FanHouse JaredJeffries

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* Well, we hope ...: J.R. Smith will take injured Rudy Gay's place in the Dunk Contest. This is what J.R. did in 2005:

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.

In the days following the 2007 draft, you'd be looked at as a joker if you insisted they'd someday chant Rodney Stuckey's name in Detroit. You'd look like even more of a nutter if you said it'd happen two months into his sophomore season. But here he is, racking up 38 points and seven assists to lead the Pistons in a tough win over Sacramento to the spirited chants of "STUCK-EY! STUCK-EY!." (However, the appearance of the wave at the Palace in the fourth makes me also question the Detroit crowd's judgment.)

Particularly awesome is how thoroughly Stuckey wasted Kings point guard Beno Udrih, who not only could not dream of stopping Stuckey's penetration but also couldn't get a decent shot off against the kid's physical pressure. Udrih finished with two points, three assists and two turnovers in 20 minutes.

Millsap Back at Work: Paul Millsap wasn't gone long, and thank goodness. Millsap brought his lunch pail to L.A., and though the Jazz fell to the Lakers by a baker's dozen, Millsap turned out a stellar game: 16 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, two steals, two steals and zero turnovers. Every night like this pushes Carlos Boozer closer to the edge of the world.

Doin' It Wrong: Knicks games typically create nutty lines ... but not like this: Jared Jeffries had only one point for the 'Bockers in 29 minutes, but racked up five rebounds and four blocks. Someone needs to get Jeffries a copy of Seven Seconds or Less or a 2004-05 Phoenix game tape.

Knick swinger Jared Jeffries snapped his leg during camp this week. It's an unfortunate turn for a player Mike D'Antoni had commended early on during auditions for The Resurrection of Madison Square Garden. As Jeffries seeks to hurry back lest he lose his spot to old hand Quentin Richardson, older hand Allan Houston or young buck Wilson Chandler, he made the logical next step: ask Terrell Owens for some advice on hyperbaric chambers. From the New York Daily News via Deadspin:

"We know each other through Brand Jordan (a division of Nike)," Jeffries said. "I texted a contact with them and T.O. had this same injury when he was with Philly. I'm going to get a hyperbaric chamber."

Why not just buy T.O.'s? "No, I'll buy my own," he said.

Hand-me-down hyperbaric chambers are for chumps. While we're on the subject of the Knicks, let's take a look at the latest live camp coverage from the extraordinary Posting and Toasting.

Just the other day, I asked myself, "What do the Knicks need?" And of course the answer is "Another offensively shaky and underwhelming point guard!" Because you can never really have enough of those.

It is in that spirit that the Knicks today signed free agent point guard Chris Duhon to a two year, $6.5 million contract. The former Bull is expected to compete with Stephen Marbury for the starting point guard spot, according to the report by the New York Post today.

Duhon does have some potential. He scored 34 against Golden State this year (but then again, who didn't score against Golden State), and had 22 against Milwaukee. He also had a whole lot of the dreaded DNP-CDs. He's solid in some spots, brilliant occasionally, terrible in stretches, and mediocre a lot of the time. However, you have to wonder how much of that was the coaching in Chicago which was less than supportive of guard play. Compare that with D'Antoni's speed-first guard system, and this could turn out well.

The Magic were said to be heavily interested in Duhon as support for Jameer Nelson, but apparently their indecision on Duhon versus Keyon Dooling was enough to convince Duhon to head to New York, for what may have been less money. With Duhon off the books, it's likely that Dooling will resign with Orlando.

Chris Duhon, Jared Jeffries, Danilo Gallinari, and Zach Randolph. Let's get excited, Big Apple!

New York took Italian forward Danilo "The Rooster" Gallinari with sixth pick. New York fans did not respond kindly.

As the crowd assembled at Madison Square Garden did on every mention of Gallinari before the draft began, Knicks fans booed and booed and booed. When the cameras hit them, they booed. When Gallinari told Stephen A. Smith he thinks New York is the best city in the world, they booed. When he smiled uncomfortably, clearly fearing for his life, they booed.

FanHouse friend Nathan Fowler is at MSG. He said that before the draft, fans were particularly rough in mocking the Rooster's highlight reels. But assuming Gallinari is in fact legit -- which everyone says he is -- they'll get on board. I mean, Quentin Richardson's corpse and Jared Jeffries manned the position last season! The Knicks are immediately better for this pick.

Memo to Fran Fraschilla, though: This guy, no matter how good he becomes, isn't pushing sneakers in this country.

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Cup of Coffee
You don't need me to tell you that Baron Davis is a "good start", especially on nights when he scores 34 with 14 assists. Which was the case on a slooooow night (number of games and surprising stat-wise, despite the fact that over 400 points were scored between just 4 teams) for the NBA. But this is the "L" we're talking about; there's always news.

