[Izulde]

Chicago Bulls receive
C Eugene Whitmore

Golden State Warriors receive
PF Chezley McCleary
Chicago Bulls 2016 2nd round pick

What this means for the Bulls
Whitmore, the 8th overall pick by the Magic in 2011, was let go after two seasons, whereupon he signed with the Warriors and developed into a good rebounder and a ferocious shotblocker with enough offense to be considered a force. At 7'3, 300lbs, he's a big, big body as the new starting PF and provides protection for still developing Austin Buller.

What this means for the Warriors
Chezley's a $6.8 million expiring contract and the Bulls are almost as terrible as the Warriors this year, so it's a high 2nd round pick they can bank on. The money will allow Golden State to be free agent players next year.

Advantage: Chicago
This is a huge move that will help develop Buller's confidence to have somebody like Whitmore alongside of him. The faster Buller develops, the faster Chicago becomes a good team again. It's a good deal for Golden State as well, though. They need to make a splash next offseason to show the fans they're making an effort to improving and the money that will be freed up goes a long way towards that.

Seattle Supersonics receive
SF Hakim Warrick

Houston Rockets receive
PG Luke Ridnour

What this means for the Sonics
Superstar SF Brooks Smith is out with a broken arm and Seattle's season is spiraling down the tubes. Warrick gives the Sonics a respectable all-around bench player to try and fill in the gap.

What this means for the Rockets
Houston's playing well, but their backcourt is suspect with former 1st round Rockets draft pick Mackel Greenleaf (29th overall, 2009) coming back to the team this offseason to run the point and former Nuggets 1st round pick Duez Walker starting at SG. Ridnour instantly injects the Rockets with a legitimate, proven starting NBA PG and dramatically improves the backcourt situation. Even better, he's an $8.2 mill. expiring contract.

Advantage: Houston
Both teams gave up players who didn't figure much in their rotations, but the Rockets got a lot more bang for their buck and can put themselves back on top of the division with this move.

I'm paranoid that we don't have enough frontcourt depth, so I sign 25 year old PF Mike Nooner from the Dakota Great Apes. A third year player, he was originally drafted in the 2nd round by Portland (2.12, 2012), and has excellent defensive skills with the potential to blossom into a respectable offensive and rebounding player. He can play SF/PF and slots in as the 8th man for now.

We thrash the NBA's worst team in Golden State, 111-84. Mateen Yeaton scores a breathtaking 42 points and Emeka Okafor bulldozes his way through to 19 points and 11 rebounds.

An important divisional doubleheader comes next and we secure the sweep. 22 points from Mateen Yeaton and 13 bench points from Kirk Hinrich are enough to put away the Jazz 95-80. Balanced offense carries us past the Timberwolves 91-81, signified by 11 and 10 bench points respectively from Brandon Brooks and Kirk Hinrich.

When you shoot 59.7% as a team and hold the opposition to 32.5%, including 10% from 3-point range, a blowout's going to happen and it does in our 103-74 pummeling of the Cavaliers. Mateen Yeaton leads the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds, Ron McPherson a capable sidekick with 22 points.

My heart nearly stops against the Nets, but we rally in the fourth quarter to escape with a 99-97 win. Emeka Okafor scores 20, Ron McPherson 25. Zelipe Gama was absolutely brilliant in passing, netting 18 assists.

It's a back-to-back to finish us off before the All-Star break and we win both games handily. Mateen Yeaton handles the Hawks with 28 points in a 92-80 win, with a surprise near bench double-double by 39 year old Antawn Jamison of 9 points and 11 rebounds. It's Mateen Yeaton again in the following 95-81 victory over the Bobcats with 27 points, Zelipe Gama doubling with 12 points and 12 assists.

All-Star Break

An article appears in one of the sports magazines, an excerpt of which I'm including here.

