By now, I’m sure everybody’s heard about the JR Smith incident that will get him benched for the regular season’s first seven games.
The circumstances are sad (in regards to JR), but Arron Afflalo will likely be allowed to take advantage of them.
Afflalo is the favorite to start in Smith’s spot during his suspension, according to the Denver Post.
The loss of Dahntay Jones and Linas Kleiza left a pretty damn big gap in the Nuggets rotation, especially defensively. Guess who fit right in? Our own Mr. Afflalo, who Karl practically picked …

This better not involve Greg Oden:
Portland is still trying to pry Tayshaun Prince out of Detroit in a three-way deal with Utah, but Pistons president Joe Dumars hasn’t shown an inclination to move Prince and extend Boozer’s contract, league sources say. Several league executives are dubious of Boozer as a $14 million-a-year player, which his agent, Rob Pelinka, has told teams it will take to sign him to an extension. Miami could be the suitor willing to pay it.
-Yahoo Sports

If there’s one thing that Joe Dumars needs to learn how to do, it’s be patient.
The Denver Post reported Sunday that the Nuggets and Pistons were arranging a deal that would send the Pistons’ Arron Afflalo to Denver to clear cap space, which brings me to my first point.
Afflalo’s paycheck this coming season would total all of $1.09 million. In the sports world, that’s pocket change. Not even pocket change. Walter Sharpe nearly gets paid that much, and the only time fans usually see him is during timeouts, where he …

Pretty disappointing, to say the least. I felt Johnson was the best candidate for the job, especially because of his ability to whip players into shape and maintain a team’s conduct. I still don’t think Cuban should have let him go from the Mavs.
Can’t really put this one on Joe Dumars either, if Avery was really demanding a long-term contract at $4-5 million a year, it doesn’t really fit into the rebuilding equation.
It looks like the position will now be between Cavs’ assistant coach John Kuester and Celtics’ assistant Tom …

After many successful, frustrating years with Detroit, Rasheed Wallace has committed to the Boston Celtics. As a Sheed fan since his early Blazer days, the move to the rival Celtics stings. San Antonio and Orlando wouldn’t have been much better, but the Celtics may be the worst place he could have landed from a Pistons fan’s point of view.
I’m actually pretty surprised he signed with Boston, considering his playing time will be considerably lower compared to signing with the Magic or Spurs. The Celtics will likely use their mid-level exception …

I stumbled across an interesting little piece from the Orlando Sentinel yesterday. It was an article that assessed whether or not Rasheed Wallace would be a good fit with the Magic, if they were to sign him. As you may already know, Orlando-ites don’t exactly love Sheed (but who does?).
Regardless, in the amount of time it took for Magic fans to read the article, Rasheed did a complete 180 from a no-good cry baby to an impeccable team player and all-around great guy. Newly ordained Sheed-worshippers commented relentlessly, and 78% …

To feed the free agent rumor frenzy sparked by the Celtics’ offer, a more realistic goal has been to aim for free agent Carlos Boozer, who has reportedly been unhappy in Utah for a while.
Last season however, Carlos Boozer was injured for half the season. From November 24 to January 7, in Boozer’s absence, Paul Millsap scored a double-double every single game. his streak beat out Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson, and all the other big names. All from a guy who was making $800,000 a year.
We could have 17 Paul …

If you haven’t heard about it, you would have soon:
“The Celtics offered Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo to the Detroit Pistons for a package that included Richard Hamilton,Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.”
Mind you, the trade was rejected.
First of all, this is from a reliable writer and I believe it really did go down. This isn’t the usual summer rumor mill garbage.
Second, I’ve seen a lot of negative reaction from Pistons fans and to be honest, it’s puzzling.
Sure, if this trade was offered to you in …