Doomed

If the Dwight Howard-Orlando Magic saga has a familiar ring to it, it's because we've seen this movie before. In fact, we were in this exact situation a year ago with a young superstar whose contract was up at the end of the season who had dreams of greener pastures elsewhere, but was held captive longer than need-be because his current team wasn't sure how to handle the situation. For the first half of the 2011 NBA season, the Denver Nuggets suffered through the "Melo-drama" of Carmelo Anthony's murky future in the Rockies.

It wasn't until February 21, 2011 that things finally found a resolution. That was the day Denver agreed to give 'Melo his wish and trade him to the New York Knicks in one of the rare panic trades that worked out for both sides. The Nuggets got a future star in Danilo Gallinari as well as some much-needed cap relief(which allowed them to retain Nene this past offseason), while the Knicks got the second coming of Bernard King as their new franchise poster child.

You would think, after years of being around the game, front office suits like Magic GM Otis Smith would understand that, when a player wants out, you get him out. The Hornets understood that concept prior to the start of this season, which is why they worked steadfast in moving an unhappy Chris Paul to the Clippers. Hell, the Hornets worked so hard on granting Paul his wish, they actually managed to work two trades out in the short time span between the end of the lockout and the opening tip on Christmas: a very good trade with the Lakers that was unjustifiably shut down by the league office and the equally good deal with the Clippers that David Stern inevitably signed off on. The Magic, however, either due to ignorance and incompetence or because the right deal hasn't presented itself haven't been as fortunate as New Orleans. The result, as with Denver prior to the Anthony trade, has been a predictable one so far. The Magic are 12-8, good for 6th in a weak Eastern conference, and are in the midst of a three-game losing streak that includes blowing a 27-point lead in a loss to Boston(who had beat Orlando by 31 points three nights prior, mind you), a 26-point loss to an Eric Gordon-less Hornets team and last night's 21-point drubbing at the hands of the Indiana Pacers.

Following the beatdown by the Hornets, Howard let his frustration out publicly, questioning the desire of his fellow teammates. As justified as Howard's anger was, what can you really expect from a team faced with constant question about it's biggest star's future. How can you expect your cohorts to give their all when you are making plans for your own departure behind closed doors? You can't denounce your supporting cast when you've spent the last two months telling the world you'd rather be somewhere else because these guys aren't doing it for me. I'll give Howard some credit for not going the LeBron route and duping fans into thinking he's staying while internally knowing he was leaving at the end of the season and it's not like Howard hasn't given Orlando everything it needs to make a deal. That's where the blame falls upon Otis Smith and company. You have Dwight's wish list of teams he wants to play for in your hands. What's the holdup? I get it. You don't want to deal Howard before the All-Star Game in Orlando and have him come back to town in another team's uniform. That's understandable....to an extent. For one, at the end of the day, you're still trading the best center in the league and a 26-year old franchise cornerstone that was supposed to make Magic fans forget about losing Shaq 16 years ago. Whether you deal him now or in three weeks, you'll still be remembered as "the front office that had to trade Superman because they couldn't build a team around him". It will be awhile before those wounds heal in Orlando and, while Howard coming to Orlando for the All-Star Game as a Net or Laker or Maverick certainly rubs salt in those wounds, the damage is done either way. Secondly, with Howard already pissed over his team's play, this situation is only going to get uglier and, as we've seen with front offices faced with ugly public situations(read: The Lakers and Lamar Odom a month ago), that only increases the chances of a trade being rushed together and the Magic getting less than fair value for the best defensive big man in the game.

