Thoughts on the NBA with the trade deadline approaching...

So obviously a lot of trades are going down in the league. Pau Gasol to the Lakers for Brown and Crittenton, Shaq to Phoenix for Marion and Banks and now Jason Kidd to Dallas for Harris, Diop and sign and traded Keith Van Horn.

The Lakers pulled off a ridiculous trade, they give up Kwame Brown who is one of the worst 5 men in the game and get Pau back, the best European player ever. He has only played 6 years so has like another good solid 5 or 6 years left to burn. When Bynum returns from injury L.A will have a starting 5 of Fisher, Bryant, Odom, Pau, Bynum. thats going to tear some serious shit up.
I thought it was funny that Popovich the spurs head coach was clearly irritated about this trade as they gave up so little. he claimed the move "idiotic" by the Memphis front office. we will see.

Shaq to the suns. i dont know about this one. he is 35 and seriously injured. the only obvious value of this trade is the inevitable development of Amare Stoudamire in the presence of Shaq. Shaq will miss considerable time during the regular season so i see their record over 82 games being vastly less. they will win about ten less games without Marion maybe? but in the postseason they have a real chance to win the championship. Shaq starts tonight against the Lakers his old team. exciting.

Jason Kidd to the Mavs, yeah this is really good he is one of the best point guards to ever play the game, however what about the loss of Diop? while he is not a scorer he is a big man and with the recent aquisitions of Pau Gasol by the Lakers and Shaq by the Suns and with the existing big men in the Western conference : Tim Duncan, Yao Ming. Dallas are small. Erick Dampier is too old and very inconsistent. Dirk Nowitzki is going to have to play about 15 to 20 minutes a game at the 5 which is bad for his body and his shots. i think this is a good trade for both sides. Kidd will add toughness so they wont just give up like previous years. Keith Van Horn - comes out of semi retirement to join this deal and gets $4.4 million in the process. pretty sweet for him. he doesnt even have to play. he just has to practice for 30 days in New Jersey. Something is wrong there. contract trade regulations with salary caps etc provide a perfect setting for something like this. 4.4 million is a hell of a lot for thirty days practice. busting out my computer calculator i can tell you he is making $146 000 a day. crazy.