Free Agents Move East?

A New Sixers Brand

The Philadelphia 76ers made one of the biggest moves so far in the young free agency period of the NBA. Philly added the services of 10 year NBA veteran and perennial All-star, Elton Brand. It had originally appeared like Brand would re-sign with his longtime Clippers, and align himself with their latest acquisition, PG Baron Davis. But the Sixers gave up enough cash to add the big man to their front court mix, and are now ready to compete in the East.

As noted on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike show, more players are likely headed to the East because they have a better chance at competing there. In the West, talent is stacked and several teams are leaps and bounds above the rest. Right now the NBA Finals runner-ups, the Lakers, may lose Ronny Turiaf to the Warriors, as they need to match an offer made to him.
The Lakers basically steamrolled through the Western side of the playoffs, before being dismantled by Boston in the Finals. That said, Boston didn't have an easy route in the East. They were taken to the limit by both Atlanta and Cleveland. Meanwhile, Philly took the Pistons six games in the East, and with the addition of a solid upfront player like Elton Brand, the Sixers only increase their chances at making it deep into the playoffs.

The case was also made that teams like the Bulls and Nets made great draft night moves to position themselves. But that positioning might not pay off until a year or two down the road. The Bulls are young and able, but the Nets may be more of a rebuild as Vince Carter isn't getting younger and may decide to leave town for a title contender. Watch for more teams to attempt to sign key players in the coming weeks in order to compete in 2008-09.

2 More NBA Stars Return to Wild West

Wednesday night saw not just the return of Gilbert Arenas and Dirk Nowitzki, but also the returns of two more NBA All-Stars. Both were stars from Los Angeles as well. Pau Gasol suited up for the Lakers, while Elton Brand suited for the Clippers. The returns of both players are welcome, however the Lakers are in the hunt for the top spot in the Western Conference, while the Clippers are far from the playoff hopes right now. Brand scored an impressive 19 in his return helping his Clips beat the Sonics 102-84. Brand's been one of the all-star players out the longest. Paul Gasol returned to add just 10 points in 31 minutes to help the Lakers beat the Blazers.

There's currently six West teams that should finish with 50 wins this season, and they are jockeying for the top of the West.

New Orleans, San Antonio, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Utah

There's several other teams capable of getting 50 wins, with Denver, Golden State and Dallas.

See current NBA standings at InsideHoops.com

Each remaining game will feature West Coast teams battling it out, and will most likely take on a playoff atmosphere as the regular season finishes. The other funny thing to take note of, there's been several East teams to clinch playoff spots already, but nothing's confirmed yet out in the Wild West.

The NBA Player Wives List

Who's your favorite NBA star married to, or are they even married? The most famous of NBA wives today may be the Desperate Housewives star herself, Eva Longoria-Parker. Eva and Tony married just last year with a fancy ceremony in Paris. Another well known wife is Vanessa Bryant, who's married to LA Laker Kobe. Vanessa was in headlines quite a bit after Kobe admitted to having an extra-marital affair. Kobe's wife stood by him throughout the ordeal and they are happily married still. Grant Hill is married to R&B singer, Tamia.

For many ballers, marriage is short-lived, while others stay happily married. Recent divorcees included Shaq, Vince Carter and Jason Kidd. There's also many baller bachelors in the league.

Here's a look at some of your other favorite NBA stars' wives, with notes next to each.

NBA Players Wives

Chauncey Billups - Piper Billups

Elton Brand - Shahara Simmons (longtime girlfriend from Duke)

Caron Butler - Andrea Butler


Kobe Bryant - Vanessa Laine Bryant (model)

Tim Duncan - Amy (ex-cheerleader from Wake Forest)


Kevin Garnett - Brandi Padilla (sister of Jimmy Jam Harris, music producer)

Manu Ginobili - Marianela Orono


Grant Hill - Tamia (R&B singer)

Allen Iverson - Tawanna Iverson

Tracy McGrady - CleRenda Harris (dated 10 years)

Yao Ming - Ye Li (Chinese women's basketball player)

Dikembe Mutombo - Rose Mutombo

Steve Nash - Alejandra Amarilla (personal trainer from Paraguay)


Tony Parker - Eva Longoria-Parker (model, Desperate Housewives star)


Peja Stoyakovic - Aléka Kamilá (Greek fashion model)

Dwyane Wade - Siohvaughn Funches* (highschool sweethearts)

*Note: Siohvaughn Funches-Dwyane Wade began divorce proceedings in 2007 and are trying to work things out in terms of their two children, Zaire and Zion.

Back to latest Love & Basketball NBA blog entry

Top 10 Facial Dunks of 2007

NBA.com has presented its "Top 10 Facial Dunks of 2007". Here's a look at what made their list for the past year.