According to ESPN's Ric Bucher, the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets are the frontrunners to land Howard once fellow young center Brook Lopez returns from a broken foot. If that's really true, then I shake my head. Don't get me wrong. If Howard's arrival to the Nets convinced Deron Williams to stay in NJ/Brooklyn, then it's worth the price. But look at things from Orlando's side. You're trading a 26-year old perennial MVP candidate for a guy coming off a broken foot whom the team clearly didn't think was going to develop that much because they are waiting for him to get healthy so they can deal him rather than build around him. Rookie guard Marshon Brooks, a dark horse for the Rookie of the Year this year and someone the Nets will almost certainly include in a deal for Doomsday, just broke his toe and will be sidelined as well. So, the Magic will be acquiring two broken parts as the centerpiece in a deal that would send a man who's never had a serious injury in his career out of town. Does the mind not rebel at any point when reading that last paragraph?

The other teams on Howard's wish list would seem to be better options for Orlando solely because they are all in another conference(except for Dwight's newest addition to the list, Chicago, whom the Magic can't compete with now even with Howard on the roster): Both Los Angeles teams(Lakers and Clippers, incase you're slow) and the Dallas Mavericks. A Chris Paul-Dwight Howard tag team would be fun to watch but it would almost certianly come at the expense of current Lob City partner Blake Griffin. The Clippers already shot all their ammo in the deal to bring CP3 to the Left Coast, the only other pieces they have to move are Griffin(quickly emerging into one of the game's best inside presences) and DeAndre Jordan(who can't be traded until March 1, assuming they get DeAndre's consent in the first place, per league rules). Jordan is 23 and Griffin is 22. Obviously, a haul like that trumps anything any of the other potential suitors can offer but how does that make sense for the Clippers? Jordan's becoming a rising star as a shotblocker and Griffin is already one of the three or four best power forwards in the game and an absolute double-double machine(currently averaging 21 and 11 midway into just his second season). On top of that, you're getting Griffin at a discount as he's still signed to his rookie deal. What does Howard bring to the table that Jordan and Griffin aren't already bringing combined at three and fours years younger, respectively?

How about Dallas? Who do the Mavericks have that the Magic could take back and build around? Roddy Beaubois? Dominique Jones? You're not getting Dirk. Hell, you probably won't get nothing beyond a Shawn Marion/Vince Carter/Brendan Haywood poo-poo platter. How enticing does that sound, Magic fans?

Now, the Bulls are very intriguing. The Bulls have a lot of young guys like Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson, Jimmy Butler, Omar Asik, etc. The problem with that is, if Chicago was unwilling to agree to a trade centered around Noah a year ago for Anthony, why would they make that deal now for Howard? As with the Clippers and Griffin/Jordan, what can Howard do that the duo of Noah and Carlos Boozer can't? Is it an upgrade? Sure, but not a huge one and certainly not worth trading so many pieces of a good, young core.

That leaves only the Lakers left. I did some tinkering around and came up with a trade that makes sense for everyone(Disclaimer: I'm almost 100% sure the trade I'm about to propose has been pitched on another website by another writer in some variance. There's a million blogs out there. Eventually, we're going to write the same sentence. Though, the fact that this trade might have appeared in another place earlier in time makes it even more foolish on the Magic's part for it not getting done). The main concept behind a Lakers trade for Howard is pretty much rehashing the failed three-way trade the Lakers had in place with Houston and New Orleans for Chris Paul, except with Howard replacing Paul and Andrew Bynum replacing the now-departed Lamar Odom with a few spare parts I threw in just for one. Now, I'm sure some salary number-cruncher is going to look this over and say "That can't work". Fine. You want to pick nits, have at it.

The Trade: Lakers acquire center Dwight Howard as well as point guard Jonny Flynn from Houston, Houston sends forward Luis Scola to L.A. while also sending center Hasheem Thabeet and guard Kevin Martin to Orlando. The Magic also acquire Andrew Bynum from the Lakers, who would send Pau Gasol to Houston. The Magic would also send Hedo Turkoglu's disgustingly bad contract to Houston, along with guard J.J. Redick.

Again, you can mix and match however you like and change the spare parts if you feel the need but the biggest components of the deal(Howard, Bynum, Martin, Gasol, Scola) are what's important.

