FanHouse Jamario Moon

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The market on Jamario Moon has been all over the place since he arrived in the NBA from various minor leagues and the D-League. At the tender age of 27, he was a Rookie of the Year candidate in 2007. Then he was a struggling sophomore at 28. He was traded to Miami and seemed to be a favorite target for Dwyane Wade for halfcourt alley-oops. But injury and a lack of cohesiveness with the Miami offense led to frustrations along with the Heat's first-round exit at the hands of the Hawks.

And now, four years after playing for the Arkansas RimRockers, a D-League team no longer in existence, Jamario Moon finds himself the reserve for a King.

We're at the point where casual fans fail to recognize the remaining names on the free-agency list. There are a few diamonds in the rough, though. Jamario Moon is one of the few remaining gems. Or at least shiny pebbles.

And the Cavs think he would look gold next to their two giant hunks of rock.

The Cavaliers signed Moon to a two-year deal on Friday, ESPN reported Sunday.

As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.

"If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: 'It seemed a good idea at the time.'" -Rebecca West

Bryan Colangelo either laughs or weeps at this quote after the Raptors 2008-2009 season.

I mean, it DID seem like a good idea at the time, right? You're a playoff team, on the verge of contention. You have a legit superstar in Chris Bosh. You have an up and coming point guard in Jose Calderon, a core of veterans alongside sharpshooter Jason Kapono, and a young stud in Jamario Moon. All they needed was to jettison that black hole, T.J. Ford and minimize that bust Andrea Bargnani. And if they could do all that and upgrade their frontcourt with some muscle, that would be idea.

Enter Jermaine O'Neal. Enter the meltdown.

There's no denying that the Toronto Raptors' season has been a huge disappointment. Chris Bosh has improved his game, but the team is on its second coach in this early season, and no matter how close they get, they still can't seem to turn things around.

All of this has been wearing on Bosh, and after Monday's agonizing three-point loss to the Hawks, he let his frustration get the best of him. Bosh directly called out Jamario Moon for his poor defense in the game's final moments against Atlanta's Joe Johnson, on a play which ultimately turned the game in favor of the Hawks.

The NBA revealed it's All-Rookie Teams today, and by and large there weren't any huge surprises. But can you guess who the only unanimous choice to the first team was? If you guessed Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant ... you'd be wrong.

Actually, it was Al Horford, who finished with 29 first-place votes. Durant finished with 28. It's too bad the ballots aren't open -- I'd love to see which NBA coach actually thought Durant was no better than the sixth-best rookie this year. (Remember, coaches can't vote for their own players but aren't limited by position.) Luis Scola (26 first place votes), Al Thornton (20) and Jeff Green (15) rounded out the first team.

On the second team is Jamario Moon (12), Juan Carlos Navarro (5), Thaddeus Young (4), Rodney Stuckey (5) and Carl Landry (1). Other players receiving first place votes include Joakim Noah (1), Nick Young (2), Mike Conley (1) and Corey Brewer (1).

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Cup of Coffee
We know that Devin Harris will start (we do know that, right?) for New Jersey once he returns from injury. But you best believe that in the meantime, and probably after, the Nets are going to give Marcus Williams plenty of run. He got it in overtime last night, scoring 25 points with four boards and four assists. And yeah, his team won and he awkwardly outplayed Jason Kidd as well. If Williams is floating around or is on your bench, grab him/get him active; he should be a great source of points and light assists over the next week or so.

Hot Cakes
The word out of Milwaukee is that Charlie Villanueva will start for the rest of the season. He's been beasty when motivated before, so make him a priority add this morning if he's available. (Yes, I am aware that he only got eight points and three boards last night ... doesn't matter.)

Robert Swift will also be seeing a big bump in playing time, as the Sonics see what they've got in the soon-to-be restricted free agent. Kurt Thomas is now out of town, so Swift should be a great source for blocks and boards the rest of the way home -- pre-injury he had shown some serious fantasy potential and was always a pre-season sleeper fave.

