Hawks-Jazz

Mustache is finally living up to his promise of covering Atlanta teams. After attending a Falcons, Hawks, and three Braves games, I am a fully integerated Atlanta sports denizen.

Anyway, I went with a small group of people to Phillips arena last night to catch the latest come-from-behind Jazz victory (although the margin was much smaller last night than in Florida). The arena is sort of connected to the CNN center, and in an indoor courtyard between the two is the world's best food court.

What makes it world class? They had enormous beers (I'm pretty sure they were 36 ounces) for like $8. Needless to say, we were a little late for the game.

Oh, did you want actually game commentary? Josh Smith didn't shoot threes very well, Joe Johnson is pretty good and Kirilenko of the Jazz gets a lot of rebounds.

Also, according to some kids in the elevator, the Falcons are going to the Superbowl.

After I got home I watched some of the Thunder-'Blazers game. Russell Westbrook for MVP.

Real Free Agent Splash? The Bucks.

Lost amid all this big three talk in the NBA free agency period is the toiling of one executive, John Hammond of the Milwaukee Bucks. Most of the teams in that sweepstakes will come away empty-handed anyway. Hammond, a former assistant GM under Joe "build without superstars" Dumars with the Detroit Pistons, has made several heady moves this off-season that put the Bucks in good position to make the playoffs again in his second year on the job.

When John Salmons opted out of his contract, I thought the Bucks were done. With Salmons they went 22-8 last year and moved up down the stretch to sure up the 6th seed in the east. But today Hammond was able to re-sign John Salmons to a 5 year, $39 million deal. Along with his other low cost, low profile moves, Hammond will give the Bucks a balanced roster, albeit short on star power, much like his former boss Dumars did in Detroit. I like the Corey Maggette trade because it gives them another proven wing scorer who will take pressure off of Salmons and Brandon Jennings. Drew Gooden gives them a solid rebounding presence and he is a decent defender, which I know from his days with the Cavs.

I would imagine their starting five will be Jennings at the point, Maggette and Salmons on the wings, Gooden at power forward, and Andrew Bogut at center. The Bucks were a pretty good defensive team under coach Scott Skiles last year, but they lacked scoring punch. Adding Maggette and a solid rebounder in Gooden should help. John Hammond has done a great job developing a team that is very complimentary with the cast-offs of other teams. I think Joe Dumars would be proud. Dumars made similar acquisitions of journeymen players, Chaucey Billups and Rasheed Wallace. He turned them into a well balanced team that contended for years, and they actually won the title in 2004.

It's hard to say how good the Bucks can be this year, especially considering that the Eastern Conference is so up in the air with the big three still out there unsigned. I think I can comfortably predict that they will again make the Playoffs, which I honestly didn't feel good about before the re-signing of Salmons. In fact, despite the "star power" of the Joe Johnson signing, I think they could conceivably leapfrog the Hawks next year in the standings.

Let The Madness Begin

On Thursday, the four players pictured on the left won't be able to put down their phones for a second without a phone call or text coming through. LeBron's phone will probably explode at 12:01 am on the dot, followed by Bosh's phone, then Wade's, then Stoudemire's, and then maybe Joe Johnson's. Actually, Joe Johnson will probably be sitting by his phone like an 8th grader waiting for his big crush to call him back. That big crush will probably end up being the Knicks who are only calling him because James, Bosh, Wade, and Stoudemire wouldn't sign on to play with Danilo Gallinari and scrubs.

This free agency period has the potential to alter the NBA's landscape more than any other in the league's history. The last time such a huge shift occurred in free agency was when Shaq left Orlando for the Lakers in 1996, and that signing took until 2000 for a championship to be delivered. If the three biggest names of this year's star-studded class–LeBron, Wade, and Bosh–decide to join forces to form the NBA's new big three, there's a good chance they could immediately win a championship together.

So what are the chances of those three teaming up?

Who the fuck knows. Reports are coming out from all over the place about supposed "done deals" already in place. LeBron and Bosh to Chicago, LeBron and Bosh to New York, and the latest rumor of LeBron and Bosh joining Wade in Miami are just a few of the scenarios that have been tossed around. Anyone who acts like they know for sure what's going to go down is probably full of shit. Stephen A. Smith can yell at the top of his lungs that the big three free agents are joining forces in Miami, but I won't believe it until it actually happens. Regardless, it's going to be fun to watch the pieces fall in place.