Hornets Hype

The summer of the defection continues and moves abound, with players switching allegiances, reuniting with old cities and coaches, and the NBA diaspora is in full swing in search of greener, tax-free pastures…summaries to follow, starting with the big splash:

• Rockets: get Ron Artest by giving up their first round pick this year, their first round in later years, and poor Bobby Jackson, who’s had trouble finding permanent residence as of late.
• Kings: give up their 1 year left with malcontent, Ron-Ron, and get (probably) Donte Green (there’s a 30 day waiting period after his signing), B-Jax, and a future 1st round pick. Smooth move. Also, if you hadn’t heard, they stole our Summer League sensation, Bobby Brown.
• Lakers: they may have had to let Ronny T go to do it, but the Lake-show retained the services of Sasha “the Machine” Vujacic for a cool 3 years and $15 million. Looks like a solid move in light of the $60 mil deals disclosed below…
• Warriors: the Bay Area cats finely chose to pony up for their big two free agents, paying out 6 years and $67 mil to keep SG(/PG?), Monta Ellis, and giving Andris “Not-so-Big-Daddy” Biedrins 6 years and $62 mil. GS also strangely choose to match the Clips’ offer sheet on Azubuike, because…um…they don’t have enough lanky swingman that don’t play D?
• Clippers: meanwhile, losing out on Azubuike, the Clips continued their own mad sprint this summer by signing SG, Ricky Davis, to a 2 year, $4.7 mil contract; not a bad replacement for Maggette, and um, for about $100 mil less. They also chose to waive F, Josh Powell, with Camby aboard.
• Bobcats: MJ’s crew finally signed their big man, Okafor, to a 6 year $72 mil contract. See The Machine, supra. They also re-signed C/F Ryan Hollis.
• Knicks: yes, yes, I swear, the Knicks are still around; the rumors of their demise have been greatly ex–er–linked to Isiah Thomas? Any way, deciding they didn’t have enough guards already on the roster, and refusing to cut Starbury, they picked up G, Anthony Roberson, from the Summer League. But realizing they then had 17 players (there is a max of 15 during the regular season), they traded away Renaldo Balkman for, um, two more players: Tauren Green and Bobby Jones, along with a 2nd round pick in 2010. So, realizing that they had 18 players, they quickly waived both, saving about $2 mil a year, and ending up with only 1 player over the ultimately allowable roster.
• Nuggets: apparently, their GM was told to make moves or find a new home. And he started by giving away Camby. Not content, he acquired Balkman from the Knicks, and then signed our own Birdman to a 1 year deal, and also gave G, Dahntay Jones, a contract. Wow. Strong moves.
• Pistons: interesting move in giving Kwame Brown 2 years and $8 mil; that’s a lot for someone everyone considers a bust in all three of his stops so far. They also signed G, Will Bynum. Woo.
• Timberwolves: re-signed restricted free agent Ryan Games, a nice move.
• Bulls: finally gave Luol Deng his big contract, at 6 years and $71 mil. And they think we overpaid for Posey. Cheer up Hornets fans, you could have been stuck with this.
• Hawks: fresh off their Josh-Childress-slap-in-the-face, they gave Mo Evans a 3 year deal worth $7.5 mil. Considering he started starting for the Magic last year, this is a nice pick-up. They also signed C, Randolph Morris.
• Nets: already having made several good moves this summer, the Nets lost Krstic, who didn’t appear to be a part of their plans anyway, to Triumph Moscow, for around $9 mil a year; and don’t forget Euro teams pay their players’ taxes, so that’s his take-home. Damn. I need to work in Europe.
• Magic: not content with losing players left and right, they waived F, James Augustine.
• Raptors: lost another player to Europe, as Jorge Garbajosa took off for Russia’s BC Khimski, the terms undisclosed; but let’s just assume its like they’re giving him all the money they “nationalized” after throwing that oil tycoon in jail. They did, however sign free agent G, Will Solomon, who conversely, played the last two seasons in Turkey.
• 76ers: continued their moves by signing G, Royal Ivey, and 3-point shooter, Kareem Rush. Guess Kareem didn’t like his brother, who his former team, Indiana, just drafted.
• Jazz: matched the OKC offer sheet on C.J. Miles, keeping him around. Smart move.

That’s it for now. Some news, some just recitation, but it’s all relevant because we’re going to play them all next year. Of course, it’s nothing to get excited over, because, you know, the Hornets will win it all anyway.

P.S. check back soon for Hype on TT6′s elsewhere declared Hiltonwatch.

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