Foxsports : Steve Alexander "Offseason lowdown" : Team by Team offseason analysis.

I'm not familiar with Steve Alexander and he mentioned something about mock fantasy drafts so maybe Im reading this wrong. But I guess it's a team by team analysis on the offseason so far.

http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/story/3762454

Offseason lowdown
Steve Alexander / Rotoworld
Posted: 11 hours ago

Hello again everyone. It was a tough decision on what to write about this week, since the free agency puzzle has only begun to be solved and there is still so much movement that will happen in the next few weeks.

I decided to recap moves that have been made, where teams stand and what rumors are out there.
Future columns will include a mock fantasy draft (once everything is settled), a column dedicated to players who switched teams this off-season and other goodies.

First though, a quick baseball note. I got an email from loyal reader Brett James who felt the need to tell me about his excitement over trading Doc Halladay and Adam Dunn for Bobby Abreu on Friday, just before the All-Star break. Then, he got to watch his new stud jack 38 homeruns in the Derby, which had to be pretty fun, not to mention the fact Halladay got hurt shortly after he moved him. That's a nice fantasy sports All-Star memory, so congratulations on your coup. Of course, Brett wasn't rooting for Doc to get hurt, but when you move someone just before they go down, you can't help but have a bit of a grin on your face. That's the kind of luck that helps you win fantasy leagues.

NBA News and Notes

Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks signed their two top draft picks, Marvin Williams and Salim Stoudamire, but they still have two very glaring needs to address. As you probably know by now, they need a center and a point guard badly.

Stoudamire has impressed the Hawks greatly thus far, and is said to be much better than they thought he was and that he could even run the point. Incumbent PG Tyronn Lue is an unrestricted free agent (meaning he can sign with anyone), and could potentially end up back in Atlanta, although that's doubtful.

But right now, there are no hot rumors about point guards coming to Atlanta, although you have to think they're looking at Antonio Daniels, Marko Jaric, Earl Watson and Brevin Knight.

Ironically, all the noise being made in A-Town right now is about centers and a shooting guard named Joe Johnson. The Hawks have apparently made a maximum offer (five years, $70 million) to J.J., which the Suns will have to match if they want to keep him.

That is a ton of cash for a guy who couldn't shoot very well two or three years ago. But J.J. came into his own last year and became one of the better shooting guards in the league. The Suns are swearing they'll match any offers, and we'll find out soon.

A great question here is why do the Hawks want Johnson when they're already overloaded with swingmen? I don't really know either, but the Suns probably aren't very happy with them right now, as they're going to have to dig very deep into their pockets to keep Johnson.

The Hawks are interested in every center out there, including Eddy Curry and his shaky heart, Tyson Chandler, Samuel Dalembert and Stromile Swift.

There are several teams in contention to land one of these guys, and the Hawks will almost certainly come out of this with one of these guys. Curry will be looked at Thursday and has agreed to let the Hawks give him a physical, which he had been unwilling to do originally.

If Curry's heart checks out and the Hawks (or another team) are comfortable with his health and can secure heart insurance on the big man, look for him to receive a very large offer and leave the Bulls. If teams have questions about his heart, he'll probably end up back in Chicago for less money.

If they fail to sign the big free agents they seek, look for Al Harrington to be used for trade bait so that they can get the point guard they may miss out on in free agency.


Boston Celtics

Is Paul Pierce going to be a Celtic by the time this summer's over? If you ask Danny Ainge, the answer is yes. But there are so many rumors flying about "The Truth" it's really hard to know what the truth is.

My gut tells me he'll be back in Boston, especially given the fact he's coming off of one of his better years. On the other hand, Gary Payton and Antoine Walker are probably not going to be back this year, which means the C's have a very young team that will need some serious locker-room leadership.

That's exactly the role Pierce wants nothing to do with. He looked so happy last year when ‘Toine showed up and became the vocal leader. If Pierce is expected to be the leader again (simply because he and Ricky Davis are going to be the two vets there), he could easily end up somewhere else.

Rookies Gerald Green and Ryan Gomes are both slated to make the C's 12-man roster. Green is a no-brainer, and despite being taken with the 50th overall pick, Gomes sounds like a shoe-in as well. The Celtics considered taking Gomes with the 18th pick, but were lucky enough to get him at 50.

Green has reportedly been sky-walking in the summer league games, and Gomes is going to be a nice role player for a lot of years in the NBA. Also, look for Kendrick Perkins and Al Jefferson to play very important roles for the Celtics this year.

