[Izulde]

Utah Jazz receive
PG Louis Mertens
Miami Heat 2028 2nd round pick

Miami Heat receive
PF Marcus Givens

What this means for the Jazz
Mertens has made a career out of being an exceptional pass-first guard off the bench, if a sieve on defense and nothing's changed now that he's 30 years old. The Jazz are now pretty deep at PG, also having 25 year old Troy Collins as a respectable, more balanced option on the second team.

What this means for the Heat
Miami's rebuilding project hasn't exactly gone off according to plan and so they get a little younger with the 27 year old Givens, who has been little more than an average bench player in his four years and change in the league. Strictly a forward to boot.

Winner: Utah
Mertens is the kind of floor general that can make things happen, especially against a team's weaker subs, whereas Givens seems to be just a move to make a move.

Denver Nuggets receive
SF Calvis Hayes

Memphis Grizzlies receive
Denver Nuggets 2028 2nd round pick

What this means for the Nuggets
Rookie Tommy Kent is too raw to start yet, so Denver picks up Hayes, a 27 year old who's never gotten a starting spot, but has a pretty good offensive game and very good defensive skills to step in at SF until Kent's ready.

What this means for the Grizzlies
Hayes wasn't used much in Memphis, but that second rounder isn't going to bring in a player as good as he is in all likelihood. One wonders what's going on with the Grizzlies, who have a number of extremely unhappy players, including Bernard Kelly and Deon Sterley.

Winner: Denver
The Nuggets rob the Grizzlies here and it's almost like GM Jestor is back in town.

We're now $9.38 mil. over the cap and Will Langhi warns me we'd better play a lot better than 8-7 or I could be out of a job pretty soon.

Although we need a fourth quarter comeback to do it, we start things off right with a 118-109 victory over the Pacers. Filip Svorada is my latest PG find it seems, as he racks up 28 points, 14 assists and 5 steals. Jim Johnson thunders for 27 points and 10 rebounds, David Anyan and William Tackett each score 20 and Terrence Howard bolsters with 14 bench points.

The glittering rings on the defending champion Celtics fail to frighten in our 122-101 win. David Anyan scores 22, Ronnie Fry doubles for 20 points and 15 rebounds, Jim Johnson scores 20, Filip Svorada issues 17 points and 14 assists and Terrence Howard adds 12 points off the bench.

Filip Svorada scores 23 as we blow out the Bobcats 114-87. Ronnie Fry has 14 points and 11 rebounds, but it's really our bench players who step up in this one. Terrence Howard amasses 18 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks, while Nigel Abel scores 10.

The first game of our next road doubleheader is a defensive dream, a 90-68 win over the T-wolves where we hold Minnesota to 26.9% shooting. Filip Svorada leads the way on offense with an excellent around game of 22 points, 7 assists and 8 rebounds, Ronnie Fry compiles 24 points and 11 rebounds and Terrence Howard narrowly misses a bench double-double with 9 points and 9 rebounds. Our win streak ends the next night, 118-94 in Indiana. David Anyan scores 21 and Jim Johnson gets the dime-store double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, but overall we played like garbage.

No problems though as we take all four quarters in boarding the win train again, 127-101 in Milwaukee. William Tackett explodes for 31 points, Ronnie Fry adds on 24 points, Filip Svorada tosses out 17 points and 16 assists and Terrence Howard comes off the bench for 14 points and 12 rebounds.

We stomp the Lakers 105-79 next game, keyed by David Anyan's 30 points, Ronnie Fry's 13 points and 18 rebounds, William Tackett's 23 points and Filip Svorada's 17 points and 11 assists.

The Hornets are completely hamstrung, with just two players in double-digit points and a high of 14 points in our 119-69 slaughter. 7 Kings hit double-digit points as we carry that balanced offense all the way to the bank. Terrence Howard gathers in 15 points and 10 rebounds and Tzvetan Kishishev scores 10 points in 11 minutes.

As if that 50 point win wasn't impressive enough, we win by 42 in strangling the Wizards 122-80. David Anyan scores 25, Ronnie Fry and Jim Johnson double for 16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 points, 16 rebounds respectively and Nigel Abel and Terrence Howard highlight the bench with 15 and 16 points respectively. In all, another 7 Kings reach double-digit points.

Miami actually plays us comparatively close, but in the end Ronnie Fry's 24 points and Terrence Howard's 13 bench points sink them in our 113-99 victory.

The Warriors come to town determined to spoil our Christmas Even, but we only allow them to keep it marginally exciting with a second half rally before we stop them 109-100. Ronnie Fry has 28 points and 11 rebounds, Jim Johnson 10 points and 10 rebounds. Filip Svorada dazzles with 23 points and 12 assists and Nigel Abel rampages off the bench for 20 points.

Utah pours it on in the fourth quarter and we fritter away our lead, dropping our first game in a while at 104-95. David Anyan scores 20, William Tackett gets 21 points and Jim Johnson pulls down 15 points and 17 rebounds, but we had problems shooting all night, especially at the end of the game.

Luckily we have a happy New Year's Eve, thwacking the Spurs 110-86 in front of the home fans. 6 Kings score 13 points or more, led by Ronnie Fry's 26 points and 11 rebounds, David Anyan's 21 points, Filip Svorada's 13 points and 10 assists and Justin Cherry's 13 bench points. Yes, -that- Justin Cherry, who's finally seeing the kind of PT he hasn't since his rookie year in Denver.

What a difference a great month makes. We've gone from 8-7 to 19-9 and are leading the Pacific by a game over Phoenix. More significantly, we've leapt from a low seed to a solid #3 and we can see 22-8 Dallas and 22-10 Memphis within our sights. The Northwest is a dogfight, with 16-13 Portland tied with Utah for the division and those two just a half-game in front of the Supersonics and Nuggets.

Things are even tighter in the East, where 19-10 Detroit is the #1 team, but they're only half a game and a game respectively ahead of Indiana and Milwaukee in the Central. Meanwhile, you've 19-12 Toronto 2 games in front of the Nets (the defending champion Celtics are a surprising 15-15) and, in the only bit of stretching room in the conference, 17-12 Washington is 4 up on the Hawks, who are 13-16. Not only are the Wizards the only .+500 team in the Southeast, they and the Hawks are the only two teams with 10 wins or more. Sad, sad divison that Southeast is, but then again, it's been the weakest of the East in all the 20some years I've been in this league.