[Izulde]

Trade Trade!

Atlanta Hawks receive
PF Carl Landry

Sacramento Kings receive
SF Maurice Evans
Atlanta Hawks 2011 1st round pick

What this means for the Hawks
Landry, 26, is still developing and projects as the future starting SF whenever Grant Hill retires. He makes a nice forward tandem with Josh Smith, but Atlanta needs to make sure Landry stays for this deal to be worth it - he's a free agent and, as a second round pick, unrestricted.

What this means for the Kings
Sacramento is one of the worst teams in the league, so another late first probably makes more sense than Landry, just in terms of setting the clock for their rebuild. Evan's a $2.5 million expiring bench scrub.

Winner: Sacramento
Even given it's a late first, the pick will benefit the Kings more than Landry benefits the Hawks, especially if Atlanta doesn't keep him.

Miami Heat receive
PF Rasheed Wallace

Sacramento Kings receive
PF Juwan Howard

What this means for the Heat
Sheed may be 35 and a horrible shooter, but the greybeard still packs a defensive wallop and immediately improves Miami's frontcourt depth, which was hideous behind starters Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem.

What this means for the Kings
Pure and simple tank move. Howard's 37 and is chained to the end of the bench.

Winner: Miami
The rest of the league is mad at the Kings for improving Miami's bench for free.

Dallas Mavericks receive
SG Stephen Jackson

Charlotte Bobcats receive
PG Jose Juan Barera
PF Brian Cardinal
PF Steve Novak*
SG Deshawn Stevenson*

What this means for the Mavericks
Dallas cleans out its bench and brings in a 24.5 PPG scorer and All-Star who also plays nasty defense. Who cares if Jackson is 32? This is a move that says the Mavericks want a title this season and Dirk Nowitzki is celebrating the added help on offense.

What this means for the Bobcats
Novak and Stevenson were cut, so this becomes a decent young reserve in Barera and a small expiring scrub in Cardinal. The real reason Charlotte made this move was to get out from Jackson's three year, $9 million and up contract. But really? To get nothing of value beyond cap relief? That's why they're 18-40.

Winner: Dallas
It's not often you get an All-Star so cheaply, but the Mavericks pull off the steal here.

Golden State Warriors receive
SF Rasual Butler

New York Knicks receive
PF Vladimir Radmanovic

What this means for the Warriors
Butler improves their swingman depth, but he's nothing special and 30. The strangest thing about Golden State right now is that they're using Blake Griffin as a 6th man, preferring David Lee and Andris Biedrins as their starting frontcourt. It's 22 minutes a game, but still brow-raising.

What this means for the Knicks
Scrub player is Mr. Radmanovic. This trade puzzles.

Winner: Golden State
A blah deal, but slightly less blah for the Warriors.

Atlanta Hawks receive
SF Grant Hill

Phoenix Suns receive
PF Josh Powell
C Jason Collins
C Etan Thomas

What this means for the Hawks
Whoops, we accidentally let the cat out the bag on this deal. Even at 37, Hill is a quality player and a capable fifth starter who will bolster Atlanta as they try to make a deep playoff run.

What this means for the Suns
Collins was released. The Suns are officially packing it in. None of these guys are worth anything and the best part of this deal was more minutes for Jared Dudley. The biggest time beneficiary was Hakeem Warrick, however. Good tank move.

Winner: Atlanta
It's the something for nothing special, although not nearly as drastic as Dallas's.

Miami Heat receive
SG Larry Hughes

Phoenix Suns receive
C Zydrunus Ilgauskas

What this means for the Heat
Having pumped up their frontcourt with Wallace, Miami felt free to further improve their bench with a solid all around swingman 6th man in Hughes. It's another terrific improvement for a shallow team.

What this means for the Suns
Is there some sort of league conspiracy to give the Heat the title? We mean, seriously.

Winner: Miami
Call the antitrust lawyers! The fix is in!

I want to yell at Stephen Curry for his 10 turnovers, but his 36 points carry us to a 98-80 win over Sacramento, so it's hard to bitch too much. Joakim Noah gets the cheap 10 point, 10 rebound double-double.