Why This Trade Works For The Lakers: You can make the same case for Bynum/Gasol that you could for Griffin/Jordan and Noah/Boozer with the exception of a couple key points. One, even the most jaded Lakers fan couldn't tell you with a straight face they aren't worried about Bynum's knees. He's a slightly more durable Greg Oden. Yes, Bynum's a couple years younger than Howard. Yes, going from Gasol to Scola is a bit of a downgrade but Scola and Howard bring to the table what Gasol and Bynum don't: durability, physicality and toughness(And, if you want to counter this argument with "Well, Bynum showed his toughness by getting physical with J.J. Barea in last year's playoffs", first you should punch yourself in the nuts and then I would counter with Bynum's clothesline on Barea is actually the antithesis of tough. It was a bitch move. It was an immature 7-footer unable to handle the piping hot plate of ass-whooping his team was being dealt and taking his frustrations out on someone half his size. My wife is taller than J.J. Barea. Tyson-Givens was more a fight than Bynum-Barea. Knock it off). Scola might not possess the rebounding numbers that Gasol has but Bynum doesn't possess the rebounding numbers that Howard has, so it draws even. Scola is also a banger inside, something Gasol(despite his gaudy rebounding numbers) is not.

The biggest plus for giving up on Bynum and Gasol here is that Howard puts asses in seats. Are you buying Lakers tickets to see Andrew Bynum? Would you call Pau Gasol "must see TV"? Of course not. Howard has the look, the smile, the personality and the resume to pick up right where Shaq left off when "The Diesel" left Hollywood and Howard's humble enough to not get into a pissing contest with Kobe over whose team it is. Furthermore, the Lakers would also get a young point man in Flynn, who might be a bust as a lottery pick but has to be an upgrade over Derek Fisher's rotting corpse and Steve Blake almost by default.

Why The Trade Works For Houston: Kevin Martin is no more capable of being a star than Turkoglu or Redick are. He's a fine shooter with an ugly form who knows how to put up numbers on bad teams. He's a guard version of Chris Bosh. Houston's success throughout its history has been predicated on having a good big man. It was the case during the Ralph Sampson era then when Hakeem Olajuwon came to town and most recently with the drafting of Yao Ming in 2002. The Rockets have made it no secret they have a hard-on for Pau and, while Gasol might not like it in Houston, going to the Rockets allows Gasol to get the respect and attention he's not getting playing second fiddle to Kobe in Laker Land. It seems like Houston is giving up a lot but keep in mind that the team probably wasn't going to keep Flynn and Thabeet(both horrendous draft busts with other teams) after this season and Martin has never and will never be the star that Gasol was or is. By moving Martin and replacing him with Redick, J.J. gets to finally crack a starting lineup and fulfill his calling as this generation's Mark Price(except slightly taller and a bit drunker). Redick has come along as the Magic's chief shooter off the bench but major minutes were always going to be tough sitting behind the Vince Carters and Jason Richardsons of the world. The Turkoglu contract is a bit steep but it's a fair price to pay when you consider what the other two teams are giving up.

Why It Works For The Magic: First and foremost, it finally ends the round-the-clock speculation and questioning over Howard's future. There's no perfect way to replace a franchise big man. It took Orlando a decade to replace Shaq. By bringing in Bynum(and even Thabeet) and putting them under the tutelage of assistant coach and future Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing, the Magic might end up doing alright here. With Howard now officially gone, the team can focus on re-signing forward Ryan Anderson, who's having a career season in his contract year(always a red flag, but whatever) and the Magic could still contend with a Bynum-Anderson-Richardson-Martin-Nelson, especially with the Howard headache out of the way. If Ewing can salvage Thabeet and turn him into even something slightly resembling the "next Dikembe Mutombo" billing he had coming out of college, then he's worth the risk. If not, he's a free agent at the end of the year anyway. Obviously, the hope for Orlando is that Bynum's knees stay in tact. If he continues to break down, then it's back to the drawing board. Still, at least you got something in return.

