So I had to take a break from all the places I write because it has been a busy year already.  I have some NBA stuff I need to get off my chest.  I need to smack some dime droppers and draft action as well.  First lets get to a few free-agents.

First off it bothers me that it is so acceptable, almost like no big deal (pun intended) when an above average players gets $60 million to play basketball for a few years.  This is also the cause to my problem of only getting to one game a year now because of ticket prices.  Really does a hot dog of that quality really justify $5 and beers for $9?

1. Rashard Lewis- Will he stay or will he go?  I think he goes.  He may not want to sign on as the lone gun on a team in rebuilding mode. The Sonics just drafted Kevin Durant who plays the same position.  Lewis may get short term max money such as the new common 4 years $60 million deal, but he could get that in a sign and trade almost anywhere.  Which teams could make the move?  Portland, Miami, and Orlando are the commons teams you here on him.  What about Boston?  They just got Ray Allen from Seattle why not Lewis also?

2.  Chauncey Billups - He is unrestricted but the chances of him leaving Detroit are restricted.  Orlando's name again pops up on this one.  The Pistons can offer more money to stay and the Magic would have to do a sign and trade.  These teams did it once before with Grant Hill.  I thought there was no way Grant would leave Detroit but a sign and trade deal that sent Hill to the Magic the Pistons got Ben Wallace and Chucky Adkins.  Maybe in this sign and trade deal the Magic would send Grant Hill and Darko Milicic back to Detroit.  All three players are free agents currently, Darko is restricted.

3.  Kurt Hinrich's mama is ugly.  He isn't a free agent but I had to say that.

4.  Gerald Wallace - he is probably going to remain a Bobcat.  He may get a little over rated by some because he carried the Bobcats most of the year.  Someone had to do it!  Although if he does stay and they solidify the roster around him they may make a playoff run.  He may still be a player on the rise.

Cleveland - take this time as a chance to get better.  Dont overpay for your own mediocre not supporting players you have as free and restricted agents.  Take this chance to get Lebron two guys that are going to step up and take the pressure off of Lebron.  They went all the way to the finals but got slammed by a team like San Antonio who plays 9 deep and as a unit.  The Cavs still stand around watching Lebron hoping he may kick it out to them at some point.


Greg Oden will be a solid player?  He looks like he has all the tools to be a two way player in the NBA.  Well actually he looks like "Grandpa Lebron" in the Nike commercials but that was another blog down the line.  I wish he could have played two more years in college to refine his game.  This may have been his fathers decision to come out early and go pro.

Kevin Durant is another player that two more years of college basketball would have helped immensly.  He has the shot and skills but doesn't have the "NBA body" that he needs to play with men instead of kids on the court.  Like they say on Wall Street though is "sell high" and their stock has never been higher and was at its ceiling.

UPDATES:

Rip Hamilton to Seattle?  Frank Hughes, Sonics Insider for The News Tribune, quoting a source from local radio station WXYT, says the Pistons are considering shipping Richard Hamilton to Seattle, for Lewis?

Gerald Wallace, one of the hottest names in free agency, has drawn interest from the Pistons.  According to the AP- The Charlotte Bobcats face heavy competition in their effort to re-sign leading scorer Gerald Wallace.   The Bobcats were one of eight teams that contacted Wallace when the NBA's free agency period began at midnight Saturday. Dallas, Orlando, Milwaukee, Detroit, Miami, Portland and Golden State all made inquiries, a person close to Wallace said Sunday.

Ok so last year I posted a story about Minnesota Timberwolves Center Eddie Griffin who had smashed his SUV while driving drunk and cranking one out to porn.  That was one for sure way most fans agreed they would not have wanted to get busted.  But Griffin made his mama proud by pulling off this trifecta of nonsensical lunecy.

 Then a few months later another set of indescretions from the Detroit Lions defensive line coach Joe Cullen.  He was busted once when he drove through Tim Horton's drive thru naked.  Maybe he just wanted to see if he could use "it" as a bagel holder, who knows.  Then he was arrested for drunk driving two weeks later.

