The offseason blows

The off-season blows big time and it's rather difficult to open Twitter, when there is nothing even remotely connected to the basketball in the trending topics. It must be even more difficult for players like Big Baby Davis, Andre Miller and David Lee, who are looking at their phones and waiting for any call.

Celtics load their team like there was no tomorrow. Their new target is Marquis Daniels, who will come in a Sign & Trade with Scalabrine or take the biannual exception. Trail Blazers don't have that much luck. Although, they have money to spend, they continue to fail to sign any player at all. After Hedo Turkoglu made his decision in favor of snowy Toronto winters, the Blazers signed Paul Millsap for an offer sheet, only to be kicked in the nuts again, this time by Utah Jazz, who decided to match the offer.

Mark Cuban's lawsuit have been dismissed, Antoine Walker didn't have luck with gambling and Richard Jefferson left his bride at the altar. That's the kind of news we are being fed lately. It's dry bread and water for those of us, who are hungry for any NBA news. I would prefer rainbow trout and Chianti, but that will have to do, unfortunately.

Dwyane Wade jumped out on Twitter lately with a promise of some news. Of course news were crappy, he changed Converse for Nike, which doesn't make any difference, if you're not interested in yet another puppet commercial. He didn't say anything about Lamar Odom, although the rumors make us believe, that Wade is trying to convince the Heat team and Odom to remarry again.

Yao Ming bought himself a team, and it might be the only basketball related activity, that will be left for him. He just cannot catch a break with his injuries, which is such a pity, for he is one of the best centers in the game and has a heart of a warrior.

Josh Childress is going back to Greece, and there is a remote possibility that he will take Nate Robinson with him.

Magic spoiled Marcin Gortat's hopes to be a starting center for the Mavericks. Marcin wasn't happy at all, especially when the Magic signed also Brandon Bass, pushing the Polish Hammer even further on the bench.

The OK City Thunder waived guard Earl Watson, who might be joining the Pacers, hence giving us the hope, that Jarrett Jack will wear Raptors uniform next season. There is no logical reason for Pacers to pay 20 mln just to get another point guard. They have time till Tuesday to make their decision. Hope we won't get the treatment Blazers are getting. Although we have Douby to backup both guard position and he had a major impact in the Summer League games, I still don't feel him as a first guard from the bench. He hogs the ball way to much, and while it may work in the Summer League games, where all the players try to steal the show, it won't be working in the team concept. Roko didn't improve and Marcus Banks... You just hope that he can somehow disappear and take his contract with him. There is no reason for him to be in the NBA.

About the Summer League and Toronto Point Guards

Yet again, I decided to put my family life on the edge for basketball, like it was before with the March Madness and playoffs. I got myself enough beers, take-out phone numbers handy, paid the $15 ransom to the NBA and started getting excited.

Although strangely familiar to the game I love to love, it's difficult to call them basketball games. It's a rookie watch. I don't really care who wins and by how many points, I'm more interested in personal performances, to see what we're getting for the next season.

First game for the Raptors was against Lakers, second against Pistons.

In the first game Smush Parker looked better as our point guard then Ukic or Douby, although he screwed it up in the second game. Ukic is not an NBA point guard. Neither is Douby. Roko simply sucks and Douby hogs the ball as a wannabe Allen Iverson. He scored 21 points in the second game, but didn't bother very much with dishing the assists.

Brent Petway was channeling Pops Mensah-Bonsu in game 1, trying to prove us that D-League plays better ball than Raptors second unit. Like we didn't know it before. He didn't have very much impact in the second game, which had most of the offense going through the guards.

DeMar DeRozan looked rather good in game 1, his jumper not bad, some high-flying. Had some problems with ball in the traffic, but nothing to raise serious doubts. He really warmed up in the game 2, though, 20 points, 4 rebounds. I didn't see him as a game starter after first game, but in the second game, he got his rhythm going and might be as good as advertised. I have to see more games, to know him better.

Patrick O'Bryant is a misunderstanding. Luckily, he comes cheap. He is soft as a kitten, soft enough to make other Raptors players look like hockey thugs.

Other notable rookies:

- Detroit seems to hit a jackpot with their rookies: both Austin Daye and DeJuan Summers are simply killing it.

- Stephon Curry is a definition of a volume shooter. As Golden State Warriors seem to have more shoots available than your standard NBA team, he seems to be a good fit there.

- Tyreke Evans lives at the free throw line. He drives, drives and drives. And his impressive wingspan seems to extend from one end of the court to another.

- Brandon Jennings sucks.

- After watching (or half-watching) 8 summer league games, my huge book about C++ starts looking tempting. Basically the games are not really exciting.

After 2 games it was easy to notice, that our backup point guard position screams for an NBA worthy player. If Marcus Banks was watching these games in TV, he must have been thinking that his year was coming and he'd get some playing time. How wrong he was. Raptors offered 4 year 20 mln sheet to Jarrett Jack. Jack is a solid backup combo guard. Maybe the money is too big, but on the other hand it can put us on the safe side, if Pacers want to match the offer. They may not be able to offer him this kind of money.

Jarrett Jack as a Raptor puts Marcus Banks on the top of the LVP (Least Valuable Player) run this season. Oh, wait, wasn't he already there? Jack is also Bosh's buddy from Georgia Tech. Another move to seduce Chris in staying in Toronto?

The Cavaliers might be interested in getting Joey Graham. Seriously, is this a move to keep LeBron in Ohio? Or maybe they want to replace Bron with Joey, when he heads to New York?

Paul Millsap signed an offer sheet with Portland. If Utah Jazz doesn't match, we will have helluva of a Trail Blazers team next season.

Free Agency Day 3 - Hedo looking for a better pizza

Earlier today ESPN informed us that Hedo Turkoglu reached an agreement with Portland Trail Blazers and Shawn Marion was negotiating his contract with Toronto Raptors. Raptors offered him something north of 30 mln for 4 years, but Marion tried to get 5 year 50 mln. While whole Toronto fan base kept their breath wondering who's gonna win these negotiations, another news broke: Turkoglu rejected offer from Portland and decided to go with Toronto. Raptors offered him 56 mln for 6 years, which is basically 6 mln more than Blazers.

Was the 6 mln the reason for Michael Jordan of Turkey to come to Toronto? Or the fact that his wife loved the city? Or maybe our pizza is better?


And how is it gonna affect us? We're simply losing the MLE and staying with a bench thinner than Christian Bale in 'The Machinist'.



We also can say bye-bye to Anthony Parker, Carlos Delfino and Shawn Marion.

I like the idea of having Hedo Turkoglu on our team much more than having Marion, but it would definitely get sweeter if we could also get Linas Kleiza to come of the bench.


Another news today:

Pistons are interested in signing Avery Johnson as a head coach.

Phil Jackson will definitely come back to coach Lakers. He seems to be the right man to handle Ron Artest.


Boston Celtics are interested in getting Rasheed Wallace.