Kirk Hinrich Trade Note + Buyouts

Ian Thomsen reports

That’s why the Celtics made a run last month at acquiring Kirk Hinrich, who has three years (including this season) and $26.5 million left on his contract, an outlandish amount for someone who would be Boston’s third guard. But he would have resolved all of Boston’s backcourt issues while extending its defense, and so the Celtics considered offering spare parts for Hinrich before the Bulls decided they needed a high-quality player or draft pick in the exchange.

2010 All-Stars Announced

Yahoo Sports has the story

Point guards Deron Williams of Utah, Chicago’s Derrick Rose and Boston’s Rajon Rondo will make their All-Star Game debuts next month in Dallas, sources said Thursday.Besides Rondo and Rose, the East roster includes Boston’s Paul Pierce, Toronto’s Chris Bosh, Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace and Atlanta’s Joe Johnson and Al Horford.

The West includes the New Orleans’ Chris Paul, the Lakers’ Pau Gasol, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, Memphis’ Zach Randolph and Portland’s Brandon Roy.

ASG: Rookie vs Sophomore Squads

RealGM has the press release

Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans lead a list of 18 players selected for the 2010 T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam to be held on Friday, Feb. 12 in Dallas during NBA All-Star 2010.The participants in the Rookie Challenge were selected by the NBA’s assistant coaches, with each team submitting one ballot.

Joining Rose on the Sophomore team are Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley, Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Gordon, Minnesota Timberwolves forward/center Kevin Love, New Jersey Nets center Brook Lopez, New York Knicks forward Danilo Gallinari, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook, and a pair of teammates from the Memphis Grizzlies – center Marc Gasol and guard O.J. Mayo.

2010 All-Star Reserves

There are 12 reserve spots for each conference. The coaches must choose two guards, two forwards, one center, and then have two random picks.

With that in mind, here are the players I’d like to see selected.

Eastern Conference

Two Guards

• Rajon Rondo
• Joe Johnson

Two Forwards

• Paul Pierce
• Chris Bosh

One Center

• Andrew Bogut

Hornets Salary Dump (Bobby Brown)

RealGM reports

The Los Angeles Clippers today acquired guard Bobby Brown from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for a 2014 conditional second round draft pick and cash considerations. In a related move, the Clippers released guard JamesOn Curry from his 10-day contract.

Brown, 25, has appeared in 25 games for the Hornets this season and is averaging 6.6 points and 2.1 assists in 14.9 minutes per game.

Trade: Gray for Brown

Adrian Wojnarowski reports

It appears Chicago has found a bench scorer: Bulls and Hornets are near Aaron Gray for Devin Brown trade, sources say.

Thoughts

Devin Brown has the right to veto any trade and used it earlier in the season when New Orleans were offering him for Jason Hart. So this deal is still not definite and may not go through. I think it has a good chance though.

Update: The deal has gone through. A link to the Bulls press release.

The Money

How could the Bulls afford that?

They weren’t able to sign another player for a minimum earlier in the season. They were too close to the luxury tax threshold and they haven’t made a move since then.

Available Talent In Trade Market

I’ve been reading a lot of these trade rumours over the past few weeks and there’s one thought that I can’t shake – there isn’t that much talent actually available at the trade deadline.

Division by Division

Atlantic Division

Boston Celtics

The Celtics are offering Ray Allen and other expiring contracts in trades.

New Jersey Nets

The Nets are keeping their best talent while trying to make moves next summer. Devin Harris could be available if it brought them back an All-Star talent.

Amare On Trade Market?

Paul Coro reports

A league source said Golden State, Minnesota and Cleveland have shown interest in acquiring Suns power forward Amare Stoudemire.

Major hang-ups in a possible deal are the Suns’ need to get good value in return and the other team’s need to feel secure in knowing it has a chance to keep Stoudemire, who can opt out of his contract this summer.

Stoudemire has said he wants to play for a title contender but prefers to stay with the Suns, who met with his agent Thursday.

A follow up report – link
Adrian Wojnarowski reports – link

Thoughts

The Phoenix Suns are only going to give up Amare Stoudemire if they net a young star in return. Somebody proven. Someone who can they build around.

Power Rankings

The power rankings on this site will be made at five different points in the season – Preseason, First Quarter, Halfway, Third Quarter, prior to the Playoffs.

Teams under these Power Rankings are being judged when at full capacity (healthy) + when in form. Teams do not slide down the standings due to poor recent form (say losing five straight despite being a 60 win team) or because their star player is out injured (Yao Ming). The idea behind that is to take a longer view on the capabilities of the roster in terms of current ability. Also, it’s the reason why they are only quarterly reports (smaller variance).

A belated power rankings after the first quarter point of the 2009/10 season

Eastern Conference

#1 Boston Celtics

They’re the frontrunner until someone proves they can knock off a healthy Celtics team.

Spurs Waive Haislip

RealGM reports

The San Antonio Spurs today announced that they have waived forward Marcus Haislip to allow him to pursue opportunities outside of the NBA. The 6-10, 230-lb Haislip appeared in 10 games for San Antonio and averaged 2.5 points and 1.0 rebounds in 4.4 minutes. The Spurs roster stands at 14.

Wow, that was quite a disappointing return from Haislip. It sounded like he was quite successful in Europe and had developed his game fairly well since his last tour in the NBA but I guess his defensive + rebounding + effort/focus levels were still too weak for him to make in the league.