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The Eastern Conference piece:
Shaq, LeBron and All Things East
Bruce Jenkins
San Francisco Chronicle
As a companion piece to today's rundown of the Western Conference in the Sporting Green, here's a tour of the East with all of the key free agents locked up:
1. BOSTON: It looks like the Celtics will be back on top. Adding Shaquille O'Neal won't quite cut it for the Cavs, not if they expect to go all the way, and the Celts made a significant addition in Rasheed Wallace. It sounded crazy to me, at first, considering Rasheed's disgraceful performances in the Eastern Conference finals of 2007 and '08. As the Pistons flamed out against Cleveland in Game 6 three seasons ago, Rasheed exited that game with a typically ludicrous tirade against the refs. He was totally outplayed by Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins in the climactic Game 6 in '08, pretty much mailing in his team's most important game of the season with four points, three turnovers and an at ude suggesting he didn't give a damn. Then came Cleveland's playoff sweep of the Pistons this year, Rasheed checking in with 6.5 points per game and 37 percent shooting.
Rasheed, though, is a complex guy. Off the court, you learn that he's a quiet sort and devoted family man, known for his cooking, voracious reading and exotic art collections. He has no interest in s om, plays the team game and, when motivated, can be a lock-down frontcourt defender. By all accounts, he'll have no problem coming off the Celtics' bench. "As a player, I have more pros than cons," he told the Boston Globe. "I'd say my worst con is my at ude, sometimes." That and the fact that he can be flat-out bored, to the point of distraction, by mediocrity.
When it comes to blending a combustible personality into a winning atmosphere, the Celtics set the standard last year with their superb handling of Stephon Marbury (he didn't really help or hurt them, in the end, but he wasn't a pill). And it sounds like they really wanted Wallace, imagining him coming off the bench for a 15-point fourth quarter at playoff time. In a remarkable show of team camaraderie, the Celtics sent a convoy of Garnett, Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and owner Wyc Grousbeck to meet with Wallace in suburban Detroit. "It made me realize those guys really wanted me," said Wallace. "I think this could be a of a team, all of us playing together."
Garnett was said to be so excited about the meeting, he could barely speak. "I don't really chase too many people," he said later. "But this is my chance to play with another great big. Someone who's passionate and versatile. I'm so excited about coming in for training camp and going full throttle, you have no idea. We're all going to be looking at each other like we're teenagers again."
If there's any skepticism about the Celtics around the league, it targets Ainge and his curious decision to criticize publicly criticize Rajon Rondo while putting him on the trade market. It will be interesting to see how Rondo, kind of a different cat to begin with, responds to that. But the consensus seems to be positive on Wallace. Joe Dumars noted that "he's a very smart player who does well with other smart guys around him," and a former coach who saw him at his very worst (in Portland), P.J. Carlesimo, said, "Rasheed is intelligent enough to realize what a good opportunity this is. I'd be betting on him."
I wouldn't bet on on Marbury playing anywhere, including Europe, in the wake of his behavior lately. Hosting a 24-hour Internet chat on the website UStream.tv, Marbury has gone completely out of his mind: ranting irrationally on a number of topics, weeping uncontrollably, eating Vaseline (I'm not making this up), staring into the camera and making comments like, "Do I believe in aliens? I don't know, because I've never seen one. But I believe in Jesus because I saw him in the shower the other day."
It gets even more bizarre, if you can fathom such a thing, and it's not at all funny. It's a self-crafted portrait of a deeply disturbed man.
ORLANDO: Things have improved considerably since the disappointing departure of Hedo Turkoglu, a big reason why the Magic presented such formidable matchup problems. Vince Carter, a native of Daytona Beach and a member of Mainland High's 1995 state-championship team, will be a more versatile scorer than Turkoglu (if not quite as reliable) and delighted to be playing near home. Ex-Cal star Ryan Anderson, who has shown conclusively that he can play in the league, came over in the Carter deal from New Jersey. With Rafer Alston also part of that deal, a fully healthy Jameer Nelson can return to run the offense with a clear head. And with plenty of urging from Dwight Howard, the Magic brought in the well-traveled Matt Barnes, now on his seventh team in seven years.
In perhaps the best move of all, former Dallas forward Brandon Bass, described by Carter as "an angry rebounder," was signed as a free agent, allowing Rashard Lewis to shift over to small forward. "We've got somebody now who can defend big power forwards," GM Otis Smith said of the 6-8, 240-pound Bass. "He fits what we do. We have the potential to be a better team now."
