The Clippers and Wizards' motives in the Jamison trade

You asked for it 'Stache, so I'm giving it to you.

The Clippers got involved in the Jamison trade to dump salaries and position themselves as major players in the big 2010 free agent market. The Clippers know they aren't going anywhere this season, so they've been making moves to clear cap space. They recently sent Marcus Camby and his expiring contract (who they wouldn't have resigned) to Portland for point guard Steve Blake, injured small forward Travis Outlaw, and $3 million. Both Blake and Outlaw have expiring contracts and it is unclear if L.A. will resign either of them or let their money come off the books. Outlaw is a quality small forward, which L.A. will need next season so there's a chance that he will be resigned.

With the Jamison trade, the Clippers ridded themselves of both Al Thornton's $2.8 million salary and Sebastian Telfair's expiring contract, which had a player option of $2.7 million for next season. Losing Telfair's contract is huge for L.A., because that's $2.7 million less that they probably would have had to pay. This leaves the Clippers with just four players under contract next season with Baron Davis at PG, Eric Gordon at SG, injured #1 pick Blake Griffin at PF, and center Chris Kaman, who just made his first All-Star appearance replacing the injured Brandon Roy. This could be an appealing roster for a big free agent like LeBron James or Dwyane Wade, but let's face it, the Clippers aren't getting either of them. The Grizzlies' Rudy Gay might fit in well though, as small forward is the one position they lack in. Regardless, they have a solid foundation and a great deal of flexibility.

Drew Gooden (who's played on just about every NBA team in the past few years) will probably be bought out by L.A. and wind up on yet another team.

As for the Wizards, Gilbert Arenas' season-long suspension for bringing guns in the locker room has forced them to break the team up and start fresh. It will probably be a long rebuilding process, but it had to be done. It started with trading Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and DeShawn Stevenson to Dallas for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton, and Quinton Ross.

Sending the 33 year-old Antawn Jamison to the Cavs was basically a favor to Jamison, who was a consistent contributor and stand-up guy during his time with Washington. There's a good chance Big Z will end up being bought out and resigned by the Cavs, so the Wizards should have tried to get more than just Al Thornton, Josh Howard, and change for everything they gave up. But they had to move on. They will now have enough cap space to sign a free agent to a max contract, but I doubt anyone is eager to head to Washington right now.

Thornton has shown upside but seems like he isn't much of a game changer. Josh Howard was an All-Star not but a few years ago, but he has become inconsistent as of late. He has also had off-court issues that made him fall out of favor with the Mavs, such as admitting he smoked weed in the offseason and making a comment on video about not celebrating the Star-Spangled Banner because he's black.

Now the Wizards biggest priority is trying to void Gilbert Arenas' absurdly huge contract. If Arenas is sentenced to prison time it might help them get it done, but a team has never voided a contract so it remains a long shot.

There's definitely a lot more to it than all of this, but I've already been writing posts that are too long for Dank Game's half-assed standards. Writing about trades is too much work.

Does that help, 'Stache?

Hot Grizzlies Ground Down by Cavs

The Cavs mopped the floor with the Grizzlies tonight, beating them 105-89. They held Zach Randolph to only 8 points and 4 rebounds, forcing him into 5 turnovers. The Cavs played OJ Mayo extremely well too. All night they forced him into the shot blockers, with Shaq blocking two and Lebron getting a chase down block, which he swatted off the glass. The Grizzlies are one of the better fast breaking teams in the league, but the Cavs held them on the break. Rudy Gay was the only guy who could score on the Cavs in the first half and they held him to just 3 points in the second half. Just an all around show of defensive prowess by the Cavs. Lebron even sounded like KG out there screaming at his bigs to force Zach Randolph, who likes to go left, to his right.

With 15 assists Lebron hit his career high with only 4 turnovers. He was setting people up with ease, hitting Varejao for a couple easy baskets in the lane and getting Shaq the ball with very deep position. Lebron didn't need to score much and he took advantage of the Memphis zone with his distribution skills. One thing I did like about his scoring tonight was how he took smaller defenders in the post. He got single coverage from Mike Conley Jr., backed him down in the post and hit a baby hook over him. He did the same on OJ Mayo and got even deeper position for another hook. It was positively Carmelo Anthony-esque the way he took the small guys on his back down low. I hope he continues to do this throughout the year as it only adds to his offensive efficiency.

Memphis is a great rebounding team, with the number one rebounding differetial in the league at 4.7 a game. The Cavs are one of the best too, with a 4.5 differential, and were able to out rebound the Grizzlies by 3. That is a testament to their work ethic as a team on the block. They kept one guy on Randolph the whole game and wouldn't let him control the glass. Varejao did some pesky blocking out on Randolph and frustrated him all night.

This was a real strong win for the Cavs and it puts them a game and a half up on the Lakers for the best record in the league. They also have the longest win streak in the league at 9 games. They are looking strong going into the allstar break.

I expected a better game from the Grizzlies after they beat the Lakers at home, but the Cavs won easy in a blowout. Cavs coach Mike Brown said this week that he wanted some games that weren't so easy so the team could learn to execute in a close game. It didn't happen tonight as Lebron sat for the last 5 minutes of the game. I am a little worried about his lack of 4th quarter minutes because it looked like he got worn down late in games last year in the playoffs. I hope Mike Brown adjusts his minutes as the year goes on so he can be used to playing a full 48 minutes despite the blowouts.