We wrote a few weeks back about the blockbuster trades that happened and now that we've seen a couple games under our belt PBS weighs in on the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly.

THE SHAQUILLE O'NEAL MISTAKE

Alright, we can say it now.  The Shaq trade will go down in Suns history as the straw that broke Steve Nash's back.  After a luke-warm but inspired performance in Shaq's first game, the Suns are struggling to find rhythm without Shawn Marion and the new poor-man's Dwight Howard clogging up the middle.  It seems elementary now that you can see it in action, but the threat of Phoenix's offense was that after spreading the court each player could penetrate and dish.  Now, you have at most 3 players (whoever is playing alongside the combo of Shaq, Amare, and Diaw) that can do this.  Teams can now key in on stopping that penetration.  In addition, finding something that Shaq can do well offensively is slowing Phoenix down as he regularly screws up high-screen plays and holds onto the ball too long.  Against Detroit they had their worst loss in over 20 years and got booed for the first time in recent memory.  Shaq shot 1-8 from the floor and 3-8 from the line and had 3 turnovers.  He got 11 rebounds in the loss which gives you a pretty accurate snapshot of what to expect from the big fella: rebounds, turnovers, and poor shooting.  The only beneficiary of this trade is Amare Stoudamire who now has free reign to dominate other 4's in the league.  Shawn Marion's agent is laughing at the ammo he will have in future negotiations as the now-clearly-seen catalyst to this offense.

Overall Grade: D+

Future Projection: Nash and D'Antoni figure out a way to make Shaq an Eric Dampier type player without disrupting the offense.  They need to keep him on the low, weak-side block and run high-pick and rolls to the strong side.  His points need to come off of offensive rebounds and dunks.  He should get 0 intentional touches per game, period.

THE JASON KIDD HAIL MARY

We've been pretty critical of Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki, and the Jason Kidd trade.  We didn't go so far as to say it wouldn't make them better, but we stopped short of saying that it would make them a contender.  As Dallas' home record and the media would have you think they are, we just think they are simply outclassed by a number of teams in the West, let alone Boston, Detroit, and possibly Cleveland in the East.  Obviously by that statement we aren't projecting a lot for Dallas, but Jason Kidd gives them the toughness and rhythm to actually play to their potential, rather than puckering up when it counts.  And it only took 3 games for Jason Kidd to gel with his teammates.  They now have somebody who can calm them down during the tough spots, aside from somebody who gives teammates rhythm jumpshots, rebounds, and steals the ball.  Because of this I can give them positive marks for competing to win the West, but I still believe that they don't have enough firepower to win it.

Overall Grade: C-

Future Projection: Kidd makes them a tougher team in the playoffs.  Depending on the matchups (the whole West bracket depends on the matchups), they can hang with anyone but will lose to the Spurs, the Lakers, the Celtics, Detroit, for sure.  All of the other contenders will be a toss-up.  Kidd simply keeps the Mavericks from pooping in their pants.  We wouldn't have traded the future of the franchise in this competitive landscape.

LEBRON GETS HIS WISH

The pundits criticized this trade because it didn't have enough star-power to write or talk about, period.  What the pundits can't say is that the additions of Joe Smith, Ben Wallace, Wally World, and Delonte West IN ADDITION TO the departures of garbage players like "the bearded woman" Drew Gooden and Larry "I used to be good" Hughes is EXACTLY WHAT LEBRON NEEDED.  While everyone in the media and in Cleveland clamored for a big-man or top-shelf point guard all that Lebron needed was shooting help.  Watching a Cleveland game was like both being the wallpaper and watching it dry and screaming to no end that the team should be named the bricklayers.  Simply put, if 2 of the players on the court can't score it's going to be tough no matter what.  If three, four, or even 5 of them can't make a jumpshot (see Lebron in the finals) then you're done.  Now LeBron has two quick and feisty players in Boobie (haha...I said it) and Delonte West, and legit offensive players in Wally and Joe Smith.  Add to the mix a player in Ben Wallace who is both hungry to prove he's not a bust and a perfect compliment to the sneaky Serb Ill...zyg...ouskis (?), and you have a suddenly strong 3 person big-man rotation.  With Pavlovic also being serviceable offensively and Sideshow Bob Anderson Varejao (AKA Floppy Donkey) still on the bench we're not even close to seeing the impact of this trade.

Overall Grade: A-

Future Projection: With Lebron's dominance I believe that Cleveland is certainly in contention for not just the East but also the NBA title.  They might be the proverbial 1 player away from dominance.  I think you're going to see a lot of blowout games and a bunch of key wins between now and the end of the NBA season.  Then you'll see a bunch of bandwagoners come out of the woods and I'll be there with the lantern to show them the way.

