TOO MANY NBA TRADES! TRADAPAOLOOZA!

In the wake of the great Mike Bibby/ Tyronn Lue trade, the Cavaliers, Bulls, and Sonics have worked out a trade of their own:

Bulls get:
 Larry Hughes (talented but injured)
 Drew Gooden (good rebounder but better on a running team)
 Cedric Simmons (where was he again?)

SuperSonics get:
 Chris Duhon (mediocre point guard but upgrade)
 Ira Newble (expiring contract)
 Donyell Marshall (expiring, apparently)
 (what, there’s no 2009 relocation discount that could be traded?)
 Adrian Griffin (expiring)

The Cavaliers get:
 Wally Szczerbiak (a shooter? In Cleveland?)
 Joe Smith (rebounds)
 Delonte West (a cheaper Larry Hughes)
 Ben Wallace (comes with a gong for a reason)

And the Rockets are active as well.

Timberwolves get:

 Kirk Snyder

Rockets get:
 Gerald Green

Okay. Maybe both teams were just bored and they like mid season press conferences to remind the fans that their teams still exist. I guess Green is… younger, and more athletic, so the Timberwolves wanted… experience for their 20-win season.

MORE ROCKET TRADES! CRAZINESS! They dig deep into the draft list records of the last few years for these:

Hornets get:
 Bonzi Wells (out of favor in Houston)
 Mike James (credible scoring point guard)
 Adam Haluska (rookie shooter)

Rockets get:
 Bobby Jackson (low knucklehead factor guard in his waning days – an Adelman favorite)
 (rights to) Sergei Lishouk (WHO ARE THESE GUYS?)

Grizzlies get:
 Marcus Vinicius (no, really. I watch the draft ever year. Who is this?)
 (rights to) Malick Badiane (who is this?!)
 CASH MONEY! (the real key to the deal for Memphis)

Kelvin Sampson, Fired.

Kelvin Sampson was informed today that he will no longer be the coach at Indiana University.

The Hoosiers are supposedly turning the reins to assistant coach Dan Dakich, who was Director of Basketball Operations at Indiana, and a head coach at Bowling Green State University previous to this. he also played for the Hoosiers from 82-85 and was an assistant coach for 10 years.

A quick note for those who think Bob Knight is the next coach, or the answer, from NBC Sports:

Here’s what those fans can look forward to:

* A coach who, at 67, declared he was too tired to continue coaching Texas Tech and resigned with 10 games remaining on the schedule, plus the Big 12 Tournament and any postseason events that would want the Red Raiders.

* Who, since 1995, owns a 5-10 NCAA Tournament record that includes six first-round eliminations.

* Who lost NCAA Tournament games during that stretch to Jan van Breda Kolff, Jim O’Brien and Mike Jarvis, none of whom currently is a Division I head coach.

* Who hasn’t signed a McDonald’s All-American since Jared Jeffries was lured to Indiana in 2000 and who had two such players in the late-90s — Jason Collier and Neil Reed — transfer away from the Hoosiers.

* Who, according to Scout.com, committed 20 high school prospects in his last five classes as Texas Tech who were not rated among the top 25 players at their positions — and only one who was.

Baseball Season Means… Manny Being Manny!

(thanks to Raycroft)

From ESPN:

“I want to stay here, but it’s up to them if they want to bring me,” he said. “But if they don’t want to bring me back, that’s fine. I know I’ll be a free agent after ’08 so that’s another thing that I’m looking forward [to].”

“It’s up to them to say, ‘OK, we’re going take [the option]. It’s not up to me to go into the office and demand a four-year deal, whatever,” the 35-year-old Ramirez said. ” No, I’m going to come here to play the game, finish my year. If they want me to come back, I’ll come back.”