[Izulde]

Quite a few trades in December. Be interesting seeing if Atlanta continues their extreme makeover.

Charlotte Bobcats receive:
SF Josh Smith

Atlanta Hawks receive:
SG Jamar Jefferson
PG Brevin Knight

What this means for the Bobcats:
Another young, solid player to go with the rest of their pretty youthful squad, Smith steps in as the immediate starter at SG. Smith's contract is long and overpriced relative to what he brings, but he's good for 10-15 points a game and 5 rebounds on average. There are worse things out there.

What this means for the Hawks:
This boils down to Smith for Jefferson, because Knight was cut immediately (and signed by the Memphis Grizzlies). Jefferson shows flashes of potential to be a good scorer off the bench, but not much else. The real reason Atlanta makes this deal is to put themselves in an even better cap situation in the offseason and get Smith off the books.

Advantage: Draw
Not a great trade for either team, but one that does create incremental improvements for oth sides.

Dallas Mavericks receive
SF Jeff Green

Minnesota Timberwolves receive
SG Greg Buckner
Dallas Mavericks 2011 1st round pick

What this means for the Mavericks
A 23 year old SF who's both pretty good and locked up for the next four years at a reasonable price tag. Is he a starter right now? No. But he represents extremely critical youth at a position where all their top players are 30 or older (Dirk Nowitzki is 32). Dallas isn't going to get a player of Green's ability with the late 1st rounder they'll have next year, so it's a great pickup for the future.

What this means for the Timberwolves:
Buckner's a $4 million expiring contract thrown in to make salaries work. Trading Green may have been a mistake, because who replaces Kevin Garnett at SF now? On the other hand, with two late 1st round picks, maybe they can put together a package to move up, because they've already got very good youth at PG/SG/PF/C, three of four positions which are occupied by quality players under 24 in the lineup.

Advantage: Dallas
Late 1st rounders are usually average players and Green looks to be more than that. Nice pickup for the Mavericks.

Philadelphia 76ers receive:
SF Jarrod Owens

Portland Trailblazers receive:
SG Walter Killion
Philadelphia 76ers 2011 2nd round pick

What this means for the 76ers
Owens is an absolutely sensational defender already as a rookie, but he's buried on the bench. Too bad, because he looks like he'll be a pretty decent player if he gets the chance to develop.

What this means for the Trailblazers
Owens was the #19 pick, Killion the #16 in this year's draft. Killion looks awful in every way compared to Owens and the extra 2nd rounder isn't enough to justify it. Dumb, dumb move by Portland.

Advantage: Philadelphia
They get the far better of the rookies and the 76ers keep right on improving themselves.

And so we're into January the New Year looking quite promising indeed here in Denver with Shaq's return. Still 91 days until AI comes back to us.

Brutal back-to-back against San Antonio and Houston, but we salvage a split, losing 112-100 to the Spurs (Shaquille O'Neal had 15 points and 14 rebounds and Leroy Wright added 14 bench points) and beating the Rockets 119-93 behind Ben Gordon's 29 points and Chauncey Billups's 20 points and 12 assists.

Another doubleheader follows a few nights later and we barely beat out Sacramento 113-112 in Game 1 as Shaquille O'Neal devastates the Kings for 30 points and 10 rebounds, Joakim Noah gets 10 points and 11 rebounds and Ben Gordon scores 30. Leroy Wright contributed 10 points from the bench. A great road win against a pretty decent team. Game Two is a tough 99-95 loss against the Lakers, who are hitting their stride now that Kobe Bryant is back. Ben Gordon led us with 26 points, but it wasn't enough.

It's followed by a frustrating and embarassing 99-77 loss to the Timberwolves as Kelvin Moody destroys us for 27 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks. He's been on an absolute tear in his third season and should draw heavy All-Star and All-NBA consideration if he keeps this up.

Our winning ways return as we win both nights of a back-to-back. Golden State falls 98-86 to Ben Gordon's 38 points and Chauncey Billups's 15 points and 14 assists. Leroy Wright added an impressive 11 rebounds from the bench. Seattle was the second-game victim, 108-101. Chauncey Billups led us in scoring with 24 points and Paulinho Buboltz scored 18 off the bench in just 16 minutes. As I've noted before, flashes of greatness lurk within him.

The win streak continues with a 104-102 nailbiter over the Grizzlies. Ben Gordon, Chauncey Billups and Shaquille O'Neal all score 21 points or better to bail us out and keep the victories alive. (Gordon led with 29).

Our mini-streak ends with a 113-101 loss to Dallas. Chauncey Billups was sensational with 14 points and 18 assists and Justin Reed scored 11 from the bench, but it was a rough night all in all.

A day off and a doubleheader, a very pleasant one as it turns out, as we trample the Bulls 105-75 in the first game behind 26 points from Ben Gordon, 12 points and 12 rebounds from Shaquille O'Neal, Jared Jefferies's surprising 11 bench points and 10 bench rebounds from Leroy Wright. The Pistons are shut down 94-69 in the second game, Chauncey Billups and Shaquille O'Neal double-doubling with 17 points and 12 assists and and 18 points and 14 rebounds respectively. Leroy Wright just misses out on a bench double-double with 8 points and 13 rebounds.

