FanHouse Quentin Richardson

The NBA season is a mere two days old, but the dunk I'm about to show you that Carmelo Anthony threw down over Paul Millsap on Wednesday is in fact, the dunk of the year.

'Melo said after the game, "Once I got the steal, I knew it was just me and him,'' Anthony said. "I wasn't going to lay the ball up. I was going to try to dunk it. If he'd have blocked it, he'd have blocked it. It went the opposite way."

But don't take my word for it: after watching the video, you can read what Dwight Howard and Quentin Richardson had to say about it, via updates they made to their respective Twitter pages after seeing the sensational highlight.

In my beloved state of California, the government is broke. Back in July, out of cash, the state began paying its bills with IOUs: here's a certificate saying we owe you X dollars plus X% interest. But the vendors and whatnot didn't just hang on to the IOUs -- they needed cash! Yet national interest rates are so low that the IOUs actually became a decent investment vehicle, so some parties in California actually sought out the IOUs, and many banks, credit unions and even businesses accept them as readily as they would dollar bills. In a way, the IOUs have become a new form of currency.

Quentin Richardson has now been traded four times in seven weeks, the latest to Miami in exchange for Mark Blount. We definitely have a handle on Q's value -- no player has ever had their worth marked so finely. If you wanted to, you could figure out just how many DeSagana Diops or Etan Thomases you could for your Q. In a way, Quentin Richardson has become a new form of currency.

Quentin Richardson, who played for three teams in his first nine years in the league, will join his third team of the summer once the Clippers and Timberwolves and finalize a four-player trade.

Richardson finished the 2008-09 season with the Knicks but was sent to the Grizzlies last month in a draft-day deal for Darko Milicic. Before he could unpack, he was soon re-routed to the Clippers in a trade for Zach Randolph that was finally consummated last week.

And finally today, word broke that Richardson will be sent to Minnesota in exchange for Craig Smith, Sebastian Telfair and Mark Madsen.

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 Deal: Phoenix sends Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland for Sasha Pavlovic, Ben Wallace, a second-round pick in 2010 and cash.

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.

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A potential trade sending Darko Milicic to New York in exchange for Quentin Richardson has been rumored for a couple days now. Adam Silver announced it has been consummated. The Darko Knicks jersey immediately becomes the greatest shirt in the history of synthetic garmentry.

One big takeaway from this deal is that Memphis will apparently take back $2 million in extra salary, unless New York is forking over some dough not yet reported. Darko's flight opens up the frontcourt for Hasheem Thabeet, who (I assume) will turn Marc Gasol into a power forward. We'll see how that works out -- Gasol isn't exactly fleet, and 7-foot-3 centers typically lack lane agility. Luckily, Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo are fantastic defenders on the perimeter. Oh, wait ...

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- For the second year in a row, the Pistons conducted a charity telethon during a home game. After raising more than $412,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in 2008, this year's event raised more than $440,000 for Feed The Children, which will use the money to help Michigan family in need.

Fans in the arena were urged to give at every break in the game's action -- and from his spot on the visiting team's bench, Quentin Richardson got the message. Despite the fact that his team was in the middle of a game, Richardson had a team employee fetch a donation form so he could cut a check for a cool grand at halftime.

FanHouse was all credentialed up for Saturday night's Wizards-Knicks game in New York. Here's a report from Madison Square Garden.

They dressed eight players, but only played seven. Their five starters put in more than 40 minutes of work apiece, while their $20 million man declined an offer to suit up and play for his team. At times they looked gassed, and they nearly squandered a sizeable lead late in the game.

Yet the scrappy New York Knicks still somehow managed to pull off a very surprising -- and very inspiring -- 122-117 home win against the Washington Wizards Saturday night.

In fact, the only unsurprising thing about the Knicks' triumph was the fact that, despite a selfless and energized team effort, the talk in the locker room after the game was ultimately about New York's next game: a visit from the King of 2010, LeBron James, next Tuesday.

Besides being known as the reigning World Champions (apologies, Pop), this incarnation of the Boston Celtics is recognized as being a team that likes to talk a lot of trash to their opponents. Kevin Garnett is the biggest culprit, although he arguably spends just as much time screaming things to no one in particular. So we'll set the most recent example of his antics aside and let him slide for now.

