FanHouse RodneyCarney

This week, FanHouse is taking an early look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.

Today, we have enlisted Chris Vernon of Fox Sports Radio 730 AM in Memphis and Verno's Blog to break down the Memphis Tigers.

The way the season ended for the Memphis Tigers last year was totally devastating. Memphis ended the season 38-2 and many in Memphis still have a hard time thinking about the 38 wins. Rarely has there been such an amazing season that brought upon such intense disappointment.

Now that Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas Roberts, and Joey Dorsey have NBA contracts and Memphis looks to who will replace much of what made the team such a success in the previous few seasons. While Rose was only in Memphis for one year, CDR and Dorsey were key components of a team that went to the Elite 8 twice, and the Final Four (and championship game) once. With Dorsey in the middle, and Douglas Roberts on the wing, Memphis went 104-10 over the last three seasons.

Via The700Level, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports a rumored deal between Philadelphia and Minnesota has gone down, sending Beautiful Calvin Booth, Rodney Carney and a pick to the Wolves for nothing but a $2.8 million trade exception. The real prize for Philly general manager Ed Stefanski: even more salary cap breathing room to chase someone like Elton Brand or Josh Smith. Here's Woj:

Getting Carney and Booth off the cap gives the Sixers the chance to offer a starting salary of approximately $14 million a season.

If Atlanta wasn't going to match a contract starting at $11 million for Smith (a disputed rumor), will they even be able to play a straight face if the Sixers offer something like a flat $13 million per year, five-year contract? Or, Philadelphia could go big in year one -- $14.75 million is the max for a four-year veteran, but Stefanski expects to have $14 million as stated above -- and taper the contract down to $12 million by the final year.

For Brand, the 76ers could now offer about five years, $80 million ... which is right in the middle of the Clippers' ($70 million) and Warriors' ($90 million) offers. Watson wrote about the expanded interest in Brand last night; now, that interest has a feasible outlet.

Elton Brand has a generous offer on the table to stay with the Clippers, and an even larger offer on the table to bolt for the Warriors. But while most of the discussion surrounding his options has centered on those two teams, it's at least possible that he might bolt California completely and head back east.

That's crazy talk, right? Probably, but according to ESPN's Marc Stein, the 76ers have officially thrown their hat in the ring. It's true the Sixers have been connected to restricted free agent Josh Smith since the offseason began, but the team wants to do it's due diligence by gauging Brand's interest before tying up their finances by signing Smith to an offer sheet and waiting seven days while the Hawks decide if they're going to match it or not.

I can't say I'm completely surprised -- Smith has all the potential in the world, but Brand is a proven product and (when healthy) one of the most consistent big men in the game today. Smith would make the Sixers a joy to watch; Brand would get the Sixers out of the first round.

Woo, Miami (9-38) at Philadelphia (20-30) in February. Woo! Here's Rodney Carney perking the building up a bit.



After the jump, Dwyane Wade responds.