Another day off and another doubleheader. It's an exhausting stretch of games this week, but we dig deep and run off two more victories, 114-104 over the Bucks and 109-104 over the Pacers. Milwaukee had no answer for Ben Gordon's dominating 48 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 4 steals, Kenyon Martin's 10 points and 11 rebounds or Leroy Wright's 15 points and 9 rebounds with the second unit. Great game to watch individual players, by the way, as Michael Redd countered Gordon's 48 with 40 points of his own. The Indiana game was all Chauncey Billups with 29 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds and a steal, though Justin Reed scored 10 off the bench, Leroy Wright bettering him with 12.

This time we get two days off before our next doubleheader, the one that closes out January. Revenge is sweet against the Knicks as we stomp all over New York 119-90, Shaquille O'Neal leading the way with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Chauncey Billups tops in Nuggets scoring with 28. Rod Little added 10 quiet bench points. Carmelo Anthony led all scorers with 34 points and is up to 23.8 points a game but he's proven that he can't carry a team by himself and he's had no scoring help. Sure, Lebron James went through the same thing in Cleveland, but -he- can carry a team on his back. In any event, we beat the Trailblazers 98-90 in a key divisional game to end the month. Kenyon Martin gets a rare double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Leroy Wright continues to be a sparkplug off the bench with 12 points and 8 rebounds.

Having Shaquille O'Neal back has helped tremendously. We've shot up to 29-17 since his return and hold a very nice four game lead over the Timberwolves in the division, six ahead of the Trailblazers, who have fought back to .500 at 22-22.

The Spurs are still the best in the West at 36-11, but the Mavericks aren't far off the pace at 32-12. Phoenix still powers the Pacific with a 31-12 mark, but the Lakers, buoyed by the return of their injured starters, are back on the winning side of things at 24-19. All told, seven teams with a better than .500 record right now and Portland's right on the cusp as noted before.

Toronto has reasserted their dominance over the East with a 37-9 record. The Bulls are back over .500 at 22-21, but still back of the Bucks and the Cavaliers. Charlotte is owning the Southeast at 27-15, the Heat in second place at 21-26. I hope Miami doesn't make the playoffs. That backcourt of Ray Allen and Dwayne Wade is the one pairing in the league that can match the firepower of our own. All told, seven .+500 teams in the East as well.

Lebron James is still averaging 34 points a game and Michael Redd is still the only 30+ club member at 30.6. Ben Gordon is averaging an even 26 and he's slipped to 7th. Chauncey Billups has dropped to 9.3 averaged assists, putting him 5th. Chris Paul and Baron Davis are still the only players averaging double-digit assists with 10.7 and 10 even.

Nick Fazekas has played one lousy stinking game and his 17 rebounds is tops in the league. What a joke for the former Anaheim Cat. The real leader is Greg Oden with 13.8, though Yao Ming is up to 13 boards a game and is quickly closing the gap.

Andrei Kirilenko is down to 3.7 blocks a game and maybe there's a chance he'll lose his strangehold on the Defensive Player of the Year Award. Gerald Wallace is averaging 2.1 steals a game, the returned Kobe Bryant just behind at 2 thieveries a contest.

On the rookie side of things, Leroy Wright is 6th in scoring at 8.3 points a game, ironically just behind Brian Metcalfe who has 8.4. Then again Metcalfe is starting for the horrendous Clippers team. Mateen Yeaton is having an absolute jaw-dropping rookie year for the Pacers. The #4 pick is averaging 17.1 points a game and has come from out of nowhere. If he doesn't win Rookie of the Year, I'll eat my hat.

Brian Metcalfe leads the class in assists with 6.7, Mateen Yeaton 2nd with 4.7. Paulinho Buboltz is 4th with 2.7. Not bad considering he hasn't started any games unlike the three ahead of him (Dan Wessel has 7 starts to pad his numbers with).

Kyle Jordan is the top rebounder with a very nice 8.8 rebounds a game, Jonte Jones and Dan Jacobson also in the 8+ club at 8.4 and 8.3. Fourth is our own Leroy Wright, with a 6.5 board per game average. Fifth? Mateen Yeaton. They really need to hand him the Rookie of the Year trophy, I swear. If Wright wasn't having such a successful rookie season, I'd be somewhat regretting passing on Jacobson. I did really consider him with the #6 pick even though I didn't write it in.

Blocks is all Kyle Jordan with 2.2, though Mateen Yeaton again pops up in second place with 1.5. And Yeaton's a freaking guard. Granted he's a 6'8" guard, but still. The Pacers really made a homerun hit in drafting the local kid. I'm going to absolutely -love- following his career.

Mateen Yeaton also leads in class steals with 1.2, tied with Dan Wessel for that distinction. Sheesh, Yeaton's jersey must be selling out like crazy by now. Hell, even -I- want a Yeaton jersey and I'm not a Pacers fan!

But for all Yeaton's success, the Pacers are 19-25, which is still better than a lot of teams in the league and even in the East, like say the 5-40 New York Knicks. Man, I just love that.

Speaking of the Knicks and records, in my first and only season with New York, we won 22 games. It's February 1st and we've already smashed that here in Denver with 29 wins.

Ah, what a great feeling this is!