Charlotte Bobcats

Charlotte is going to be fun and young, if nothing else this year, with Emeka Okafor, Raymond Felton, Sean May, Primoz Brezec and Gerald Wallace.

The problems come at the swing positions, with projected starters Jason Kapono and Keith Bogans leaving something to be desired. The Cats will plod through this season, get some more experience under their belts, get another good draft set up and then acquire a free agent or two next year. Then they'll be ready to start making some noise in 2006.

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls have three big-name free agents that they are dealing with right now, and it's going to take all they have to keep them all.

Chris Duhon (starting point guard), Eddy Curry (starting center) and Tyson Chandler (power forward) are all talking to other teams right now. The Bulls want to keep all three, and will almost certainly not let Chandler get away, but Duhon and Curry could both end up elsewhere.

However, Duhon and the Bulls are reportedly in negotiations, and both parties want him with the Bulls, so Curry being courted by the Hawks is the big question mark in Chicago right now.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavs have already made a lot of noise by signing Larry Hughes and re-signing Zydrunas Ilgauskas, but they still have a lot of work to do as they still covet a power forward and a point guard.

The point guard candidates on their short list are Earl Watson, Antonio Daniels, Marko Jaric and Sarunas Jasikevicius. Jasickevicius has reportedly already turned down an offer from the Celtics and it appears the Cavs and Pacers are two of the finalists for his services.

If you don't know who he is, he's a sharp-shooting point guard from Lithuania who played in Israel last year. Larry Bird loves this guy, so he is probably the real deal.

The Cavs missed out on Udonis Haslem, even though they offered him more money than the Heat could. Now they'll set their sights on Shareef Abdur-Rahim or Antoine Walker to take over for Gooden at power forward.

The Cavs reportedly have concerns about Gooden's defense, or lack thereof, and if they land a power forward like ‘Reef or Stromile Swift, look for them to trade Gooden for a point guard.

Dallas Mavericks

The Mavs appear to be ready to cut Michael Finley to save a ton of luxury tax cash, which shouldn't hurt them too much since they have Marquis Daniels and Josh Howard ready to break out and actually had a logjam at the two last year, with Finley, Daniels and Jerry Stackhouse. Not much movement in Dallas, other than probably losing Finley and the retirement of Shawn Bradley (sniff, sniff).

Denver Nuggets

There has been a lot of talk about the Nuggets moving Nene in order to get a shooting guard, but the Nuggets really don't want to do that.

They're making runs at free agents Cuttino Mobley, Ronald Murray and Marko Jaric, but may end up just sticking with what they have. We'll know tomorrow whether or not they're keeping Voshon Lenard, out for most of last year with an Achilles' injury.

My guess is they won't make any free agent moves, but will end up keeping Lenard, who will be their primary two guard next year.

Detroit Pistons

I could go on and on about Larry Brown, but I'm not going to. He and the Pistons met on Wednesday and are set to have a conference call tomorrow, when we'll hopefully find out what is going to happen.

His agent is saying he's healthy enough to coach this year, but the Pistons might not want him back. Then again, they probably don't want to let him just walk off to the Knicks, either. Stay tuned.

Golden St.

The Warriors have a logjam at power forward, but have an elite backcourt featuring Baron Davis and Jason Richardson. Center Adonal Foyle is going to have to step it up this year, or they will continue to struggle in the paint.

The forward cluster includes Troy Murphy, rookie Ike Diogu, Andris Biedrins, Zarko Cabarkapa, Mike Dunleavy, Mickael Pietrus, Calbert Cheaney and rookie Chris Taft. The good news so far in Golden St. is the stellar play by surprising rookie Monta Ellis. This team is a solid center away from being a good team. It will be interesting to see if Foyle can find his niche this season.

Houston

The Rockets will be good again, but it doesn't look like they're going to be able to add any pieces to their puzzle, and they can only get so far with a marginal point guard (Bob Sura or Mike James) running the show and feeding Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. It will help that Juwan Howard should be healthy this year.

Indiana

The Pacers are involved in some trade rumors, but nothing seems imminent. They could move Austin Croshere, but I wouldn't be surprised if they stand pat and see what a lineup of a healthy Jamaal Tinsley, Stephen Jackson, Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Jeff Foster can produce.

One thing sounds like a certainty, and that's that Kwame Brown will not be going to the Pacers this season. It also sounds like the Pacers could easily land point guard Sarunas Jasikevicius, which would be great insurance for the oft-injured Tinsley.

Los Angeles Clippers

There are a lot of reports out there that the Clippers are on the verge of signing Cuttino Mobley, which would certainly be a good move for them since they lost Bobby Simmons to the Bucks last week. Cat was talking to the Nuggets and the Kings, but all fingers are pointing toward him landing in L.A., which should be announced in the next couple days.

