Well, it took only 4 days before the 1st ever JBL off season trade went down. Oddly enough, I had just blogged about Elton Brand a couple days ago and about his upcoming season in Philly and now I don't have to worry about him as he has been moved on to Idaho.
The initial offer came in from Idaho as Diaw for Brand. This was of course accompanied with his usual little quote which read something to the effect that 'Diaw will be a monster with Okafor gone. I'm thinking 16-7-7 for cheep'. Perfect spelling of course.
Anyways, this initial offer was intriguing...I certainly did not expect Idaho to come knocking on my door...and I certainly did not expect his target to be Brand. Again, Elton has big upside for 09/10 because if he's healthy and can return to form - then $28 bucks is a great deal for those numbers. As previously mentioned though...there is some risk. What if he goes the way of Jermaine O'Neal?
So, the offer of Diaw for Brand was interesting...but I wanted more. If you go far enough back in my blog posts you will know that I have a bit of a man crush for Ronnie Brewer. So, I wanted him as well as Diaw and that was my counter-offer. About 4 hours later, Idaho accepted the deal. I honestly thought he would counter with Diaw & Thornton for EB...which would have also been very tempting but Brewer was the 2nd guy I really wanted.
So...why did I make this trade? Well, I wanted the cheap depth. I see Diaw as a pretty good piece of the puzzle in Charlotte this season. Tuna was right, with Okafor gone and Chandler coming in...Diaw will have to score more. I don't know if 16-7-7 is realistic (for the assists) but it may not be far off. Over the 2nd half of the season last year - Diaw averaged 15-5-5 while shooting 51% and 42% to go with 37 stls and 34 blks in 41 games. He really was a jack of all trades. I view him as a very good depth forward for just $15 bucks.
And then there's Ronnie Brewer. Again, he's not the greatest Fantasy player. He's usually an after-thought in the Utah offense. But, for some reason, and somehow, he was able to average almost 14ppg while shooting over 50% from the field last year. But his biggest stat tick is his steals. He had 138 swipes last year and those can be hard to come by. He doesn't shoot the 3 well and he isn't likely to score 20+ points on many nights...but he has his place. I can protect him for $11 bucks. Is that a huge discount over his likely draft night price? Probably not...but he's one of those guys who you pretty much know what you're gonna get night in and night out.
So...this move was the classic situation of do I go the risky road or do I play it safe? I went safe here. It leaves me a lot of options on draft night now with over $200 left to spend.
So where does this leave Dwyane Wade??? I think at this time it means he's going to be a Free Agent and heading back into the JBL draft. This, just hours after learning that Seoul is sharpening the pencils to sign Lebron's extension. Will Woo stick to his plan and keep LBJ now knowing that he would have the least amount of money to spend on draft night???
And what does this do to the mindset of Crikker in Arctic? Does he keep Howard? Is he the guy? Does Chris really want to spend $74 dollars for D12?
And how does Brussels feel about this move?? He was counting on me to keep Wade and not have any money left for the Goldenboy - Brandon Roy - well, guess what Timmy - I now have more money available to spend on draft night than you do...ugh oh.
Still waiting for Juan to make a move. They have 5 guys and only 2 keeper spots. I put up a poll on the website about which 2 they will be and we saw a lot of different answers. If it was me, it's Durant and Lopez. Durant is potentially a top 5 Fantasy player in my books while Lopez for $1 dollar is ridiculous as he is already one of the best Fantasy centres after just one season.
And finally, in probably the most exciting thing to happen in the JBL in a long time, the JBL website has the 1st ever JBL podcast on the front page. I have to say it was one of the most fun things I have done in a long time. Crikker's interview was awesome. The way he put the clip together was amazing with the intro music, the ticking clock for the rapid fire questions, and his sultry fade out at the end. I listened to it 3 times today. I have this craving for more...I want to do another one. Let's preview the season. Let's preview the JBL draft. Let's chat about a new team name for Trev. Anything, let's just podcast it. I want to interview someone. Let me interview Crikker. Or Benny. Or Timmy. Or Tuna. I have podcast fever. It was amazing. Really. A rush. So cool.
Well, that's it for me tonight. I'm gonna start searching for some team names for Trev again and then starting putting together some podcast stuff. Maybe Crikker and I will hit the big time - just like these guys (wwww.nba.com/magic/multimedia/dantegalanteshow.html). They are classic! They broadcast summer league games and have a HUGE following. I heard them this year for the 1st time and was hooked right away. Check them out on Facebook - they have their own fan page with over 700 fans. Crikker and I can only dream of being that popular.
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