[Izulde]

It's funny how sometimes the moves you make, the ones you're most unsure about, turn out to have been just the right ones to make in the end. 3 games after he gets to Atlanta, Antonio Sarchet tears his Achilles. He's done for the year, obviously and may miss some time at the start of next season. So we would have had a lineup shuffle in any case.

On to the other trades, including the blockbuster that I'm still having trouble believing happened.

Los Angeles Clippers receive
PF Tim Butler

Denver Nuggets receive
C Dontay Williamson

What this means for the Clippers
Butler is a 28 year old scorer and rebounder with an accurate shot. Not the best defender in the world, but with his great offensive moves, he doesn't need to be. He becomes the heir to Bill Towns, the starting PF for the last 14 and a 1/2 seasons, who now slots to SF and gives the Clippers a formidable pair of forwards. The bench just got deadlier too, with Andre Davis moved to 6th man. Travann Patterson is a terrible fit as the new starting C, however, woefully undersized and paper-thin on defense.

What this means for the Nuggets
Jonte Jones has definitely dropped off in his second tour of duty in Denver, which makes the addition of Williamson all the more exciting. The 27 year old has improved his shooting accuracy the last couple seasons and is well-known for his otherwordly rebounding, defense and shotblocking, particularly surprising since he's only 6'9. On the other hand, he packs 276 pounds of muscle on that frame. He also greatly strengthens the Nuggets lineup by allowing them to shift Jones to SF. Antawn Carson isn't that much of a dropoff from Butler at PF and promising second year forward Mark Duhon now gets a lot more PT to develop.

Winner: Denver
Are we sure somebody in the Nuggets organization didn't channel GM Jestor? This is the type of brilliant move that the former Denver GM made to bring 3 straight championships to Denver. The Clippers actually tread water with this deal, because Patterson is that much of a drop from Williamson, while the Nuggets have just made themselves a possible late seed playoff team as soon as this season.

Boston Celtics receive
PG Brian Floyd
Golden State Warriors 2027 2nd round pick

Golden State Warriors receive
PF Booker Werner
SF Jason Lutz

What this means for the Celtics
The 25 year old Floyd is as mediocre to bad as they come and he not only has no upside and is buried on an already PG-heavy team, he's under contract two more years after this one at $2.6 and $2.9 million.

What this means for the Warriors
Werner is a completely average bench F/C, but the 27 year old big man at least has the intelligence to play better than his talent suggests. He's a significant upgrade for a woeful Golden State bench. Lutz is D-League filler.

Winner: Golden State
We don't know what even possessed the Celtics to make this move. It hurts them financially and it hurts them talentwise.

Seattle Supersonics receive
PG A.J. Dunkley
Philadelphia 76ers 2027 2nd round pick

Philadelphia 76ers receive
SG Adam Lopez
SG Austin Forte

What this means for the Supersonics
At 35, Dunkley isn't the same PG that was so effective with the Jazz for so many years. But he's still an excellent reserve PG with an expiring $11.3 million contract.

What this means for the 76ers
Philadelphia released Forte, who re-signed with the Supersonics a week after the trade, so it boils down to Lopez for Dunkley. Lopez is a decent all-around guard, but he's 30 and expiring (only $6 million) and can't even crack the starting lineup of one of the NBA's worst teams. Worse yet, he'll be a cancer if he doesn't get the playing time he feels he deserves.

Winner: Seattle
Dunkley is the kind of player that improves Seattle in their push towards a title this year and whose expiring contract sets the Supersonics to bring in another elite player in free agency, possibly a true PG. As for Philadelphia, they just sacrificed $5 million in upcoming cap space for no good reason.

What a crazy deadline and I'm still peeved about the Nuggets. I was counting on that first rounder being an early-mid lottery pick, not a playoff spot selection.

Our sixth straight road game since the trade ends in a 114-101 dismantling of the youthful Heat. We've been winning on balance and we do so again here. William Tackett scores 20, Jim Johnson has his first double-double as a starter with 10 points and 12 rebounds and Jameel Williams and Nigel Abel tack on 12 and 10 points off the bench respectively.

It's a barnburner, but we still manage to hold off the Pistons' comeback bid and win 108-106 in our first home game in a long time. William Tackett leads the defense with 24 points and 11 assists, Ray Fields scores 22 and David Anyan gets 17 points and 10 rebounds.

