Rasheed Wallace to Celtics, Ron Artest to Lakers

The last two NBA Champions, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics each added a key veteran superstar to their lineups within the past week or so. Just last week, the Los Angeles Lakers signed Ron Artest, a nemesis of Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Clips have been shown repeatedly of their fierce battle during the playoffs, including Artest's antics while jawing with Kobe. Kobe's Lakers got the last laugh with the series win and eventual championship, and then quickly gobbled up the defensive stalwart Artest in a move to help solidify their chances of a repeat. Add Artest in with Gasol, Bynum and Odom, and you've got some nice frontcourt depth going.

Meanwhile, a team that definitely was disappointed this postseason was the Boston Celtics. They were hurt most by Kevin Garnett's injury which caused his playoff absence. Although they outlasted the Bulls in 7 games, they just didn't have the frontcourt presence to compete with Orlando, who eventually went on to the NBA Finals. Smartly, the Celtics just recently signed Rasheed Wallace from the Detroit Pistons. The move comes right after Detroit landed free agents Ben Gordon from the Bulls and Charlie Villanueva from the Bucks. Cleveland also added Shaquille O'Neal in the past few weeks, Vince Carter went to the Magic during the NBA draft, and Pistons guard Allen Iverson has been hunting for a new team.

It's ironic that the Celtics and Lakers signed two of the more controversial players in the NBA, but also two extremely talented stars. These teams most likely will embrace these two hotheaded stars who tend to rack up the technical fouls, and they have the coaches and other players capable of keeping them in a less volatile state. At Boston you've got KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, three amigos and class act workmen on the court, who Rasheed should fit in nicely with. Artest will be aligned with Kobe which can't be a bad thing either, and Phil Jackson is no stranger to coaching bizarre, hard to handle talent, such as Dennis Rodman.

It's hard to speculate which team has made the best moves this postseason but it seems several of the top dogs are looking to once again fight for the top position and records en route to an NBA title.

NBA Movers & Shakers: Childress & Artest

Two interesting moves have gone down recently in the NBA, with the former Hawk Josh Childress deciding to play overseas, and with the Houston Rockets trading for Ron Artest.

First up is the move Josh Childress made as he moved away from the NBA to play ball in Europe. Childress liked the amount the European team was offering and he was soon packed and ready to go. While Childress isn't exactly the best player on the Atlanta Hawks, he definitely brought them a lot of his talents in the playoffs. The Hawks took it the full 7 games before losing to eventual NBA champs, the Celtics. There was recent rumors that Ben Gordon might head overseas as well, as the Bulls may not be able to pay him what he wants either. According to the latest ESPN magazine, we may see even more NBA players make the move overseas, while the NBA brings in more European players.

The other interesting move was a trade with the Houston Rockets acquiring star defender and former fight-starter, Ron Artest. Artest brings Houston even more defensive toughness now, as they have Yao Ming manning the middle and then Artest and Battier down low for rebounds and scrappy plays. With that sort of solid defensive trio, the Rockets have a great shot to go deep in the 2008-09 playoffs out West. Of course that is if Yao Ming can remain healthy enough to give them some help in the playoffs...

No Nonsense NBA Suspensions

From the Boston Herald:

"An NBA spokesman confirmed last night that the league is reviewing Paul Pierce [stats]’s grab of Jamal Crawford during the Celtics [team stats]’ exhibition loss in New York Monday night.

The C’s captain, rushing to the aid of teammate Ray Allen after the guard crashed to the floor following Crawford’s foul, grabbed the Knick under the chin.

Pierce later said he thought Crawford was about to “stand over” Allen. Asked about the league’s investigation before last night’s 82-71 loss to New Jersey, Pierce said, “Well, the league will look into it then.”

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Pierce's fate is unknown as of right now. Last week, Josh Howard was suspended for a fight with Sacramento's Brad Miller. This brings up how the NBA is being less tolerant of just about anything these days from its players and yes, even its referees.

Suspensions prior to the 2007-08 season:

10/20/07
Denver suspended J.R. Smith for the first 3 games of the regular season
for conduct detrimental to the team.

10/19/07
The NBA suspended Josh Howard (Dal) for 2 games for throwing a forearm at
the back of Brad Miller (Sac) after Miller intentionally shoved Devin
Harris (Dal) to the ground during Tuesday's Dal-Sac game.

9/17/07
The NBA reinstated suspended referee Joey Crawford. Crawford had been
suspended since 4/17/07 for improper conduct and a lack of
professionalism and for being a repeat offender following a Dallas-San
Antonio game where Crawford ejected Tim Duncan (SA) for simply
laughing while Duncan was on the bench.

8/31/07
The NBA suspended James Posey (Bos) for 1 game for his no contest plea
regarding a charge of reckless driving.

8/23/07
The NBA fined Seattle co-owner Aubrey McClendon $250,000 for his comments
from 2 weeks ago about the new owners' plans to move the team to Oklahoma.

7/14/07
The NBA suspended Ron Artest (Sac) for 7 games for his no contest plea in
May to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge.


7/14/07
The NBA suspended Stephen Jackson (GS) for 7 games for his guilty plea in
June to a felony count of criminal recklessness for firing a gun outside a
strip club last fall.

You can review a great listing of all publicized NBA suspensions dating back to 1994-95 here