NBA Chat With Joel Brigham, 12/22/11

1. AJ

   Do you expect any more big trades before the end of the month?

   And will Kevin Martin, Okafor, SJax, Devin Harris, and Jamison still be on their respective teams when the season ends?

   • Joel Brigham

     Good afternoon, HOOPSWORLD Citizens, and welcome to another edition of my weekly chat. The beautiful thing is that I’m able to speak with you all today from the comfort of my comfortable chair in my very own living room, as my Christmas hiatus from my office space has officially begun. Three days until the start of the NBA season, so we’ve got plenty of great stuff to chat about. Let’s get right into it, and I’ll answer as many as I can in an hour. After that, it’s last-minute preparations for a Christmas gathering with friends. But that’s me. You want basketball, so let’s do it…

     I don’t even know if I expect any small trades by the end of the month, A.J. I know everything has been condensed, but most teams seem pretty happy with the work they’ve done assembling their roster in so short a time, and I think in most cases they’re ready to roll with what they’ve got. There will still be some straggler free agents signed here and there (though pretty much all of the notable ones are signed at this point), but big trades? Not until we get a few weeks of the season for teams to really gauge what they’ve got.

     As for the names you’ve listed there, I’d say Stephen Jackson is the most likely to get trade. Yes, again. I don’t know that the Bucks are looking to blow big money on him for a long-term extension, so if there’s a team that will, they’ll work pretty hard to try and cash him out for some sort of something so they don’t lose an asset for nada. I could see Martin and Harris finishing the year where they are pretty easily, but if New Orleans can purge Okafor and Cleveland Jamison, they most certainly will. Maybe a playoff contender that faces some injuries and doesn’t mind taking on the extra cash.

     But there’s a long season for all that. Well, a medium-sized season, at least.

2. Chris

   Over or under 1.5 Bulls making the All Star game this year?

   • Joel Brigham

     I’ll take the over. If Joakim Noah didn’t get hurt, he probably would’ve been in last year, and believe it or not Carlos Boozer’s name actually came up as a narrow miss, despite his rough season and early injuries. Boozer is going to have a much better season this year, and it’s not like Joakim got any worse. I like the chances of one of those two guys joining Rose in Orlando later this winter.

3. bullsfanpr

   Hi Joel! I’m really excited for our Bulls and I’m looking forward for a great season (and a championship). I watched Tuesday’s game against Indiana and I was concerned with Taj and Carlos getting in foul trouble so early. Unfortunately we’ve lost Big Sexy. Are the Bulls looking for another big? I’d like them to get one of these bigs (preferably in this order): Joel Przybilla, Nenad Krstic, Solomon Jones, Dan Gadzuric, Kyrylo Fesenko, Francisco Elson, Alexis Ajinca, Earl Barron or Leon Powe. Your thoughts?

   • Joel Brigham

     They’ve said they’re happy with the 13 guys they’ve got right now, but I’d be shocked if they didn’t add another big guy, like you’ve suggested. Most of those are pretty reasonable suggestions, though Nenad Krstic is stuck overseas and doesn’t look to have much shot at making it back this season, and from what I’ve heard Fesenko has had some interest from teams other than the Bulls. Pryzbilla or Solomon Jones seem like the best of that batch, so if they’re open to minimum deals, I say go for it. Any of those guys can pitch in six fouls, though.

4. reily

   Celtics said they are looking for a vet to come off the bench to help their scoring is m.redd, g.arenas, or even deshawn stevenson a possibility?

   • Joel Brigham

     DeShawn just signed a one-year deal with the Nets, so he won’t be the guy. Arenas has a short list of teams he wants to play for, and the Celtics ain’t on it. That leaves Redd, who’s still looking for a team after Indiana apparently lost interest, and I could see that actually being a pretty good fit in Boston behind Ray Allen. He wouldn’t have to play huge minutes, but he couldn’t definitely contribute. I don’t see a whole lot of fits better for him than that, and he’d finally get his opportunity to seriously pursue a ring. Considering he’s one of my all-time favorite locker room guys, I always root for him to be healthy, and now that he finally is I think he deserves to play for a winner again. Boston would be perfect for that.

5. dyrese

   besides his shooting what can steve novak do for the knicks?

   • Joel Brigham

     It’s the shooting they’re into, but they needed depth at point guard for obvious reasons. When Baron Davis gets back healthy, I’m guessing we won’t see a whole lot of Steve Novak, anyway. Nothing to go nuts about.

6. ejhay

   whodo you think miami needs to get in order to win a title?