That will give them a starting lineup of Shaun Livingston, Mobley, Corey Maggette, Elton Brand and Chris Kaman. If you were told that was going to be their lineup for 2005 a year ago, it would have seemed like quite a step up. Of course, back then no one had a clue that Bobby Simmons would blow up last year.

As for their very questionable first-round pick, Radoslav Korolev, don't expect to see him play for the Clippers this year. He's at least two years away and will probably spend this season in Europe beefing up.

Los Angeles Lakers

The big story floating out there has the Lakers moving Caron Butler and one of three other guys (Chucky Atkins, Devean George or Vlade Divac) to the Wizards for Kwame Brown.

The move actually makes sense for both teams, as the Lakers need size and the Wizards need a replacement for Larry Hughes (Cleveland). However, Kwame has never proven anything and Butler is a solid swingman that the Lakers may miss once he's gone.

This deal is being held up because the Lakers only want to sign Kwame to a two-year deal, but he wants at least three. They want enough cap space in 2007 when Yao Ming and Amare Stoudemire are going to possibly be unrestricted free agents.

Also, if the Lakers release Brian Grant (which I think they will) and trade Butler, they will only have Lamar Odom left from the deal that sent Shaquille O'Neal to the Heat.

Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies have different problems than most other teams, in that they are getting rid of all their players instead of trying to find new ones. Earl Watson and Stromile Swift are almost assuredly gone to free agency and Lorenzen Wright is probably not returning to the team after demanding a trade last month.

The Grizzlies would love to get rid of problem children Bonzi Wells and Jason Williams, but not surprisingly, are having trouble finding takers. However, the Kings are reportedly in interested in Bonzi, and I wish them luck if they get him. As much as the Grizz don't want him, it's starting to look like Williams will continue on as their point guard.

Miami Heat

The Heat re-signed Udonis Haslem on Wednesday, so their last task this summer is locking in Damon Jones, who's testing the free-agency waters. If Jones leaves, the Heat will focus in on one of the other aforementioned point guards to run their team.

The Heat, as evidenced by Haslem returning for less money than he could have gotten elsewhere, should have no trouble attracting free agents to come play for them. Oh yeah ... and Shaq is now requesting to be known as "Dr. Shaq."

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks re-signed Michael Redd and then signed Bobby Simmons, last year's most improved player. They also have re-signed center Dan Gadzuric and plan on doing the same with Zaza Pachulia and are going to get point guard T.J. Ford back this year from a horrible neck and back injury.

Maurice Williams will likely back him up, unless Ford is so far out of basketball shape he can't hold down the job. The Bucks, with the signing of the guys listed above and the acquisition of Andrew Bogut, selected with the first pick of the draft, have had one of their best summers of all time.

Minnesota Timberwolves

The Timberwolves want to re-sign Eddie Griffin, just as soon as he's out of jail. There's not much going on in Minnesota right now, outside of Fred Hoiberg having heart surgery, which may end his career, and the hiring of new coach Dwane Casey.

Oh, and besides Griffin being in the joint, Sam Cassell is on trial in Toronto for an altercation with a male stripper and his (the stripper's) wife (also a stripper) outside a (what else?) strip club.

Cassell may be traded and Latrell Sprewell will probably sign with another team this summer, so the Wolves will probably have a completely different look, except for No. 21.

Oh, and first-round pick Rashad McCants' has blown his groin out (probably due to a lack of conditioning) and will miss the rest of the summer league. Other than that, there's absolutely nothing going on in Minnesota.


The 76ers are expected to give center Samuel Dalembert more playing time. (Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)

New Jersey Nets

The Nets made a valiant effort to obtain Shareef Abdur-Rahim from the Blazers, but now the Blazers are countering by saying they want one of NJ's first-round picks for next year.

The Nets are not playing that game and are in the process of turning all attention to Stromile Swift as they feel they are falling out of the ‘Reef sweepstakes.

However, Memphis could also ask for a No. 1 pick if a sign-and-trade deal is struck. If the Nets can somehow put a starting five of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Nenad Krstic out there, they'll compete for the Eastern Conference championship.

New Orleans Hornets

The Hornets could lose Chris Andersen, Dan Dickau and Casey Jacobsen to free agency and may trade Jamaal Magloire. While they now have rookie Chris Paul to run the point, pairing him with P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith is only going to get them so far this year.

They need to land a small forward badly, as Lee Nailon and George Lynch probably aren't the answers. The rebuilding continues.