Look, it's not a perfect deal but it's an idea. Sure, there's going to be reluctance by the Magic to see their poster child center in the purple and gold yet again but that's the breaks. Much like the Cavs with LeBron, the team had years to build a winner around their young cornerstone and failed thanks to bad trades and foolish signings. Much like the Cavs and LeBron, the team thought that an NBA Finals appearance, albeit an unsuccessful one, would give their franchise player a sign of what might come and convince him to stick around. Much like the Cavs and LeBron, that theory was flawed and they'll watch said franchise player exit stage left. There are plenty of precedents here for the Magic to learn from and not follow suit. The Hornets went about this same issue the right way. The Nuggets did not but eventually recovered. The Cavs couldn't have handled it any worse(though, could you imagine the riots in Cleveland had the Cavs actually traded LeBron prior to "The Decision"). Basketball isn't rocket science, despite all the fancy numbers and the hiring of big brains like Rockets GM Daryl Morey. Sometimes, to build a winner, all you need is luck, timing and some common sense.

The writing is on the wall for the Orlando Magic. It's not written in invisible ink. Dwight Howard has to go. Dwight Howard wants to go.

No good comes from delaying the inevitable. Just ask Nuggets fans before February 21, 2011.

Gambling On A Savior

The Los Angeles Lakers are finished.

Take a minute to analyze that sentence because, I assure you, we will be looking back at this day and those words and nodding collectively by season's end. Take a deep breath, Laker fans. Relax. Try to avoid the typical overreaction and hyperbole and use some common sense. Then, I want you to close your eyes and say these words aloud and I want them to seep into your brain because, as painful as it's going to be for you to utter them, you'll thank me for it later.

I want you to close your eyes and say: "It's over. We had our shot and we blew it."

There will be no sixth ring for Kobe Bean Bryant, at least not while he's adorning the purple and gold. Look, Laker fans can point fingers and jump up and down in outrage over getting jobbed out of the Chris Paul deal by the NBA. It was unfair and unjust but so was the Pau Gasol trade a few years ago. Karma's a bitch. Chris Paul should probably be a Laker right now, but he's not. It's the way the cookie crumbles. There are Knicks fans who think LeBron James should be playing home games in the Garden. There are Nets fans that are dead set that Dwight Howard is coming to Brooklyn. After awhile, you give up on your hopes and dreams, no matter how close you were and how vivid it seemed inside your head.

The end of the Lakers' run as THE TEAM in the National Basketball Association has everything to do with Paul and Howard.....and nothing at all. I'll address the latter point first. For one, the Lakers didn't HAVE to make a move this offseason, with the exception of maybe a slight upgrade at point guard. The notion that the Lakers had to blow up the team following Phil Jackson's retirement and a postseason sweep by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks was more sports talk radio fodder than an actual mandatory game plan. Yes, if the Lakers could pull off deals that would allow them to bring in the likes of Paul and Howard and team them with "The Black Mamba", it would re-affirm L.A. as the team to beat as well as set them up nicely going forward long after Kobe retires. However, even the most delusional fan had to think that the Lakers weren't going to be able to pull that off and the wisest of fans should have been smart enough to realize why they didn't have to. A starting five of Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest(or Metta World Peace or whatever the fuck that nutjob is calling himself these days), Kobe and what's left of Derek Fisher, with Lamar Odom off the bench is formidable enough to make another run at the title, provided new coach Mike Brown can reel his heavy hitters in and keep them from coming apart like they did in the Dallas series.

