There's a loophole in the NBA's trading rules that goes something like this: one team will include a player in a deal -- usually a guy who's older, can still play a bit, but won't command a ton of attention on the open market -- only to see that player waived by his new team, and be signed a month later by the team that dealt him in the first place.
Many observers wondered if that's exactly what San Antonio was planning to do with Bruce Bowen, after he was included in the deal with Milwaukee that brought Richard Jefferson to town. But according to Gregg Popovich, it's not likely that Bowen will be back as a member of the Spurs next season.
In the dog days of summer, every NBA team is filled with championship dreams.
OK, that's a crock of Jerome James-flavored gumbo. Most teams are well aware that the only gold at the end of an NBA season's rainbow is named Jose. And I'm not talking about just the Clippers or Kings here. I'm also talking about the Hawks and Sixers and Hornets and Jazz. There are only a handful of teams that are genuinely in the hunt. And most champions will tell you it takes a precious combination of talent, obscenely hard work, and lots and lots of luck to cash in the ticket to immortality. Some teams expect to contend for a championship. Rarely does any team expect to win a championship, if it's not currently holding the ring (or waiting for it to arrive in the mail).
The San Antonio Spurs, of course, are a pretty rare team. And they have been for the last decade. And much of their success is due to their equally rare head coach.
Jefferson has been widely ridiculed for his decision to call off the engagement via e-mail, but as Nichols admitted during an interview with Extra, the e-mail merely confirmed a conversation the couple started the previous night.
"We had pretty much decided we were going to call the wedding off but just wanted one night apart to really reflect and think about everything... When I got here [New York] Monday, I found the email that pretty much said what we had talked about before. I wasn't in shock."
Let's keep this short and sweet, since that's apparently how Richard Jefferson rolls. Brinson told you about RJ's last-minute break-up with fiancée Kesha Ni'cole Nichols earlier this week. The couple was set to be married last weekend, but RJ called it off a few days before. (His friends still partied on his dime, of course.)
The New York Posttalked to RJ about the situation, and Jefferson admits he called off the wedding and broke up with Nichols by e-mail. He said he chose the typed word as the right medium to get his thoughts collected. Also, Jefferson tells the Post he gave Nichols, a former Nets dancer, a "six-figure settlement" to "help her move on." Also, he insists a rumor that he's gay is not true and has nothing to do with this. (Seriously. The Post actually asked that question, and he actually had to answer it.) Also, he called off his wedding via e-mail. I'm sure no heckling fan will ever use that as courtside ammunition.
Richard Jefferson had a $2 million wedding planned with former Nets dancer, and now former fiance, Kesha Ni'cole Nichols last weekend. Tons of people, plenty of paparazzi and celebrities galore were going to swarm to the wedding. It was going to be a grand affair, for sure.
But we found out today, according to the NY Post, that Jefferson called the dogs off. On Friday. And apparently didn't really tell anyone.
There is a reason nothing stays the same in the NBA. It's never good enough -- even at the top.
What the Los Angeles Lakers learned from the previous four NBA champs – Detroit, Miami, San Antonio and Boston -- was that the status quo will just get you beat the next season.
It's why there have been no repeats lately.
By landing Ron Artest to replace Trevor Ariza -- a huge upgrade -- the Lakers did what others before them didn't do. They got better after they won.
There was a lot of activity in the NBA this week, and we're not just talking about the draft. Some of the NBA's big names and better teams were in on it.
Here's a quick look at the trades that went down and what they mean:
The Thinking: The Cavaliers get an aging O'Neal, with the hope that he can have a productive year playing alongside LeBron James. The only way this trade is a success is if the Cavaliers are the 2009-10 NBA champions. For the Suns, trading O'Neal means that they are beyond tinkering and are leaning toward turning over the personnel of a team that missed the playoffs last season.
San Antonio needed a major infusion of offensive talent this season, and it appears the team has found it. Multiple league reports indicate the Spurs have traded for Milwaukee's Richard Jefferson, sending away only bit players Bruce Bowen (age 38), Kurt Thomas (age 36) and Fabricio Oberto (age 34), according to Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Jefferson has been in Wisconsin for one year, following last June's draft day trade which sent Yi Jianlian and others to New Jersey. Jefferson has always been a moderately efficient scorer, and he should provide some relief for Tony Parker and Tim Duncan in the Spurs starting line-up. He's not quite an ace defender, but he played hard for Scott Skiles last season and hasn't missed a game in two seasons.
After two putrid drafts, the NBA returned to form in 2001 -- but not right away. This draft will forever be known as the day Michael Jordan transformed from the greatest player on Earth to a below average general manager. With the No. 1 overall pick, Jordan held the fate of the Washington Wizards in the same hands that dunked on many of opponent, and he had a rich variety of players for which to don the savior of the franchise.
And he chose Kwame Brown. It really wasn't Kwame's fault. He was the victim of an amazing workout that impressed Jordan so much -- was this thing on video? -- that Air was convinced Brown would emerge as an All-Star. The brutal truth is that this prep player from Georgia faded into one of the biggest busts in draft history, hanging out in the same club as LaRue Martin, Joe Barry Carroll and Michael Olowokandi.
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, Fork 'Em figures out what went wrong.
Through the first half of the season, the Bucks rode as one of the great surprises of the NBA. A team sunk in the dead space between truly atrocious and just plain bad in 2007-08, Scott Skiles (and Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut) had Milwaukee back on the map, threatening to crash the postseason and even peeking into one analyst's Top 5 around the New Year.
There's a loophole in the NBA's trading rules that goes something like this: one team will include a player in a deal -- usually a guy who's older, can still play a bit, but won't command a ton of attention on the open market -- only to see that player waived by his new team, and be signed a month later by the team that dealt him in the first place.
Despite having 
Update 7/22: 
There is a reason nothing stays the same in the NBA. It's never good enough -- even at the top.
There was a lot of activity in the NBA this week, and we're not just talking about the draft. Some of the NBA's big names and better teams were in on it.
San Antonio needed a major infusion of offensive talent this season, and it appears the team has found it. Multiple league reports indicate 
As teams get eliminated from the 2009 NBA playoff picture, 
