Knicks make moves, score T-Mac & cap room

In a blockbuster 3-team deal, the New York Knicks have not only landed Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady, but also have cleared cap room for the upcoming 2010 free agent wars. It was reported earlier on Thursday that the Rockets and Kings were working out a deal to trade Kevin Martin and several players in exchange for McGrady and other players. Right before the NBA trade deadline struck, the Knicks managed to acquire Tracy McGrady and Sergio Rodriguez (Kings).

The Knicks have now traded away Nate Robinson, Darko Milicic and Jared Jeffries, freeing up plenty of cap space to sign two max free agents. That could mean their #1 choice Lebron James will suit up as a Knick starting in 2010-11, and that another player such as Chris Bosh or Dwyane Wade will join him in the lineup. The Knicks may have upped their status as potential title contenders for that next season with these moves, which at first appeared odd with them simply trading away Nate Robinson to the Celtics for bench player Eddie House.

The Houston Rockets now acquire Jared Jeffries (Knicks) along with Kevin Martin from the Kings. Also, Sacramento picks up Larry Hughes (Knicks), Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey both from the Kings. Tracy McGrady will be a member of the Knicks but has an expiring contract as well, and has mentioned a desire to play for a playoff contender like the Lakers or Cavaliers. However, the Cavaliers wouldn't exactly be a contender if King James is long gone.

Confused yet? The important things to note are that Kevin Martin is now a Rocket, and Tracy McGrady is now a New York Knick. Oh and that the Knicks just might be able to woo King James with enough money to have him switching from a red-maroon Cavs jersey to Knicks blue and orange for 2010-11.

Read more about today's trade here at NY Daily News.

Sacramento Monarchs done, Kings next?

Just four short years ago, the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs were on top of the female basketball world, winning the WNBA Championship. Fast forward to 2009, with a struggling economy and slumping ticket sales for basketball, and the Monarchs are officially wiped off the WNBA's active teams list.

According to news reports, some Sacramento players didn't find out until logging into their Twitter accounts online. Rebekkah Brunson was one such player, who saw the news via her teammate Chantelle Anderson's "tweet".

The Monarchs general manager/coach John Whisenant broke the news earlier to a Sacramento TV station that his WNBA team was no longer going to be backed by the Kings organization. The Kings are currently owned & run by the famous Maloof brothers, Joe and Gavin. Despite the Maloofs being dedicated bball fans and very rich, their two teams have been in trouble in recent times. Many NBA teams are having financial difficulties coupled with lower attendance numbers, which could lead to problems. It's possible the Kings could be looking to move, while the Monarchs are currently homeless, but eyeing the Bay area for their WNBA squad. Golden State has already nixed the idea of adding a female franchise to pair up with the Warriors.

According to the Seattle Times:

"Everyone in this business environment ... you have to do what has to be done," Joe Maloof told the Sacramento Bee. "Our focus is to turn the Kings around, and to do that, we have to put all our efforts and good salespeople on the Kings."

Sacramento was one of the original eight WNBA teams, but also came off a 12-22 season, a league worst. During their history, they had a 224-200 record overall, with several playoff appearances including a 2005 Finals win over Connecticut, and a 2006 Finals loss to Detroit. In 1999, center Yolanda Griffith was the league MVP as well.

Attendance was down 5% for the team this year at Arco Arena, with overall WNBA attendance down a whopping 26% since it's all-time high of 10,864 in 1998. This isn't the first WNBA team to fold or move either. Other women's bball franchises which saw their demise include Cleveland Rockers, Detroit Shock (who recently moved to Tulsa) and Orlando Miracles, who found a new home in Connecticut as the Connecticut Sun.

(Story Source: Sacramento Bee)

Manu Ginobli Bat Heroics on Halloween

Halloween is all about tricks, treats, ghouls, goblins, ghosts, and yes bats flying into NBA games! On Saturday night, the Kings and Spurs' game in San Antonio at the AT&T Center was invaded by a winged creature which swooped down from the rafters high above the crowd. After it interrupted the proceedings twice, gameplay was stopped as officials and players moved aside for the bat to take center court. However, Manu Ginobli decided enough was enough as he smacked the mammal down from mid-air. It flopped to the court, much like Ginobli on a self-generated foul and then Ginobli scooped it up to hand off for an unrecorded assist. The crowd, players and even his coach seemed to applaud the heroics of Manu Ginobli bat boy. Check out the video below to see Manu in action...

