Richard Jefferson: The Spurs acquired Richard Jefferson by sending Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas, & Fabricio Oberto to the Bucks in what is pretty much a cost cutting move on the part of Milwaukee. I've been critical of Richard Jefferson in the past because I don't feel like he's someone you build your team around as a 1st or 2nd option. However, on the Spurs he would be the 4th option most likely after Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and even Manu Ginobili. What this does for the Spurs is it gives them another wing who can score, especially if Ginobili is not healthy. I also like the athleticism of Jefferson on the defensive end, so the Spurs shouldn't lose too much on that end by losing Bruce Bowen. It's possible that Bowen ends up back with the Spurs anyway though because it looks like Milwaukee is going to cut him in order to save even more money. I like this move for the Bucks too because they were overpaying Jefferson and they need to rebuild. Jefferson is not a player you really want to build around, so they are better off without him even if it makes them worse off this season. Welcome to the life of an NBA role player Richard and I mean that in a good way.Boston Celtics: There have been rumors that the Celtics offered Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen to the Pistons for Rodney Stuckey, Tayshaun Prince, and Rip Hamilton. I have no idea why the Celtics would offer such a crazy trade and I'm even more clueless why the Pistons would turn it down. Tayshaun Prince was basically useless in the playoffs and Hamilton is probably on the decline as well. Stuckey could turn out to be a decent player, but he will probably never going to be as good as Rondo. What confuses me even more is why the Celtics would offer this trade. If the trade went through, the Celtics would certainly be worse off and I don't think they would have any chance to win a title next season. With KG and Pierce being older players, you would think the Celtics would be trying to load up for 2010 to make a run at another championship. However, this trade offer suggests that the Celtics don't want any part of giving Rajon Rondo a max contract in 2010 and are willing to give him up this year even if it means making the team worse. I think this could be a major story that hovers around the Celtics next season.
Minnesota Timberwolves: So the T-Wolves shipped Randy Foye & Mike Miller to the Wizards for the 5th pick in the draft along with Oleksiy Pecherov, Etan Thomas, and Darius Songaila(otherwise known as a bunch of trash). The T-Wolves now own the 5th and 6th picks in the draft and it should be interesting to see what they do with the two picks. It seems pretty clear that the first 4 picks in the draft will include some combination of Blake Griffin, James Harden, and Ricky Rubio. Hasheem Thabeet is likely to be drafted in the top 4 picks as well, but I've seen some mock drafts that have Hasheem Thabeet not being selected in the top 4, because they have Stephen Curry getting drafted 4th by the Kings. If that was to happen then it's possible the T-Wolves could draft both Thabeet and Tyreke Evans. That would be the best case scenario for Minnesota in my mind because then that would give them a center to back-up Al Jefferson and a big guard in Evans who can also handle the ball. It seems highly likely that the T-Wolves take Evans with one of those two picks and the other pick will probably be either Thabeet, Stephen Curry, Jordan Hill, or Brandon Jennings. I'm assuming that James Harden & Ricky Rubio won't fall out of the Top 4. Another interesting point about this trade is that Minnesota is basically trading away most of their three point shooting with Foye and Miller. Evans is not a strong outside shooter, so I have to wonder if Minnesota is looking at drafting Stephen Curry and pairing him with Evans in their backcourt. That would give them a starting 5 that would probably be Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, Ryan Gomes, Evans, and Curry. Definitely something to keep an eye on at the beginning of the draft.
More: NBA Weekly
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