FanHouse Carlos Delfino

Follow the logic train on this one.

Toronto needs defense and rebounding, since Andrea Bargnani, as talented as he is, lacks the toughness of say, an ostrich. They also need to clear 2010 space since The Big Twittermental, Chris Bosh, is going to have his share of offers. The Bucks have Amir Johnson, with $3.6 million expiring contract.

Milwaukee needs some flexibility at the wing, since Michael Redd spends more time on the shelf than Gigli. They also need some cheap backup point options, in case this whole Ramon Sessions thing doesn't go down. Toronto has Carlos Delfino (in a sign-and-trade possibility), and Roko Ukic.

Let's make a deal! Eventually!

The rumored sign-and-trade sending Shawn Marion to Dallas will become official today, reports ESPN.com and the Dallas Morning News.

What had been a tricky deal between Dallas, who is apparently in BUY! BUY! BUY! mode, and Toronto, who is attempting to maximize its Hedo Turkoglu cushion, turned into a four-way ballroom dance. Orlando reportedly jumped in to get a trade exception for the loss of Hedo and Memphis will provide its usual role as facilitator.

For awhile Friday, it sounded like Hedo Turkoglu was trying to become an NBA double dipper, playing for two different teams at the same time. Or like one of those traveling salesmen who quietly kept different wives in different cities.

And maybe he thought since the teams -- Portland and Toronto -- are in different countries, he might be able to slip by. You could just imagine that sly smile of his as he nodded yes to both teams.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. Either Turkoglu got cold feet or several news organizations got it wrong.

With the NBA trade deadline looming, Trade Machinations rounds up real rumors (and creates fake ones) of moves that'd make the NBA a better, brighter place.

The proposed deal - made a little awkward by the Warriors not wanting to burn up their trade exception just to dump Mickael Pietrus - would be Pietrus and Austin Croshere for Joey Graham and Juan Dixon, the two names that have apparently been tossed around.

This trade helps both teams to a certain degree, but more than anything it rids each one of their most recent malcontent (that being Pietrus and Dixon). Croshere helps out the Raptors because his contract, although a small one, is an expiring deal, freeing up more room for Toronto to resign Carlos Delfino and Jose Calderon. Pietrus' contract is also expiring and he has purportedly agreed to waive his George Bird Rights should Golden State find him a new locale.

From a basketball standpoint, Pietrus would give the Raptors a more scoring-capable option at the three than Jamario Moon currently provides in addition to lineup flexibility. Croshere provides a little frontcourt depth while Graham gives the Warriors a tougher body in the post (neither has really played in 2008, both have expiring deals, the money works out to save the Warriors' exception from the Jason Richardson trade).

Will it happen? It certainly could. Both Pietrus and Dixon are likely to get moved before the deadline and in this case, each team gets something useful in exchange for their unhappy player.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
Mike Bibby returned to action Wednesday night, coming off the bench to score 19 points with six boards (no dimes) in 28 minutes. Kevin Martin came off the bench to score 22 points with four boards and two steals in 29 minutes. Ron Artest came off the bench to score four points (two of 10 from the floor) with two boards, four dimes, a block and a steal in 29 minutes. Meanwhile, Beno Udrih, John Salmons and Francisco Garcia combined to score 22 points. It was a good run, gentlemen, good run. The latter trio will not see their fantasy value dissipate completely, and odds are pretty good some sort of injury to the first set will prompt some more playing time, but we are about three games away from the regular rotation returning. Bibby, Artest and Martin are good to start now in all fantasy leagues; Udrih, Salmons and Garcia are usable lower end starters now, or even better, nice buy lows if you have room to stash and gamble on an injury.

Hot Cakes
I too am curious why Royal Ivey was flirting with a triple double and putting up nine points, eight boards and six assists last night. It is because Mo Williams had the stomach flu. (I was curious about the stats, not the reason.) Don't freak out and grab Ivey just yet, but an injury to Mo means you know who to swoop on when your opponent reaches for Charlie Bell.

But you know who you need to snatch up now? Carlos Delfino. He's been acting like he wants to break out for about a month now, and he went off for 26 points (five threes), seven boards, six assists and four steals. That is, in fact, ridiculous. Anthony Parker certainly has fine this year, but the Raptors need a reliable sparkplug-type off the bench, and Delfino fits that role perfectly (how's that Jason Kapono ink-job working out?), meaning he should see plenty of minutes in the future.

NBA FanHouse walks through the Valley of the Most Likely; we shall fear no topic.

I became a Raptors fan last season. They went about re-building their roster the right way, bringing on a brilliant GM and letting him orchestrate a rather unique plan that basically consisted of flooding the roster with as many foreign guys as possible.

