FanHouse Jamaal Magloire

The NBA announced suspensions for Miami's Jamaal Magloire and Detroit's Jonas Jerebko on Thursday, the result of a brief altercation between the two players in Monday's game in Detroit.

After getting tangled while going for the same rebound in the fourth quarter, the two players fell to the ground, where they each took a swing at each other before being separated by teammates. The incident happened quickly and television replays failed to capture a clear angle of what happened, but in the locker room after the game, Jerebko was quick to admit his involvement.

"He got me, I got him back," he told FanHouse. "That's what happened."

The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Brett Edwards.

The NBA has seen an unprecedented amount of player movement this season, including three deals which can only be described as flat out blockbusters. But as the choke-time Mavericks and suddenly atrocious Suns are learning, bringing in new, big name talent doesn't necessarily make your team better. It just makes it different, and different isn't likely to get you to the Finals. Now that the hype has blown over, it's clear that the Lakers have built themselves for a title, while the Suns and Mavericks are worse off than before they started. But why?

The trading-for-a-superstar craze began of course with the Celtics. Boston's off-season acquisitions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett -- along with the team running out to a fast start and the league's best record -- "proved" a couple of things to general managers everywhere. One, teams that aren't going anywhere are willing to move their superstars, for the price of young unproven talent and/or some players with expiring contracts. This creates immediate flexibility for future moves under the salary cap, and/or buys the GM years of job security while waiting for the young players to come into their own. And two, guess what? When you have a team stocked with All-Stars, there's a good chance that you can compete for a title.

It's obvious to most hardcore NBA fans that while the Jason Kidd to Dallas trade certainly made the Mavs more glamorous, it did in fact cost them pretty heavily. There was, of course, Devin Harris, their point guard of the future. But more importantly for a championship run this year, there was DeSagana Diop. He wasn't really what you'd call an everyday name, but he did provide stout interior defense and a penchant for shot blocking. Also, since Erick Dampier is not good foul prone, Diop's ability to eat up large chunks of minutes in the post were pretty critical for Dallas. They have been looking to fill that void since the deal went down, and it looks like they may have found a fill-in in recently waived Jamaal Magloire.

Center Jamaal Magloire, released by the Nets on Friday, will sign with the Mavericks when he clears waivers later this evening, according to a league source.

Like renting Dude, Where's My Car? because you laughed for two hours one Saturday night a few years ago in college, you'd probably be stretching it to try and use Magloire's All Star campaign of five years ago to refer to him as "great". Or "good", really. He's only 29 though, and while his track record the past few years hasn't been spectacular, he's the best option the Mavs have available right now given howt desperately they need a big body in the middle. Although, had Magloire, who will reportedly sign a one year deal for the vet's minimum, held out a little longer, he probably could be starting for Houston tomorrow.

Based on what I know about world history, it's not easy to get Canada's collective goose. You don't often hear about Nunavutian uprisings, and my personal experiences with FanHouse NBA's Team Canada (TheHype and Mutoni, as well as Skeets -- R.I.P.) have been quite peaceable. Jamaal Magloire, a Toronto native, has done the trick though.

The Toronto Sun's Mike Ganter lets Canada's national team chief Leo Rautins give Maal the business.

Rautins wasn't happy when Magloire failed to re-connect after a planned meeting had to be cancelled earlier this summer. He was less happy when he learned Magloire's intentions from an article in the Sun that quoted Magloire saying he wasn't coming. Rautins players took it worse than that.

"The line that just killed everyone here was the one where he said if they get there (to Beijing) he would show up," Rautins said. "Man for man, everyone said at that time, 'We don't want you.' [...] I haven't talked to Jamaal, but I'm tired of chasing him. Would I like to have a guy of his size on the roster? Sure. But these guys worked their butts off to get there and if they don't want him, he's not playing. I don't care if he begs to play."

Meanwhile, Rautins remains hopeful Steve Nash will pitch in next summer in the program's last-ditch effort to make the Olympics. Nash and Magloire aren't exactly best friends, so this shouldn't affect that at all.

After signing a one-year deal with the Nets, Jamaal Magloire is talking tough. From the New York Post (via SLAM Online):

The finesse pieces are present. And now Jamaal Magloire insists he brings the toughness that can make the Nets champions of a too-often wimpy NBA.

"This league has changed a whole lot since I've been a rookie and a second-year player. It's gotten soft," proclaimed Magloire ...

Maybe it's true ... but it still sounds weird coming out of the mouth of Jamaal Magliore (and it probably made new teammate Vince Carter squirm a little). But as the seven-year veteran reminisces about the good old days of 2000-02, I should point out that Magliore hasn't been on a winning team since his third year in the league. I'm not saying anything, I'm just saying ...

He continues rambling after the jump.