NBA TRADE DEADLINE RECAP

Today's Special: Carmelo

Knicks: The Knicks landed their man and got Chauncey to boot.  D'Antoni's all offense - no defense game plan will work well with the trio of Billups-Carmelo-Stoudemire.  By "work well" I mean they will score a lot of points and play exciting basketball, but this will not likely translate into a significant increase in the Knicks winning percentage this season.  On the other hand, Melo will increase viewership, ticket sales and merchandise sales for the Knicks.  Anthony will also likely provide Spike Lee with inspiration to produce the thrilling motion picture "Carmelo: Smooth as Silk."  Motion picture? More like soft core porn.  Everything considered, acquiring one of the NBA's best scoring threats and a 44% shooter from behind the arc is a step in the right direction for New York.  If next season they can acquire a defensive presence under the hoop (no offense Stoudemire and Turiaf) this team could become a legitimate contender.   
 

Denver: Losing a NBA superstar from the roster is never a good thing, just ask one of the five remaining Cavs fans that maintain the will power to fight off their suicidal thoughts.  However, unlike Cleveland, the Nuggets did not come out of this empty handed.  Although he will never develop into the prolific scorer that Anthony is, Danilo Gallinari has shown flashes of unique athleticism and has demonstrated an ability to score from anywhere on the court.  Wilson Chandler is no slouch either. He is having a career year this season, which can be largely accredited to his new Fresh-Prince of Bel Air hair cut.  With Chauncey Billups gone, Ty Lawson can finally make significant strides in his development and he will have Raymond Felton to spell him off the bench. J.R Smith and Nene remained in Denver despite numerous trade rumors.  The Nuggets did not make themselves better with this trade, but they were going to lose Melo in the off-season and now they have depth and plenty of valuable assets to package in a deal next season.

Timberwolves:  The Wolves became involved to help get this deal done, but nothing has significantly changed for them other than the fact Kevin Love should be able to increase his rebounding numbers when he is on the court with the corpse of Eddy Curry.

 Size Matters

Celtics:  I'm sure Bill Simmons' is turning in his grave - - and by grave I mean the one that Danny Ainge just dug for Celtics.  We hear it all the time; the key to beating the Heat and competing with the Lakers is SIZE!  The Celtics lost last season's championship to the Lakers because Kendrick Perkins missed the final 2-games with an injury.  Kobe does not grab 15 boards in game 7 if Perkins is on the floor and his presence would have provided at least a 4-point swing for the Celtics to pull out that game.  Now, in fairness to Ainge, this is not last year's Celtics.  This year Boston has a 38-year old Shaq who is more than capable of reaching deep down and playing inspired basketball throughout the playoff stretch - - I hope the sarcasm was evident there.  The Celtics should not be making moves for the future when their window to win championships is narrowing every time Garnett pushes off with his knees and Pierce falls to the floor faking injury.

Thunder:  Every time somebody mentioned this trade it was from the perspective of the Celtics.  Let's look at how legitimate of a contender the Thunder are with Perkins on the roster...

PG: Russell Westbrook
SG: James Harden
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Serge Ibaka
C: Kendrick Perkins

If Perkins comes into Oklahoma and plays to the level that he is capable, this could be the most dangerous team in the NBA.  They have always had the prolific scoring to match teams point-for-point, but now they have the defensive presence inside to force teams to resort to mid-range jumpers, making players like Lebron and Dwade much less effective.  Paul Gasol has demonstrated numerous time that he does not have the strength to compete with Perkins for boards and the Lakers will be in for another struggle if they face the Thunder in the post season.  This trade has made the Thunder a legitimate title contender.

Russian Dressing

Jay-Z did not make New Jersey an attractive destination, now the Russian billionaire is hoping Deron Williams will be that incentive.  The only problem is that Deron doesn't want to be there either.  Prediction: Deron goes to New York in two years; Nets continue to be irrelevant.  The Jazz received a nice young building block in Derrick Favors and have Devin Harris to become a mediocre fill-in for Deron Williams.  This team was not going to win a championship anytime soon, especially with their head coach calling it quits mid-season.  At least the Jazz now have something to look forward to in seasons to come.

Mo' Money Baron Problems 

This trade has absolutely no significance. All I wanted to do here is point out how lucky Mo Williams is for once again emerging from a state of irrelevance to becoming a fixture on ESPN.  Mo Williams is a household name is solely because he shared the court with Lebron and now Blake Griffin will provide him with even more publicity.  In addition, this trade allowed Donald Sterling to give Baron Davis the ultimate middle finger.  As if heckling Baron from his court-side seat wasn't enough, Sterling has now sent Davis to basketball hell just days after he soaked up cheers from the Staples Center crowd when he threw an alley-oop pass out of a moon roof to Blake Griffin.  For you kids reading this; if you get injured playing sports and decide to eat big macs instead of rehabbing, your life will head in a negative direction such as Cleveland.

 Other Trades Worth Mentioning:

1. OJ Mayo is pictured here because he was on his way to Indiana, but the deal was not confirmed until after the trade deadline. 3:01 PM to be exact.  Now Mayo can continue to play for Grizzlies while keeping in mind that his GM would rather have Josh McRoberts' expiring contract in his place.

2. The Trail Blazers acquired Gerald Wallace from the Bobcats for Joel Przyzbilla and draft picks.  This will provide the Blazers with a versatile scorer who can fill in for a knee-less Brandon Roy and help the Blazers achieve their goal alive of making a round-one playoff exit.

3. The Rockets sent Aaron Brooks to the Suns for Goran Dragic and a draft pick.  Dragic looked like an up and coming PG in the playoffs series against the Lakers last season.  Brooks on the other hand looks to be declining since earning most improved player honors last season.  Hopefully Dragic will have an expanded role with the Rockets and maybe Terrence Williams can finally see some more court time with Battier in Memphis.

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Egyptian Social Media Revolution: A Model

        The world is finally starting to realize the power of the internet and more specifically the power of social networking. The multi-award winning film “Social Network” recreated the experiences had by Mark Zuckerberg in his creation of facebook. In a project that began in his Harvard dorm room, Zuckerberg would eventually go on to develop a social network website that established a commonality across the globe and introduced a social vehicle with unfathomable impacts. As the film reveals, Zuckerberg’s ultimate goal with facebook was to be “cool,” but a by-product of Zuckerberg’s coolness would be the ability to organize instantly which had not previously existed. The current revolution in Egypt is a product of Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites that allow for mass, instant communication. Reports have circulated that the initial protest against the oppressive Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, was organized on facebook. The facebook page provides evidence that “torture, poverty, corruption, and unemployment” were the direct causes of the revolution (BCC). These unfair, unnecessary living conditions are not unique to Egypt. Because conditions similar to these exist in many regions of the globe, it is not unreasonable to estimate that this is the beginning of a trend. The Egyptian Revolution has people from all walks of life glued to their television sets, making them witnesses to the impact of the “send” and “reply” buttons on a computer screen. As people continue to grow unhappy with the extremely unequal economic and living conditions that exist in their nation and throughout the world, they too will turn to social media as the Egyptians did before them and make a stand for what is just.