FanHouse BrevinKNight

C.J. Miles -- who has consistently clashed with Jerry Sloan -- almost saw his way out of Utah by signing a four-year, $15 million offer sheet with the Un-Sonics. The Jazz were not expected to match, as Deron Williams' max extension has landed the luxury tax right into Larry Miller's lap for the 2009-10 season. But after some minor maneuvering (which we'll get to in a sec), Utah made the call to match the offer, keeping Miles under Jazz authority.

Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune notes that Miles now has pressure to earn his keep. Before, C.J.'s lack of action on the court was more annoyance than crime; Miles was just a minor prospect who might someday be a decent bench cog. But making almost $4 million a year -- Sloan will be forced to get Miles minutes and Miles needs to deliver quality play, lest everyone end up fools. (It's almost a similar situation as with Amir Johnson last season -- Detroit paid him, but Flip Saunders wouldn't play him. Sloan's in no danger either way, but it certainly wouldn't hurt the harmony if Miles got a chance.)

Besides Utah and OKC, one more team took an impact from this move, as ClipsNation notes flawlessly. To create a little breathing room, Utah dealt Jason Hart to the Clippers for Brevin Knight. Hart makes roughly a half-million more than Knight. When L.A. made the trade, the Warriors still had about a day to match Kelenna Azubuike's offer from the Clippers. Utah surely wanted the Hart deal done ASAP so they could make a decision on Miles. So L.A. pulled the trigger. Once the Warriors unexpectedly matched on Azubuike, the Clips were left with a hole on the wing and (thanks to Hart) less money with which to address it. L.A. really should have waited on the expiration of Golden State's matching period before making any related deals. Jason Hart just ain't worth the heartache.

After much hand-wringing and "100 degree" reversals, Ron Artest decided against opting out of the final year of his contract with the Kings. By staying, he'll earn just $7.4 million, or less than half of the $16 million that guys like Elton Brand and Baron Davis left on the table in search of greener bank accounts pastures.

But while the Kings know they'll have Artest back (even if he's only a bargaining chip to be used in a trade), the same can't be said for Beno Udrih. Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee reports that the Kings called Udrih the first moment they were allowed to offer him the full mid-level exception over five years, but that may not be enough. Instead of settling for a mere phone call, Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy met face to face with Udrih last night in New York to make his pitch.

There's no word yet if the Clippers will match Sacramento's offer -- and they may not be able to commit to anything until figuring out what they're going to do with Brand and Corey Maggette -- but it's not surprising to see that Dunleavy made contacting Udrih a priority. The Clippers desperately need a point guard after finishing last year with Smush Parker and Brevin Knight sharing duties and officially giving up hope on Shaun Livingston, whose rights were renounced.

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Cup of Coffee
There's just something wrong to me, that even with Zach Randolph nursing a sore foot and not playing, David Lee still doesn't get to start. What does the guy have to do? Grab 16 rebounds in 30 minutes? Oh right. He did that. He did shoot two of nine, but if my coach didn't let me on the floor, I'd be hoisting shots every time I got on the hardwood too. Usually Lee, is the king of the plus/minus, but there wasn't a single Knick in the plus last night, so solace is at least found in him being their leading rebounder.

Hot Cakes
Andrei Kirilenko took a nasty little hit from Dirk Nowitzki last night and had to leave the game with only four minutes under his belt. The primary beneficiaries in terms of playing time would be a mix of Kyle Korver (who I think the Jazz actually like off the bench) and Matt Harpring. Harpring's worth an add and Korver is probably owned, although the latter would be must start material if he ended up in the starting lineup.

Tiny little tip of the cap to Deron Williams who decided to let Jason Kidd know who the elite in the L are, with a 17 point, 20 assist night that included five boards and two blocks. We'd like him to shoot a little bit better, but it's tough to be picky. Very nice.

Brevin Knight appears to be back at regular PG duties for the Clipjoint now that Sam Cassell is gone -- he's certainly always a nice add if you're looking for steals and assists. The guy that's worth keeping an eye on (because Knight tends to get hurt) is *shudder* Dan Dickau. He played 16 minutes last night and recorded four dimes in that span. A starter is a starter, folks.

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Cup of Coffee
Richard Jefferson wasn't a popular guy in fantasy drafts this year. Owners drafted him somewhere between the 60-75 range, depending on the size and parameters of the league, based primarily on injury and a decline in production over the past three years. Those who took the gamble are getting paid handsomely, as Jefferson is averaging a career high 25 plus points per game after pouring in 36 against the Cavs last night. The assist and rebound numbers are down a bit, but he's efficient as ever from the floor and his range has improved (on pace for a career high in three's at a career high percentage); there's no reason to think, barring injury, that he doesn't finish what he started in 2004.

