Around the Association

• Biggest deadline deal winners this year? It's gotta be the Cavs and the Mavs hands down. I think the Cavs made the right decision in trading for Antawn Jamison instead of Amar'e Stoudamire. Jamison fits their offense better in terms of having yet another player to spread the floor with and to knock down the open jumpers that LeBron creates. Amar'e, while being a great scorer in his own right, is another guy who will clog the lane for LeBron and really has trouble creating his own offense . Meanwhile Jamison can be a go-to scorer when LeBron is off the floor, something that the Cavs have lacked in the past. With a crunch-time lineup of LeBron, Jamison, Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, and Anderson Varejao the Cavs will surround LeBron with 3 shooters and one pick-and-roll guy to maximize his options when creating for himself and others. It will be impossible to help off of anyone without giving up a shot that Cleveland wants to take. Defensively, that lineup can switch on all screens with their mobile bigs and they now match up well with their biggest playoff nemesis, the Magic, as Jamison can match up against Rashard Lewis......Dallas gets shot of a cancerous Josh Howard and spare parts to get significantly better in the defense/toughness departments. Caron Butler gives them a second effective perimeter defender to throw at Kobe and Melo, while Brendan Haywood can legitimately match up one-on-one against the Lakers' bigs down low. Butler also gives them some scoring punch offensively and is an underrated passer, and now Dallas has the versatility to play multiple styles. They can go big with Kidd-Butler-Marion-Nowitzki-Haywood to match up with Los Angeles or smaller and quicker with Kidd-Terry-Butler-Marion-Nowitzki to match Denver's speed or have the luxury of just playing the hot hand like they did in their comeback win versus the Hawks the other night.....The bottom line is the Cavs cemented themselves as the best team in the East (and quite possibly the league) and the Mavs are now a strong contender for a 2-seed in the West that can push the Lakers with their new-look squad.

• Now that the trade deadline has passed and we can see how teams have lined up their cap room for the free agent bonanza this summer, we're one step closer to seeing how it all plays out. The Knicks have an astonishing 11 contracts coming off the books after this season, so they'll have enough money to max out two players (Or have all their dreams realized by signing three big guns at a discount). For the sake of the Knicks fans out there, I hope they get one or more of the top guys. Their fans have suffered a miserable decade and the only thing keeping them from lighting themselves on fire the last two years has been the promise of luring a couple big fish to the Big Apple. It would be crushing if all the Knicks can do is overpay to keep David Lee (At a higher price than they could have extended him for last year) and to add Rudy Gay, a pair of complementary pieces who'll have New York making first round playoff exits for the next 5 seasons.....As for where LeBron/Wade/Bosh do end up...I have no idea. It really all depends on LeBron. He'll be deciding exactly where he wants to play and the chips will fall from there. Will they pair up to form The Biggest Three? I don't see it. No way top players like them take less money to play together. Money still talks the loudest, especially with a lockout looming and a strong chance that the value of contracts decline post-2010. I really can't imagine LeBron and Wade joining forces. As scary as that tandem sounds, I don't see how a pair of ball-dominating perimeter alpha dogs can get along on the same team. Who dribbles around aimlessly for 18 seconds before barreling to the basket looking to make a play and who stands in the corner watching? You need a Michael and a Scottie, not 2 Michaels. It's always an inside-outside combo that works. Both guys will be pining for Bosh to join them, and whoever loses out on him will immediately begin to court Amar'e or Carlos Boozer to team up with them. The prospect of 3 or 4 franchises instantly rebuilding themselves around a dynamic duo (For instance: LeBron/Bosh, Wade/Stoudamire, Joe Johnson/Boozer, plus Houston rolls out Kevin Martin/Yao Ming for the first time next season) is a truly exciting proposition heading into 2011.