Kelenna Azubuike scored more than Al Harrington last night. Does that say something about Harrington's season? Um, yes. Harrington's averaging almost 15 points a game but his overall numbers, treys excepted, are way off from previous years. Consider him a nice buy low at this point, especially considering the fickle nature with which Don Nelson tweaks his rotation. Azubuike is in the same boat -- behind Baron Davis (fragile?) and Stephen Jackson (crazy?) -- he could be in line for starter's minutes at the turn of a knee start of a lapdance drop of a hat.

Hot Cakes/Broken Eggs

Luke Ridnour is out indefinitely according to news sources out (and north) west. He's been dealing with a quad injury and has missed more practice and there are rumblings his days in Seattle (or wheva') could be over. Earl Watson is the best pure passer between he and Delonte West and should be grabbed if he's available in any leagues.

Quentin Richardson is headed to the bench, although Isiah Thomas says it's because of injury and not his stellar play, which means it's Jared Jeffries Time! For those of you that don't know, Jeffries is lengthy wingspanned defensive specialist who averages 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks per 40 minutes for his career. Which is what we in the biz call a "liability". Don't waste your time.

Randy Foye on the other hand, is an offensive bonus at point guard and he's now been cleared to practice. If he's somehow still available in your league, get your snatch on. If he's already owned, take one last stab at buying low. Sebastian Telfair and Marko Jaric have filled in admirably while he's been hurt, but it's Foye's team.

I don't wish ill on Knicks fans; in fact, I rather like several Knicks fans. But Ron Artest in a Knicks jersey cannot happen soon enough. Why would this be considered a wish of ill by some? Because to get it done, David Lee must be involved.

Since July, Isiah Thomas has murmured about how Ron-Ron would make his team complete. The New York Post's Marc Berman furthers the sentiment in this morning's annual 'the Kings visit Madison Square Garden' story. Berman also furthers the sentiment Isiah won't give up Lee for Artest. (Geoff Petrie has been adamant through the wires he won't give Isiah Artest for anything less than Lee.) But why won't Isiah budge? Zeke's only giving the guy 26.5 minutes a night, less than either Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph. Lee has a whopping six starts in 29 games, and only 32 in 154 career games (despite consistently outproducing every single teammate). Isiah has been Lee's coach the past year-and-a-half. If Isiah The GM thinks Lee is so crucial, why does Isiah The Coach refuse to make him more prominent?

Meanwhile, Quentin Richardson and Jared Jeffries are combining for 45 minutes a night, largely at the three. Q is shooting 32%, JJ 37%. Artest -- whose offense is his second best attribute -- is shooting 42% on a much larger share of shots. And he plays defense! The Knicks need both, badly. The conventional wisdom says the defense is the central problem because hey, they have scorers galore. But the offense is #26 in the league -- as Artest would be a monumental upgrade in this sector, it'd likely improve.

I can understand Isiah being smitten with Lee's production -- this post wouldn't exist were the feeling not mutual. But it makes no sense to hoard him only to waste him when a serious upgrade at a desperate position can be had with no salary ramifications. (Artest will likely execute his opt-out clause this summer; if not, he's a bargain at $8 million next season. Lee can sign a long-term deal beginning this summer.) Given New York's lack of further trade assets, Isiah isn't likely to bring in a better player than Ron-Ron between now and February 22. If he doesn't roll the dice on a miracle play, he probably won't have a job on April 20. (Losing trumps rampant embarrassment.)

The Knicks currently have 17 players under contract, two more than they will be allowed to carry into the regular season, so it's clear they're going to do some kind of move. If Isiah Thomas has his way, his next move will make as big of a splash as his recent trade for Zach Randolph. From the New York Post:

If the Knicks are to land forward Ron Artest in a trade this summer - one of their remaining summer goals - they will have to package a couple of prospects.

The one young Knick who could seal the deal is David Lee, as Isiah Thomas ponders whether to make him available for the former Defensive Player of the Year who carries lots of baggage. Lee could be packaged with either Jared Jeffries or Malik Rose to make the deal work under collective bargaining agreement mathematics.

A starting front-court of Artest, Randolph and Eddy Curry would be off the charts, both in terms of talent and off-the-court craziness. Giving up Lee would be a very steep price, especially on the heels of dealing Channing Frye (another talented, young and most importantly, cheap big man), but if it allowed Thomas to unload Jeffries, who still has four years and $25 million left on his contract, it might be something worth considering. And if Thomas was somehow able to convince the Kings to leave Lee out of the talks but instead include a guy like Nate Robinson, well, all the better.