10 - Lamar Odom delivers a facial on Amare Stoudamire
9 - Kevin Durant's Tomahawk dunk on the Raptors
8 - Tyrus Thomas dunks it on Josh Smith
7 - Manu Ginobli takes it to the hole on Diop of the Mavs.
6 - Rudy Gay dunks on the Rockets' Scoda.
5 - Tim THomas with the vicious dunk on the Knicks.
4 - Elton Brand on Jerry Stackhouse
3 - Trevor Ariza dunks it on Emeka Okafor
2 - Lebron James jams it on Rasheed.
1 - Baron Davis takes it strong over Kirilenko

Check out the highlights of these at NBA.com.

Also today, NBA TV will be presenting highlights and games from the classic Lakers versus Celtics rivalry. Tonight the new look dominant Celtics face Kobe and his Lakers in Los Angeles at 10 PM EST.

Kevin Martin is a Scorer

Taking a look at the stats leaders for the NBA as of today reveals much of what you'd expect it to be. The listings seem to make sense for the most part. Perhaps the biggest surprise comes here from the scoring leaders though:

NBA Scoring Leaders:
LeBron James CLE 30.9
Kobe Bryant LAL 27.0
Carmelo Anthony DEN 25.8
Kevin Martin SAC 25.2
Tracy McGrady HOU 25.0

Lebron, Kobe, Melo..Expected. T-Mac also a usual suspect. But Kevin Martin? Very surprising. Last season he came on strong, but didn't expect him to keep it up. He averaged about 3 points his rookie season, then went up to about 10ppg and then doubled it to 20. Now he's sitting pretty with the other scorers. He's got to be one of the most deceptive scorers around because looking at his body type you wouldn't expect it. He's also picking up extra points with Mike Bibby sidelined (out 10-12 weeks after thumb surgery). A small guy like AI was up there but that's AI. Kevin Martin is definitely a guy who flew under the radar and probably will have a high value for other teams. If I were him I might even shop for one as soon as he can because Sacramento is going nowhere fast.

Rebounding Leaders:
Marcus Camby DEN 15.5
Dwight Howard ORL 14.6
Chris Kaman LAC 14.1
Emeka Okafor CHA 13.0
Kevin Garnett BOS 12.8

Rebounding leaders make sense so far. Camby is a pogo stick basically and his abilities as a center and defensive player are pretty amazing. Chris Kama checks in on the list most likely due to Elton Brand's injury status. KG, Okafor and D Howard are steady on this category each season.

Current Assist Leaders:
Steve Nash PHX 10.8
Chris Paul NOH 10.3
Jason Kidd NJN 10.2
Baron Davis GSW 9.0
Deron Williams UTA 8.3

No surprises for assists leader either. A very close race there too which goes to show how valuable point guards are to a team. Nash has been a two time MVP, and Kidd was nearly MVP. A recent article looks at the idea that maybe the Nets should trade Kidd to the Lakers to play with Kobe.

Overall, it's still relatively early in the NBA, but the statistical leaders seem on track. View the full stat listings at NBA.com.

NBA Standings Analysis 11.11.07

Checking out the NBA standings even though it's still early, there's some surprises. The division leaders as of today are Boston, Detroit and Orlando. Nobody is too surprised by the Celtics red-hot start. Orlando is definitely on the rise thanks to Dwight Howard who continues to shine. And Detroit is a stable team which plays like most teams should. But many are surprised by Chicago's lackluster start and the Wizards winless start. The Wizards do have Gilbert Arenas back, but he is reportedly trying to recover from knee/leg surgery still. Miami is also winless and sorely misses D-Wade. That most likely explains the new Converse commercials where Wade is shown in an empty arena announcing himself.

Out West, not too many surprises. The teams you'd expect to be good are good (Utah, Denver, Phoenix, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas), those you'd expect to be bad are bad (Seattle, Minneosta, Memphis). However, the Clippers would have to be the surprise at 4-1. Elton Brand has been a solid force for them over the past few seasons so without him, its tough to understand how they are pulling wins off. Upon further analysis, three of the four teams they beat are winless (Bulls, Sonics, Warriors). Their other win is the Pacers, and their loss the Pistons. Still, they are winning and leading their division. The other division leaders are Utah and Houston/San Antonio. Houston's looked great early on, and as usual the test will be that T-Mac and Yao stay healthy this year. Portland is interestingly sitting at 3-3 without Greg Oden, but this will most likely start to change. Winless teams Minnesota and Seattle are in true rebuild mode and Golden State is either really missing J-Rich or just had a big surge the second half of last season.

If you look at the overall early picture so far it makes you wonder if the East is that bad anymore? A team like the Wizards has been a strong contender the past few years, as has Miami. Boston was not. Charlotte may be coming in to their own, as Orlando definitely is turning into a contender, slowly but surely.

The Bad News Bulls?

Something is amuck in the Windy City. The Bulls are definitely the biggest surprise of the early NBA season as many fans are seeing. This team, predicted by many to be one of the top 3 out of the East has come out of the gates with a winless start, 0-4. Unexpected and almost inexplainable. According to a recent Chicago Sun-Times article, one bright spot was rookie Joakim Noah's recent debut. Despite that, one would have to wonder why is this team not winning games?