   • Joel Brigham

     You really don’t think they have enough to win a title right now? I’ve been telling everyone who asks me that I think Miami wins the title this year, and I probably would’ve said the same thing even if they hadn’t signed Shane Battier. With the weight of all those expectations last year, and all the negative vibes everywhere they played, it’s a small miracle that still came so close. Things will calm down around the Heat this year, and that’ll help them see more success this season. That’s assuming Wade and LeBron stay healthy, of course, but I just see them calm and hungry and ready to roll this year. Consequently, I’m not optimistic about Eddy Curry.

7. Bryan

   Is there a roster move or strategy that will make the pacers a top 4 team?

   • Joel Brigham

     I’m assuming you mean a top four team in the East, and honestly, depending on how the season goes they might not be too far off as they are. This might not be the year they jump up into the elite of the conference, but I think that when Boston drops off, Indiana is the team that steps right up into their place. Chicago, Indiana, New York, and Miami look like they could lock down homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs starting this year and continuing on that way for another three or four seasons.

     That said, I think we all need to temper our expectations of this Pacers team, despite the fact that they’re quickly becoming everybody’s favorite sleeper pick. So much of what they do goes as Danny Granger goes, and from what I’ve seen in two preseason games he doesn’t look particularly ready to change his game to a more team-oriented style. If he’s going to gobble up the ball and slow down the offense, it doesn’t matter who else he’s playing with. I love the roster Indy has put together, but at the same time I just don’t feel the same sort of confidence in them as I do other teams in the conference. I feel sort of the same way about New Jersey. They’ve got some nice pieces, but something just isn’t clicking for me.

     We’ll see how right (or wrong) I am in a few months, but in the case of Indiana I’m really hoping for a great season. Don’t know if they make the leap this year, but I think they take some positive steps in the right direction.

8. Eric P

   Joel buddy Im down on Hibbert. I had high hopes but it looks like he will be a servicable center. Nothing more, nothing less. Thoughts?

   • Joel Brigham

     I just don’t see that fire in the kid. There’s no reason a man that size shouldn’t be hauling in 9-10 rebounds a game, but his rebounding numbers are surprisingly low. I need him to block 2 shots a game and establish himself as one of the premier swatters in the league, otherwise you’re absolutely right about him. Good player, but doesn’t seem to have that greatness in him. Though he was excellent on “Parks on Recreation” this past season.

9. Eric P

   By seasons end Joel,. who is the starting PG for the Pacers : Darren Collison or George Hill?

   • Joel Brigham

     I’d rather it stay Collison for a couple of reasons. The first is the fact that he’s got more potential for star quality at that spot. As much as I like Hill, his ceiling is pretty well-established, and that ceiling pretty much knocks him out of the running for an All-Star appearance. Secondly, I love Hill off the bench as a combo guard because you can sub him for either George or Collison depending on the game situation. He adds that bit of diversity tot he backcourt, and I like that. So far he hasn’t seen a ton of minutes, but I think that’ll change once the season starts. Honestly, I’m excited about the idea of both of them playing together at times. Either way, the talent is all there. Vogel will find an appropriate way to use it all.

10. niko#3

    Hi Joel
    Will Allen Iverson land up somewhere in these couple of days? Is there any buzz on Iverson? What do you think could someone give him a chance to get back, maybe lakers or heat.

    • Joel Brigham

      Nothing on Iverson. Not even a tiny little jingle of a rumor tinkling way, waaaaay off in the background. If there was, trust me, you would’ve heard about it by now. I think Gilbert Arenas is a younger and, at this point, more serviceable version of Iverson, and if he doesn’t have a job yet, no team can be anywhere near considering Iverson. I wrote during the lockout that I thought Boston would be an interesting place for him, but they don’t seem particularly interested. If not Boston, I just can’t imagine a situation where he’d fit in. I think AI’s time in the league is done, no matter how much some fans might be hoping he makes his way back someday.

11. James

    Two part question. First, When will the Sixers let Evan turner and the complete youth movement begin? Last. I love the rook Brooks from NJ. He looks like a star in the making whats your thoughts on him?

    • Joel Brigham

      1. They’re not ready to do that because they truly believe they’ve got a competitive team in the East this season. I’ve got somebody in that organization I keep up with, and they’re all-in with this roster that shocked everybody by getting to .500 last year. They think they can do better, which is why they didn’t make a single major move in the offseason. My guy even said he thinks they’ll be kicking themselves for not locking Spencer Hawes into a long-term deal. I guess they really like how he came into camp, but I’ll believe that when I see it. Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, and the rest of the young guys are going to get plenty of PT, but they think Thaddeus Young can make the leap this season. To me, in order for that to happen you’ve got to trade Andre Iguodala, but they’re just not there yet. My guess, though, is that if things start off more poorly than expected for the Sixers, they start looking for potential trades, and Iggy would likely be the first to go. One last thought on this: Elton Brand is pretty much unmovable, so if you have to keep him, might as well keep the rest of the vets and try to win some playoff games, right?

