Shaquille O’Neal Sent To Cleveland

I guess all the rumours were true. Shaq was going to be dealt to the Cleveland after all. It has been confirmed already, that Shaquille O’Neal will be sent to Cleveland for Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, 2009 1st round pick and some cash.

Honestly, this trade shocked me. I didn’t personally think it would happen so soon, but I guess we should have gotten it over and done with to get that 1st pick, I guess. That pick will definitely come in handy tomorrow, when the draft is on.

Lets just hope Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic can play better this season, than they did last. Ben Wallace needs to get back into form which is unlikely but to be half as a defender he onces was would be great for the Suns seeing as they are lacking a lot of defense. We also get Sasha Pavlovic who is a decent player overall. Hopefully he does get minutes on the court playing off the bench but I wouldn’t assume that he would get much at all. But my main concern is Ben Wallace. He is getting older and older, and obviously, declining. I would like to see him step up this season and even if it is for a while it will be better than him being asleep on the bench every game.

On the Cavs behalf it was not a bad trade at all. First of all the Suns lost their starting center, whereas the Cavaliers lost a in doubt player who would have probably played off the bench this season. There’s also Sasha Pavlovic who hasn’t really been getting as much minutes as he should have been this season. Also, this trade should make LeBron happy, bringing in another all-star, I guess.

I was hoping for Shaquille O’Neal to retire in Phoenix, but I guess that isn’t going to happen anymore. Best wishes to Shaquille O’Neal and lets see whether Shaq and LeBron can create some magic, just like Kobe and Shaq did in their championship reign.

Will the Suns ever feel the same?

This decade has been a good one for the Phoenix Suns. But recently they have entered a slump ever since Mike D’Antoni was fired and left Phoenix. Then Terry Porter was hired as our head coach and all went bad, Steve Kerr chose Terry Porter over the other great coaches who had applied for the head coach position in Phoenix. What disappointed me was, that clearly we should have hired Avery Johnson who obviously was a better coach than Terry Porter was.

But that’s not the point, the point was that Kerr thought we needed a change when obviously, we didn’t. We were perfectly fine with D’Antoni and to be honest, at first we looked bad with him but after a while it was obviously a bad move on behalf of Steve Kerr.

Will the Phoenix Suns ever feel the same as they felt a few years ago when they were actual contenders for the championship and when Nash won the two back to back Most Valuable Player awards? I don’t think so. With the aging Shaq, the unhappy Amar’e and the declining Nash. The Sun looks like it’ll be setting and will not set for a long time unless this off-season we are able to make a huge trade.

Could Kerr Pull A Trade To Earn Some Respect?

There has been a lot going on in the Phoenix Suns front office. Mostly about dealing with trade offers. Kerr must have a lot going on with the draft and also rumours and offers getting sent to him.

Kerr doesn’t have a very respected past but he still has time to change and earn the respect he once had as a basketball player.

Right now Kerr has a few options, he has three of the best players on the team which teams want.

Despite Shaq’s age, there are a few teams who want to add Shaq to spice up their roster. Shaq proved that he still can play basketball even though his almost at his peak and definitely showed improvement since two seasons ago when he was with the Miami Heat.

Then there’s Amar’e who is still pretty young and in his prime. Though he has suffered serious injuries recently and is in doubt, there are a lot of teams think that he can still contribute. Out of all the players on the team that are on the trade block, Amar’e has the most value.

Steve Nash has shown interest by many teams as well. Apparently there were a couple of teams interested, I’m sure that any team that needs a starting point-guard is going after the two-time MVP.

These are possibly the only moves that I see Steve Kerr making this off-season.

Bulls-Celtics: A Rivalry in The Making?

Time and time again this series has got to be the best of the 2009 playoffs.

Almost every game has gone to OT, and one even went to double OT.

The games always seems to be close, and the winner can never be decided during the game.

Game winners are made game after game, clutch plays are made, whether it would be a steal, a block or a crucial rebound just less than 24 seconds in the clock. Both teams would just about do anything to win the game and make the last shot of the game.

Every game is about the last few minutes, that’s when the action starts. Even though there is a lot of action during the game, whether it’s the first or third quarter, there’s as much action as you can get in the last minutes of fourth quarter or overtime as you would get in a Finals match.

Both teams have had their ups and downs but after today the Celtics lead 3-2 over the Bulls. Now that the Bulls have been placed in this situation they will have a do-or-die game in two days to decide their fate for the 2009 playoffs. If they can survive the Celtics’ brutality then they will live another day, but if they fall short in two days then they will be eliminated.

Even though this rivalry doesn’t get as intense as the Lakers and Celtics rivalry or the Suns and Spurs rivalry, this rivalry could be in the making. The Celtics don’t look like they will be going to the Finals to defend their championship, so the Lakers and Celtics rivalry is pretty much done.

