The Kings, seeking a defensive veteran for the small forward position, took on Desmond Mason in advance of training camp. That didn't turn out so well: Mason has been beyond awful on offense (surprising no one who has watched Mason play at any point over the past four years) and didn't make much of a difference for the league's 29th ranked defense.
Five games was enough for the Sacramento front office, as the team waived Mason a day after signing former Blazer and Spur Ime Udoka to a non-guaranteed minimum salary contract. Like Mason, Udoka is known for his defensive skill, having been signed as a sort of Bruce Bowen replacement two summers ago. That didn't really work out, and Udoka was left teamless for opening day after Portland waived the swingman at the end of the preseason.
The Tyson Chandler Derby has been much more muted than the Amare-geddon (credit B-a-B), but the results might be as important. Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports that Oklahoma City has landed Chandler for (apparently) Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith, whose contracts happen to expiring this summer. (Just a coincidence, I'm sure.)
Chandler can be considered a defensive version of Stoudemire, with little offensive impact beyond his beautiful and famous alley-oop connection with Chris Paul. If Amare could turn a team without scorers into a good offense, Chandler can potentially make a bad defense (OKC qualifies) respectable.
As rumored, Cleveland plundered point guard Mo Williams from Milwaukee, losing only 33-year-old Joe Smith and 32-year-old Damon Jones in the process. Jones and OKC alum Luke Ridnour head to the Bucks; Smith and former Sonic Desmond Mason pack for Oklahoma. As I wrote a bit ago, it's a good pull for Cleveland -- Williams shores up a pitiful position and adds some offensive punch to a defensive-minded team.
There's another consideration, though: what's it do to Cleveland's pending cap space? Danny Ferry's public position on all prospective trades has been that the team didn't want to surrender its projected cap space for the summer of 2009. With Smith, Jones, Eric Snow and Wally Szczerbiak definitely off the payroll next offseason, the idea become such that the Cavs would be in good position to either trade for a disgruntled superstar at the deadline or reach out to a top-level free agent in July. (In actuality, once Daniel Gibson was extended, the team still needed to shred one more long contract to be serious players in free agency. The trade avenue would be alive regardless.)
Do you remember way back last March when we pointed out Desmond Mason's funky free-throw shooting? Of course you don't: we've written something like 10,000 posts since then, including dozens that weren't about Kobe Bryant. Well, there he is in all his flash video glory, which is a bit easier to digest than our animated GIF from last time. The video is old (he's back with the Bucks this season) but it's still pure comedy gold. I know the Hawks bench and Byron Scott were likely just looking up at the scoreboard of a close game, but I like to think there were simply in a daze wondering what the hell they just witnessed.
This comes as at least a mild surprise, not because Bell isn't worth it (he is) but because he flat-out admitted he didn't want to play for the Bucks after the way they've ignored him for most of the summer. From Charles Gardner's blog on the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
"Inside my heart, I just won't be there," Bell said last week. "I won't feel the same toward the organization."
Bell's agent, Mark Bartelstein, said he talked with Bell today and that the 6-foot-3 guard was "kind of digesting it."
"This is all part of the business," Bartelstein said. "They realize Charlie Bell is a heck of a player, a huge piece of their present and future. They decided they wanted and needed to have Charlie with them."
That's putting a nice spin on it, but it's not hard to see why Bell felt jilted. Instead of coming up with a legitimate offer themselves, the Bucks left Bell stringing along to see how the rest of the league valued him. Fortunately Miami came through with an offer, because the best deal on the table to that point was a two-year, $9 million deal from a team in Greece.
The reunion of Michael Redd and Desmond Mason is the impetus for the story. And truth be told, it seems to be the good guys who take up the sport (or Gilbert Arenas, who is beyond good and evil). But in the midst of the wholesome-fest, there's this unlikely bit of camraderie:
"There are a lot of NBA players who love to bowl," Redd said. "Whenever Rasheed (Wallace) is in town, he usually calls me up and we go bowling. He's pretty good, too."
I'm not one to call Sheed a thug or a monster. And anyone who knows anything about the league can attest to his family man credentials. But he's definitely the odd man out in this list of players. Even Arenas, while a little on the weird side, has never caused problems like Sheed. Maybe this is the ultimate proof that, deep down inside, Rasheed Wallace has a heart of gold.
Back during the 2000-05 season, Desmond Mason was the Bucks' second-leading scorer, and the high-flying swingman was considered a fan favorite. When he was traded to the Hornets, though, it seemed like he burned his bridges to ever return, singling out GM Larry Harris. But now that he's a free agent, he's singing a different tune:
In a radio interview at the time of the deal, Mason called Harris "a snake in the grass" and said he "flat out lied to my face" about the chances of being traded.
But that seems like so much ancient history to both sides now.
"That's absolutely behind us," [Mason's agent Roger] Montgomery said. "If we do return, we're looking forward to finishing what he (Mason) started. He was a fan favorite.
"We barely remember that even happened."
For what it's worth, it seems to be "forgive and forget" in Milwaukee's front office, as well -- in the same article, Harris says, "We've had good discussions and are optimistic it's heading in the right direction." For a personnel standpoint, bringing Mason in makes sense -- the team could use some insurance at the small forward spot considering Bobby Simmons missed all of last year. Plus, he's Michael Redd's good friend, which isn't a surprise since Redd knows Mason will never steal a shot from him.
Much, much love to Ron Hitley from Hornets247.com (one of the funniest team blogs out there) for sending me some of the questions he didn't get to ask Chris on draft day.
Courtesy of Information Leafblower, here's an agonizing look at this high-energy Hornet's FT form. Some day, All-Star Weekend will have a contest between him, Shawn Marion, Kevin Martin, and Ben Wallace for King of Unholy Mechanics.
The Kings, seeking a defensive veteran for the small forward position, took on Desmond Mason in advance of training camp. That didn't turn out so well: Mason has been beyond awful on offense (surprising no one who has watched Mason play at any point over the past four years) and didn't make much of a difference for the league's 29th ranked defense.
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Back during the 2000-05 season, 
