This is a mad crazy time of year for NBA fans. You’re no doubt looking ahead to next season, questioning how your team can improve and what miracle trades they can swing to save you from another depressing April/May. The draft is around the corner, workouts are going on every day and speculation is wild about possible draft-day trades and sleepers. As Jobba eloquently put it to me the other day, “trades and rumors are starting to go around like flies hovering over a piece of shit”. With that in mind, we thought we’d dump a few links to keep you in the loop of the latest. I’ll leave it up to you to dissect the fact from the fiction from the utter bullshit.

UPDATE: “The Milwaukee Bucks agreed to trade Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs for Bruce Bowen and Kurt Thomas, a source said on Tuesday. In a simultaneous deal, the Spurs will send Fabricio Oberto to the Detroit Pistons for Amir Johnson who then goes to the Bucks”.

UPDATE: “The Washington Wizards are close to a deal that would send the No. 5 pick in Thursday’s draft, Oleksiy Pecherov, Etan Thomas and Darius Songaila to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Randy Foye and Mike Miller, a league source told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher on Tuesday.”

• Apparently the Hawks want Amare, the only source for this being Stephen A Smith’s Twitter:   “The hawks won’t do any better than they did this year unless they get who they want: Amare Stoudamire. They’re after him.”
• The Lakers are going to keep D.J. Mbenga despite him only playing seven games these playoffs for a total of 16 minutes
• Apparently the T-Wolves are trying to package a deal that would net them the #5 pick from Washington, including moving pieces like Mark Madsen (expiring 2010) and Mike Miller (expiring 2010). Then using the #6 and #5, try and trade up to #2 to get either Ricky Rubio or Thabeet.  Complicated? Yes. Likely bullshit? Yes.
• Sota’s GM David Kahn has offered Mike Miller to the Clippers for Kaman, but the Clippers want to trade out Marcus Camby instead. So far: Stalemate.
• The Wizards are definitely shopping the #5 pick. Likely destination is New York.  But not for who you thought, the deal here involves… wait for it… Larry Hughes and Jared Jeffries.
• Another rumor going around is that the Knicks are pushing Wilson Chandler for the #5.
• Apparently, despite the clear rule violation in relation to the July 1 deadline to begin talks, the Pistons have offered Ben Gordon $11mill per year. So much so, that the Pistons included Gordon’s photo in a newsletter to fans that discussed free agency this summer.
• The Cavs are looking at Vince Carter (yeah, wtf?) this off-season to put them over the top in the playoffs. Apparently the Shaq trade is on the back burner, as the Suns want more than two semi-expiring contracts in Pavlovic and Ben Wallace. Also, I just vomited putting the words “Vince Carter” and “over the top in the playoffs” in the same sentence.
• Hasheem Thabeet has joined the Ricky Rubio School of Piking and apparently doesn’t work out for draft scouts any more. “He’s not going to block shots in a workout, and that’s what he’s going to do in the NBA”, his agent said. Right. I think I just found a loophole to get me into the NBA. Become an awesome shot-blocker, then tell the draft scouts that “I just can’t block shots in a workout, but that’s what I’ll do in the NBA… just trust me on this one… I’m pretty sure I”ll go top ten”. More than likely though, Thabeet is just trying to hide the extent of his shoulder injury. This isn’t Oden 2.0 is it?
• Latest trade rumor out of the Celtics camp moves Ray Allen to The T-Wolves for Mike Miller, Randy Foye, and Ryan Gomes. And in a trade proposal that quite frankly I find hilarious, the Celtics offered Rondo and Allen to Detroit for Stuckey, Hamilton and Prince! This is how I imagine the situation would have gone down:

Pistons Executive walks hastily into Joe Dumars’ office….
Executive: “Hey Joe, we got a trade offer from the Celtics”
Joe D: “Oh yeah? What’s on the table?”
Executive: “They want Hamilton, Prince and Stuckey for Ray Allen and Rondo…”
Joe D: “Stuckey’s off limits Bob, you know that. But go on…”
Executive:”Ahh, that’s it”
Joe D: “Rip, Prince and Stuckey for Allen, Rondo and who?”
Executive: “Ummm no, that’s it. Just Ray Allen and Rondo”
Joe D: “Rip, Prince AND Stuckey for Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo?”
Executive: “Yep. The offer came through just two minutes ago”
Joe D: …silence…
Executive: “Well…?”
Joe D: …silence…
Executive: …silence…
Joe D: “Get the FUCK out of my office”

• Are you having trouble getting to sleep? Then how about you thumb through Tim Duncan’s graphic novel!
• Look for the Rockets to try and move McGrady, with New York being a possible destination.  Apparently the Knicks think that this washed up injured nobody will help in their quest to win the LeBron 2010 sweepstakes. With $20mill left on his contract, that’s quite an expensive experiment.
• Oliver Miller is making a comeback! “I was 400 [pounds], 405, and 415 before I started working out again. I liked Smokey’s BBQ. I look at myself then and I look at myself now and it’s crazy.” I’m speechless.

Major cred goes to Chucko for finding a lot of these links.

1. Idiots Blog Guide to the 2009 NBA Draft
2. Idiot's Blog Guide to the 2009 NBA Draft: Part II
3. Idiot’s Blog Guide to the 2009 NBA Draft 2.1: Man-Crush Edition
4. Patty Declares for the Draft
5. Patty Mills Draft Watch: To stay or not to stay

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