Hot Cakes
Jefferson wasn't the top scorer last night though, as Amare Stoudemire went off against the Pacers for 42/14/4. There were talks before the season started that he was ready to take his game to an even higher level than we'd seen before; he's "only" averaging 19.3 and 8.6 boards per game this year, both below his career numbers. But he's doing it in 28.6 minutes, which is nuts, really. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but if you can weasel your way into getting him, now would be a good time, before the Suns start really ratcheting up his minutes.

All Brevin Knight does is pass and steal - 9/1/8/2 last night - which as a fourth guard in fantasy, is flat out superb. There's a chance he's available in some leagues and Sam Cassell is still dealing with injury. Sam-I-Am is like 89 in alien years, so this probably won't be a one time thing.

Daily leagues should note that Chris Mihm is your starting center in Los Angeles with Andrew Bynum sick right now; he scored 11 points with seven boards and two dimes in 32 minutes last night. With two games against Golden State on the horizon (12/09 and 12/14) he could make a very nice streaming option.

Someone that could be more than a streamer, depending how his situation shakes out, is Anderson Varejao. He signed yesterday with the Bobcats, leaving the Cavs seven days to match the Bobcats offer. Varejao's made it known he doesn't care to play for the LeBrons and there are salary cap issues involved, so they may let him walk. If he ends up in Charlotte, he's a very nice add as a fourth forward or second center; Jared Dudley's value would take a hit though.

Broken Eggs
Kevin Martin left the Kings game against Utah last night with some sort of strained groin. Besides the obvious "Ouch" joke, it's worth noting that John Salmons ended up with 21 points, six boards and two dimes in 27 minutes. Either he or Francisco Garcia will start at the two with Martin hurt, but expect it to be Salmons who sees the biggest temporary boost in value.

As much as the Clippers have improved the last few years, they've still only had one winning season in the last 15 years. They came close last year but failed, finishing two games under .500 and one spot out of the playoffs. Will the team's current core make the playoffs again before being broken up? If they do, it may have to happen this year.

As the Los Angeles Times points out, both Elton Brand and Corey Maggette can opt-out of their contracts at the end of the year, and while the Clippers can pay them more money than anyone else, it's not a lock that they return. For one, both players tried to leave in the past, signing offer sheets with other teams as restricted free agents: Brand was hoping to land with the Heat; Maggette, the Jazz.

I have to imagine Maggette is gone for sure, especially after putting up with so many trade rumors the last couple of years. (Ironically, the fact that he now has a chance to leave at the end of the season may make it more likely he'll finally be dealt this year ...) As for Brand, he may want to wait another year. He's returning from a torn ACL that will keep him out much of the year, and unless he goes nuts upon returning, he may be better off collecting the $16 million he's due in 2008-09 and spend a full year proving that he's worth another max contract.

It's also worth pointing out that Sam Cassell is in the final year of his contract, as well. That's not quite as important to the team's future -- it's not even a lock that he'll start this year even if he manages to stay healthy, as Brevin Knight (and eventually, Shaun Livingston) will push him from the bench. But still, Cassell was widely credited with giving the Clippers their swagger in 2005-06, their lone playoff berth of the last decade, so even if Brand and Maggette stay, they'll still need to forge their own identity.

Well, it looks like it's official: Kevin Garnett will wear Celtic green next year, teaming up with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to form one of the most potent (and definitely the most expensive) trio of players in the entire league. From the Boston Herald:

A league source just confirmed that the Celtics and Timberwolves have finalized a deal that will bring Kevin Garnett to Boston in exchange for Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Sebastian Telfair, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff and two first round draft picks.

Garnett is expected to arrive in Boston this afternoon for a physical.

Garnett has agreed to a three-year extension with the Celtics beyond the two remaining on his contract, guaranteeing that he will be a Celtic for the next five years.

That's pretty much the same package everyone was talking about yesterday, except that there are now two first-round picks instead of just one headed to Minnesota. It's far too early to say who actually won this trade (especially considering four of the five players Minnesota received are 24 years or younger) but we do know one thing for sure: Boston's depth took a huge hit.

As if the Miami Heat's offseason hasn't been disappointing enough, fans of the team are realizing today that the start of the regular season isn't going to look too hot, either, not with Dwyane Wade, rehabilitating from surgery on his left shoulder and left knee, saying that he'll likely be sidelined into mid-November (via TrueHoop):

"My doctors don't want me to rush," Wade said ... "They make sure I come back when I am ready to come back. We are taking it slowly. Of course, I am rehabbing hard. It's tough to rehab the whole left side of your body at one time." ...

"I'm kind of glad [about] the pace that I'm going," Wade said. "Next year, I want to make sure I'm as healthy as possible, to play the most games that I can play without going in and out of the lineup. I would rather take it slow now, and really hit it toward the end."

Missing the first couple of weeks doesn't sound too bad at first, but that's before you consider that he'll likely still need at least a few more weeks to go through his "training camp" period and get completely back into game shape. Plus, there's the the undeniable possibility likelihood that by the time Wade is back to his old self, Shaquille O'Neal will have already suffered his annual early-season injury, meaning the Heat might not be at full-strength until after the All-Star break.