      2. Brooks looks legit. Remember he compared himself to Kobe back at the combine and we all laughed at him. I don’t think he comes anywhere close to that in his career, but he may be better than any of us gave him credit for. I think we all knew he was one of the better offensive players of this draft class, and he’s in a situation in New Jersey where he’ll actually get to play. If all goes well, he could end up an All-Rookie team.

12. Omar

    Do you think most Clipper’s fan are now bandwagoners or were fans before? I hate bandwagoners!

    • Joel Brigham

      L.A. is a city where bandwagoning is really, really easy to do. Don’t get me wrong–there are die-hard Lakers fans and Dodgers fans and Kings fans, but with so much bigtime sports in that city (including USC), casual sports fans can drift from successful organization to successful organization pretty easily. You’ll see lots of all-of-a-sudden Angels fans this year, too, because of Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson. I’m just happy for the Clippers fans who have been loyal Clippers fans for years and years and finally have a team with a legitimate shot at winning a title. That front office has, remarkably, done everything right, and that’s exciting for L.A. If other folks want to jump on, who can blame them?

13. Bobby

    What does your playoff bracket look like?

    • Joel Brigham

      Just off the top of my head, without giving this too much consideration, I’d say something like this:

      1. Miami
      2. Chicago
      3. New York
      4. Boston
      5. Indiana
      6. Orlando
      7. Atlanta
      8. New Jersey

      1. OKC
      2. LAL
      3. LAC
      4. Dallas
      5. Memphis
      6. San Antonio
      7. Portland
      8. Denver

14. Brooks

    Do you see the Lakers trading for Dwight Howard this year or signing him the off-season? And if the Lakers do get him, how good will they be?

    • Joel Brigham

      Trading for him is going to be difficult when Orlando seems to have no interest in even having that conversation right now, so I’d say that if L.A. was going to have any shot at getting him, it would have to be in the offseason. As for how good they’d be after the fact, it would all depend on what Kobe has left in the tank. I’d take a team built entirely around Dwight, though, even if he was the only stud. The problem is that I don’t think he’ll sign in L.A. if that’s the vibe he’s getting from the organization’s future. He’d probably be better off in New Jersey saddling up with Deron Williams. New York would be just as excellent as L.A., and the future looks a lot brighter there.

15. Jerimy Craft

    So… The burning question now for Rocket fans. Jeremy Lin or Johnny Flynn?

    • Joel Brigham

      I wouldn’t say that’s THE burning question for Rockets fans, but I think we’ll see a lot more of Flynn than Lin before this season’s all said and done.

16. Alex M.

    D-Rose is getting paid!! What happens in two years though when teams have to pay more luxury tax and you have Rose, Noah, Boozer, and Deng to pay?

    • Joel Brigham

      Keep in mind that the Bulls will have their amnesty provision that they can use if they really, really need to, but if they’ve in a situation where they’re still competing for a title, I can see Jerry Reinsdorf biting the bullet and paying the tax for a couple of years. But if they really need to, they’ll have the option of using amnesty on Boozer, Deng, or Noah if one of those guys should end up very seriously injured at some point and losing his luster. I’m hoping that’s not the case, but you just never know. Bottom line, though, is that they options financially. They’ll cross that bridge when they come to it, but in the meantime you’ve got no choice but to pay Derrick. Very happy that’s done.

17. Chester

    Now that Chuck Hayes has been cleared by a group of specialist to play and they say he has no heart issues will he get back his contract from Sacramento or will he have to sue them?

    • Joel Brigham

      He can’t sue them. It’s not like the Kings wanted to cut the guy loose… that was a lot of people’s most underrated signing of the whole offseason. But they had a real concern there with a thing that could’ve forced him out of action, so they voided the contract. There shouldn’t be any hard feelings there because it was all strictly business from the Kings’ perspective. Bottom line here is that Chuck is going to be okay, and that’s a huge sigh of relief for him and his family. With that out of the way, he can get back to focusing on basketball, and I see no reason why Sacramento wouldn’t come right back at him again. There aren’t a lot of teams with the money to make the same sort of offer, and he’d be a really nice fit on that team. Sacramento needs a guy like that. Hopefully they find some way to work it out.

      And that’s my hour, folks. I hope you all have a very excellent Christmas, and that Santa brings you all the toys you asked for you in your letter to him. Save travels, happy holidays, and go Bulls!