[Izulde]

One trade from last month.

Orlando Magic receive:
PG Mike Conley

Utah Jazz receive:
Orlando Magic 2008 1st round pick

What this means for the Magic:
Orlando was hurting for quality PG depth after Jameer Nelson, so Conley makes sense in this context. It makes even more sense when you consider that with a 19-26 record, the Magic could still contend for a playoff spot in the East and be out of the lottery.

What this means for the Jazz:
This leaves Utah without a quality backup PG and more importantly, it has the Jazz floundering for youth at the spot. Conley was the heir apparent at PG, but now that doesn't happen. If the pick winds up being a mid-to-late selection, Utah could get senior Matt Dickel out of Illinois or senior Josh Gilbert from Wake Forest in the draft.

Winner: Orlando

Oh by the way, just as a strictly out of character note, is there a way to force game-generated rookies to stay four years in college other than a DDS:CB import? At least I was able to kick out the high-schoolers in the game options.

Anyway, looking at the draft listings, right now the top players are a pair of freshman PFs, Ronny Smith out of LSU (24.6 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 1.2 bpg, 1.3 spg) and Kelvin Moody of Utah (24.9 ppg, 17.1 rpg, 3.0 bpg, 0.8 rpg). Brandon Brooks (SR) is the top PG (#3 overall) and the Utah man is averaging 22.6 ppg, 10.4 apg, 7.7 rpg, 1.2 bpg and 1.5 spg. He's someone we'll definitely be taking a hard look at for our lottery pick in the offseason.

The month opens with a 106-91 loss to the Kings, despite Ben Gordon's magnificient 34 points. Raef LaFrentz in the middle sickens me. The West's best, the Suns, beat us 99-78 the next night and I'm lonely for Caron.

Another West team, another loss, this one a 120-93 blowout to the Jazz. Most noteworthy stat of that game: Deron Williams comes close to embarassing us triple-double style, but we stop him short at 39 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds, 2 steals thrown in for good measure.

A sunbeam peeks through the gloomy cloud of our season as we topple the Heat 105-97. Ben Gordon takes over on offense and defense, with 38 points and 7 assists to go with 3 steals and other miscelleanous stats. Darius Miles put in 15 points from the bench in a too-rare demonstration of offense from our subs.

We go right back to losing, 109-104 to the Celtics. At least we're in a position where we can compete with our fellow teams in the East and all we need is the right pick or two to break through. It's all Ben again, with 42 points, 2 assists and 7 rebounds, but in the end, it's just not enough, not even with Starbury's sidekick 24 points and 8 assists.

Two straight losses to East teams in Charlotte and Philly, neither of which are really close. So much for my competitive theory. Against the Bobcats, Ben's Player of the Game again with 34 points and Joakim Noah double-doubles with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Gordon's golden again against the 76ers, winning his umpteenth Player of the Game with 45 points, but no other Knick scores double-digits in the 105-86 drubbing.

The Gordon magic continues with another PotG performance of 36 points, 4 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals against the Bucks and Joakim Noah and Andres Nocioni actually score 17 and 14 respectively, but 6 Milwaukee players in double-figures, including Michael Redd's 37 points, dooms us to a 112-103 loss.

And so we're 12-41 heading into the All-Star break, still the NBA's worst team record-wise. The second-worst is the New Orleans Hornets at a dismal 15-38. Misery loves company or at least I do.

The All-Star contests go by too fast for me to see anything, but Quincy Douby won something or the other. (Suggestion to Gary: Provide box scores for the All-Star contests as well, not just the games.)

Joakim Noah gets snubbed and so we have no representation at the Rookies-Sophomores game, which is won 90-85 by the first-years. Kevin Durant trumps everyone with 20 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, a block and 3 steals in winning MVP. More reminders in the local press about how he could have been a Knick. Greg Oden, by the way, doubled his delightment with 11 points and 15 rebounds. 2 blocks, too.

Still, we aren't totally left without All-Star glitter. Ben Gordon gets selected to the East team, as I expected. What I didn't expect is that he wouldn't get to play a single damned minute. What a crock! The East pulls off the 122-98 upset on Dwayne Wade's 26 point, 12 assist masterpiece, but I'm too pissed to care.

The #9 scorer in the whole NBA at 27.4 points a game and you don't even throw him a few minutes in the All-Star Game?!

It turns out to be a blessing in disguise. The New York media and the fans are so outraged at the incident that they start writing editorials and letters in support of my having the wisdom and intelligence to get Gordon, a legitimate All-Star who deserved to play. More evidence for the Keep Jestor Hired file.

Detroit leads the East by a wide margin and it gets wider after they drop us 113-85. Starbury scores 11 and dishes out 13 assists, which was nice, but Gordon's 30+ streak ended with 22 points and, more embarassingly, we had two starters score 0 points. The goose-eggers were Andres Nocioni and Joakim Noah. I knew my boy Noah was going to struggle on offense, but Nocioni has been a bust in the orange and blue.

Sweet revenge against the 76ers, a 102-94 home win engineered by Gordon's 29 points and Starbury's 20. Darius Miles put up 15 points from the bench and he's gradually, quietly earned more and more of the coaching staff's trust.

A winning streak, an actual winning streak! Ben Gordon is the unstoppable force with 37 points and 10 rebounds in a 100-80 slaying of Indiana. Starbury is the second man with 12 points and 11 assists, while Jamal Crawford scores 19 to lead the reserves.

Unbelievably, we pull off a third straight win, 110-95 victory over the Lakers to end the month. And we do it with just 16 points from Ben. Starbury doubled up with 25 points and 10 assists and the team's two biggest goats, Raef LaFrentz and Andres Nocioni, are positively princely with 22 points and 25 points and 8 rebounds respectively.

It's dizzying, these three consecutive victories. All of a sudden, we're 15-42 and within striking distance of the 16-40 Hornets.

Five +.500 teams in the East at month's end (Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland). The Miami Heat lead the Southeast with a 28-30 record. Talk about embarassing for the conference. Chicago's still solidly the #2 seed, much to my disgruntlement.

Just seven .+500 teams in the West, although the Supersonics and Jazz at both .500 and just miss counting. On the other hand, the Lakers are a surprising 28-27 and in danger of falling into sub-.500 territory.

The Suns are still blistering everyone with a 51-6 record. Kobe Bryant is still king of the scorers at 32.9 points per game, but King James of Lebron is also in the rarefied court of 30+ points at 30.7. Gilbert Arenas stands on the threshold with 29.8 points. Squire Gordon is still flashy and dashy at #9 with 27.3 ppg.

Four players at double-digit assist averages (Steve Nash, Baron Davis, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul), with Jason Kidd almost there at 9.9. 14 players in double-digit average for rebounds and a slew more just below. Yao Ming is the Emperor of the Boards with a 14.4 average and also leads in double-doubles with 49, a comfortable 9 games ahead of second-place Chris Bosh.

But it's Lebron James who leads in the Grandmaster category of triple-doubles, with 2. Others who have pulled off the ultimate feat thus far this season: Kevin Garnett, T.J. Ford of all people, the ancient Derek Fisher, and Gilbert Arenas.

Down on the farm, Alando Tucker leads the Tejanos in scoring and assists with 11.9 and 4.8 (tied for 8th in the D-League) averages respectively. He might get a callup at some point, though he -is- averaging 3 turnovers a game as well, which is slightly worrying.

I'm also tempted to keep him down there because Tulsa's surged to a 20-15 record, good for second in the D-League East and just a half-game behind the Great Apes of Dakota. It'd be exciting to see at least one Knick have actual team-based success.