PAU GASOL AND KOBE = SCOTTIE AND MICHAEL

Why is everyone so afraid to say that Kobe Bryant is better than Michael Jordan.  Is it the whinyness?  Is it the Colorado thing?  Is it because of Shaq?  The answer is all of the above.  I've been a Kobe hater for my whole life until about 2 years ago when I noticed that he had everything that Michael Jordan has, with additional baggage, and without the help.  He still has the baggage but now he has the help.

That help comes in the form of one scruffy looking Spaniard with a post-game that may just be the best in the NBA.  Now I know that this might seem like an overstatement but this guy has all the moves.  The hook, the short-range jumpshot, the up and under, both hands, the quicks, the dribbles, and the foul-shooting.  With Kobe he could need just a few of those things and Los Angeles and the rest of the NBA would call them contenders.  But he has all of them, and alongside the return of Andrew Bynum as well as the emergence of their bench, Los Angeles (in my humble opinion) is the team to beat this year.  You simply cannot defend the inside-outside game that LA has now and all of the pieces of the puzzle are there for victory.  You have Derek Fisher shooting outside 3's and providing defense and leadership.  You have Lamar Odom playing third-fiddle and enjoying every minute of it, outrebounding other team's 3's and providing the best 3rd option in the league.  You have role players like Luke Walton, Radmonovich, Ronny Turiaf, Sasha Povlovich, Trevor Ariza, and Jordan Farmar beating the other team's #1's and are more than serviceable off the bench.  You have Phil Jackson and his 9 championships.  And then you have the unstoppable Kobe Bryant.  And the Lakers didn't have to trade anything to get the final piece.  Brilliant.

Put it in the books.  I feel like it's done.

Overall Grade: A+ (is there any grade higher)

Future Projection:  Teams start to play gimmick defenses like "box and 1" to put a man on Kobe and also shade the defense to Gasol.  They do everything they can to make those 2 guys "not shoot".  Basically everybody's screwed.  If you're a betting man ride the Lakers to the end and bet the over, the Lakers will cover both side of the equation.

CHICAGO BULLS INVOLVED IN 11 PLAYER TRADE: NOBODY CARES

This just in....the Bulls still suck and Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, some guy named Newble, and whoever the else got traded don't change the Bulls at all.  It's still just Heinrich and Gordon fighting for relevancy with Nocioni and Sheffolosawhatever doing that Euro player thing with Tyrus Thomas and Noah looking like they just learned to walk. 

Overall Grade: Don't care.

Future Projection: This team is going nowhere until they determine what they're going to do with Ben Gordon.  He has starting talent but needs to play in a system that has plenty of ballhandlers (point guard and otherwise) so he is free to take spot up shots and get dished the ball on kickouts.  Him with the ball dribbling is a recipe for disaster.  And with his talent the Bulls feel obligated to let him create.  The problem is that when he is given reign to create he brings the offense to a standstill.  Whether he shoots a good clip doesn't matter, his overall effect is negative.  Until Chicago either moves him or changes his role they are going to struggle.  Trading away strong role players like Wallace and Joe Smith are not the answer, changing their offense is.

HOUSTON AND NEW ORLEANS GIVE EACH OTHER WHAT THEY NEED

Morris Peterson is struggling as of late to be consistent.  Houston needs a scoring threat to handle the ball so Tracy is free to find better spots on the court.  Yao needs to have somebody other than Tracy to enter the ball so the weakside swing pass can find its way to Tracy.  This can't be done if the player defending the player (Tracy) to enter the pass doesn't respect the offensive player.  Rafer Alston is simply not respected off the triple-threat or dribble.  Niether is anyone else.  Bobby Jackson gives Houston a player who isn't afraid to fire away and is still explosive getting to the rim.  The only question is whether or not Jackson's confidence is going to rub Houston's team the wrong way.  Jackson gives Houston another offensive weapon in complete compliment to its current lineup.

On the other side of the trade New Orleans gets a player in Bonzi Wells who can rebound and post up, but most importantly take some of the ball-handling pressure off of Chris Paul.  Now that teams are double-teaming Paul at the top of the action Bonzi can take some of the pressure off by being a low-post safety valve.  On a team that has incredible role players such as Chandler for defense and rebounding, West for its inside scoring, Peja and Peterson for 3 point shooting they still can get bogged down without another creator off the dribble.  Wells is that option, he just needs to fit in personally.

Overall Grade: B+

Future Projection: Both players take a good amount of time to assimilate into the offense.  However, come playoff time they will prove to be as good of an acquisition as Kidd for Dallas and Shaq for Phoenix, if not better.