In a few years time, you’ll see how bloody this rivalry can get.

Rajon Rondo: The Stud To Be

After checking up on the box scores between the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics over the last two games, I have been extremely amazed at Rajon Rondo’s stats. Even though I’d expect the Celtics to destroy the Bulls with Rondo’s stats, they don’t seem to be doing that.

I haven’t seen much of the Bulls-Celtics playoff matches, but the series does seem like a tight one with the series tied at two games each after the Bulls win today. To be honest, Rondo is the only Celtic who has stepped up in the playoffs. Ray Allen has had his ups and downs, Pierce doesn’t seem that enthusiastic as he was last season, and Perkins hasn’t done too much.

Kevin Garnett’s absence on the court is missed by fans, but Rondo would be glad. Rondo gets more shots and also without Garnett means less rebounds for the Celtics. That’s where Rondo has really helped the Celtics in getting easy rebounds.

Rondo and Derrick Rose seem to be on a stat battle right now, with Rondo wining it. It seems Rondo has reclaimed his title as the better point guard between the two after Rose’s magnificent performance in his playoff debut.

As of now, Rondo is the main focal point for the Celtics and will be the player who needs to make sure he plays 110 percent every single game for the rest of the series to ensure their advancement into the second round of the playoffs.

I honestly can’t imagine how good he will be in the future if he does stay with the Celtics, which I think will be likely. I remember when he was in his younger years people criticized him because of how weak his jump shot is. But now these people look back and think about how ridiculous they sounded.

People seriously have to give Rondo some credit. I hope that I can watch him further in the series because, unless others step up, Rondo will have to be doing a lot more work on the court, which means he will be more entertaining to watch.

2008-2009 NBA Playoffs

With only a few games left till the regular season ends, that means that the playoffs is near. The best part of the season in my opinion, every team works for one of the 8 spots in their conference for the playoffs. Teams prove how good they are and how well they perform together. Personally, I can’t wait for it and I’m sure hundreds of thousands of people cannot wait to see the outcome either. Underdogs can prove themselves and win the championship, players can step up and lead their team to the finals, anything can happen.

Right now, my predictions are pretty much as most people see it as, hopefully. In the West:

1. Lakers

2. Nuggets

3. TrailBlazers

4. Rockets

5. Spurs

6. Hornets

7.  Jazz

8. Mavericks

I really don’t want to see the Jazz play the Lakers in the first round, the Jazz are the team I see being the underdogs of the playoffs this year. I just see it in them, and if they play the Lakers they obviously won’t stand a chance and won’t get their chance to be the underdogs and proceed to the second round. The Hornets haven’t looked too well this week but I’m sure they will pick it up. I put the Spurs at #5 because I personally feel that the Spurs can’t win without Manu, they will be up against the Rockets most likely in the first round and without Ginobili they won’t be able to take it to 7 games. Also without Manu there’s one player less to watch out for for the Rockets. The Nuggets at #2 is self explanatory, they have been playing really well after that Billups trade earlier this season and defense has definitely improved. I don’t see them losing to neither the Jazz, Hornets or Mavericks, whoever they face in the first round.

I’m probably going to go with Lakers and Rockets for the first second round matchs and Nuggets and TrailBlazers for the other second round match. Then I’m going for the Lakers and Nuggets as the WCF match because in my opinion the Blazers lack playoff experience and even though the Nuggets do they have an upperhand with Billups who has really done well in the playoffs in recent years. The Lakers are surely going to be able to handle the Rockets as long as Bynum prevents Yao from getting the ball close to the rim or taking a jumpshot. His just got to keep Yao close to him.

My east playoff predictions would be like the standings look right now, with Cavs at first, Celtics at 2nd, Magic at 3rd, Hawks at 4th, Heat at 5th, 76ers at 6th, Bulls at 7th and Pistons at 8th. The East looks tight but I think the Celtics and Cavs are locks to go to the second round. The Heat are going to have trouble with the Hawks, in the end I think the Hawks might be able to win after the 7th game. The Magic surely will be able to handle the 76ers with ease as I’m sure Dwight Howard would destroy Dalmebert and the Magic team will drain shot after shot in the 76ers get lazy on defense.

For the second round in the East I’m going with Cavs against Hawks, with Cavs winning in 5 games and Celtics and Magic with Celtics winning in 7 games. The Magic seem to be a tought side but the Celtics will pull through in the end. Then in the WCF game the Cavs will take it to 7 games against the 07-08 champions and eventually win to go to the finals.

I’m really not sure about the finals right now but I’m sure it will be between the Cavs and Lakers. The Lakers have a tough side but they have to keep LeBron guarded at all times, his their most important player and the last thing they would want is LeBron taking it to the rim as his almost impossible to stop once entering the paint. The player for the Lakers who will need to step up no matter, Celtics or Cavs, which team they play is Fisher. He really needs to play defense. So right now my bets going to the Lakers in 7.

