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.
PHOENIX -- Dwight Howard went back to his Superman gimmick from last year but, in the end, Nate Robinson proved to be Howard's Kryptonite, as he leaped over the defending champ in the final round to capture the 2009 Sprite Slam Dunk Championship.
Howard didn't take home the trophy, but he may just have gotten the fans' vote for injecting the most creativity into this year's contest.
Yesterday, the venerable Tom Ziller gave us a report highlighting Gerald Green's new focus. There's just something about being booted out of the league that gets young players to focus. Anyhow, in the post Ziller also was nice enough to display video of Gerald making 2nd year big man Spencer Hawes look pretty silly. Well, dunking on cats must be a part of the Gerald Green reclamation project, because he did the same darn thing to Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas on Tuesday:
If he keeps this up, he might get added to his Lil cousin Bentley Green's Mavericks rap. Okay, so maybe they aren't related.
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.
The Mavericks signed Gerald Green to what is believed to be a one-year deal, thus continuing the tradition of filing their roster with players of questionable talent (like Devean George and Tyronne Lue, for example). Green played for the Timberwolves and (briefly) the Rockets last season, and ultimately finished the year out of the NBA. I'm sure that's just the answer to get Dallas out of the first round of the playoffs.
But let's talk about something important: if Green can stay on the roster until the All-Star break, it means we'll get to see him in the dunk contest! Green took home the trophy in Vegas in 2007, and despite Dwight Howard's Superman winning it last year, Green's Birfday Birthday Cake dunk was by far the talk of the event. Plus, it lead to comments on our event chat like, "Wait, is it even anyone's birthday?" followed by an email of a list of the NBA's birthdays for the day. You just can't buy entertainment like that. Anyway, let's hope the kid makes it to All-Star weekend, so we can see more dunks like this one.
This has to be one of the crazier promotions I have ever seen, if only because it could involve getting season tickets to a professional basketball team for a ridiculously low $43. Yes, that is American dineros. And yes, that is absurd. Of course, if you were to engage in this transaction, you could also end up paying over $200 for those tickets. That's because the Minnesota Timberwolves are basing the ticket price on what spot they land in the lottery. From Randball (via Rovell):
The deal: Your season ticket per game price is equal to whatever pick the Wolves get in the draft. They pick No. 1? $43 for 43 games, or $1 per game. Seriously. $86 for the No. 2 pick. And so on.
As you can see, there are a couple of catches. Also, as Rovell notes in an update, this promotion is only available to the first 500 people that sign up and each person is limited to 10 tickets. Still though, if you live in the greater Minneapolis area, or within three hours of the freaking city limits, how can you pass up this opportunity? 43 bucks for a season of Derrick Rose against 200 something to watch Al Jefferson and a pile of semi-scrubs? Um, yes please. Lock it in if they resign Gerald Green.
The Celtics have the best record in the league, and are likely to wrap up home court advantage throughout the playoffs soon. So the question has come up of whether some of the team's veterans like Paul Pierce will get a few games off to recharge for the post-season. According to Doc Rivers, the answer to that one is "no."
"I don't believe in that a whole bunch," Rivers said of keeping players out. "As a player, I always laughed when they said, 'Hey, you guys are in (the playoffs). How about sitting out two games?'
"We've played 78 games, and I sit two and I'm going to be rested? The notion of that to me is ridiculous. Now, if you have an injury or something like that, then absolutely you sit out. . . .
"... or, you know, if we had no chance of making the playoffs and I was trying to get the most ping pong balls, then you definitely would sit people." Okay, I made that last part up. But seriously, it is funny how the Celtics finished last season by dropping nine of their last eleven games, none of which featured their best player (Paul Pierce) in the lineup. Guys like Gerald Green (who's now out of the league) and Allan Ray (not Ray Allen) were the ones leading the team into the lottery, while Pierce simply got himself an early vacation.
Here it is in all its glory: Gerald Green's Birthday Cake Dunk.
This dunk is sure to become an instant classic, and why not? The creativity level was completely off the charts. I loved when Kenny Smith realized what Green was up to, and he starts yelling "He's gonna blow out the candle!!" To which Charles responded, "All he gonna do is make a mess." Hilarious stuff, and definitely one of the top highlights of the Dunk Contest, this year or any year.
With the Slam Dunk Contest just a few short hours away, I'm happy to report to you who the winner's going to be: Jamario Moon. How do I know Moon's going to win? Because he guaranteed it himself:
Jamario Moon is guaranteeing a win in tonight's all-star dunk competition.
"I got it," Moon said. "I've got it in my pocket right now." Moon said smiling. "I believe in me and I'm sure those guys believe in what they do. But I think I've got some nice dunks. I've got a couple (in reserve) in case they do something crazy and make me go a little deeper into the hat. I believe in myself."
Alright, cool. The problem for Jamario is that I'm sure Dwight Howard, Gerald Green, and Rudy Gay all believe they're going to win too. This is just the latest showing of fantastic bravado from this year's contestants, which has previously included challenges of 12 and 13-foot dunks, along with a YouTube campaign asking for suggestions from the fans.
One thing I can guarantee you for tonight is that FanHouse has got you covered. Come hang out with us right here as we cover all the action from NOLA, beginning a little before 8:00 Eastern.
Somebody call the fun police because David Stern is doing his best to ruin what could be a truly historic slam contest this weekend. For the second year in a row, Dwight Howard has asked the league for permission to raise the rim to 12 feet for at least one of his dunks, and just like last year, the NBA has said no. Why? ESPN's Mark Stein talked to the league to get their official (and asinine) explanation:
They've ruled that changing the height of the rim, while easily done mid-contest with the help of hydraulics, clashes with their intent to apply as many standard NBA rules to All-Star Weekend contests as possible.
Sure, that makes sense, because the spirit of the slam dunk contest is so clearly to mirror actual game situations. In fact, let's get Dick Bavetta and Violet Palmer on the court and put an end to all of that traveling and hanging on the rim nonsense, while we're at it. Letting players break the rules, even if for just one night, is obviously extremely confusing to us dimwitted fans.
Or ... why not let the players do whatever they want? Howard and Gay are on board with a 12-foot rim, and Gerald Green wants to raise it to 13. I can understand why the league might not want the entire contest to be held with non-standard rims, but why not just tell the players they can raise the rim to whatever they want for one dunk and one dunk only? This is the freaking slam dunk contest we're talking about -- it's always been about innovation, not constrained by tradition. The NBA features some of the best athletes in the entire world -- why not show it off?
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.
With the Slam Dunk Contest just a few short hours away, I'm happy to report to you who the winner's going to be: 
Somebody 
