FanHouse IkeDiogu

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Denver needed a win to clinch the Northwest title over Portland. Sacramento, fresh off a disappointing last-second loss to the Spurs, provided the muse. The Kings actually stuck around for three quarters and change. Then, J.R. Smith happened.

Smith scored 45 points, 23 of them in the fourth. In total, he shot 11-of-18 from 3-point range, blowing out the fire emanating from his hand by the end of the joint. In the last eight minutes of the game, Smith helped the Nuggets turn a six-point lead into a 20-point victory. The Northwest belongs to Denver.

(Warning: I'm a Kings fan, and I'm a little unstable right now.) The belle of this season's trade deadline ball has been, in the absence of Amare Stoudemire, Mr. John Salmons. Salmons is a fine little player, a 29-year-old jack-of-some-trades who can score and pass and defend.

Brad Miller ... well, you know about him. A highly skilled center who can't jump over a pancake (not that he'd want to) and carries a $12 million salary next season. Everyone wanted in on Salmons, while Miller's destinations seemed few. Idea! Why not package them together to make sure you lose the dud? Sacramento did just that today in swapping the pair for Chicago's Drew Gooden and Andres Nocioni.

ESPN is reporting that Indiana picked Jerryd Bayless at #11 not for themselves, but for the active active Blazers. Chad Ford says the trade is Bayless and Ike Diogu in exchange for Brandon Rush, picked 13th, and Jarrett Jack. Of course, it's a coup for Portland's Kevin Pritchard, who came into the draft needing a point guard and ended up with arguably the second best one available. And hey! Portland gets to save money in the deal, too.

The heartbreak of this one is that Indiana had no intent or need for Bayless before Portland came calling. The team after Indiana -- my Sacramento Kings -- have no point guard on the roster. Beno Udrih's agent has requested the full mid-level exception ... and the Clippers, who drafted a two-guard in Eric Gordon, are expected to offer as much.

Kings fans would have forgiven David Stern for his accused transgressions just to hear him call Jerryd's name at #12. Instead ... well, hi Jason Thompson. Pleased to meet your acquaintance, I suppose.

Portland is going to win 11 of the next 12 championships. Indiana picked Roy Hibbert with the #17, which comes over in the Jermaine O'Neal deal.

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.

In our second post discussing the sharp-shooting Mike Miller, this time it's the Clippers who appear to be the latest team that's interested in participating in the Memphis fire sale. The proposed deal would include the expiring contracts of Sam Cassell and Aaron Williams, and would probably be completed by now if the Clippers were willing to include their first round pick in 2008. Which at this point, is a deal-breaker.

For the Clippers, I suppose this works alright, as long as they don't include that pick. Miller is a slightly better version of Cuttino Mobley, so the team would be set as far as jump-shooters go. Obviously by moving Cassell the team either believes that Shaun Livingston will be back next season, or they're willing to use that lottery pick for someone like D.J. Augustin or O.J. Mayo.

On the Memphis side, is this deal any better for them than the discussions with the Pacers? Maybe, if they're truly looking to gut the team and rebuild from ground zero. Because Ike Diogu and Marquis Daniels are actually players with some skills who have a future, whereas Williams and Cassell would simply be considered expiring contracts. And if Cassell's interest in going to a contender was genuine (and why wouldn't it have been), I can't imagine him being all that happy getting sent to a team that is giving players away in an effort to rebuild for the future.

Will it happen?: If the Clippers include that lottery pick, absolutely. If not, it all depends on what other teams are offering, and whoever gives the Grizz the best opportunity to clear cap space will be rewarded with Miller.

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.

After dumping Pau Gasol, the Grizzlies are full-fledged rebuilding mode. Okay, that's a lie -- they were already in rebuilding mode, which makes it a bit surprising they still haven't moved Mike Miller to a contender looking for a reliable outside shooter. According to SI's Ian Thomsen, the Grizzlies are taking calls:

The Grizzlies are fielding numerous offers for shooting guard Mike Miller. One possibility would be to send him to Indiana for power forward Ike Diogu and guard Marquis Daniels, which has been discussed in the last week.

The Pacers don't really fit the description of "contender," but they are just two games out of the playoffs. Plus, Miller fits the mold of players the Pacers seem to be going after these days (I can picture it now, a lineup of Miller, Jeff Foster, Troy Murphy, Mike Dunleavy and Travis Diener ...), and Jim O'Brien's offense does put a premium on guys who can chuck it from long-distance.

From the Grizzlies' perspective, Daniels is a bit overpaid but is still owed less than what Miller is set to make next year and will be off the books after next season (provided they don't pick up his team option). Diogu would be the real gem, though, provided the Griz finally gave him consistent minutes. Both the Warriors and Pacers have largely ignored his talents, but he's consistently put up excellent numbers in limited time: prorate his stats over 48 minutes and he's averaging 26 points and 13.6 boards this year.

Will it happen? The Pacers would probably jump on this in a heartbeat, but you'd think the Grizzlies could get a better offer. Granted, we thought that about Gasol, too, so who knows.

Jermaine O'Neal surprised all of us by suggesting that his knee injury could turn out to be season-ending, but the Pacers aren't buying it -- the team expects he'll miss at least a couple of weeks but probably not too much more. From Mark Montieth of the Indy Star:

"I'm proceeding with the assumption of what our medical people tell me," coach Jim O'Brien said before this afternoon's 110-103 victory over Philadelphia at Wachovia Center. "They feel it's a bone bruise that can be cleaned up and he'll be ready to go."

O'Neal, meanwhile, remains unwilling to endorse that timeline, or any timeline, really:

"I don't want to put a timetable on when I'm coming back," he said. "That's one thing (a timetable) I didn't want the team to say, because we don't really know. Me coming in and out of the lineup hurts the team, me not being able to practice hurts the team, me playing at 60 percent (hurts the team).

"I'm having a very average year and the team isn't .500. I need to get healthy enough so I can get out there and dominate again."

The Pacers are a surprising 3-0 through the first week of the season, but they got some bad news today: Ike Diogu, the team's third-leading scorer, will miss the next 4-6 weeks with a torn calf muscle suffered during Tuesday's practice. From the team's official site:

Diogu started on opening night in place of the injured Jermaine O'Neal and in three appearances this season has averaged 23.3 minutes, 13.7 points and 4.3 rebounds, making 16-of-28 shots from the field (57.1 percent).

"It happens. Injuries are part of the game," Diogu said. "It's an unfortunate time because I was starting to do the things people expect me to do on the floor. I've just got to wait it out, come back and get back to doing the same things."

Diogu has always been effective in small doses, and he seemed to be comfortable producing given more minutes last year. Though he's not a big name, a lot of people have speculated that he may turn out to be the gem of the Stephen Jackson/Al Harrington deal last year that netted Troy Murphy and Mike Dunleavy. Incidentally, Diogu's absence coincides with Murphy's return -- Murphy missed the last half of the preseason and the first three games with a balky back, but he's expected to be dressed and ready for action tonight against the Clippers.