FanHouse JamaalMagloire

Miami has myriad concerns but only three real problems heading into 2008-09: the point guard position, fitting the team's three starter quality forwards together, and perimeter depth. The Heat remains damned on the PG tip until Mario Chalmers has an epiphany or the trade market ratchets up, and I count myself again the horde which finds the Shawn Marion-Michael Beasley-Udonis Haslem triumvirate more interesting than problematic. But depth ... with only James Jones, Dorell Wright, Daequan Cook and Yakhouba Diawara available behind Dwyane Wade and Marion at the swing positions. That's a little good but a whole lotta bad, at least on offense.

Now Jones is out at least three months after ripping a tendon in his wrist. That ensures Wright or Diawara will get some minutes; in the event of an injury or a Marion trade that doesn't send a quality wing back, this ensures substantial burn for both those guys as well as Cook, who appears to sit on the fringes of the NBA (which is where Diawara rightfully exists). Mention was made during the summer that Shaun Livingston could play some two-guard or small forward, but no one will say when he'll be ready for real NBA action.

Another blow to the bench brigade: Jamaal Magloire will be out until December at the earliest with a broken hand. As Erik Spoelstra resists Forwardpalooza, Mark Blount will be the starting center. Magloire's a zombie, but he's better than Joel Anthony and potentially better than Blount. Alonzo Mourning is working out in some secluded bunker or something, but he doesn't figure to get live until at least January.

This is all to say that Miami could be the shocker we all dream of, but it could also be a really bad team with nothing past Wade and a good forward rotation.

One of the more intriguing questions floating around basketblog circles this summer has concerned Miami's frontcourt rotation. Shawn Marion has taken up permanent residency on the trade block, but most rumors involving Matrix have died before going public. It really does look like Marion will be in Miami to start the year.

So with longtime Heat forward Udonis Haslem (the team's best defender over the past few years), No. 2 pick Michael Beasley (a popular R.O.Y. choice) and Marion (one of the better defenders in the league, and an explosive match for Dwyane Wade) all needing minutes ... what does Erik Spoelstra do? Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald gets some hints from the rookie coach.

Spoelstra wants to use an undersized frontcourt of Udonis Haslem, Michael Beasley and Shawn Marion "at times, but it will depend on the matchup. I don't know about [using it] in large doses. I feel comfortable with Udonis playing some minutes at" center. He said he hasn't decided whether to open games with a traditional center (Mark Blount or Jamaal Magloire) or the smaller lineup with Haslem at center.

If Haslem starts at power forward, Beasley would come off the bench, because Spoelstra said he sees Beasley as a power forward "right now." (He said he's undecided whether Beasley will start.) He's equally comfortable with Marion at either forward spot.

There you go. I see no practical reason not to roll with the small line-up: Marion is an elite rebounder at power forward, and would be a 25-30% better rebounder than any other small forward in the league assuming his performance maintains at age 30. Haslem is a stellar rebounding forward, and would be at the lower end of average as a center. Beasley projects to be an elite rebounder.

Unless someone taught Blount how to defend this summer, or Magloire sold his soul, there's no way Miami's small line takes something off the table, save maybe a prospective bench scoring boost Beasley could offer.

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.

Rasheed Wallace would prefer a four-day vacation instead of being named to the All-Star Game. Problem: He's clearly the 2nd best center in the East, and will assuredly get named as a reserve by the coaches... unless we save him.

Attention Eastern Conference coaches! You do not want to put Rasheed Wallace in the All-Star Game. These other centers make much more sense.

Andrew Bogut, Milwaukee: You know how Coach of the Year almost always goes to the guy whose team you figured would suck, but his team surprises you by being average, so thus he's a feel-good story and worthy of our acclaim? Before this year, Bogey was a bust. Now, he's OK and thus worthy of acclaim. Also, the All-Star Game has never featured a 7-foot Croat-Australian. Expand the global market.

Kendrick Perkins, Boston: Team success matters, right? Clearly, Perk's Celtics are superior to Sheed's Pistons, both as basketball players and human beings.

Jamaal Magloire, New Jersey: Overlook Maal's 2.16 PER; Hollinger's nuts. Just realize Magloire has exactly as many All-Star Games under his belt as Dwight Howard. That, my friends, is pedigree.

Tyson Chandler or Chris Kaman or Al Jefferson or Andrew Bynum or Marcus Camby, Western Conference: Now there's a solution.

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.