New York Knicks

Isiah Thomas wants a big man, and he's settling for Jerome James (Seattle). He was looking at anyone from ‘Reef or ‘Toine, to Kwame, Stromile Swift or even Eddy Curry. There have reportedly been talks about a Mike Sweetney for Kwame trade, but the Wizards aren't too excited about Sweetney.

The other part of this story is the Larry Brown saga. I guess we'll know more about that, but if Larry isn't going to coach the Knicks, it sounds like it will be Herb Williams' job.

Orlando

Orlando is interesting because they want a point guard. At least someone to back up Jameer Nelson, or someone to be the starter if Nelson can't handle the job. The Magic are talking to Chris Duhon, but if that's the best they can do, I'd just stick with Nelson.

Steve Francis, the incumbent point guard, is going to be a shooting guard this year. And how cool is it that sophomore-stud Dwight Howard is at summer-league camp? Well, very cool unless he gets hurt or something.

They've reportedly made no effort to talk to Antonio Daniels, which is odd since they want a point guard. By the way, how's that Doug Christie trade working out in Orlando? Not well, and don't expect to see him in a Magic uniform again.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia's focus this off-season is keeping Dalembert on their team. Maurice Cheeks is in the house, and the Sixers plan on using Dalembert to his strengths, unlike Jim O'Brien did.

O'Brien really killed Dalembert's season last year, focusing strictly on defense, and when Sammy wasn't getting it, O'Brien put him on the bench.

Regardless of where Dalembert goes this year, I think he's going to nearly double last season's output. And you have to wonder why Cleveland's not going all out for sharp-shooter Kyle Korver, who's a restricted free agent. Yeah, the Sixers will probably match all offers, but it's worth a shot.

Phoenix

Phoenix has one job right now, and that's retaining the services of Joe Johnson. They know they need him to win a championship and he knows they need him to win a championship. While $70-90 million is too much for Joe Johnson, the Suns almost have to do it. We'll see if they match Atlanta's offer.

A lineup next year of Steve Nash, Johnson, Shawn Marion, Kurt Thomas and Amare Stoudemire looks pretty damn good, with even a touch of D this time around.

Portland

The Blazers love rookie Martell Webster and are waiting to see what happens with Abdur-Rahim. Don't expect Nick Van Exel, Theo Ratliff or Damon Stoudamire to return, and don't be surprised if Derek Anderson ends up being traded.

Sacramento

The Kings are reportedly after Bonzi Wells, as it appears they have lost Cuttino Mobley to the Clippers. The Kings are going to have a much different look this year, and their fans probably aren't going to be happy about it, instead longing for the glory days of Vlade, Webber, Peja and battles to the death with the Lakers.

Although, with a core of Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Brad Miller and Kenny Thomas, they should be able to compete in the West.

San Antonio

The Spurs may lose Glenn Robinson and Tony Massenburg to free agency, but as you can guess, they'll still vie for another championship this year, no problem.

Seattle

Seattle signed Ray Allen and will probably hire Bob Weiss as their new coach with Nate McMillen now running the show in Portland. They're going to probably lose Ronald Murray, Antonio Daniels and Jerome James, but will keep the bulk of their starting lineup intact. The X factor is Weiss and how he gels with his new team (if he gets the job).

Toronto

I think the Raptors are still interested in bringing Jamaal Magloire from New Orleans home to Canada, but who knows if a deal will be worked out or not.

Meanwhile, their two first-rounders are hurt and probably won't be participating in the Minnesota summer league. They're likely to lose Donyell Marshall to free agency and will try to find a way to put Chris Bosh and Charlie Villanueva on the court at the same time.

Jalen Rose is a question mark, as he has a player option this year, meaning he can come back or leave, his call.

Utah

The Jazz are looking forward to putting Deron Williams into the starting lineup and running him out there with Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Matt Harpring, Gordan Giricek and Mehmet Okur. Regardless of what happens this year, you have to think they'll be substantially better than they were last year, if they can stay healthy.

Washington

The Wizards are still reeling from the loss of Larry Hughes, who signed with Cleveland. To fill the void he left, they're trying to sign Ronald Murray and Donyell Marshall.

Murray could be something special this year if he goes to Washington. We know he can put up numbers, as he's shown during times when Ray Allen was hurt in Seattle.

A Gilbert Arenas-Rip Murray backcourt could actually be very productive if Murray still has the game he displayed two years ago. We'll see. As I told you above, Kwame Brown is likely gone, and Caron Butler may be headed to the Wiz, which is not necessarily a bad thing either, as it would solve their shooting guard issue.

That's all I've got.

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