• There continue to be a number of surprising teams around the league this year. The Bobcats, Bucks, Grizzlies, Rockets, and Thunder have all sustained their fast starts and are still in the running for playoff spots. The Bobcats can make their first ever trip to the postseason if they string together a couple of road wins. Gerald Wallace has put up an impressive stat line this year with a 19-11 on close to 49 percent shooting (39 percent on threes), and the acquisition of Stephen Jackson has given them a go-to scorer they can rely on down the stretch. Plus, the Bobs made the sneakiest good trade of the deadline by acquiring Tyrus Thomas from Chicago, who has been providing them with a big spark off the bench since the deal. If only the Bobcats had drafted Brook Lopez instead of D.J. Augustin last season and waited until this year to take a backup point guard (say Ty Lawson or Darren Collison, who were both available to them), all without the Okafor-Chandler swap, this would be a team to be reckoned with for years to come. Imagine a starting lineup of Felton-Jackson-Wallace-Okafor-Lopez with Boris Diaw (aka Lamar Odom Lite), Thomas, and Lawson/Collison off the bench. Hindsight is 20/20.....Much credit has to go to the Bucks, whom I had pegged as the worst team in the league heading into this season. Despite giving away 3 starters from last year's team and seeing Michael Redd's season end prematurely yet again, the Bucks have found a way to play above .500 on the season and position themselves for a playoff berth in the East. Brandon Jennings has cooled off considerably since his sizzling start to the season, but former #1 overall pick Andrew Bogut has quietly put up huge numbers lately, and a trade for John Salmons has given them some more scoring punch to replace Redd. With budding young stars at point guard and center, Milwaukee is only a couple pieces away from being legitimate contenders in the East. Too bad LeBron and Bosh don't want to team up in Milwaukee.....The Grizzlies have one of the best starting lineups in the NBA, with 4 guys who can score in bunches and 2 of the best rebounders in the game. And none of those players includes #2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet, who recently became the highest draft pick to ever be demoted to the D-League. It will be interesting to see where restricted free agent Rudy Gay lands this summer. That may determine whether this team was a one-year wonder or if they're headed down the path to future contention.....The Rockets have continued to scrape out wins despite getting nothing from their two franchise cornerstones, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. They made an interesting move at the deadline to ship out McGrady and bring in Kevin Martin. I think it'll help them out a lot. He gives them an excellent perimeter scorer, allows Ariza to become a complementary player once more (a role he perfected in a title run with the Lakers a year ago), and they can surround him with great defensive players to hide his deficiencies on that side of the floor. Houston did have to give up Sixth Man award candidate Carl Landry, but also got back an intriguing prospect in Jordan Hill, plus 2 first round picks and another great defender in Jared Jeffries. Not a bad haul looking to the future.....The Thunder have been one of the most exciting teams to watch this season. Despite their core players all being 23 and under (23 and under!!!), OKC has shown great poise and maturity on their way to a presumed playoff berth in the ultra-competitive West. Kevin Durant has been simply brilliant and I'd have to put him second behind LeBron in the MVP race today. He's just coming off a streak of 29 straight games of 25+ points (That's the longest such streak by any player not named "Michael Jordan" post-Wilt. Side note: It should be documented that I was in attendance for the very first game of the streak in Los Angeles against the Lakers. Clearly my presence inspired him to reach such lofty heights. Okay, I'm done puffing myself up...for now) during which the Thunder jumped to as high as 5th in the Western Conference standings. Oklahoma City plays incredible defense for a team as young as they are, and consistently win games despite having only 2 double-digit scorers aside from KD, and no player other than Durant averaging even 6.2 rebounds a game. You can't help but root for these youngins.

• They're not who we thought they were. Coming into the season it was assumed that 5 teams and only 5 teams had a shot at the championship this year. Those 5 were the Lakers, Cavs, Magic, Celtics, and Spurs. Two of those five may be out of the running now (Especially after the Celts dropped a game to the lowly Nets. Man it felt good to write that last sentence). I've maintained all season that, if healthy, the Celtics had the best shot to win the East and that the Spurs would pose the biggest threat to the Lakers in the West. I'm starting to rethink that one a little bit. The situation for both teams reminds me of the New England Patriots from this past NFL season. I thought all year that the Patriots were still one of the best teams in the league and would challenge for the Super Bowl despite all the warning signs. Finally, just before the playoffs began, I looked at the evidence one last time and decided that this Patriots team was not like those of years past and predicted (Correctly, mind you. I warned you the puffing could come back) that they would lose their first round playoff game at home to the Ravens. Despite making the playoffs and hosting a first round game, the Pats just seemed...off. They racked up the wins and won their division, but they performed poorly against top competition (They went 1-3 against the best 4 teams in the league, meaning teams that reached their respective Conference Championship games), a sign that they did not have the juice to make a deep playoff run. It's becoming the same for the Celtics and Spurs. I have a hard time counting them out because of their profound veteran talent, but the evidence is starting to stack up against them too. Neither one is having as good a season as was expected out of them this year, and neither one owns a top-3 spot in their respective conference standings at the moment. Besides that, both teams, like the Patriots, have struggled against the best teams in the league. Versus teams with the 8 best records in the NBA, Boston is an unsightly 4-13, while San Antonio isn't much better with a 5-11 mark. The Celtics have been playing sub-.500 ball since Christmas, while the Spurs are under .500 since MLK day. The Duncan Dynasty and the Boston Three Party (Scott Van Pelt's nickname, not mine. There's an ESPN commercial to prove it too) may be both reaching their conclusions.