Sport-Blog.com

By Ed Jennett


The NBA has to be extremely grateful to have the Heat in the Southeast Division. Miami is the only playoff lock in a division that appears to want to take the unofficial title of worst division in basketball away from the Atlantic. Every Southeast team except for Miami is in urgent need of an extreme makeover.


Will he stay or will he go now? That is the question facing the Atlanta Hawks, will SF/PF Al Harrington, who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer, stay or be traded before the deadline. Almost every rumor about the Hawks revolves around Harrington, despite Atlanta saying that he will not be traded. Unless the Hawks get an ideal trade scenario that provides them with an ending contract(s) and two first round picks to replace the ones foolishly surrendered in the sign and trade for PG/SG/SF Joe Johnson, Harrington might stay put until the offseason. One scenario that would work is trading Harrington, PG Tony Delk, and C John Edwards to the New York Knicks for the expiring contract of Anfernee Hardaway and their two first round picks (via Denver and San Antonio).

The Charlotte Bobcats are involved in a couple of rumors. Rumor one is that Charlotte is trying to obtain disgruntled PF Reggie Evans from the Seattle SuperSonics. But for the moment, the Sonics are asking for too much. That may change closer to the deadline. One potential for any team taking Evans is that he reportedly turned down a two-year, $4 million offer from Seattle, so any team that acquires him risks losing him in the offseason as an unrestricted free agent if a deal cannot be reached.

Rumor two with Charlotte is that PG Brevin Knight will be dealt and PG Raymond Felton will be elevated to the starting spot. But the Bobcats will not trade Knight without his prior approval and believe that he will retain his trade value in the future, so it does not appear that a trade is imminent.

Apparently even the legendary Pat Riley can make mistakes. Correcting those mistakes are the goals for the Heat President/Head Coach for the upcoming trade deadline. Riley somehow underestimated the value of having shooters have around his two superstars, C Shaquille O’Neal and PG/SG Dywane Wade. Shooters spread the floor and prevent the other team from doubling Shaq and/or Flash because there will be an open man who will hit outside shots. For some reason Riley decided to bring in other scorers PF Antoine Walker, PG Jason Williams, and PG Gary Payton to team with his dynamic duo.

The other problem for Miami is that Walker and Williams are not good defenders and Payton is no longer the defensive stopped that he was in his prime. Miami is not the same championship caliber team that they were a year ago and have little chance of beating Detroit this season without making some sort of move. Walker is the most likely player to go as he is clearly a bad fit. He is too good to come off of the bench and is at his best when he is dominating the ball. So of course he is a reserve for the Heat and does not have the ball in his hands nearly enough. There was speculation that he would go to Indiana for SF Ron Artest, but obviously that did not happen. On the right team Walker would return to playing at an All-Star level, so Riley should be able to find a deal for him that improves the defense and/or shooting of the Heat.

Orlando is such a mess that they make their Florida neighbors the Heat look like the old Celtics dynasty. The Magic is shopping All-Star PG Steve Francis, and shopping him hard. Stevie Franchise was almost dealt to Denver this past weekend in a multiple-team trade, but the deal fell apart. Supposedly Orlando was supposed to receive PF/C Nene from the Nuggets and PG/SG Jamal Crawford from the Knicks. Considering Francis has infuriated the last two franchises (Houston and Orlando) to employ him and lowered his trade value, it would have been a pretty good deal. Another deal for Francis will most likely be found. The only questions are where will he end up and whether that trade will be as good as the one that fell apart.

Although there are no trade rumors coming out of Washington, the Wizards have an imbalanced and struggling team that should be broken up. Surprisingly the Wizards released one of their best trade assets, PG Chucky Atkins, earlier in the season. Atkins is a good backup and was also an expiring contract, so he would have great value around the league.

If the Wizards do decide to actually trade an asset it will most likely be one of their plethora of big men. Washington has so many power forwards and centers that second year C Peter John Ramos has been sent down to the developmental league so he can receive playing time. Ramos, rookie PF Andray Blatche, and veteran C Calvin Booth are all prime candidates to be dealt. Unfortunately they all have small contracts (Booth makes the most, $900K this season and $998K next season) so it will be difficult to get much in return for any of them.