But that wasn't Smith's most interesting maneuver. When Dallas offered a five-year deal to Marcin Gortat, the Magic's backup center, nobody expected Smith to match the offer. As they planned for Gortat's arrival, the Mavericks backed off their efforts to re-sign Bass. Orlando not only stole him at a discount price, they locked in Gortat and buffaloed Dallas. As John Hollinger wrote on espn.com, "Psych! This is Lucy pulling the football out from Charlie Brown, folks. The Mavericks fell for it hook, line and sinker."
It's not that Gortat is any world-beater. Who'd even heard of this guy before last year's playoffs? In the words of espn.com's Bill Simmons, "Any time you can pay $7 million a year for someone who plays 10 minutes a game, you have to do it." But Gortat has plenty of value when Howard gets in foul trouble, and he's a mobile rebounder who can score occasionally. You just have to wonder how he feels about Smith's clever move, because Gortat would have started at center for Dallas.
CLEVELAND: For the life of me, I'll never understand the Cavaliers' fascination with Anderson Varejao. He plays with a lot of energy, but this isn't an elite NBA player. He's not anyone you'd trust with the ball at crunch time. And the Cavs kept him off the free-agent market with a six-year deal? What a joke. They should have let him go when they had the chance.
The cruel truth, for LeBron James, is that overrated GM Danny Ferry hasn't brought in nearly enough help (add coach Mike Brown, and it's Overrated City). I can't imagine Shaq staying healthy for a full season of high-profile ball, although it would be interesting to see him going against Orlando and Howard (that seems to be the point of the acquisition) in the playoffs. It remains to be seen if second-round pick Danny Green, out of North Carolina, can be a contributor in his rookie season. The Cavs had a shot at Trevor Ariza, but couldn't promise him a starting job. Anthony Parker might bring some offense as a 6-6 swingman, but he's 34 years old and didn't make much of a splash in Toronto.
It all comes back to LeBron, of course, and there are so many questions. Given some of his childish acts of late -- refusing to congratulate the victorious Magic, getting all paranoid about getting dunked upon in a summer camp -- will he gleefully co-exist with a personality as large as Shaq's? Will he sign an extension soon or continue to drop hints about leaving? Why would he even begin to consider the Knicks as a free-agent destination, the way that team looks? OK, so he's friends with Jay-Z; he'd leave Cleveland to play for the Nets, now a total longshot ever to move to Brooklyn?
NOTES ON THE REST (because that's it for the real contenders): Jamal Crawford thought he had an attractive playing-time situation when the Warriors traded him to Atlanta, but since he got there, the Hawks drafted Jeff Teague and re-signed Mike Bibby. No guarantees there . . . I'm all for lifestyle calls, and it sounds as if Turkoglu and his wife are going to enjoy the thriving Turkish community in Toronto, but his high-profile playoff days are done (he signed a five-year deal) . . . One thing about the Raptors: As they struggle through the season and (eventually) lose Chris Bosh, they have quite an international cast with Turkoglu, Jose Calderon, Carlos Delfino, Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli. The real key to Toronto's making an impression: Rookie DeMar DeRozan, if he's as good as advertised. They should have no problem giving him a ton of minutes . . . Now that the Miami Heat struck out on Lamar Odom, and have cooled on trading for Carlos Boozer, nobody expects Dwyane Wade to stay beyond this season. He's a Chicago guy, and the Bulls will go after him hard next summer . . . In a conversation with the Chicago media, owner Jerry Reinsdorf declared that Ben Gordon (who left for Detroit as a free agent) "wasn't going to get a whole lot of playing time. It was going to be diminished. So Ben no longer fit." Wow, try putting that one over on the Bulls' fans, Jerry. You couldn't be more wrong. As electrifying as Derrick Rose was in last year's playoffs, the Bulls hung with the Celtics because Gordon, one of the truly fearless shooters in the league, was going off. How the was he going to lose crunch-time minutes to John Salmons, Kirk Hinrich or Jannero Pargo (who signed a one-year deal)? Gordon's gone and the Bulls have no shot this year, period. He and Rip Hamilton, meanwhile, should be quite a scoring combination in Detroit . . . About the only key issues to be decided: A destination for Allen Iverson, and the fate of Knicks potential free-agent departures David Lee and Nate Robinson.
