FanHouse Dr. J

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse.

This is a big week for the NBA, as the trading deadline is here. And some big names like Jermaine O'Neal, Shawn Marion and Brad Miller have already been dealt. But what's it like to be traded? And, more importantly, what would a team get for me if they traded my rights? I posed this question to everyone from Dr. J to P.J. Brown to Gerald Wilkins to Bobby Simmons to find out what I'm worth. The answers (Maury Povich? Oprah?) might surprise you. Check out the video after the jump.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Sports By Brooks: Dr. J. will not take a photo with you if you think he's Bill Russell.

2. Sactown Royalty: Ron Artest may opt out after all.

3. Hardwood Paroxysm: Fight Ubuntu: the screenplay.

4. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Gary Payton and Xavier McDaniel address 3,000 people rallying outside the Sonics trial.

5. Joe Sports Fan: Excellent analysis of the non-celebrity Laker fan demographic.

6. PJStar.com, via SLAM: Shaun Livingston is dunking again.

In the wake of last year's playoffs, there were thoughts that the league office's mechanisms for parity had finally started to kick in. From the salary cap and the luxury tax threshold, to changing the rules to benefit teams without a traditional center, to creating the draft lottery, the NBA has been making an effort to create parity. Last year, for the first time in a number of years a team outside of the usual Lakers, Spurs, Rockets, Pistons, Bulls group won the NBA title. As well, the Mavs and Suns, two teams without traditional centers, were two of the best teams in the league.

Upon further analysis, you might find that last year's playoffs weren't really proof of parity after all. Miami did win the title, but they did that mostly because they were able to obtain Shaquille O'neal. And this year, the Spurs and Pistons (two perennial champions) are the favorites to win the entire thing again. If you define parity (as CNBC's Darren Rovell does) as the amount of teams that win a championship a given period of time, it's obvious that there isn't much parity in the NBA.