FanHouse RashadMcCants

Free-agent time should be like Christmas for these under-30 former first-round picks. If they had played better, stayed healthy or fulfilled their potential, they would be cashing in on new contracts or contract extensions. Instead they are fighting for their NBA lives, afterthoughts in free-agent time, hoping to find one interested team for another opportunity to stay in the league.

The alternative might be Europe or perhaps even the NBDL. With each NBA team holding on tight to free-agent dollars because of the economy and the 2010 free-agent class, contracts -- especially lucrative ones -- will be difficult to procure. So while names such as Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Trevor Ariza and Hedo Turkoglu will fill the offseason newswires, these 10 players will be searching for work in virtual obscurity.

Here is the list and their stories:

The 3 PM ET trade deadline in the NBA has come and gone, and while there were plenty of big names rumored to be on the move, few teams actually had the guts to pull the trigger. There were plenty of deals made, however, including one that might have one Eastern Conference team feeling like it's back in the title conversation. A wrap-up of today's events after the jump.

Don't be surprised that the worst team in the league has also been the most active on the trade circuit this week. Sacramento continues its cost-cutting measures this morning, according to Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee. The Kings have sent Shelden Williams and Bobby Brown to Minnesota for the expiring contracts of Rashad McCants and Calvin Booth.

Brown is the only player in the deal with money owed in 2009-10, and it's a whopping $736,000 player option. But there is in fact a compelling storyline here: McCants and new teammate Francisco Garcia have an ongoing blood feud.

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.

No Raptor has escaped stoning amid Toronto's disappointing start. As the handsome new addition who was meant to fix everything wrong with the Raptors, Jermaine O'Neal has taken a particularly big share of blame. He will not hear any of those accusations this morning, though.

O'Neal destroyed the Kings with 36 points on 15-of-19 shooting, along with nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks. His line either substituted for a mediocre Chris Bosh performance, or made it so that Bosh didn't need to assert himself. Something like that. Clearly, the Sacramento defense keyed on Bosh, often sending a guard to double early. All the focus left J.O. one-on-one with Brad Miller much of the time ... and J.O. delivered.

Two Rondos, Indeed: Rajon Rondo missed a triple-double by one assist, finishing with 11 points, 10 rebounds and those nine dimes. Of course, he also added seven brutal turnovers for the Celtics. Boston lost in Golden State (more on that later), and turnovers continue to be the Celtics' guilty pleasure.

Bench Buddies: Rashad McCants and Sebastian Telfair saved the Timberwolves from the pine. Telfair tossed up a 20-point, 8-assist line, getting 10 of those points from the stripe. Meanwhile, McCants came in shooting missiles: 23 points on 12 FGAs, including 7-of-9 from three. And that was in 21 minutes. Minnesota was murdered by the Knicks on the glass, which made the hot bench shooting doubly vital.

Perhaps "Cupcakes!" could be the new "Onions!", Mr. Raftery? Gerald Green -- and the following dunk -- make me think it's a pretty good idea. (Quality's a touch grainy but it's a pretty nice throwdown.)



It's this sort of business -- getting down with the up-funk and what not -- that make Green such a frustrating player to watch. In the less than full-on NBA Summer League, he can dominate. But his attitude and off court time reading Rashad McCants' poetry have combined to keep him -- so far! -- from actually exploiting his potential. We can only dream.

Via Odenized

The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Aldridge reports Minnesota has agreed to send Gerald Green to Houston for Kirk Snyder and a second round pick. Green was considered a major piece of the Kevin Garnett deal, but has not gotten many minutes under Randy Wittman.

Green's from Houston -- he has the entire city skyline tattooed on his arm. So, um, I imagine he's happy about the move. Snyder's contract is small and expires this summer, so (unless Minnesota could've actually gotten something for Green) neither team really loses anything. Potentially, Houston gains some scoring prowess off the bench (even though they have Luther Head and Steve Novak, neither of which gets too much run).

The world loses the fantastic comedic tandem of Gerald Green and Rashad McCants, though. R.I.P., indeed.

B-Ball, B-Fast is a weekdaily look at last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.
Cup of Coffee
Jamario Moon appears to be, dare I say ... on the rise again? Ahh. I kill me. Sorry. Anyway, Moon scored 11 points with five boards plus a block and steal each last night and is now seeing a whopping 38.6 minutes per game through January. Yes, it is early, but it sure seems like the Raptors do not want to let his talents ... wane on the bench? Okay, okay, I'm done. Seriously though, if he got dropped go add him. Or better yet, just trade for him. He's a roto-gold mine with his block and steal numbers, he hustles every night, and you get to care about your team. That's important sometimes.

Hot Cakes
J.R. Smith sighting last night -- the gunner scored 21 points for his first plus-twomp game since November 30, and only his third of the season. He did it in 28 minutes, which means he still has yet to crack 30 on the season; his fantasy value has been limited as a three point specialist but with Nene Hilario likely out for an extended period of time following the removal of a testicular tumor and Kenyon Martin dealing with a staph infection, Smith could start seeing some minutes. Make a move for him now before the competition figures out what's going on.

So, this LeBron James guy, he is some kinda good huh? You probably want to think about starting him. I hate giving obvious unnecessary fantasy analysis, but when a guy throws up a 51/8/9 line, you gotta give a shoutout.

Full-on rebuilding in the NBA is, in some corners, a tonic: It tastes like curdled cream cut with cat vomit, but it's necessary. It's sort of a rare beast -- Chicago spent a few post-Jordan years starting from scratch; the Clippers essentially wiped the slate clean around 2000-01. I'd mark three current teams in the 'rebuild' mode right now; one of those franchises is doing amazing things, the other is entertaining in the least. The third? No. None of the above.

Minnesota's fans are finding out starting over isn't fun -- the 3-21 record speaks for itself. And the team's owner, Glen Taylor, is also coming to the conclusion this really sucks.

"I said when we decided to do this that I needed to have patience," Taylor said. "It has taken me more patience than I anticipated."

It's obvious why the Wolves aren't competitive -- they have one good player and a surrounding cast of equal parts youth and crap. I mean, isn't that what they had last year, before trading Kevin Garnett? Randy Foye could be good (if he ever heals); Corey Brewer has shown flashes; Rashad McCants, if nothing else, is a fun guy to watch. But this squad is so far behind Portland and Seattle. Remember: Atlanta has always had a good player, all through their recent playoff drought. Every team in the league has a good player. The good teams have multiple good players, like seven of them. That's how far away Minnesota is.

Can Taylor afford to lose $15 million annually for another four years, if that's what it takes? Every fan base/team owner which gets entranced by the embrace of pure, unfiltered youth should have to spend a week following the Wolves. High draft picks and cap space might look fun, but it's apparently not.