The Dribble

Unrestricted free agent Jumaine Jones has signed:



Everyone will "live" on the wing in peace in Phoenix leaving Amare to battle it out down low as the rotations begin on the perimeter

Jones, a first round (27th) pick of the Atlanta Hawks in 1999 (class of Brand / Francis / Baron / Odom / Wally / Marion / Artest and Kirilenko) is coming off a career year in Charlotte with the injury "snakebitten" Bobcats where he saw plenty of action. He played in 76 games, started 46 of them which gave him a 27.5 min/game average mostly thanks to Gerald Wallace injuries and Kareem Rush finding the "doghouse"

It should be interesting to see if Jones (who at 6'8 plays much smaller) can learn how to mix it up a la Marion, we know he can finish and from 3pt land... well he shot 34% last year (making 1.5 of every 4.4 attempts) but the Suns will need him to claim more boards and his jumper would need to improve

While everyone is saying: "he ain't no slouch" there remain only a few more free agents out there to pick up (among notables; Bonzi, Melvin Ely, Reggie Evans)

In the meantime, let's see if Jumaine can still run

But one could argue that the team that has benefitted the most from this year's World Championships has got to be the Orlando Magic who have three players participating in the tournament. The Orlando Sentinel interviews the Magic's GM, Otis Smith:

Man-Child Dwight Howard, one of the few big men on the roster is having a solid extra curricular off season on team USA despite playing only 14.6 mpg (2nd among big men to Brand).
Fellow frontcourt mate to Howard is Darko Milicic who at only 21 years of age has emerged as his nation's team leader and has posted solid numbers leading the team in minutes, rebounds and blocks (tournament leader) and is second on his team in points and surprisingly...assists.

Carlos Arroyo, the Puerto Rican point guard, lead his team in minutes, points, assists, and challenged for the lead in rebounds making a solid case for a bid as a starting NBA point guard with an assist to turnover ratio of 0.6

Boston's Scott Souza continues the praise that Rajon Rondo is garnering as the season slowly approaches. After a successful pre-draft camp and a more impressive showing at the Summer League, Rondo, perhaps the first true point guard drafted this year is turning out to be the steal of the first round going 21st overall after the Celtics traded down from seventh pick in the acquisition of another point guard Sebastian Telfair with the Portland Trailblazers.

For this week I would mention as post of the week (yet once again), Henry Abbott's True Hoop.com as he looks at something that has the potential to be quite controversial in his defensive analysis of Carmelo Anthony:


Abbott is becoming renowned for in his "investigative blogging", this time he tests the theory that 'Melo plays poor defense with something other than simply crunching stats, he calls upon the help of Synergy Sports (think of a TiVo-like service for basketball strategists-go here for more C|Net News.com





Before relying on video replays Abbott sugarcoats that what we have seen from Carmelo Anthony during the World's has been an all out effort that could best be described as:


But what it boils down to is:

(Abbott boldly comes to the conclusion) that in the past (playoff games against the Clippers) 'Melo would; often get caught in "no man's land", be out of position on double teams, rarely work his way through picks, never stepping up to challenge on the perimeter

All signs of a lack of effort early in his career but then again as he reminds us and as we look forward to the coming season, maybe that "something" has clicked inside of Carmelo Anthony and he's turned it all around

Leaving us with Hope and the Nugg Doctor

"One of Bibby's weaknesses last season was how soon
he gave up going to the rack after not getting a few calls.
With an extra half-step, if that's what
this new body gets him, Bibby might force help sooner.
If he does, he's more likely to find an
open teammate or draw enough contact to get to the line.
And that's good - he's a hell-of-a-shooter,
but when he gets in the lane, he's a much more potent weapon"

Josh Howard has one year left on his rookie contract, if by the start of the season he remains unsigned he is slated to become a restricted free agent next year. The Dallas Morning News sent out a "feeler article" placing him within the price range of Tayshaun Prince's 5yr/$47.5 million contract, a fair estimate one would think but as Howard says:

"No disrespect to him," Howard said,
"but he doesn't do the same thing for Detroit that I do for Dallas"

• Harrington himself has completed the sin-and trade (not a typo) and has called off the return trade to Indiana (a familiar place and a situation he understood), after not feeling the love $vibe$ like he was from other pursuers,

"I want to be somewhere I'm wanted,
and these other teams are really interested"

"The "Starbury One," a sneaker
designed by Steve & Barry's University Sportswear"

"The shoot lasted seven hours, including a
60-minute lunch break (burgers, dogs and some deeeelicious cookies).
The practice home of the Knicks and Liberty housed more
than 15 different photo shoots, along with a few autograph
stations and a three-TV setup to play NBA Live '07."

"Nets PG Jeff McInnis has been told to not even
think about reporting to camp this fall. McInnis,
who has worn out another welcome, is entering the second
year of a two-year, $7 million deal New Jersey
hopes to close out soon with a buyout"

"We know Gilbert is really disappointed, he's done a great job.
It's an unfortunate situation but he is not going
to be able to continue on," managing director
Jerry Colangelo said. "We're concerned because he
has had a history regarding groin pulls. This is a
precautionary move but it is important that he
return home and get treatment"

"Ilic will be the fourth rookie on the 14-man
roster along with Marcus Williams,
Josh Boone and Hassan Adams."

The Milwaukee Bucks have traded Joe Smith to the Denver Nuggets for Ruben Patterson. The two players find themsleves in similar situations as they are into the final years of their contracts and are now 31 years old but Smith is an 11 year vet while Patterson has 8 years experience.

Joe Smith probably felt unwanted since the Bucks made a move to acquire Charlie Villanueva from the Raptors for T.J. Ford a day after the draft. Denver's frontcourt suddenly got increasingly deep with Camby, Nene, K-Mart, Sampson and now newcomer Joe Smith and can afford to let Reggie Evans walk away but are probably looking for some backcourt help.