[Izulde]

Memphis Grizzlies receive
SG Ricky Davis
New Jersey Nets 2017 2nd round pick

New Jersey Nets receive
SF Cory Gervin

What this means for the Grizzlies
Rudy Gay tore his knee tendon early in the month, so Memphis reacted by picking up the 37 year old Davis, who, while no longer the sharpshooter he once was, still provides some offensive punch off the bench. The Nets are one of the worst teams in the NBA, so the 2nd round pick should be among the top 3.

What this means for the Nets
Gervin was Memphis's 1st round pick (26th overall) last year, but doesn't have very exciting potential. At best, he looks like an average bench player, though he's averaging 12.6 points in the D-League. Chances are, he won't even be re-signed at the end of the year.

Advantage: Memphis
Hard to tell why the Nets even made this deal, as Gervin's not even playing for New Jersey and has no real upside to speak of. While Davis will come nowhere near to replacing Gay's production, he gives the Grizzlies a veteran presence and some firepower with the second team, in addition to a high 2nd round crapshoot.

Memphis Grizzlies receive
SF Jason Tackett

Sacramento Kings receive
PG Jordan Muhammad
Memphis Grizzlies 2017 2nd round pick

What this means for the Grizzlies
Tackett's a lock-down defensive player in his 3rd season, drafted 19th overall by the Kings in 2014. He's an end of the bench player right now, but he's also instantly Memphis's best defender, especially now that [b]Rudy Gay[/b']s likely lost for the year. Not much else to recommend him, though.

What this means for the Kings
Muhammed was drafted 22nd overall in this year's draft, but outside of some respectable ballhandling skills, he just doesn't look like much, nor does it look he'll turn into anything, not even a decent backup. The pick's not that great, either. On the other hand, he's signed next year as well.

Advantage: Memphis
Not an exciting deal by any means and insignificant on both ends, but Memphis shores up their weakest area by landing Tackett, which gives them the edge here, especially in an abysmal year for the West.

Seattle Supersonics receive
SG Adam Lopez
Minnesota Timberwolves 2017 2nd round pick

Minnesota Timberwolves receive
SG Bryan Young

What this means for the Sonics
Lopez, taken 17th overall in last year's draft, has some real potential as a ballthief and a shooter, with some good ballhandling for an off-guard. He steps in as Seattle's 6th man and gives them sorely needed quality bench depth, particularly since the coaching staff is still hating on 19 year old Belgian rookie Louis Martens. The 2nd rounder is a nice bonus.

What this means for the Timberwolves
Young is a horrific ballhandler, so much so that he'd be notoriously bad even as a big man. On the other hand, his potential as a scorer and stealer are nothing short of breathtaking, but he's quite raw yet. He was taken 14th in last year's draft and looks superior to Lopez in many respects. On the other hand, the only spot he can play is SG and there's a ton of guys way ahead of him on the bench. That being said, all of the players ahead of him have expiring contracts, with the exception of the starting guards, so there's a good chance he could see a major increase in minutes next year and really start to develop his astronomical potential.

Advantage: Draw
Seattle gets a lot more immediate help here, but if Young can develop and get the playing time to do so, the Timberwolves will have a major steal on their hands, an offensive juggernaut to pair with Kelvin Moody next year, turnover-prone issues aside.

I have to say, I really like Minnesota's gamble here. It's a lost season with Moody gone anyway, so why not take a shot at a player that has potential superstar writ on him?

A balanced offense highlighted by 17 bench points from Steve Neal and 11 points and 10 rebounds from Emeka Okafor powers us to a 101-78 buttkicking of the Warriors to kick February off.

We get our first loss of the month early as we split a divisional doubleheader. Utah goes down 91-76 through the combined efforts of Mateen Yeaton (20 points), Emeka Okafor (11 points, 14 rebounds), Zelipe Gama (10 points, 12 assists) and David Jackson (11 bench points). But the Timberwolves stun us the next night 101-87 despite 34 points from Ron McPherson, 10 points and 14 rebounds from Emeka Okafor and 14 points and 11 rebounds from Tim Davis. Mateen Yeaton has a horrific 3 for 15 night and in general, we shot for crap.

We snap out of it against Cleveland as Mateen Yeaton scores 38 in a 117-85 slaughter of the Cavs. Ron McPherson scores 21, Tim Davis gets 14 points and 17 rebounds and Zelipe Gama gets 15 points and 12 rebounds. Great bench game from David Jackson too, with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.