23 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocks the next night for Joakim Noah and we sweep the doubleheader, 108-93 over Charlotte. Stephen Curry feels my waves of fury and posts 17 points and 11 assists, while Raymond Felton scores 26 and Eric Bledsoe rolls up 14 points, 7 assists, and 6 steals off the bench.

A break and we break the Spurs 119-100. Joakim Noah and Raymond Felton rip off 23 points, Stephen Curry busts it down with 20 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals, and Eric Bledsoe and Nicolas Batum pump up the reserves with 14 and 12 points.

We got a bunch of nagging little injuries against San Antonio, so it's no surprise when Memphis beats us 91-75. 24 points, 8 assists for Stephen Curry, but we played like shit and blew our losing streak.

A much needed couple of days off gets Nicolas Batum up to full health and he rocks the Pacers for 30 points in our 125-97 shelling of Indiana. 21 points, 8 assists for Raymond Felton, and 17 points, 11 assists for Stephen Curry. Oh, and Eric Bledsoe going off for 20 bench points.

I admire Cleveland's pluckiness in ALB 1, but Stephen Curry crushes the Cavs for 36 points, 12 assists and 3 steals in our 124-109 cruise. Great all-around game from Joakim Noah of 21 points, 13 rebounds, 3 steals, and 4 blocks. Eric Bledsoe with 11 bench points as I continue to give much thanks to the prior regime for being smart enough to steal him in the last draft.

We stun the Nuggets 111-97 on their home turf led by all five starters scoring 12+ points. Stephen Curry leads the scoring with 26 points, Nicolas Batum is fine all around with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals, Joakim Noah does his thing with 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Tyson Chandler chips in 12 bench points.

Defense destroys the Nets 91-74 on the back end of the doubleheader, and Joakim Noah is a one man wrecking crew with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Tyson Chandler keeps his hot hand with 11 bench points.

106-73 hammering of Golden State is up next and I can't stop grinning. 21 points Stephen Curry, 17 points, 11 rebounds out of Joakim Noah, and 10 bench points each from Tyson Chandler and Eric Bledsoe.

Back-to-back? Bueno, as Washington goes down 100-85. Stephen Curry is everywhere with 22 points, 13 assists, and 6 steals, Tyson Chandler picks up 10 points, 10 rebounds off the bench, and Ronny Turiaf is right there with 11 bench points of his own.

114-97 romp over Detroit, Stephen Curry with 28 points, 13 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. Joakim Noah controls the boards with 11 points and 18 rebounds, Tyson Chandler just misses a bench double with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and Ronny Turiaf reprises his 11 bench points.

Toronto scares the shit out of us, but we trip them to come out 108-106 winners. Nicolas Batum steps up with 27 points, Stephen Curry's not far off the pace with 21 points, Joakim Noah bangs his way to 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 4 blocks, and Raymond Felton and Timofey Mozgov pace the reserves with 12 and 10 points. Yep, that's right, Eric Bledsoe got the start while Felton dealt with back stiffness. Jarrett Jack torched Bledsoe for 31 points, too. Le eek.

The hangover from that narrow victory for our 40th win of the season is too much, and Boston bounces us 103-91 to end our winning streak the next evening. Man, I hate wasting Joakim Noah's 21 points, 20 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Another heartstopper on the road, 98-96 over New York. All five starters with 12+ points, Raymond Felton's 12 points and 10 assists and Tyson Chandler's 12 points, 7 rebounds with the second team our notable highlights. Oh, and Joakim Noah just missing 20 and 10 with 19 and 9 in points/rebounds.

A back to back to end the month. 98-85 win over San Antonio to clinch a winning record on the year. 25 points from Stephen Curry, 13 bench points from Eric Bledsoe, and Tyson Chandler's 10 points, 9 rebounds off the bench did it. Our sixth straight road game ends in a 117-94 rout at the hands of the Rockets. Eric Bledsoe and Tyson Chandler do it up with 18 points and 10 points, 9 rebounds off the bench respectively, but our starters played like crap.

Not that I care too much. We're 42-32, which puts us a half-game out of the #7/#8 seed, held by Portland/Golden State.

...Holy crap. We just might make the playoffs this season.