We know it’s almost unfair to compare Darko with LeBron, ‘Melo, Bosh and Wade, but it bears mentioning that while each those guys are established as the franchise player on their respective squads, Darko is on his third team by the time he’s 21 years old. Yesterday Darko agreed to a deal with the Grizzlies, reported to be worth $21 million over three years. Memphis needed a big to compliment Pau Gasol, but is Darko the right one? This year’s free agent pool of bigs was weak, and Darko was one of the best ones available, but the Grizzlies needed a banger and Darko doesn’t exactly fit the bill. He and Gasol have the length and athleticism to block a ton of shots, but who’s gonna be afraid to go into the lane over them? That’s why guys like Alexander Johnson are crucial for Memphis, because Johnson will clean someone’s clock. It’s easy to second-guess at this point, but given how good Kyle Lowry has looked in the summer league, maybe the Grizzlies should have left Mike Conley on the board and taken Joakim Noah … Meanwhile, the Sonics and Magic worked out a sign-and-trade for Rashard Lewis (which was previously thought to possibly involve Darko), whose contract bumps to over $110 million while the Sonics get a second-round pick and a $9 million trade exception. Seattle has a year to use the exception … Dwight Howard is also close to signing a 5-year, $85 million extension with the Magic. So is it safe to say that Orlando, Cleveland, Chicago, Miami and Toronto will be the future of the Eastern Conference? What about the Wizards? … Or how about adding Charlotte to that group? They’ve agreed to re-sign Gerald Wallace at 6 years, $57 million. They’re one of the few teams you can point to and say they have legit talent at every position (oddly, one of those teams is the Knicks) — they’re just young and need a go-to scorer. Is Wallace that guy? Not really, but maybe J-Rich is the answer … Celtics/Team China was ugly, at least for Yi Jianlian’s squad. China just didn’t have the athletes to run with Boston — they were run into the ground on fast breaks, Leon Powe (23 pts, 12 rebs) was beasting everyone inside, and Rajon Rondo owned Sun Yue … During garbage time, Pat Carroll got a steal and tripped over his own feet trying to start the break. But he wasn’t nearly as bad as Sergio Sanchez. No lie, Sanchez dribbled around for about 20 seconds on one possession, which ultimately led to him turning it over, and he carried the ball every single time. Of course no call was made, but it was pretty blatant … Bucks coach Larry Krystkowiak was interviewed during the game. Even though no one knows what’s gonna happen with the Yi situation, Larry was talking as if there’s no doubt Yi will be on his team next season. Also during that interview, Krystkowiak said the team had made a “significant offer” to Mo Williams and that Mo was sleeping on it … On the other side, the Miami Herald reported the Heat were putting the full-court press on Mo. “I haven’t talked to Mo yet, but I’ve been text messaging him every five minutes,” Pat Riley said … We missed this one, but apparently in China’s last game against the Knicks, Wang Zhizhi hit a trey and did the “antennas” thing for ex-Clippers teammate Q-Rich, who was in the crowd. Q busted out laughing when he saw it … Kevin Durant didn’t play in Seattle’s loss to the Bucks because he was at the ESPYs taping. And Jeff Green turned his ankle in the first quarter and didn’t return … Doug Christie reportedly wants to make another comeback to the League. Last time kinda felt like a ploy to get his name out there again and generate interest for his TV show. Now with he and his wife’s book coming out, is this another one of those? If he’s serious, though, who’s in the market for a 37-year-old defensive specialist who can’t keep up with elite offensive players anymore? … Grant Hill’s gonna get to wear No. 33 with the Suns, which had been retired for franchise rebound and steals leader Alvan Adams, who played for the team in the 1970s and ’80s. Adams told the East Valley Tribune he was cool with the move because Grant will be a big part in the Suns possibly winning a championship, and because he’s a good guy. Still — and we don’t know how or if Grant went about asking — we have a problem with guys asking for retired numbers. Even Jerry Rice getting Steve Largent’s No. 80 with the Seahawks rubbed us wrong, and Grant Hill isn’t Jerry Rice-level … We’re out like Sergio’s handle …
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July 12th, 2007 at 5:41 am
SL says:
.. dosen’t detroit still have to be considered in the mix in the next few years for the east?!? they may not have the youth of some of the other teams, but they didn’t resign chauncey to fold everything away!
they still have young talent to mold around chauncey, rip, tayshaun, and sheed: stuckey, afllalo, amir johnson, jason maxiell.