I've noticed Tim Davis seems to really be struggling out there and not taking over games like he should be, which has me thinking that perhaps we should trade him.

We destroy the Nets 108-82 as Mateen Yeaton scores 33, Tim Davis has 16 points and 10 rebounds and Zelipe Gama picks up 12 points and 13 assists. I'm also wondering about Gama too, who's been maddeningly inconsistent. Maybe we shouldn't re-sign the Spainard and maybe last year was a fluke.

All things to ponder as we do a doubleheader before the All-Star break. We narrowly escape with a 109-108 victory over Atlanta as four Denver starters score 20 points or more. Mateen Yeaton leads the way with 27, followed by Tim Davis with 23 and Ron McPherson and Emeka Okafor with 20 a piece, Okafor grabbing 14 rebounds besides. Zelipe Gama is busy all night, dishing out 22 assists. Mateen Yeaton torches the Bobcats for 30 points the next night and Tim Davis makes his case for staying with 22 points and 12 rebounds in a 109-93 win against the Bobcats. Zelipe Gama has his second straight 20+ assist night with 21 and Ron McPherson scores 27.

No noteworthy Nugget appearances in the All-Star skill contests.

David Jackson starts at SF for the Rookies and acquits himself well with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and a block in 29 minutes, but the steal of last year's draft, Justin Barnes, scores 24 and takes home MVP honors in leading the Sophomores to a 104-94 victory.

Mateen Yeaton gets the start at SG for the West in the All-Star game, but has a completely forgettable 2 for 8 showing for 5 points. Luckily, the West gains some measure of legitimacy in trashing the East 109-85 as Georghios Kairis wins MVP for his 23 points.

And so it's decision time with regards to Tim Davis.

A slew of calls around the league reveals that opposing GMs are a little leery of him. As one front office head I talked to said, "The kid's got the talent and he's shown flashes of stuff after coming back from the ACL, but that's a long-term investment to make when we don't know if he's damaged goods or not."

That said, there are teams with a definite interest in acquiring him and so I burn up the phonelines leading up to the trade deadline to put together a package to my liking.

Denver Nuggets receive
SF Lamar Odom
SG Ronnie Brewer
Los Angeles Lakers 2017 1st round pick
Los Angeles Lakers 2019 1st round pick

Los Angeles Lakers receive
C Tim Davis
SG Steve Neal
Denver Nuggets 2017 1st round pick
Denver Nuggets 2019 1st round pick
Atlanta Hawks 2019 2nd round pick

What this means for the Nuggets
GM Jestor signals his 100% commitment to rookie David Jackson with this move. He also will free up $8.1 million when Odom comes off the cap next season. Clearly the Nuggets plan on re-signing popular Spanish PG Zelipe Gama, as this gives them the room to do so. Brewer's an average all around backup. The picks could be a tricky situation, though, as this move likely powers the Lakers to a playoff spot in the anemic West and so robs the Nuggets of a second lottery selection. As for the 2019 pick... that's looking like a low 1st as well. On the other hand, the 35 year old Odom can play all 5 positions, greatly enhancing Denver's flexibility.

What this means for the Lakers
Showtime hits the jackpot in landing Davis and suddenly Andrew Bynum's got a fearsome tag-team partner inside. The picks won't be that drastic a drop now that there's this abrupt influx of an extraordinarily gifted player inside to take the pressure off of Bynum.

Advantage: Lakers
GM Jestor just fumbled the ball on this one and gave the Purple and Gold precisely the tools they needed to get back to their lost glory.

Heh. We'll see.

Unfortunately, this also means we're over the imposed $15 million cap by a measly $854,955. Whatever. I'm going to roll with it and hopefully B.B. Dyer won't be too ticked at the end of the season.

Curious move by the Lakers, as they're starting Tim Davis at SF. Then again, Larry Brown's coked up enough to say that Lamar Odom should be the starting C, so who knows?

The Lakers have 20 wins as of the move, by the way.

Lamar Odom is indeed the starting C and gets 13 points and 11 rebounds as we beat the Celtics 105-84 in our first game after the deal. Ron McPherson scores 27, Emeka Okafor has 12 points and 12 rebounds, Zelipe Gama 13 points and 10 assists and Kirk Hinrich's 18 bench points illustrate that we can win and win big even when Mateen Yeaton is shooting 1 for 10.