There was more to it than that, of course; Bryan Colangelo also had the balls and foresight to trade Charlie Villanueva for T.J. Ford, which not only defied conventional "never trade big for small" wisdom but also seemed like a huge risk given Ford's injury history. Plus, he found diamonds in the rough in Anthony Parker and Jorge Garbajosa, undervalued veterans who were playing in Europe that every other team in the NBA had a chance to sign but didn't.

So what happened? The team quit being "Chris Bosh and some other guys" and actually became a team. Ford had a breakout year, the Euros (Garbajosa, Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon) all found a productive niche and Parker started every game he played. The team survived a mini-scare when Bosh missed time with a knee injury and managed to win without him, which was just unheard of in the past. By the end of the year, they had claimed their first division title with a convincing 47-35 record. But if things were so peachy, why am I down on them this year?

I'm guessing Bryan Colangelo isn't a popular man in Spain right about now. Just a hunch. From the Toronto Star:

The Raptors have ruled forward Jorge Garbajosa out of playing for Spain at the upcoming EuroBasket tournament, the club announced yesterday.

"Despite Jorge feeling and looking ready to play, the medical findings suggest otherwise," Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo said in a statement.

Garbajosa suffered a broken fibula and torn ankle ligaments during a Raptors game in Boston in March.

The Raptors said Garbajosa was recently evaluated in Toronto by Raptors medical, training and coaching staffs, and was able to perform on-court drills proficiently and without pain. But a detailed review and assessment of the various images and scans taken have revealed insufficient healing of the fractured fibula.

To their credit, the Raptors did try to make this happen, but apparently the team was unable to find an adequate insurance policy should Garbajosa re-injure himself. Considering Garbajosa saw Pau Gasol, his teammate on Spain's national team, break his foot during the World Championships last summer, I'm sure he has to understand.

Besides, there's no room for moping in Toronto's locker room: Chris Bosh, a sure-fire lock to make Team USA, also pulled out of international competition this summer before of lingering plantar fasciitis in his right foot. The newly-acquired Carlos Delfino suffered a knee injury last week and almost had to pull out of the FIBA Americas tournament in Las Vegas, but it turns out his injury wasn't all that serious and he was in fact able to play for Argentina.

Previously on FanHouse:
Jorge Garbajosa Is Ready to Play

The Pistons made an extremely interesting trade on Friday, sending Carlos Delfino to the Raptors in exchange for two second-round picks (2009 and 2011). "Wait a minute," most of you are saying right about now. "What's so interesting about that?"

Well, Delfino was Tayshaun Prince's primary backup at small forward, as well as the first or second shooting guard off the bench (depending on Flip Saunders particular mood on any given night). He was a vital cog in the rotation, and given Joe Dumars' mandate that the team had to get younger and more athletic, it's definitely a little curious that they'd move such a young (24) and athletic player simply for a couple of second round picks far off in the future.

Of course, this might be one of those moves that makes more sense in hindsight. Is the team clearing cap space to make a run at a free agent? Maybe, but Delfino was set to make only $1.8 million next year. Might a guy like Grant Hill be willing to accept that? If anything, this probably puts an end to the "Hill to the Raptors" rumor which never quite got off the ground.

Another option is that the Pistons are simply clearing a roster spot to get even younger -- perhaps opening up a spot in the rotation for 20-year-old Amir Johnson, who is a restricted free agent this summer. The Pistons have a lot of faith in Johnson, who tore up the D-League before having success in significant minutes over the last few games of the regular season. Until now, it wasn't clear where/how he would fit into the rotation, but barring another move he could be in line for at least 15 minutes a game this coming season.

The Pistons advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the fifth consecutive year, but just like last season their mission to advance to the next round was stopped short in six games. Also like a year ago, the team now must quickly divert their attention from the sting of defeat to re-signing one of their key players.

Ben Wallace was considered the prize of the free-agent market last year, and it was a surprise when he signed with the Bulls instead of returning to Detroit. In hindsight, the writing was on the wall, as he correctly deduced that his usefulness to Detroit was waning as the team shifted focus to emphasize offense. For Billups, the situation couldn't be more different: if his struggles against Cleveland proved anything, it's that he's still the most important player on the team.

Joe Dumars has indicated numerous times this season that money won't be an issue when it comes to retaining Billups, and Billups himself assured the media that he hopes to return. Only a small handful of teams can afford to match Detroit's money without going over the salary cap, and all of those teams are losing teams in various stages of re-building (i.e., Memphis, Orlando, Milwaukee). Other teams can attempt to work out a sign-and-trade, but that'd be difficult to orchestrate as Dumars would likely be selective about what salaries he'd be willing to take back in return.

In any case, there are a host of other questions the Pistons must answer heading into the offseason, including the status of their head coach. By most team's standards, Flip Saunders has had a successful first two years on the job, but he's considered a disappointment considering the club he inherited won one title and came within a game of another.