We will miss you, Anthony

It seems that Anthony Parker is moving to Cleveland. Although not a super star, he will be sorely missed in Toronto. I met him once in person - he was a very nice and classy person, with the sweetest smile. I get he will be teaching LeBron now how to behave. Some lessons on modesty and classiness can also go to Mo Williams.


If Andy Varejao got a dollar for every flop, how much would he earn? The answer is here. 50 mln for Hedo or Bargnani doesn't sound that crazy anymore? Right.

S&T Marion with Dallas is on its way. We still need another team to complete our threesome and let us grab some dollars for adding players to our bench, which will definitely not include Pops nor Delfino, as we renounced the rights to them. If we have luck, it might also be our chance to get rid off Kris Humphries or Marcus Banks.

Zaza Pachulia goes back to the Hawks, Spurs sign Haislip and McDyess, Jennero Pargo heads to Chicago, Dahntay Jones to Indiana.

More signings here. And here.

The Rockets get exception for injured Yao Ming. Hey, what about Tracy McGrady? Every team that ever had him on a roster or even thinks about trading for him should get exception, too. Just like that.

I might have forgot: Free Jordan Crawford! #freejordancrawford

Free Agency Day 2 - Disappointed Raptors Fan

Yeah, I feel really disappointed. It feels like all the teams are trying to do something and we're just sitting and waiting for something magic to happen.

Trevor Ariza agreed to sign with Huston Rockets a multiyear MLE deal, which made about everybody in Toronto asking: WHY? Why didn't Bryan Colangelo try to sign him? NBA.com tells us, that Raptors actually offered bigger dollars to Ariza, but he signed with the Rockets 'out of respect'. (???)

Ron Artest reached the agreement with Lakers. Now, he will be able to manhandle Kobe on trainings.

Boston Celtics trying to make a run for Rasheed Wallace. Mavericks and Knicks speaking with Jason Kidd. Marcin Gortat is on his way to Dallas.

So, where are you, Raptors? Are you gonna try to resign Shawn Marion? Add Linas Kleiza? Is that all we can expect?

No more cheating. A tribute to the Denver Nuggets

As I said in the previous post I'm a notorious cheater. I promised myself to do something useful during the few-days-break from the playoffs. List was long and included: working on my website, cleaning the house, emailing all these people... and all I do is: visit a hairdresser, book a cosmetician, ramble about my diet, ramble about Ben Gordon (again!).
On the other hand I bet that whatever was supposed to be said about the Conference Finals, (expected) Nuggets exit and (unexpected) Cavaliers exit was already said.
I actually like Lakers and during the regular season they appeared the best team to me and I believed they do deserve the championship. But during the playoffs something malicious woke up in me. It started with a disappointment that the Raptors didn't even make it to the first round. It got deeper with another disappointment that the Spurs didn't make it to the second round. It changed into fury over the LeBron vs Kobe hype. I just didn't want any of them to get the 'ship'. Any!
Then came the Houston team with so many injuries and huge huge heart. And Lakers got lazy. They didn't look like champions anymore. They finally won to the Rockets but it didn't look as good as it was supposed to do.
Next team for Lakers to face was Denver. Which raised a question: does anybody outside Denver actually cheer this team?
Can anybody like this guy?



or that?



Twitter had the answer. Of course we're gonna cheer these guys. The 'JR being JR' and the 'My IQ is as big as my jersey number' Kenyon. Thanks to @courtside who taught us all about greatness of JR Smith and to @jose3030 for documenting it (the gif of Dino-JR).
As much as Nuggets disappointed us with losing this series, they definitely provided loads of fun. Chauncey Billups with inbounding the ball of Kobe's back was the funniest moment in this playoffs so far.
It was fun cheering for the Nuggets. And yes, I am a freak. So when you meet somebody wearing sun-glasses in the middle of the night, it will probably be me.