The madness will begin in less then 2 weeks as the toys available for the General Manager of your fav team could create more big-name player movement then we have ever seen......in gamer terms the NBA has their 2010-2011 Franchise Mode setting on Fantasy Draft: YES and they have the Force Trade setting to YES also......for the next 2 months I think we should declare even ground no matter how you currently feel about your GM and your teams going-forward situation.......even ground meaning if you love your situation, or hate it, or anything in between the truth is franchises - plural - will be changed this summer.....and I mean WELL beyond where Bron Bron, D-Wade, and CB4 will end up......this blog is a look at free-agents other then those 3.......Firstly we have to acknowledge that the craziness could be amped up even further if any of Paul Pierce, Yao Ming, Kenyon Martin, Michael Redd, Peja Stojakovic, Tyson Chandler, Richard Jefferson exercise their Early Termination Option to also become free-agents and join the 2010 summer-o-fun
Secondly we would want to acknowledge the historic significance that the summer of 2010 free-agency has already had on the NBA........for most teams in the Association every trade/free agent/draft pick/D-League roster/office intern decision for the past 2 years has been based on putting those teams in the best possible position they could be in to make aggressive moves at multiple big-name/big-talent assets......
At the Point Guard spot Derek Fisher is a free-agent but he would likely be looking to remain in LA.......the real question at PG is will Allen Iverson run a play-off offense somewhere in the NBA this season?
Joe Johnson and his 20+ ppg is available at the Shooting Guard spot.......Ray Allen is available too and could be interesting at 35 years old - will he look to play beside a LeBron or a Duncan or a Disco Dirk?......could either of these 2 end up in South Beach with D-Wade?!?! Will any team give Tracy McGrady an umpteenth chance? Is it just me or does T-Mac back to the Raptors make sense - at a comfortable price this may be an organization that T-Mac can still contribute to
If your team is in the market for Big-Man help then there is a lot of good news out there......
At Center Brendan Haywood will have many suitors............other veterans like Jamal Magloire and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are also available.......the most interesting name out there for the 7-footers is Shaq Daddy...... if you thought I was out-there on the T-Mac-back-to-T.O. thing then you likely don't approve of my Shaq to the Lakers idea but I think there will be contenders inquiring as to the willingness of Shaq to come in as a legit back-up, or even as a starter with measured minutes
At Power Forward looks like Amar'e and Disco Dirk Nowitzki will headline an excellent list of available 4's......either of those guys are of course franchise-changing, as is Carlos Boozer (I could see Boozer on D-Wade's 
short list with Bosh to play the #4 spot in Miami).....my fav in the pack is David Lee - for a lot of teams out there (Toronto for one) he is an instant upgrade on rebounding and defensive effort/consistency......Udonis Haslem is selling his wares as are 32 year-old Jermaine O'Neal and former Pacers teammate Al Harrington (the 2 of them pictured together on the right).... as well as Drew Gooden..... and a sleeper here is Josh Powell who could not crack the Lakers rotation consistently due to the talent and depth in LA but was always prepared and contributed when called on............I will also mention a veteran that can fit in and contribute to any situation in Kurt Thomas.........wow.......is that enough available talent for you?!?! Any franchise has the chance to alter their immediate future and after James/Wade/Bosh we can see that the Plan B, Plan C, Plan D at any position are really good
One more out-of-the-box thought........just moi or wouldn't it seem likely that Disco Dirk is the type of player Brian Colangelo would love?!? Chris Bosh is from Texas and a sign-and-trade of Bosh-for-Nowitzki seems very interesting to me
Sit back and put your faith in your teams Front Office to improve your situation......dust will not be settling for about another 1.5/2 months on the summer-o-fun in the NBA and at that point we will all re-evaluate where our teams are going forward........
send me an email on this blog, or any others at craig.ballard@hotmail.com
