FanHouse Nba Rumors

The Boston Celtics' courting of Rasheed Wallace culminated with a contract offer, according to the Boston Globe, believed to be for two years at the mid-level exception, approximately $5.8 million.

Wallace, formerly of the Detroit Pistons, has his share of suitors and is in no hurry to make a decision. Orlando and San Antonio have expressed interest in Wallace, who re-signed a five-year, $57 million deal with Detroit in July 2004. The Pistons decided to allow Wallace to walk and agreed to deals with Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. Free agents aren't allowed to officially sign until July 8.

Update: Hedo may not be headed to Portland after all -- reports now suggest he ended negotiations abruptly and will sign with the Raptors.

Henry Abbott of TrueHoop is reporting that the Blazers have landed top free agent Hedo Turkoglu for the princely sum of $50 million (or more) over five years. Hedo had been the expected target of Portland's largess before the Magic acquired Vince Carter. That move made this move rather logical from every perspective.

... well, except the perspective that it's unclear exactly why Portland needs a ball-dominant small forward. After all, the Blazers do have one Brandon Roy, eternal All-Star, under contract. And with Roy dominating the ball this season, the Blazers finished with the league's finest offense. In terms of offense, this is a bit like the Lakers adding Ron Artest: sounds good on the surface, but when you look at the details, you get a bit worried.

Bloggers knee-jerking on the phone + roundtable style = RoundCast.

One of the biggest moves of this free agent season went down on Thursday, when it was learned that Ron Artest will be heading to the Lakers. Matt Moore and I break down what is effectively going to be L.A. trading Trevor Ariza for Artest, as it was also announced that Ariza agreed to a deal with the Rockets.

After plenty of Artest talk, we also review some of the other deals that have gone down, and ponder the fates of some other would-be contenders like the Cavaliers, Pistons, Magic, and Celtics.

Free agent talk at it's finest, after the jump.

As we all attempt to grok Ron Artest: Los Angeles Laker, much will (rightfully) be made of the strange relationship Kobe Bryant and our antihero Artest enjoy. Off the court, the stars claim to be best friends. On the floor, there has been some serious (and recent!) bad blood.

But in real basketball results, Pau Gasol might be the most endangered Laker in all of this. Kobe ain't giving up shots to Ron-Ron ... but someone will have to, unless you think Artest -- who has in the past placed himself in the same league as Kobe and LeBron James -- will shave half his offense to become Trevor Ariza II. I sincerely doubt our protagonist will be so generous. So the Laker attacker who requires the ball to be fed -- Pau -- figures to suffer.

While most NBA draft picks are preparing for summer league play in Orlando and Las Vegas next week, rumors continue to swirl that Ricky Rubio may wait a year -- and perhaps even longer -- until he makes the jump to the NBA.

According to El Periodico, a Spanish newspaper, Rubio has already ruled out playing this coming season, and in fact plans to drop the lawsuit he filed against DKV Joventut, his current Spanish team, regarding his buyout clause, which he previously argued was too much money for what Joventut has been paying him.

Before fans in Minnesota get too upset, they should consider the source: El Periodico's report neither cites a source nor includes a byline -- this could be nothing more than re-hashed speculation that we've been hearing all week.

Ron Artest caused a bit of a flurry Wednesday night when he went on his Twitter account and announced he was signing a new deal. Of course it was all a joke/publicity stunt. However, the activity on his twitter account -- particularly the farewell to Houston tweet -- made Artest's agent David Bauman come out and claim that the Twitter account is a fake.

As athletes have been burned by fake accounts before, we have become pretty good at identifying fake Twitter accounts, and it seems Bauman is wrong about the account in question being a fake.

There were various reasons to believe Josh Childress might be spending only one season in Greece. The forward, who signed with Olympiakos last summer after reaching an impasse with the rights-holding Hawks, is a quality player who belongs in the best league in the world, the NBA. He reportedly got the yips when the Greek league championship game fell victim to an assault of explosives thrown by fans. And all told, he didn't really set Europe on fire as hoped.

So that Childress is back in America talking turkey is not a big surprise. But the particular team he will first visit with -- the Milwaukee Bucks -- registers as a stunner.

As if Cleveland wasn't already a focal point of the NBA universe, it may be reaching a whole new level of crazy. A brand of crazy NBA fans only know as ... Ron Artest.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer was the first to report on the possibility, but even coming from super-reliable Brian Windhorst, it was still just your run of the mill free agency rumor; a possibility to keep an eye on.

That was until Artest decided to fan the flames a bit by informing the world that his days in Houston were over -- via his Twitter page, naturally.

Rumors have run wild that Orlando Magic free agent Hedo Turkoglu is the main target of the Portland Trail Blazers this free-agent season. The Blazers are in need of veteran leadership and help at the small forward position, but I'm not sure that Turkoglu is the answer.

Turkoglu was extremely effective with the Magic this postseason, but that doesn't mean he's the right piece for the Blazers. If I were the Blazers, I would target Lakers free-agent small forward Trevor Ariza.

Stephon Marbury is one of those weird characters who has just the right mix of "crazy" and "keepin' it real" where you can't ever be sure whether to trust or distrust him. Personally, I think he's a bad apple who keeps getting too many chances, but some people feel differently.

After Marbury recently did a Knickerbocker-beat-down of an interview with the New York Post, I would imagine no one who plays professional basketball in the Big Apple is much of a fan either. Marbury's quotes are full of disparaging remarks, as he essentially urged any free agents to avoid Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni like the plague.

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