The problem isn't so much with the team's stars that can, you know, actually back up what they're saying with their performance on the court. It's that the lesser known players on the team (I'm looking at you, Kendrick Perkins) can't resist joining in the fun, and that's what has players on opposing teams and the Celtics' own head coach upset.

After Boston's win over the Knicks, Quentin Richardson was less than thrilled with what he was hearing from some of the Celtics, and seemed like he wanted to step outside with a few of them to further discuss what they had to say.

"I'll just be real curious to see what a lot of those guys would say if we weren't in a basketball arena where there ain't no referees and the NBA officials are going to stop certain things," he said. "I mean, it wouldn't be the same story. They are the world champions and rah-rah-rah. But I mean, the tough talk, I don't buy."

Doc Rivers would also like to see less trash talk from his team. Not so much from Garnett, because that's who he is, and who he's been his entire career. But definitely from a role player like Perkins.

B-Ball, B-Fast runs weekdaily and covers last night's NBA action from a fantasy perspective. Bookmark it and visit often.

Cup of Coffee
You don't need me to tell you that Baron Davis is a "good start", especially on nights when he scores 34 with 14 assists. Which was the case on a slooooow night (number of games and surprising stat-wise, despite the fact that over 400 points were scored between just 4 teams) for the NBA. But this is the "L" we're talking about; there's always news.

Kelenna Azubuike scored more than Al Harrington last night. Does that say something about Harrington's season? Um, yes. Harrington's averaging almost 15 points a game but his overall numbers, treys excepted, are way off from previous years. Consider him a nice buy low at this point, especially considering the fickle nature with which Don Nelson tweaks his rotation. Azubuike is in the same boat -- behind Baron Davis (fragile?) and Stephen Jackson (crazy?) -- he could be in line for starter's minutes at the turn of a knee start of a lapdance drop of a hat.

Hot Cakes/Broken Eggs

Luke Ridnour is out indefinitely according to news sources out (and north) west. He's been dealing with a quad injury and has missed more practice and there are rumblings his days in Seattle (or wheva') could be over. Earl Watson is the best pure passer between he and Delonte West and should be grabbed if he's available in any leagues.

Quentin Richardson is headed to the bench, although Isiah Thomas says it's because of injury and not his stellar play, which means it's Jared Jeffries Time! For those of you that don't know, Jeffries is lengthy wingspanned defensive specialist who averages 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks per 40 minutes for his career. Which is what we in the biz call a "liability". Don't waste your time.

Randy Foye on the other hand, is an offensive bonus at point guard and he's now been cleared to practice. If he's somehow still available in your league, get your snatch on. If he's already owned, take one last stab at buying low. Sebastian Telfair and Marko Jaric have filled in admirably while he's been hurt, but it's Foye's team.

After the Knicks' embarrassing 45-point loss to the Celtics the other night, everyone seemed to be looking for someone to blame. It's a bit of a stretch, but people who are looking for that scapegoat might have found one, and his name is Quentin Richardson.

Apparently before the game, Richardson questioned just how great the Celtics were, saying that they lacked depth and that he wasn't afraid of them. As we saw, these comments did nothing to motivate his own squad, and only managed to incite the Celtics. Richardson, of course, downplayed his statements:

Quentin Richardson defended himself against accusations he lit a fire under the Celtics with foolish remarks questioning Boston's depth and saying he's "not in awe" of them.

The Celtics hung the remarks in their locker room, using them as fuel. It was clear they were out for blood, as Ray Allen and Paul Pierce weren't taken out until very late in the third quarter, after the Celts were up 45 points.

"I'm a competitive athlete, I'm not going to go out and be afraid of anybody just because they have three great players," Richardson said.

Why is someone like Richardson, who's averaging six points per game and shooting 30 percent from the field, saying *anything* derogatory about anyone at this point? You're already not helping your team on the court, and now you're riling up your opponents with inflammatory comments? How about just keeping quiet for now Q, and spend that extra energy working on your jump shot.

As for the Celtics, do they really need bulletin board material to beat one of the worst teams in the league? I seriously doubt it. So if Richardson hadn't said anything, and Doc Rivers (now known for goofy motivational ploys) hadn't hung the comments in the locker room, what would have happened? The Celtics would have won by 20 instead of 45? I think I'm just as disgusted with the Celtics here as I am with Richardson.