All-Star games and festivities are over-rated. But I think NBA's might actually be a little under-rated. They have done a good job of coming up with a lot of events on Saturday that are half-way decent. The game on Sunday itself can be lame sometimes and people always say the baseball all-star game is the best. What the MLB all-star game has going for it is the competitive nature of it's game because it's a pitcher-V-hitter duel at it's core. But even there, the MLB all-star game is not all that competitive because top pitchers (and hitters) stay for a inning or 2 and they just keep rolling the bench guys in. Also the MLB all-star has nothing else around the game worth watching. Don't even get me started on the home-run derby.
Granted, the slam-dunk contest is not too fresh of an idea anymore, but I think the last couple of years the contestants have tried to make it interesting. This year had a lot of creativity and wrinkles mixed in with the dunks. Dwight Howard won it easily with 4 creative and fun dunks. I thought everybody got a little carried away with his superstar dunk, but I liked the other 3 better. Gerald Green blowing out the candle while in the air was a great idea too. But on this day, D12 was too hard to stop. I always like the 3-point shootout. I like to see sweet shooting that can be missing at times in the real NBA games these days. Kapono killed it this year and I was surprised to see the MP3 doing so bad. Nash scoring just 9 points? What happened there!
The real story of the All-Star weekend was the on-again, off-again Jason Kidd Trade. I thought it was funny Devean George blocked the trade in the first place. Obviously he was hoping Dallas will get someone else involved in the trade. I can't believe he would have enjoyed his stay there if Kidd never ended up in Dallas. The fans would have killed him and Dirk doesn't sound too excited either. Apparently Dirk wants Kidd in Dallas badly. He sure is missing his buddy, the other PG they did have - Steve Nash and this trade is basically Dallas accepting that it was a mistake to let Stevie go. Good PGs are HARD to find.
I was actually disappointed that Devean blocked the trade because I don't think it's a great deal for Dallas. Sure, Kidd is awesome, but they were supposed to give up Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse and DaSagana Diop in addition to other pieces and 2 future picks. Those 3 guys are key contributors. Diop was their only defensive presence and the other 2 guys were key cogs in their offense. I am not sure if Kidd can compensate for all of this because the Kidd still can't shoot and this team relied a lot on perimeter offense. Of course Stackhouse said he expects to be bought out and join the Mavs back after a 30 day lockout. That makes it a little better for the Mavs, but now NBA is pissed he spoke about the underground dealings so openly.
NBA is a beauty! We all know NBA trades are all about matching salaries, dumping veterans with high salaries, buyouts, re-signing them for veteran minimum etc. We have seen it many times. But NBA still want to pretend like Stack shocked the World with his revelation. So now apparently Dallas have to replace both Devean and Stack from the trade. So they are now digging up Keith Van Horn from the dead, asking him to un-retire, and use his salary to consummate the trade. How is this any more credible than Stack going back and forth? They are saying NBA might have a problem with Van Horn as well, but it's widely believed this trade will go through. If I was the NBA, I would rather let Stack be open about something thats legal rather than un-retire a big salary!
Anyways, seems like Kidd will be in Dallas and now on to the stretch run. Should be fun in the West. Atlanta did itself a favor in the East by getting Mike Bibby. That should help them big. Too bad, the Cavs couldn't get Bibby. The Hawks can make the playoffs now and Joe Johnson can finally smile. The Kings got a bunch of expiring contracts in return and if they can dump Ron Artest and Brad Miller's salary as well, they will be in good shape. I sure can trust Geoff Petrie with all that cap space. He can fix that team. When NBA games resume this week, all eyes will still be on Shaq when he makes his Suns debut, hopefully against Kobe and the Fakers. That should be electric.
Shaq already has a new nickname - the Big Cactus. I like it!
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