  Now comes the latest from a Wisconsin man.  He had his second arrest for similar charges.  This is the Associated Press story: 

SUPERIOR, Wis. (AP) — A 20-year-old man received probation after he was convicted of having sexual contact with a dead deer. The sentence also requires Bryan James Hathaway to be evaluated as a sex offender and treated at the Institute for Psychological and Sexual Health in Duluth, Minn."The state believes that particular place is the best to provide treatment for the individual," Assistant District Attorney Jim Boughner said.

Hathaway's probation will be served at the same time as a nine-month jail sentence he received in February for violating his extended supervision.

His extended supervision is from guess what?  Seriously, guess what it was.  Ok I will tell you, it was from killing a horse and having intercourse with the animal afterwards.  I may be going out on a limb here but, is it just me or should this man be getting a little more than probation for this?  Is this a guy we want living about your community? 

Just another thought on how not to get busted in my humble opinion.

Here is a new one to me.  The Seattle Supersonics may move out of Seattle at the end of the season the the WNBA Storm if the taxpayers do not assist with $300 million in taxpayers subsidies.  I was reading this in sleeplessineattles blog and couldn't help but get a little upset about another team holding their city hostage on a new arena/stadium.  Art Modell did this to the city of Cleveland with the Browns.  He used the stadium and its revenue as a means to get out.

It takes a lot of stones to actually have the nerve to demand a city grant $300 million to help a multi-Billion dollar company build its own facility.  The Sonics like almost every single team in any sport are NOT owned by the city but by an investor or investment group.  The Packers are the only team I even know of that is own by the citizens.

The part that really takes it over the top is that when you do go to watch your hometown team that you helped build a facility, they charge you 600% more for every item in the building and parking too!  Shouldn't everything be cheaper?  Seriously, how can they charge $8 or more for a beer and $3.50 for one hot dog.  Even McDonalds and other fast food chains have gotten into this scam.  Last season at a Tigers game I went into McDonalds to get a Big Mac meal and saw it was $9.50!  and you couldn't even get it special made.  I am not even sure if they made the food at this McDonalds.  It could have been driven there from a real McDonalds outside of the stadium.

  Griffin sets new low in atheletes getting busted

 I have been a little suprised at the lack of coverage this got back at the end of March.   Minnesota Timberwolves center Eddie Griffin was drunk and masturbating when he crashed his luxury SUV into a parked Suburban outside a store in Minneapolis, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the man whose Suburban was hit in the crash.  CBS out of Minnesota brought this news to us but I haver not really heard anything since.

According to an article dated on June 29,  WCCO-TV obtained copies of 911 calls and store surveillance video of the incident, along with an accident report the police submitted to the state police.  Drunk driving is bad enough.  Driving down the road with porn playing on the screen of your luxury SUV is also bad enough.  Griffin however had to combine the two.

Griffin however said he had just dropped his cell phone which is what had caused the crash.  Abed Hassuneh, who is the brother of the victim, said Griffin told him, "That he was masturbating himself going down that street. That's how the accident happened because he was not paying attention. He's paying attention to that video and all of a sudden he's shoveled somebody's car on the top of the sidewalk."

Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan ordered an internal affairs investigation of the conduct of the two officers who responded to the scene, after WCCO-TV made Dolan aware of allegations about the incident.

Key questions are why Griffin wasn't tested for alcohol and why the officers drove him out of the city to his home in St. Paul. Griffin also received tickets for not having a license and inattentive driving.

"Obviously, if somebody is drunk and they are driving we want that dealt with by the police officers of Minneapolis," Dolan said.

In the video, Griffin can be heard pleading with witnesses to not call police saying, "I can't go to jail."  The video also shows Griffin admitting he is drunk and doesn't have a driver's license and shows him struggling for minutes to put on his sweatshirt and offering to buy a car for the man who's SUV he crashed into in front of Santana Foods.  In other words he had gone into panic mode.

The moral of the story?  Drunk driving while cranking one out to porn is no way to go down.  His mother must be so proud!