1. Roundtable: Let's Talk Trades
ESPN.com's J.A. Adande and NBA analysts Tim Legler and Jalen Rose answer five questions as the trade deadline rapidly approaches. You can answer these questions at SporstNation, too.
NBA Trade Machine
Put on your GM hat and make your own trades and deals.
Trade Machine
1. Should the Suns trade Amare Stoudemire?
Adande: Yes. He wants out, they need to reset.
Legler: Yes, because the way that team is currently constructed, they're not going to contend for a championship anytime soon.
Rose: Yes, because they've already determined that they didn't want to pay him.
2. Who should the Cavaliers pursue: Amare or Antawn?
Adande: Amare, because this isn't just about now, it's about keeping LeBron James around in the future; Amare's 27, Antawn is 33.
Legler: Antawn, because I worry about the effects of how bad the Cavaliers can become defensively up front at times with Amare and Shaq together.
Rose: Amare, because Antawn has too many years and too much money left on his contract.
3. Should the Knicks give up Jordan Hill and future first-round picks to get Tracy McGrady from Houston and clear cap space?
Adande: The Knicks should give up as much as Houston will accept for McGrady and the max cap space. If this is their only strategy, might as well go all-out.
Legler: Absolutely, that's a no-brainer. Jordan Hill doesn't figure in their plans in any way, shape or form, and the only way to turn their cap space around is to pursue a big-name free agent.
Rose: Not only should they do it, they should do it right now. No-brainer.
4. Should the Celtics trade Ray Allen?
Adande: Yes, if it's not going to happen they might as well start adjusting now instead of waiting too long.
Legler: No, the Celtics rely on chemistry as much as anything to win games and Allen fits in perfectly with what they do, and he's become one of the best big-shot makers in the league.
Rose: No, at this point in the season, chemistry with a veteran-laden team is hard to manage, and his style of play fits in with the skill sets of the other players. Also, they won a championship together.
5. Should the Lakers trade for Kirk Hinrich?
Adande: No, taking on another $17 million in the next two years is too much for a guy shooting 38 percent.
Legler: No, Kirk Hinrich is too young to be regressing the way he is. That's a red flag, and they've found the guard production off the bench that they need.
Rose: No way, they already have the highest payroll in the NBA.2. Amare: High Risk, High Reward
ESPN.com
What's Amare Stoudemire been up to lately? I was able to catch his performance against Sacramento a couple of weeks back. Stoudemire put up a line of 30 points and nine rebounds against the Kings. That's the good news. But he was also the primary culprit in giving up a 31-point, 7-rebound performance to Donte Greene, who was playing power forward for the Kings in Jason Thompson's absence.
The game offered viewers the full breadth of Stoudemire's game, its best and worst qualities -- the explosiveness and the disinterest, the silky midrange jumper and the troubling tendency to get beaten to the ball beneath the glass. Stoudemire is a confounding -- but spectacular -- talent.
To read the entire Arnovitz blog entry, click here
4. Camby's Open Door
TrueHoop
Mike Dunleavy, the onetime Clippers coach, recently lost his job. Luckily, he had a spare: general manager.
And in that role, he is being judged for trading arguably his best player -- Marcus Camby -- for a backup point guard in Steve Blake, and a small forward coming off a major injury in Travis Outlaw.
The Clippers' end of the trade has been praised as a solid and affordable way to get younger and more skilled; it has also been condemned as a cheap way to drum up some cash while dooming the season.
Dunleavy was a guest on the Fox Sports West broadcast of the Blazers vs. Clippers, and used the airtime to intimate that it's conceivable he just pulled off an amazingly lopsided trade -- because Camby could return to the Clippers as a free agent this summer.
To read the entire Abbott blog entry, click here
5. Extreme Behavior
ESPN.com
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TUESDAY'S BEST
Brown Shannon Brown, Lakers: Kobe Bryant missed his fourth straight game with an ankle injury, but the Lakers were still able to pull out a 10-point win against the Warriors thanks to Brown, who scored a career-high 27 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.
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TUESDAY'S WORST
Davis Baron Davis, Clippers: Five turnovers, just two assists and eight misses on 11 attempts from the floor. It was a night to forget for Davis in the Clippers' 22-point loss to the Blazers.
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QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
"A classic, classic butt-kicking. No doubt about it. Mostly, I wanted our guys to keep competing and keep encouraging each other during the times we were down. It was hard to do that."
-- Sixers coach Eddie Jordan after Philadelphia was routed 105-78 by visiting Miami
6. Welcome Back, B-Roy ... Sort Of
(Sam Forencich /NBAE via Getty) 9. Rose Looks Healthy Against N.Y.
ESPNChicago.com
The Bulls' 118-85 throttling of the Knicks on Tuesday night only reinforced two things we already knew.
The Knicks are really bad.
And Derrick Rose is really, really good.
The All-Star point guard shook off the soreness from his bruised hip and scored 29 points in just 30 minutes of play. A great sign on two fronts for the Bulls, considering he completely dominated play when he was on the floor -- and he sat out the entire fourth quarter because the game was out of hand.
"They just overwhelmed us physically," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "To every ball, to every rebound, to every shot. Every fast break. They clobbered us."
D'Antoni's comments were spot-on. His team definitely was not.
That's because Rose broke their will. He was 14-for-18 from the floor and dished out six assists in the process.
"I'm sore a little bit," the 21-year-old guard conceded after the game. "But I just had to play through it and make sure we were all right."
To read the entire blog entry, click here.
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