2009 Trade Deadline brings few moves

While the recent rumors of Shaq going to Cleveland have been squashed, there were a handful of deals made by teams looking to improve...

One of the bigger deals saw the Bulls and Kings swapping several players, with the Bulls clearly looking to chase down a playoff spot. Here's the ESPN Recap:

The Chicago Bulls and Sacramento Kings reached tentative agreement on Wednesday to trade Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden, Michael Ruffin and Cedric Simmons to the Kings for Brad Miller and John Salmons.

The Kings then turned around and shipped Ruffin to the Portland Trail Blazers for forward Ike Diogu and cash considerations. The Kings waived guard Quincy Douby and veteran Sam Cassell, acquired on Tuesday from Boston, to make room for their new players.

- NBA Trades before 2009 Deadline -

RAEFER ALSTON TO MAGIC, KYLE LOWRY TO ROCKETS

LARRY HUGHES TO KNICKS, TIM THOMAS TO BULLS

CHRIS WILCOX TO KNICKS, MALIK ROSE TO OKC

WILLIAMS TO WOLVES
- Shelden Williams and Bobby Brown to the Timberwolves
- Kings will receive Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth

BRAD MILLER, JOHN SALMONS TO BULLS
*(see above ESPN recap for full deal)

CHRIS MIHM TO GRIZZLIES, LAKERS GET FUTURE PICK

Iverson's $25,000 Fine & Coach Firings

On Tuesday the NBA fined Detroit Pistons guard Allen Iverson $25,000 for comments he made toward a fan in Charlotte. The comments came with just 6.2 seconds left in the third quarter. Detroit ended up winning the game 90-86. No report on exactly what was said by Iverson or the fan. According to Washington Post this is the second fine for Iverson since being dealt to the Pistons. His previous fine involved skipping practice on Thanksgiving day, which also resulted in him being benched for the start of the next game.

Happy trails to two former players turned NBA coaches, Sacramento's Reggie Theus and the Sixers Maurice Cheeks. At SportingNews.com two NBA "gurus" discussed the firing of Theus which took place on Monday.

BS: Are people blaming Theus for this, and if so, why shouldn't they?

TZ: Theus is taking blame, and he should. The local beat writer reported this morning that Theus had been habitually late for practices and the team bus. Theus admitted to being late for the bus. His reasoning? He didn't want to catch anyone else showing up late, for fear disciplining them would ruin the team chemistry. I find it hard to absolve Reggie, considering the biggest knock on the team has been a lack of on-court focus and discipline.

BS: Who did less coaching this year, Theus or Vinnie Del Negro? Or am I mistaken in assuming that Theus' mixed signals canceled themselves out?

TZ: Theus remained a stoic presence on the sideline; Del Negro tinkers with his rotations endlessly, it seems. At this point, I feel comfortable in stating that Theus is a better coach (makes better decisions), but Del Negro actually, um, cares.

Cheeks took full responsibility for his team's 9-14 start to the season. Cheeks was quoted as saying "Things don't always work out the way you expect them to," Cheeks said. "I take solace in the fact I did the best I could." The Sixers had high hopes for the season in which they acquired consistent star player, Elton Brand from the Clippers.

Donaghy Claims NBA Tainted Playoffs

So is former NBA referee Tim Donaghy for real, or just trying to save himself from a hefty prison term? According to recent allegations by Tim Donaghy, he claims that other referees were involved in altering NBA games and that the NBA gave them specific instructions for the playoffs.

From ESPN.com:

According to a letter filed in court last week, two referees, known as "company men," purposely ignored personal fouls and called "made-up fouls on Team 5 in order to give additional free throw opportunities for Team 6" in a 2002 playoff series.

"I stand by my calls in that game," Bernhardt told ESPN.com Thursday. "I was right on."

Although no teams are specifically named, it is not hard to deduce the game in question. The Lakers-Kings series was the only one that postseason that went seven games, and the officiating in Game 6 was so questionable that consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader called for a formal investigation.

The game in question saw Shaquille O'Neal score 41 points and pull down 17 rebounds as the Lakers forced a Game 7 in the 2002 Western Conference finals. This could all be an attempt by Donaghy to reduce his potentially stiff sentence for allegations he helped fix games and was involved in gambling with the mob several years ago. It's a he said versus they said at this point, with the league having the better credibility. That's not to say sports aren't fixed or that referees don't make huge mistakes either. More should come on this story, which unfortunately comes during a revival of a great Finals matchup between the Lakers & Celtics.

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.