Hello,
After being relatively quiet in free agency the Jazz had a big day Friday. They traded a player that I'd barely heard of, Kevin Murphy, to the Warriors for 3 rental players and 2 #1 picks. The Jazz also get some second round picks, but it's doubtful those players will find a home with any NBA team. Both #1 picks are unprotected, they come in the years 2014 and 2017. That means that the Warriors first round pick won't be very good next season. Golden State will be fun to watch this upcoming season, I'll be watching more Warriors games this season. Not only does Golden State still have their exciting core, but they also added Andre Iguodala. The signing of Iguodala seemed to signal they'd given up on the drama queen Dwight Howard. Good for them.
All the Jazz had to do in the trade with Golden State was take Andris Beidins, Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush off the Warriors' hands. All three players have expiring contracts at the end of the 2013-2014 season. The Jazz will pay those three players this season, see if any can help the Jazz in the near future and dump them after this next season if they can't. Utah will be able to add the three players and still have a lot of salary cap room for 2014 NBA free agency. Many NBA players don't want to come to Utah, but that's okay. The Jazz will just have to find players that are both good and don't mind living in one of the most beautiful states in the USA. The Jazz have attracted great players in the past and they will do it again.
In order to swing the trade with the Warriors, the Jazz had to renounce their Bird rights to Paul Milsap. He was a great player for the Jazz and I'll certainly miss his hard working ways and soft touch around the basket. However I hope this signals that Utah has every intention of going fully to a youth movement. In my opinion the Jazz need to worry more their future than whether Tyrone Corbin is their coach or not. Don't let him trying to save his job stand in the way of slowing the progress of the Jazz's young and exciting core. Good luck to Milsap, who signed a 2 year, $19 million dollar contract with the Hawks. The Jazz also lose the hard working DeMarre Carroll, who'll join Milsap in Atlanta.
Now for the biggest headache in the NBA, the man who earned the deserved nickname Dwightmare. The buffoon has said he'll sign with the Houston Rockets, my condolences to the Rockets. Houston seems to think this will be a move that they benefit from. However I'm not sure what they think they are seeing with him. This is a player that used to be one of the best big men in the NBA, but now has turned into a slightly above ordinary player. He's also injury prone, I bet he'll miss at least 10 games this season and not show a lot of desire to get back quickly.
What comes with the player on the downside of his career, don't let Stephen A. Smith hoodwink you, is a lot of drama. Since players can't officially sign until July 10th, I expect to hear rumors about Howard changing his mind again about where he wants to play next year. Even if Howard signs with Houston, how long will it be before he starts complaining? How long until he alienates his teammates, how long until he questions Kevin McHale, how long until he uses up his goodwill that he's received from the city of Houston? I'd imagine that he's going to alienate quite a few people before his first year ends in Houston. And stop complaining about your reputation, you only have yourself to blame for that.
I hope Houston ties his overall performance to how much he gets paid in his contract. If I was the Rockets I'd tie most of his paycheck to his free throw shooting. When he starts missing them, they'll at least be able to save some money. The big fool just doesn't have heart. He claims he wants to win a championship, well if that's true why is he going to Houston? Why didn't he sign for less with a team that's right on the border of at least making the finals and that ain't Houston.
At least he Rockets should have in Howard's contract that he can no longer call himself Superman, what a disgrace to Superman. If Howard wants to be a super hero, a better character would be Robin. That's because he'll be James Harden's sidekick. While Harden will be Batman, Howard will be the forgotten about sidekick. Actually maybe Howard should become the Joker.
I don't have anything against the Rockets, I've always had the utmost respect for the Rockets. They have a good coach and a great core. They probably had my favorite big man of all-time, Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon. I loved watching The Dream play, except for when he was torching my Jazz. I loved watching him in college when he was a member of the dunkeriffic Phi Slamma Jamma. That's probably my favorite college basketball team to ever watch. I love that they had a little known player at the time, who now has become BYU's head basketball coach, Dave Rose.
As for the Mavs chasing after Andrew Bynum, really? He even has less heart than Dwight Howard. He's lazy, injury prone and like Howard I don't even think he likes basketball. He just plays it because he can make a lot of money. Thanks Jazz for not going after either of these head cases.
With Howard leaving the Lakers, don't feel bad for them. They dodged a bullet, I'm not convinced that LA is heartbroken that the Dwightmare is going to Houston. That's $118 million they don't have to pay the Joker. Howard had his feelings hurt that Mike D'antoni hardly talked to him when the Lakers made their pitch. That tells you how much D'antoni wanted the drama queen back and I don't blame him.
Then how dare Kobe tell Howard that that he'll teach him how to win a championship. Howard wants to win a championship, he just doesn't want to work for it. Kobe would have expected Howard to actually work on his game, no more of that coasting on his declining natural athleticism. I'm sure they would have come to blows sometime. I'm not a big Kobe fan, but you can't deny that he wants to win and works hard to reach that goal. That's much different than what you can say about Howard.
themusicaddict
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