Dog Days of Winter

Now, they all seem to talk about the dog days of summer. Right now I’m wondering about the dog days of winter. Football season is over, the NBA All-Star game is around the corner. That means pro basketball races will be heating up. The old guard like the Spurs are prepping to rip off an upper-teens game winning streak. One of the middle tier teams is poised to make the leap to NEXT status. The Magic have made the jump from the beginning of the year. It also means one of the upper tier teams will falter. Though the C’s faltered around Christmas time so that might already be done.
It must be nice to be the defending champs, having not lost 10 games, yet still able to fly under the radar. The focus seems to be on the Cavs, Magic and Lakers. Hopefully that will pan out for teams like the Spurs, C’s and [hopefully] Blazers. This has been an interesting NBA season. I wouldn’t know because I was mired in the Steelers playoff run so I’m just now diving head first into the pro cagers.
I’m assuming as much though because there are multiple teams right around 10 losses. We’re another year closer to the 2010 sweepstakes. It’ll be interesting at trade deadline time to see who moves a pawn to get a king [pun only slightly intended] next summer.
There are some interesting trade rumors circulating. Right now my personal favorite has to be ‘Sheed to San Antone. Really? Really?!? That’s what’s hot in the streets right now? The Spurs? Acquiring the unequivocal leader of the JailBlazers? The same franchise who gave up Luis Scola for pennies on the dollar on the off chance that he would mess up their chemistry?
I have to say from a strictly on-court standpoint, I love it. Sheed would give them the ability to stretch the floor in new and unique ways. I think his game lends itself to slight aging, as he’s never relied heavily on supreme athleticism. Could you imagine facing a front line consisting of Sheed and Timmy? I think between them, you have one level headed basketball player – someone who shows *just* the right amount of emotion.
One of Sheed’s teammates has been mentioned in terms of trade value as well. They starting to say now that Allen Iverson is hurting his trade value by the way the two teams have fared after his trade from Denver. Wow, that’s a pretty scathing indictment even for a guy who always seemed to be considered a cancer by the media. Then again the numbers don’t lie. Iverson needs the ball a lot. C-Bill just distributes the rock, making the right shot at the right time.
Unfortunately, I think we’re headed to something like Iverson suiting up in Memphis mentoring Mike Conley. Followed up by Conley suddenly entering his name into the best point guard of a generation topic alongside CP3 and D-Will. Or he goes to a mid-tier team and through his cagey-ness [I don’t care if I just made it up bitch] and instantly makes them a contender. Though I consider that to be a less than likely scenario for the amount of time he needs the rock. I guess my dream scenario would be for him to land in Charlotte and be reunited with Larry Brown. Maybe they can turn that franchise into something…if nothing else, as Tony Schiavone once said, that’ll put butts in the seats.