Al Harrington, Tyson Chandler, Udonis Haslem, and many others. So without a further ado, let’s evaluate the latest NBA acquisitions since the LeBron James’ saga.
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat have made some great pick-ups lately since bringing Chris Bosh and James. They also have re-signed Udonis Haslem, who will be a great contributor off the bench and key sixth man. Mike Miller will also make some impact. There were rumors that he may start at point guard but I see him being a key contributor off the bench as well. Zydrunas Ilgauskas has also agreed to join the Heat, as he looks to be a starter, in my opinion. Ilgauskas is so far the best signing for the after “The Decision.”
Al Harrington
Al Harrington is going to be great piece for the Denver Nuggets. He was a great player off the bench, averaging close to 20 points per game. The way he was playing, he could have easily been the New York Knicks’ starting power forward that year. Kenyon Martin should watch out, as Harrington could compete for the starting job. Otherwise, Harrington could be a great guy to pull off from the bench. I could see him being a candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, easily. But I think they paid a bit too much for the 30-year-old. Let’s see if he can live up to the money and hopefully give Carmelo Anthony a championship.
Luke Ridinour
The point guard experiment continues for the Minnesota Timberwolves, as they signed Luke Ridnour to a four-year $16M deal. I don’t think this will affect Jonny Flynn, though, as he will still start at point guard. But I don’t think it was the right deal for the T-Wolves. He is turning 30 soon and won’t help out in the rebuilding plan. They also have Ramon Sessions to help out in Kurt Rambis’ system, so what are they going to do with him? I guess this is another dumb, laughable move by David Kahn.
Al Jefferson
We all should have seen this coming. Al Jefferson was going to be traded. It was rumored that he would have gone to the Miami Heat when they sent Michael Beasley over to the Minnesota Timberwolves. But now, Jefferson was traded to the Utah Jazz. The Jazz made a great reach and picked up a solid big man.
I think Jefferson will be an upgrade over Carlos Boozer. Now you probably think I’m crazy, but Boozer is three years older and Jefferson has produced a lot than Boozer in the past few years. Jefferson can help the Jazz at both the center and power forward spot. Coming into 2010, he will start at power forward while Mehmet Okur stays put at starting center.
Gordon Hayward looks to be a back-up to Andrei Kirilenko at small forward, but then again, Hayward can compete against him. Kirilenko, after all, has been having some injury problems and he could be the odd man out, too. But if Andrei stays, Hayward may be a back-up. Hayward, also, may play a bit of power forward and I wouldn’t be surprised.
But back to Jefferson. At his age, he can do a lot for Utah in the next coming years. Utah can have some nice rotations. Also, with the emergence of Paul Millsap, the Jazz can move Jefferson as a starting center, move Okur as a solid back-up, and leave Millsap as a starting power forward. With this, the Jazz have a lot of good big men on the table.
Jefferson is a great pick-up.
Tyson Chandler
We might as well call Tyson Chandler a bit of a journeyman now. He got traded to the Charlotte Bobcats about a year ago in exchange for Emeka Okafor. When you really look at it, it really didn’t benefit both teams that well. But the Mavericks, like the Jazz, will have a lot of good big men on the table as well by trading for him. With this trade, they also got Alez Ajinca. Ajinca will add depth and will be a role player.
As for Chandler, he will be a sixth man type of guy for the Mavericks with Dirk Nowtizki and Brendan Haywood occupying the power forward and center spots. The Mavs got a rid of a lot of cap space, most notably Erick Dampier’s fat contract. But it is most likely Dampier will be waived by the Bobcats. With this, Dampier can sign a minimum deal and return back to the Mavs.
Chandler is going to be a nice pick-up as well, and along with that, the Mavs will have a strong core of forwards and centers. This could help out well after Dallas lost out on Jermaine O’Neal and Al Harrington, two guys they were targeting very badly.
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the knicks better forget about josh howard and go get richard jefferson>howard is a low character guy who likes toking weed and jefferson would fit good with young athletic slashers