Instead, they went with the nuclear bomb strategy and, in a stroke of pure genius, they managed to pull off a deal for Paul that didn't involve them giving up half the team and, at the last second, they got the rug pulled from under them. To use a football analogy, rather than kick the 55-yard field goal to tie, the Lakers chucked a Hail Mary in the air, came down with it with two feet in the end zone.....then had the referee rule it incomplete even after the booth review. It was a real tragedy what happened to the Los Angeles and, had it been someone less disliked than the Lakers, we might have made a bigger deal of it(which is saying something, because everyone who is everyone freaked out over this trade). Frustrated and outraged, the Lakers foolishly pulled out of the Paul talks and allowed their lowly little brother to swoop in and take their grand prize. That's where Paul and Howard add to the Lakers' demise. By swinging and missing on Paul, they publicly made it known that they were willing to be sellers if they found the right price(in this case, CP3 and D12). That shocker led them to be bullied by a guy in Odom, who spent the first two seasons of his reality show, getting bullied by his heavy-set, ugly-duckling, pseudo-famous wife. Outraged by being involved in trade talks, Odom wanted out and, rather than wait for a suitable deal, L.A. panicked and shipped Odom off for a bag of pennies. To make matters worse, they shipped him to Dallas.....the team that just got done cleaning their clock in the playoffs. You can't tell me there isn't a scenario where Odom couldn't have been flipped for something more than a dump of salary and some low-2nd round picks. You couldn't have gotten a suitable replacement at point guard for a versatile big man coming off his best season? Really?

In the span of seven days, the Lakers watched themselves get screwed out of a fair trade for the guy they've wanted for months, be forced to deal one of their best trade chips for nothing out of fear that Odom's unhappiness would leak to the public(which, it did anyway....Thanks, Twitter.), and then sit back and let the Clippers steal Paul from them and potentially resurrect their franchise.....IN THE LAKERS' HOUSE. The Clippers coming into the Staples Center to face the Lakers these next two seasons will be like the kid brother you used to beat the crap out of of when you were kids coming back home after a couple years in the military, except now he's cut like Vin Diesel and well-trained in MMA and you're 32 with a beer gut and tennis elbow.

The Lakers' last hope is trading for Howard, except Orlando has proclaimed any trade talks dead, which is yet another kick to the Lakers' balls. Make no mistake, the Lakers HAVE to find a way to get Dwight Howard, preferably before tip-off on Christmas. What was once a pipe dream now has to be a reality. Why? Because while the Lakers are a superb collection of talent, they are also a band of fragile minds. Don't agree? Think back to that Mavs series. Do you think the lasting images of Andrew Bynum's 2011 season would be him getting ushered off the court with his shirt off after clotheslining J.J. Barea if he were someone who was even the slightest bit composed? Would we not be thinking differently of Pau Gasol if he didn't let a bad breakup with his girlfriend completely take him out of the 2011 postseason? And do I even need to mention how Ron Artest is crazy? With the exception of Kobe, this batch of Lakers have the same frail, overwhelming lack of self-confidence and sensitive personalities you'd more commonly find on an after-school special on bulimic teenage girls. As if taking over for Phil Jackson wasn't tough enough for Mike Brown, now he has to go into this season stroking the egos of a young, talented center with no brain and a sack-less finesse power forward with no heart to make them feel better about being on the trading block. He's like Dorothy trying to lead a band of misfits to the Wizard of Oz.

That's why the Howard trade HAS to happen. You can't have this kind of dysfunction pollute your veteran squad under new leadership in a shortened season. Kobe is already pissed about how these last few changes went and he doesn't possess that same gene that MJ had that forced his teammates to put aside the bullshit and play hard. For the Lakers to remain relevant this season and beyond, they have to swing some deal that sends Gasol or Bynum and others(not both, because that would be an even more foolish display of desperation, not to mention frontcourt suicide) to Orlando in exchange for Doomsday. Dwight Howard holds the Lakers' season in his large hands, and he does so in a different uniform on a team that has no desire to trade him at the moment. That's why the Lakers are screwed. For so long, the thrill of playing in Hollywood and the shiny luster of the purple and gold had been enough to have faith in Showtime. Now, those days are dead. All that's left is false hope from a fan base that will just as easily trade their Kobe jerseys for Blake Griffin jerseys the minute CP3 launches an alley-oop to his slam dunk champion big man.