"...But perhaps there's been no bigger first-half surprise than the results of the Pistons/Nuggets blockbuster trade that sent Tim Davis, Zelipe Gama and Antawn Jamison to the Nuggets for Dan Jacobson, Phillip Gill, Eddy Curry and Shaun Livingston.

Davis and Gama combined to ignite the Nuggets offense, sending a 3-6 team on a blistering 24-2 run before Davis was lost for the year with a torn ACL. Although Gama's numbers aren't noticeably different than last year's starting PG, Brandon Brooks, what the Spainard brings to the table is electrifying stealing on defense and a sensational outside shot. Jamison has been a quietly successful contributor on the bench, defying age and decayed defense to provide some points and rebounds.

The Nuggets are still winning despite being woefully thin at center, a position they wouldn't have been in had they not dealt away three big men to the Pistons in that deal.

Jacobson is having arguably his best season ever in averaging 11.9 points and 10.7 rebounds and Eddy Curry, while a step slower than last year, has 15.4 points and 5.8 rebounds a game to his credit. Although Gill lost his starting spot at SF to Marcel Mance after a few weeks, he's averaging almost eight points, six rebounds and over a block a game as the Pistons' 6th man. It's been a long time since the Pistons have had this powerful a nucleus in the frontcourt.

Looking to the future, this deal appears to heavily benefit the Nuggets. While Davis is lost for this year, he gives Denver a genuine point-scorer inside, something Denver hasn't had since the days of Marcus Camby and he'll only be 25 next season. Gama was thought to be the future at PG, but he's quickly established that he's the answer -now-. In fact, GM Jestor was so shrewd in this trade, he's laid the foundations for a Denver dynasty, for as the following box shows, he's assembled a young, talented starting lineup.

PG Zelipe Gama (24)
SG Mateen Yeaton (27)
SF Ron McPherson (21)
PF Emeka Okafor (33)
C Tim Davis (24)

Only Okafor is over 30 in that group, so the prospects are very bright for the Nuggets. However, there is a concern that they could fall into the trap that the Portland Trailblazers of recent past have, with a gifted set of starters and a weak bench. Of the current Denver reserves, only Brooks (29) and Lindsey Williamson (23) are under 30 and Jamison will be 40 next year.

Still, one has to like Denver's chances to be title contenders for years, particularly given the stockpiled first round picks waiting in 2017 and 2018 (New Orleans and Utah respectively).

Even this season, the records say it all at the All-Star break: Denver 44-9, Detroit 32-19."

True. Oh so damned true.

Kirk Hinrich wins the 3-point shootout for the second time since I've entered the league, both years in a Denver uniform.

The Sophs destroy the Rooks 101-87 behind 34 points from MVP Justin Richler. The Canadian's been as good as advertised and is currently averaging 20.6 points a game as a 20 year old. The scary part is, if my scouts are right, the young Net will be as good if not better than Lebron James at scoring the time all is said and done.

Absolutely thrilling All-Star game. The East beats the West 110-109 in OT on a last-second shot by Carmelo Anthony, the MVP for the miracle jumper and his 24 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, a block and 2 steals. Mateen Yeaton again started at G for the West and led all scorers with 27 points. We got a nice surprise when Zelipe Gama was named as an All-Star reserve, even if he didn't get to play, much like perenially shafted Ben Gordon, who got his usual All-Star listing with no minutes on the floor.

Zelipe was absolutely ecstatic at getting to be part of the All-Star team and didn't care that he didn't get on the floor. It's been a miraculous season for our Spainard, who had only that 2012 season in San Antonio to his credit as a full-time starter. In fact, 2011 and 2012, both with the Spurs, were the only two years he's started an NBA game period. Needless to say, I'm thrilled for him, too.

I'm even happier when we beat the Celtics 81-63 in our first game back from the break behind 30 points and 11 rebounds from Mateen Yeaton and 13 points and 13 rebounds from Emeka Okafor. The Celtics are still on fire at 34-20 after the loss, but every little bit helps when trying to give them a worse record. We held Boston to 29.9% shooting, a franchise record.

