About that thing...

You might be wondering about the silence or you might not. In any case, please know that The Hoops Nerd will be back next week with a break down of how the NBA trade deadline has went (the said deadline is tomorrow, by the way). For now, I am caught up in an overtime stretch at work that will end up next Sunday night.

In the meantime, the photo speaks for itself. I'll need a couple of days to get back into writing shape.

Foreseeing the NBA Trade Deadline

The NBA trade deadline is 15 days away. I should be bouncing off the walls about this. The league-wide roster overhaul, the heated jockeying for playoffs X factors, the strategic long-term planning, these things get my nerd brain going. The 2014 NBA trade deadline cannot, in any possible way, be worse than last year. Three moves in two days, J.J Redick being the center of attention, journalists turning to the Dexter Pittman trade for column fodder, it can't possibly sink any lower. Yet the NBA trade deadline will be a non-event again, this year.

It's just the way things are now. The latest CBA makes it ungodly hard to organize a blockbuster trade. The salary cap makes superstar contracts binding and is influencing an athlete's worth like never before. So I'm expecting a lot of action this yet, yet it'll probably be as exciting as Saturday afternoon in an accounting convention. The NBA trade deadline will be a non-event this year, or rather, it will find a way to become a non-event, where trades will make sense at the bank and not on the court. Let me borrow Clairvoyant Bill's hat has for a second and predict you what the 2014 NBA trade deadline will be like. 

The Point Guard Plague

This is the list of all-star point guard who are currently injured : Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Rajon Rondo, Deron Williams, Eric Bledsoe and Jrue Holiday. 50% of them are down with a long-term knee injury. In Rose and Westbrook's case, it's the second time in two years. The universe is trying to tell us something here. The new generation of exciting, flamboyant and marketable point guards is flaming out before our eyes.

Welcome to Ujiria

In the wake of Rob Ford's recent destitution, I say Toronto needs more than a new leader. Canada's capital needs a hero and might have found the hero they deserve in Masai Ujiri, sports management warlord. Yesterday, in a spectacular, so-clever-it-was-almost-evil move, Our Beloved Warlord has undone the tragic mistake of his predecessor Bryan Colangelo and found a new home to spectacular, yet inefficient and overpaid Rudy Gay, sending him to Sacramento along with Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray, for Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson, John Salmons and Chuck Hayes.. I, therefore, declare that Toronto is now a city-state and should now be referred to as Ujiria or #Ujiria. Let's examine the numerous ramifications of this deceptive deal. Not only Masai's deals are deceptive, but they are also interesting. 

Observations on the first month of NBA action

The 30 NBA teams have been going at it for a month now. So much happened, yet so little of it was revealing. Nonetheless, this was a pretty darn interesting month and it feels so good to have the NBA back for the year. I missed the spectacular plays, the rugged games in the East, the absurd pissing contest of overinflated egos, the wild plays and the all-around goofiness that runs from the hardwood to Twitter. Here are my observations about the first month of action.

The Hoops Nerd, Pre-Season MIP Awards - Northwest Division

The Hoops Nerd gives MIP Awards to the most intriguing player in each team during the NBA pre-season. Northwest division will be at the image of this Kevin Love photo. Not all that relevant, but wicked entertaining. It's crammed full of team that are trying to make something happen. Some are trying to bottom out, some are trying to win the goddamn championship, but every team in that division is strategically lead, despite having financial or health-related issues. Here are the five most intriguing players in that division...

The Montreal Salarymen, 2013 Edition

It's with this glorious photo of Chairman Yi that I would like to introduce this new pet project of mine I hope is destined to become a tradition. Starting this year (duh!) The Hoops Nerd will publish one lineup per season that will attempt to form the best twelve-player team possible under the current NBA salary cap. This of this as Extreme Couponing for men. I will take into account their salary, how well they fit together and will hire veterans for chemistry purpose, because shopping on rookie deals only would be cheating. I also took into account whether or not a player would accept coming off the bench. That's why you won't see starters on my bench. I took for granted they wouldn't accept that role. Same thing for 11th and 12th spot. I selected guys who would likely accept that role.

The current NBA salary cap is 58, 68 million dollars. I will not try and pretend to understand all the intricacies of the current CBA David Stern has put together with his team of blood-drinking lawyers, but I'll add two twists that should make my life easier. I'll allow myself a five million dollars mid-level exception (that I have to spent on one player if I'm not mistaken) and two million dollars into the luxury tax (two million dollars is acceptable, right?) So here is what I think is the best possible team you can put up with a 65,68 million dollars payroll. Here are the 2013 MONTREAL SALARYMEN!