If the Lakers can't land Howard, they're slightly better than a lottery team because, not only will the trade talk destroy whatever chemistry they had, they also dealt away their best backup plan in Odom for when Bynum's knee snaps like a twig under a bear's paw. With good shooting at a premium, being able to rebound and protect the rim is paramount. It's why a team like the Mavs can beat a Heat team with three of the fifteen best players in the league and why a guy like Tyson Chandler can be paid like he's David Robinson by the Knicks. Patrolling the paint is something Bynum does well....when he's healthy, which is almost never, and when he can't control the paint when he's healthy, he resorts to choke-slamming 5'6 Puerto Ricans with the same force Rob Gronkowski uses to spike a football or Reggie Bush uses to penetrate Kim Kardashian's tush. That's why all the eggs need to be put in Howard's basket. An offseason spent being conned into thinking they need to make a big splash has culminated with their season hinging on them actually making one.

Open your eyes, Lakers fans, and remember this day because, come June, the next words you'll be reading will be: "I told you so."

Winners and Losers of the 2010 NBA Draft Lottery

The city that already hosts The White House, The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial now gets to add "The Great Wall" to the list of D.C. landmarks. The Washington Wizards, after a season that saw their overpriced point guard get suspended and their two other cornerstone sent away for below market price, won the top overall pick in tonight's NBA Draft lottery. They highlight tonight's winners and losers.

WINNERS

1. Washington Wizards: It was probably a bittersweet moment for Wizards fans when the announcement came that their team will be picking first in next month's Draft. After all, this was a team that was thought to be a playoff contender before the season started. It was a team that featured a Big Three of Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler. It was a team of promise. Now, it's a disaster zone. Jamison and Butler were sent away in one-sided give-away deals and you have to figure Arenas, suspended for foolishly bringing guns into an NBA locker room, is going to be the next one to go. Still, the Wizards get a new franchise face in likely #1 pick John Wall, the heralded point guard out of Kentucky. Also, with all the money jettisoned in the Butler/Jamison deals, the Wiz may be players(not exactly in the LeBron sweepstakes, but still) in one of the most star-studded free agent classes in years. The presence of Wall may entice somebody to take Washington's money. While it's a long shot to expect Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh or LeBron James to come to the nation's capital, maybe the Wiz get lucky and talk a Carlos Boozer or Amare Stoudemire into pairing with Wall. It may be improbable, but the odds are a little better than they were 24 hours ago.

2. Philadelphia 76ers: All the hype surrounding Wall has dwarfed the fact that Philly, sitting at #2, could end up with the better prospect in National Player of the Year Evan Turner. The distance between Turner and Wall is so minuscule, it's not even worth mentioning. In fact, there are many who believe Turner is the best prospect in this Draft. With the Sixers picking 2nd, they'll let Washington make their decision for him. The hope is that Wall goes first, and the versatile, rangy 6'7 Turner slips to 2. With the Sixers taking Jrue Holiday last year to be their point guard of the future, there might not be as much of a need for Wall as there is for Turner. If Washington somehow takes Turner, the Sixers could always auction off the pick and try to nab a king's ransom(although I'd call that unlikely). Adding Turner to a team that already has athletic forwards Andre Iguodala, Marreese Speights, Thaddeus Young and Elton Brand as well as young guards Holiday and Lou Williams transforms the Sixers from bottom of the barrel in the East to playoff contender.