Things are still clicking smoothly as we thrash the Grizzlies 110-97. Mateen Yeaton scores 20, Ron McPherson 24, and Zelipe Gama plays his way to 14 points and 10 assists. Curiously enough, Lamar Odom garners 15 points and 17 rebounds and I'm thinking maybe Larry Brown isn't so crazy after all.

We help our draft position by spanking the Hornets 105-80. Lamar Odom damn near gets a triple double with 25 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds and a steal and Kirk Hinrich and Marcus Williams add 12 and 10 bench points respectively. Wow, who knew Odom would turn out so well in the early going?

Foul trouble ends Lamar Odom's hot streak, but 33 points from Mateen Yeaton and a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds from Emeka Okafor bail us out in a 94-82 victory over the Hawks to conclude February.

So we're still the class of the NBA at 49-8. We're down to just 3 teams in the West with a winning record.

Denver Nuggets 49-8
Utah Jazz 36-20
San Antonio Spurs 35-21

On the other hand, the Lakers have just one victory since the trade and are in last place in the Pacific. But there's still a lot of games to be played and they're only 5.5 games back of division-leading Sacramento. At least the Hornets are holding strong to Suckville at 15-41.

I wouldn't want to be in the East, where 10 teams have a + .500 record. Toronto's the class of the conference at 44-12, 9.5 ahead of the Knicks.

I'm really glad I don't own the Cavaliers pick this year, as they've opened a 3 game lead in the Central at 33-22 over the Bucks, with the Pacers a half-game off from Milwaukee. Washington's got a 3 game lead in the Southeast as well, over Orlando, with the Magic a half-game in front of the Bobcats.

It's a real down year for shooting. Ben Gordon is the league's leading scorer at 25.7 points a game and Mateen Yeaton is right behind him at 25.5 as the only two players averaging 25 points a game or more.

On the other hand, we've got a lot of assisting going on. Our own Zelipe Gama leads with 11.9 dishes per game, followed by Branko Starcevic with 11.1, A.J. Dunkley at 10.3 and Lebron James at 10.2. T.J. Ford and Dwayne Wade -just- miss the 10 mark with 9.9 thus far.

Rebounding is all Greg Oden at 15.1, Andrew Bynum and Andrew Bogut distantly behind at 12.9 and 12.1 respectively. Josh Smith has stolen the rejections lead with 3.5 per game, traditional leader Andrei Kirilenko second at 3.3, Derrick Robinson the other with 3 or better at 3 exactly. Emeka Okafor ranks 14th at 2.3 blocks a game.

Leland Peterson and Kyle Smith have restored stealing respectability with 2 per game and Mateen Yeaton is right behind them at 1.9 a contest. Zelipe Gama is 17th with 1.5.

Greg Wilden is definitely making a case for the Cavaliers turnaround, leading rookies in scoring with 10.1 points a game. David Jackson is second with 9.5 and it really falls off from there. David Jackson narrowly holds the rookie assist lead with 2.6, as Corey Neal has 2.5, Greg Wilden 2.1.

Greg Wilden again in rebound with 9.3, although David Jackson isn't far off at 8.2. Again, there's a prodigious drop after those two who are going to be the finalists for Rookie of the Year I suspect. It'll probably go to Wilden, who's proving me wrong on his not being worthy of the top pick.

Blocks again is Greg Wilden with 2.6 and David Jackson is a ridiculously distant 2nd at 0.7. Steals is all Corey Neal with 1.2 swipes a game, David Jackson just barely fending off Greg Wilden as they're at 0.7 and 0.6 respectively.

I realize a lot of it is David Jackson's having been our starting C for much of the season, but it gives me a real good feeling that he should be one of our brightest stars for years to come. The starting job is his next year for sure, I think... unless something really wild and crazy happens at draft time.

Paulinho Buboltz-Mateen Yeaton Comparison

Paulinho Buboltz
2013 Stats: 82 games/77 starts - 17.0 PPG 9.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.2 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.1 PPG 8.7 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.4 SPG
2015 Stats: 55 games/48 starts - 14.1 PPG 8.3 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2016 Stats: 56 games/56 starts - 18.1 PPG 8.2 APG 3.4 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 SPG

Mateen Yeaton
2013 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.4 APG 5.2 RPG 1.8 BPG 1.6 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/80 starts - 23.2 PPG 3.6 APG 5.2 RPG 1.7 BPG 1.3 SPG
2015 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.6 PPG 2.4 APG 4.5 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.5 SPG
2016 Stats: 57 games/57 starts - 25.5 PPG 3.1 APG 4.4 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.9 SPG