Our first loss in quite a while happens 106-96 in Memphis against the Grizzlies. Mateen Yeaton scores 23 and Mike Nooner adds 10 bench points, but it's not enough to overcome the Grizz's starting five, especially 33 points and 10 rebounds from Chris Gearheart. I have a lot of respect for that Memphis front office and how they've managed to turn the organization around.

We bounce back with a 120-86 asskicking of the Hornets as Mateen Yeaton scores 24, Emeka Okafor adds 22 points, Zelipe Gama magnificiently doubles with 19 points and 16 assists and Kirk Hinrich scores 12 off the bench.

Our concluding game of the month is against Atlanta. The Hawks play us tough, but in the end, 26 points from Mateen Yeaton and 10 points and 11 assists from Zelipe Gama are enough to pull out the 100-94 victory.

At the end of the short month, we're in love with our 47-10 record, especially since it has us 12 games up on the Traiblazers both for the division and the #1 seed.

The Lakers are looking suprisingly mortal without Kobe, but 31-24 is still good enough to be well ahead of the 30-28 Kings for the Pacific division.

Houston and Dallas are deadlocked atop the Southwest, Memphis is 2 games back, San Antonio 3.5. The gut-wrenching part of it is, if the playoffs were held today, the Grizzlies would be the #8 seed and play us. That's one matchup I want to avoid at all costs.

The East still has the Raptors on top at 41-15. The 76ers, like the Traiblazers, are behind in both the division and the top seed, only Philly's just 4 back, Boston 5.5 back.

Detroit's barely hanging on the Central, as Indiana's a half-game back and the Bucks are in third at four games behind.

The Southeast has a number of teams still in play. Charlotte's out in front, with the Magic in second (2.5), the Heat third (4) and the Wizards fourth (5.5).

Biggest surprise? The Knicks surging to 26-31. There's still a few teams fairly ahead of them for the 8th spot in the playoffs, but at least they can talk about themselves as a possibility again. My expectation is that they'll fall short like they did last year, though.

Nobody averaging 30 points a game. Nigel Abel's at 29 even and Jonte Jones (26.4), Ben Gordon (26.2) and Carmelo Anthony (26) are clustered right tight behind him. Mateen Yeaton's 15th at 21.4.

This is the biggest group of players with more than 10 assists this late in a season I've ever seen. Lebron James of all people is first with 11.1 assists, followed by Dwayne Wade (10.7), Gilbert Arenas (10.3), Kenny Graham (10.2) and T.J. Ford (10.1). Zelipe Gama is 8th with 9.3.

Greg Oden has a comfortable lead in rebounding with 13.5, 12.3 and 12.2 respectively by Andrew Bynum and Andrew Bogut 2nd and 3rd. Dan Jacobson is 11th with 10.6.

Huge number of 3+ blockers this late in the year, too. Andrei Kirilenko naturally leads with 3.5, but Josh Smith (3.2) and Narcyz Malinomowski and Kyle Jordan at 3 rejections a piece are in play as well.

Nobody over 2 steals a game. Rudy Gay and Gerald Wallace are tied at 1.8, with a slew of others at 1.7.

For the rookies, Andre Davis is averaging 13.8 points a game, Justin Barnes 10.5. Justin Barnes leads in class assists with 3.9, Pete Bannister second with 3.7.

Patrick Riley is the top rebounder by far with 8.8 boards, Andre Davis (5.7) and Chris Adams (5) behind him. Patrick Riley also has a commanding lead in class blocks with 2.6, followed by Garrick Reece (1.7) and Andre Davis (1.5). Andre Davis, Patrick Riley and Alan Edwards are tied for the class thief lead with 0.8 swipes a game.

Looks like I was right about the Kings getting a steal in Barnes with the 12th overall pick.