3. Minnesota Timberwolves: Sure, they dropped further than they were slotted to go but they saved themselves the embarrassment of taking home the top pick. Could you imagine the fiasco if Minnesota had to pass on John Wall because they foolishly drafted point guards Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio last year? The way the draft is shaping up, the T'Wolves could nab Syracuse small forward Wesley Johnson at #4. Johnson's an athletic forward in the Shawn Marion mold with a huge wingspan. He's the type of athletic wing player that would fit in nicely with Flynn(or Rubio, if he ever comes to Minnesota). The Timberwolves are talking about moving up to nab Wall or Turner and you wonder if they'll finally decide to dangle Rubio as trade bait, but I can't see Washington passing up a chance at Wall to roll the dice on a guy who may not even come to the States this year(Then again, these are the Wizards).


LOSERS

1. New Jersey Nets: I've always been a fan of the lottery because it keeps teams honest from tanking for elite college prospects. However, you have to feel bad for the Nets. There was no question this was the worst team in basketball last year, even with rising stars Devin Harris, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Brook Lopez. With the Nets under new ownership and eventually moving to the bright lights of Brooklyn, the team needed a fresh face to be its poster child. Instead, the team with the best shot at the top pick gets to pick third in a draft that has two franchise players. Georgia Tech freshman power forward Derrick Favors may be a solid prospect and the type of banger that will complement Lopez for years to come, but he isn't putting butts in seats and he isn't grabbing the interest of the man Nets fans were waiting years to come to the Meadowlands: LeBron James. Assuming Favors is the pick at 3, the Nets now have to hope that the potential move to New York and the presence of partial owner Jay-Z can lure a guy like King James or someone of elite status to come to the Nets. Wall might have gotten James' attention. Favors? Probably not. You had to expect the Nets weren't getting the top pick once they finished with the NBA's worst record. After all, the worst team hasn't gotten the top pick since the Magic took Dwight Howard in 2004. Still, a team that got no breaks their way all last year needed this one badly and, instead, watched their shot at a dynasty bounce off the rim.

2. Los Angeles Clippers: They weren't going to pick in the top two anyway unless they got Blazers in '07 or Rockets in '02 lucky, but the Clippers, much like the Nets, were hoping to get a bounce their way from the lottery gods in an attempt to lure LeBron James to the West Coast. Instead, they'll have to settle for a guy like Kentucky headcase DeMarcus Cousins or lone UNC bright spot Ed Davis to add to their stable of talented youngsters. LeBron was a long shot to join the Clippers anyway. After all, owner Donald Sterling is a racist cheapskate and an elite star of LeBron's magnitude is not going to want to share the same building with Kobe Bryant while playing for a team that seems to have the hardwood version of the Madden Curse. Still, it would have been fun to see what the Clippers would have done with a top-3/top-5 pick in a deep draft and see the kind of measures Sterling would go to to try to convince LeBron or Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh to come to Hollywood. Instead, they'll have to welcome another uncertain prospect and hope that Blake Griffin's busted knee was just an aberration.

3. John Wall: As bad as the Nets were last year, at least they had a young nucleus around them. They also had the scant hope that LeBron James or another top level free agent would sign with them. There was also the allure of possibly playing in New York when the Nets go to Brooklyn. Instead, "The Great Wall" gets to be city mates with President Obama and be the face of a franchise that just sold off its best assets for half price. Wall will take over a team that features two of the NBA's biggest nutjobs in small forward Josh Howard and waiting-to-be-reinstated point guard Gilbert Arenas. You have to think the Wizards will do whatever it takes to keep a toxic knucklehead like Agent Zero from poisoning their new cornerstone, but Arenas' ridiculous contract is harder to move than JaMarcus Russell in a line at Golden Corral. Howard's the same deal, even if he does have an expiring contract. Even if the Wizards COULD move Arenas and Howard, that leaves Wall to carry a Wizards team with absolutely no talent around him(unless, of course, they make a few big signings or trades). If you're a Wizards fan, you have to wonder, as bad as last season was, was it worth giving away Jamison and Butler now that you know that the faint dream of John Wall coming to town has come to fruition?