LeBron On 60 Minutes

I uploaded it myself. I don’t have a download link yet, but hopefully I will have one on here soon.

The East 8th Spot

4 teams are currently fighting for the 7th and 8th spot for the playoffs, just recently the Nets and Bucks were knocked out of the race for the spot and with only four games left for all four of those teams the teams that will be in the playoffs are most likely going to be the ones standing in their respective seed right now and that’s the Bulls and Pistons.

In order for the Bobcats to get a spot, they will need to win at least their 3 of their fourth games and hope that the Pistons lose all their games, but they could win all four of their games and hope the Pistons only win one. Right now I don’t see that likely. Nor did I see the Pacers getting into the playoffs, they are 4 games behind with 4 games left.

First let’s have a look at the Bobcats’ upcoming schedule – They will be playing at Atlanta in their next game and the remaining three games will be played at home against the Pistons, Cavaliers and Bucks. This will be a hard one, if they can beat the Hawks in Atlanta or the Cavs at home (Charlotte) then they might actually get the playoff spot, but if they lose any one of those games then they won’t be seeing a playoff spot.

Now let’s look at the Pacers’ upcoming schedule – They will be playing away for all four of their remaining games, now this will be a tough challenge for them. They haven’t had much success on the road at all this season so that makes it even tougher. Unless Granger steps up and plays the important role that he needs to to lead the Pacers into the playoffs, then the Pacers will be ending their season just before the post-season.

Now the Pistons – They will be playing New Jersey at home and also the Bulls at home and the Pacers and Heat at their home court. The Nets and Bulls will be a challenege, maybe they can take the win, maybe they won’t. With all their recent decline I don’t see them winning at the Bulls at all, they might pull a win out of the Nets but in Indiana and Miami they might only get one win out of that. If they can at least win 2 games then they will be safe.

So overall I see the Pistons and Bulls fighting for the 7th spot, but I’m not sure that’s the smartest idea as that will be 2nd at the end of the season will be the Celtics, now they are a team you don’t want to play in the first round. Neither would you want to play the Cavs either but if I were to choose I’d want to play the Cavs as they are a  much easier opponent, well as far as experience goes. The Cavs seem to be the team that might disappoint and get swept out but on everyones predictions they are the predicted to make it to the Finals.

So if the Pacers or Bobcats can step it up, then maybe they will have a hope and get to the playoff but if they play normal basketball that they have been playing this whole season then I don’t see them making it.

Future for the Phoenix Suns still unclear

There has been many discussions on message boards on the internet all around the world whether the Suns have a future or not. People, especially Suns fans, have been asking questions like ‘Will the Suns continue to make the playoffs in the next 3 years?’ ‘Can the Suns have a solid player they can build around?’ ‘Do the Suns even have a chance?’ etc. These questions have been going around everywhere. But still the answer is unclear.There’s nothing you can guarantee with Kerr as General Manager. Some people didn’t even think they’d get rid of Shawn Marion, nor did some people think they were ever going to trade Bell and Diaw. These things were just so sudden, there weren’t any rumours spread about it a week before.

Right now all we can say is that we will choose one or possibly two players to stay with the Suns for the next few years, right now I believe those players are Jared Dudley, Goran Dragic and Leandro Barbosa. Amare Stoudemire could be another possibilty but right now I’m not sure whether he could stay or not, earlier this season or we could say mid-way through the season, Amare was not happy with the team nor the coach, but mainly the coach. Also he suffered a possible career-threatening eye injury when former team-mater Boris Diaw had poked him in the eye to tear his retina during practice. Also Amare Stoudemire’s contract will expire on 2011 but he will be given the option to opt-out if he wishes to, now this is the part where we must convince Amare Stoudemire not to do. The Suns have to prove themselves so that they can make Amare sign an 6-year extension with the Suns, if they can do this then they won’t have a problem with losing Amare without knowing so, which will most likely be via. trade.

But for now, all we can do is wait and see.

Iverson Done For The Season

Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced earlier today that thee Detroit Pistons’ guard Allen Iverson will miss the remainder of the season. The all-star guard missed 16 games between February 27 and March 28 after exiting a game at New Orleans with a sore back on February 25.

“After talking with Allen and our medical staff, we feel that resting Allen for the remainder of the season is the best course of action at this time,” said Dumars. “While he has played in our last three games, he is still feeling some discomfort and getting him physically ready to compete at the level he is accustomed to playing this late in the season does not seem possible at this point.”

There was also a bit of drama going on a few days ago after Iverson had returned from his injury. He had been complaining because he was given a bench role. Iverson was unhappy playing off the bench as he believed that he should be starting.