July 12th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Celts Fan says:
Detroit’s on the way down though. They said “the future of the East” as in, will be contending for the next 5-10 years. Detroit’s window is closing. They’re still good enough to win a ring the next few years, but they’re not “contending for the next 10 years” good, though let’s see how stuckey and afflalo adjust as pros, and more importantly, how Amir and Maxiell adjust to being counted on as big rotation players…
July 12th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Andrew says:
unfortunately, i dont see a bright future for either the magic or the heat. orlando is going to have all its cap space (about $35M) tied up between two guys who have some obvious flaws. to put it in perspective, shaq and kobe who are superior players compared to dwight and rashard respectively only made a combined $30M so if you’re orlando, how do you build around them? ideally, lewis would be a 3rd option on a championship level team, but i honestly dont see guys like ariza or jameer becoming valuable trade assets to improve them.
miami has a ton of bad contracts (shaq, jwill, toine) and dont have any particular young talent that would be tradable assets besides of course wade.
bottom line, the only team with good young talent, a lot of workable and tradable contracts and general cap flexibilty is the toronto raptors, so don’t be surprised to see them contend for one of the top spots in the east this year.
July 12th, 2007 at 9:57 am
AtTheCup says:
That’s hilarious about Wang and the antennas, good stuff… I’m surprised Grant would go for that… seems wrong no matter how good a guy you are.
July 12th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Bust Jlaze says:
Yeah, I’m not feeling that retired number stealing thing…why even retire a dude’s number, if you’re gonna let someone who’s “good enough” to come and take it?
And yo, what’s up with Doug Christie? Dude was nice for a split SECOND and then all of a sudden he’s 37??
July 12th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Eric says:
Great point on the retired numbers with Rice and Largent. I’d love to hear how Hill went about getting his #33. Those old Phoenix Suns go somewhat forgotten from Alvin Adams to Paul Westphal in the late 70’s to Larry Nance and Walter Davis in the 80’s. Of course the Suns also had the late great Dennis Johnson, who they traded to Boston for Rick Robey, one of the most underrated fleece jobs in the history of pro sports. RIP DJ.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
kudabeen says:
Yeah Kobe and Shaq combined to make 30mil years ago when the Salary cap was in the low 40 mil mark. The salary cap now is 55mil, with the stupid luxury tax threshold around 66mil…So that doesn’t really matter with Orlando’s situation. Orlando doesn’t have to worry about paying both dwight and lewis new salaries until next year when Dwights new contract kicks in. I’m not sure if they weighed the contracts heavy on the front end or back end, but that doesn’t matter either.
Rashard is not as bad a player as people try to paint him while trying to defend their comments that he is overpaid. I say wait and see how he steps up on a new squad depending on him to win, we will definitely get to see what he’s made of. If dwight keeps developing like he is, who is a better big man than him in the east? Bosh? Curry? JO? Emeka? Shaq? I’d take Dwight’s 17ppg 12rpg 2blk on 10shots a game shooting 60% in his third year out of highschool over anyone one else right now at the 4/5 position.
jameer still has room to grow, Redick may have found his confidence, Bogans will be good defensively and may contribute. Ariza is a good backup for Lewis, They couldstill trad turkuglu and possible diener dooling for a legit big to start with Howard and bring Tony Battie off the bench… I’m really looking forward to seeing what coach Van Gundy does with the squad and what help they are going to bring in at the 4/5 position.
July 12th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
SL says:
well, i believe it’s too hard to predict teams of the future as in 5-10 years from now. in the era of free agency, teams will look COMPLETELY different. not to mention draft picks and trades. Dumars has been one of the best GMs in the past several years, and i don’t see him messing things up like other GMs could. chauncey and the boys could definately give another 3 years of good run.
another thought for orlando. why not trade hedo for kurt thomas? hedo has always been a phoenix favorite for the staff, and kurt provides a solid player next to dwight.
July 12th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Stephen Jackson says:
How you finna mock the darko signing but not even question the lewis one? Reshard lewis for 110 mill? Come on now! How can a guy who doesnt even have his own sneaker line be gettin the max? Something’s wrong here with the nba, and i guess dime too if you don’t question such a stupid business decision. let’s step our game up here smack! I’m out.
PS: There’s a new manu in town = bellinelli from g-state. STUD.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Bron42 says:
um…i think lewis is a LIL more proven than darko and was a second round pick to darko bein the second pick
July 12th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Stephen Jackson says:
Um…i think darko is only 21 years old with plenty of room to grow. and um… i think 110 mil is a little much for a guy whose never even made all-league. you tell me “bron” whose worth more: dwight howard or lewis? cause howard is reportidly getting an 85 million dollar deal. there’s something wrong here…