With the Slam Dunk Contest just a few short hours away, I'm happy to report to you who the winner's going to be: Jamario Moon. How do I know Moon's going to win? Because he guaranteed it himself:

Jamario Moon is guaranteeing a win in tonight's all-star dunk competition.

"I got it," Moon said. "I've got it in my pocket right now." Moon said smiling. "I believe in me and I'm sure those guys believe in what they do. But I think I've got some nice dunks. I've got a couple (in reserve) in case they do something crazy and make me go a little deeper into the hat. I believe in myself."

Alright, cool. The problem for Jamario is that I'm sure Dwight Howard, Gerald Green, and Rudy Gay all believe they're going to win too. This is just the latest showing of fantastic bravado from this year's contestants, which has previously included challenges of 12 and 13-foot dunks, along with a YouTube campaign asking for suggestions from the fans.

One thing I can guarantee you for tonight is that FanHouse has got you covered. Come hang out with us right here as we cover all the action from NOLA, beginning a little before 8:00 Eastern.

Jamario Moon has been relatively quiet about this year's Slam Dunk Contest. While we've already heard some pretty bold statements from Dwight Howard, Rudy Gay, and especially Gerald Green, Moon hasn't given us any indication of what to expect from him on All-Star Saturday night. That is, until now. Moon posted this little video as a tease of what he's planning for the contest, and from the looks of things, we're in for a special, special night.

Is it just me, or did those first two slams look like Moon was dunking on an eight-foot rim? He makes it look really easy, although there's nothing easy about that last one, he took off from about eighteen feet.

As we inch closer to All-Star 2008 in New Orleans, the lineups for the weekend's events are starting to fall into place. Today we found out who will be participating in the "T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam," and just like last year, it's looking like it's going to be an easy win for the Sophomores.

The Rookie squad will feature Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Al Horford, Luis Scola, Mike Conley, Juan Carlos Navarro, Yi Jianlian, Sean Williams, and a very busy Jamario Moon.

The Sophomores will load their roster with Brandon Roy, Lamarcus Aldridge, Rajon Rondo, Daniel Gibson (aka Boobie), Jordan Farmar, Andrea Bargnani, Ronnie Brewer, Paul Millsap, and an equally busy Rudy Gay.

So after looking at the lineups one right after the other like this, how can you not see another Sophomore blowout? In Vegas the Sophs won by 41 points, and although I don't expect the spread to be quite as big this time, it's still a mismatch, and one that the league should change if they want to make this an interesting event.

My solution would be to mix the Rookies and Sophomores up by conference, and play the game East versus West. While that might not always give you the best game, it would be exponentially better than what we have now. I just think that the Sophomores have too much of an advantage every year having that additional season of NBA experience under their belt. By mixing the teams up and playing it by conference, we're likely to get a much more competitive game.

So the NBA took my advice and came clean today with the names of the final two participants in this year's Dunk Contest. We had already heard that Gerald Green and Jamario Moon were confirmed, and we now know that Rudy Gay and Dwight Howard will round out the competition.

With a lineup featuring the defending champ, two newcomers eager to show off their skills, and an incredible leaper who was dissed by the judges last year, this looks like a pretty entertaining event to me. Hopefully the new wrinkle of allowing the fans to decide the champion in the final round won't ruin things. Here's how the NBA says the fan voting will impact the event:

Following the concluding round of dunks, fans will be able to cast their votes via SMS TXT message and at NBA.com to determine this year's winner. The dunker with the most fan votes will be named the winner of the Sprite Slam Dunk. A panel of judges will continue to play a key role by determining which two participants advance to the final round. During the final round, each judge's vote will count the same as a fan vote.

So my vote cast from my couch counts just as much as the one from a judge who is at the event in person, usually an ex-player, and has actual experience dunking a basketball? Fantastic. I'm not so sure that this is a good idea. I mean, we can barely trust the fans to choose the starters for the All-Star team, and I'm not convinced that they'll do the right thing and vote for the more deserving player instead of their favorite player. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, and with the fans' vote deciding the champion, it's a good thing that Yao Ming abstains from the competition.

Previously at FanHouse:
Gerald Green Will Defend Dunk Contest Title
Jamario Moon Is In the Dunk Contest