Looking at the Bulls' stats, you have 4 guys scoring in double digits, with Ben Gordon leading the way at 20.5 points. Kirk Hinrich's production and Ben Wallace's production seem off and sub-par compared to what either player is capable of. Hinrich was a point guard for a Team USA squad a few summers ago and now seems like he's a rookie with just 11.5 ppg and 4 assists per game. Wallace is also playing like a bench role player picking up just 4.3 rebounds a game and 1.5 blocks. This isn't the guy Chicago wanted to land from the former champion Pistons. They wanted the Big Bad Ben, capable of snatching tons of rebounds and intimidating offensive minded players.

Bright spots for the Bulls are Tyrus Thomas who's pulling almost 7 boards a game and 8.3 points, and veteran Joe Smith who's also giving about 10 points a night and almost 7 rebounds. But overall this team of tremendously talented players needs to start finding ways to produce and win, or they will be competing for a lottery pick, not a spot in the Finals.

On the other hand you have a reverse surprise, the Los Angeles Clippers who are undefeated without Elton Brand. They recently defeated the aforementioned Bulls. It's amazing and suspicious all at once in a very tough Western Conference.

NBA News and Notes 11.05.07

Here's some news and notes from around the NBA with the season in its first full week of action.

Elton Brand and Greg Oden aren't the only stars forced to sit out for most of or all of the NBA season. Adam Morrison of the Charlotte Bobcats is now out for the season with an ACL tear in his left knee, probably one of the worst injuries someone can see in basketball or pro sports. Morrison will have surgery on the knee in about 5 days. Despite the injury, Seattle Times reports Morrison is trying to stay positive.

Players of the week for the first NBA week were Indiana Pacer Danny Granger and Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady. Both teams are off to 3-0 starts in their respective Conferences, and perhaps Indiana was the bigger surprise of the 2. Strong play from Granger indicates he may have a breakout season to lead this team, with J O'Neal struggling with injuries. T-Mac is more expected although he and teammmate Yao will need to also stay healthy this season to keep the Rockets contending.

Speaking of Yao, there was the highly-praised game of his fellow Chinese superstar, Yi Jianlian for the Milwaukee Bucks. Yi had 16 points and 8 rebounds in an early game, helping the Bucks record a win over the favored Chicago Bulls. According to reports from China, fans were flipping back and forth between the Houston Rockets game to see Yao and the Bucks game to watch Yi in action. This is definitely great for the NBA as it broadens its fanbase even more. Yao was already very popular there and jersey sales of other NBA stars are as well. Yi is also being heavily promoted amongst Chinese media sources. The question will be do both these guys get a ton of votes come All-star time?

And of course the NBA story everyone loves to hate is that of Kobe Bryant. Will he stay a Laker, or will he leave? It's always good to see a player stay his career for one team, but sometimes it is inevitable and things can't be worked out in their current situation. Kobe seems unhappy with the way the current Lakers team is and it may be justified as he's won in the past. So where will the star end up next? Marc Stein at ESPN.com has the "Take a spin on the Kobe Coaster" article in which he says don't rule out Chicago or Dallas at all. Stay tuned.

Elton Brand Injury

According to NBA.com, Elton Brand suffered a ruptured achilles this past Friday. An unfortunate injury for one of the league's most consistent power forwards.

From NBA.com:

"EL SEGUNDO, August 3 (AP) -- Los Angeles Clippers forward Elton Brand ruptured his left Achilles' tendon on Friday during his daily workout.

The 28-year-old will undergo surgery but plans for the operation have not been finalized yet, the Clippers said.

"It's unfortunate that this had to happen,'' general manager Elgin Baylor said in a statement. "But knowing Elton and how dedicated he is to his profession and how hard he works, I believe he'll be back 100 percent as good as ever.''

Last month, Brand - a veteran of eight NBA seasons - withdrew from the U.S. national team because of injury. He averaged 20.5 points and 9.3 rebounds last season, when the Clippers failed to make the playoffs."

Let's wish for a speedy recovery for Elton, an all-around good player and good guy on and off the court.

Elton Brand: Movie Producer

LA Clipper Elton Brand has embarked on a secondary career in case he ever needs to "quit his day job". Brand is now in movie production and his first feature film, "Rescue Dawn" starring Christian Bale, is set to open July 20, 2007. Rescue Dawn has a running time of 126 minutes. The plot involves the real-life story of U.S. fighter pilot Dieter Dengler, a German-American shot down and captured in Laos during the Vietnam War.

Brand is listed as lead producer for the film and recently attended a party to show the movie where other celebs dropped by. According to the Ebert and Roepert movie review show the movie isn't all that bad either.

Brand's next project is called "Somethings Wrong in Kansas" which is a horror/thriller involving a group of students seeking revenge for the death of a college sorority pledge.