The next game's an all-out slugfest against the Grizzlies, but we come out on top 126-115 in OT as David Anyan puts on an epic shooting clinic for 41 points, Ray Fields scores 26, William Tackett issues 19 points and 17 assists and Terrence Howard contributes 11 points and 14 rebounds.

Our biggest margin of victory since the deal comes with a 103-74 thrashing of the Clippers. We were so balanced this game, our highlights are from the bench - Mike Vines with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Nigel Abel with 11 points.

We follow that up with an even more impressive 127-98 hammering of Houston, the beatdown engineered by David Anyan's 20 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists, Jim Johnson's breakout 26 points, Ray Fields's 22 points and Nigel Abel's 17 bench points.

128-98's the final over Orlando and we seem to have really grown much more comfortable with each other. David Anyan bombs the Magic for 42 points, Ray Fields doubles for 15 points and 13 assists, taking his turn to start at PG, and 3 reserves score 12+ points: Mike Vines (16 points), Nigel Abel (13 points) and Brandon Edmond (12 points).

A trip to Oakland yields a pleasurable 110-92 win, all five starters scoring 12 points or more, led by David Anyan's 26 points, Jim Johnson's 11 points and 13 rebounds and Brandon Edmond's 12 bench points.

From there, we head down to Los Angeles for a 111-88 demolition of the Clippers on the front end of a doubleheader. Terrence Howard dazzles with 26 points and 16 rebounds, William Tackett scores 24, David Anyan 22 and Jameel Williams heads up the bench with 10 points. The next night, we put away Golden State 101-91 via balanced offense headlined by William Tackett's 22 points and 11 assists as he takes over PG duties again and Terrence Howard's 13 points and 14 rebounds. Those 13 points were the lowest scored by any of the Kings' starters.

It's a 109-85 triumph over Portland that's next on the agenda, Ray Fields the chairman with 29 points. William Tackett helps keep things smooth with 16 points and 10 assists and Mike Vines comes off the bench for 10 points.

Marcelino Augusto puts on a breathtaking 45 point, 17 rebound, 2 assist, 3 block outing against us the next game... and the Mavericks still lose 109-103. It's one of the most satisfying wins I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. David Anyan scores 24, but it's Ray Fields operating out of the PG spot for 28 points and 10 assists who really brings home the win.

The Nuggets may have greatly improved, but they can't stop us from pouring it on the fourth for a gritty 88-74 win. David Anyan scores 20, Terrence Howard fights for 10 points and 12 rebounds against Dontay Williamson and Nigel Abel keys the second team with 13 points.

Philadelphia's punchless as we knock them out 103-90 next game. David Anyan scores 22, Ray Fields distributes 13 points and 10 assists and Nigel Abel and Mike Vines pace the bench with 18 and 12 points respectively.

We fly to Detroit for a 99-89 win, riding a 30-19 second quarter, David Anyan and William Tackett's matching 22 points, Ray Fields's 14 points and 13 assists and all five starters scoring at least 13 to get the victory.

I've never, ever had a team go undefeated in a month and the Cavaliers ruin our perfect March hopes, beating us 115-108 in Cleveland. One hell of an effort by the boys though, as David Anyan scores 30, Terrence Howard loves up 18 for points and rebounds and Ray Fields has 17 points and 10 assists before fouling out.

This not only ends our bid for a perfect March, it stops a 14 game win streak. So much for the trade harming us, hm?

At 58-16, we've clinched at least the #2 seed in the playoffs, but we're just a game in front of the 56-16 Suns for the Pacific title and the #1 seed. Dallas and Seattle have identical 45-27 records and both are up by 7.5 games over the Hornets and Timberwolves respectively and if the playoffs were held today, the 33-38 Denver Nuggets would have the #8 seed. In fact, barring a collapse by the Nuggets and a run by the Trailblazers, Denver's got it.

It really makes me want to win the Pacific and #1 seed so I can have the satisfaction of beating them down.

Out East, Boston's clinched the #1 seed in the East at 55-17. They're 9 games ahead of the Raptors. 45-26 Cleveland has a 4 game edge on the Pacers while Atlanta's shrugged off the loss of Antonio Sarchet to lead the suddenly resurgent Wizards by 4.5 at 42-30.

Mateen Yeaton has seen his playing time get drastically cut, so I call Andre Miller and ask him to give Yeaton more minutes over the last couple weeks of the season. He expresses his doubts about that, warning that we could lose the #1 seed in the process but I want Yeaton to be happy.

I won't ask for the extra time for him in the playoffs, though. That he'll have to earn on his own.