The NBA big market problem

I'm tired of NBA players deciding that they just can't play for the team that drafted them. Dwight Howard is the latest in the line of many. Seriously, just suck it up and play. Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Deron Williams all seemed to want out of smaller markets. Anthony in particular wrecked most of the Nuggets' season last year.

I for one, would like to see the Magic just make Howard play out his contract and if he doesn't like it, just de-activate him. I realize the Magic would prefer to get something in return for Howard. But, it sure would be cool if they just took a stand. NFL teams have done stuff like this before when athletes have been training camp holdouts. Keyshawn Johnson, Joey Galloway and Michael Crabtree all come to mind. I don't think any of those three came out of the situation in a more favorable public light than when they entered in. I wouldn't mind some of the public humiliation come to NBA players who are crying and moaning while still under contract.

Jazz struggles continue

The Utah Jazz (32-30) continue to struggle, losing a rough one Thursday night to the Denver Nuggets (37-26) by a score of 103-101. The Jazz have gone 1-7 since Jerry Sloan stepped down as head coach on February 10th including 1-4 since superstar point guard Deron Williams was traded to the New Jersey Nets (18-43) just after the All-Star Game.

I'm encouraged that the Jazz are being competitive and staying in games, but at the same time I'm tired of losing those games. A win is a win and a loss is a loss. Remarkably, the Jazz are still only 1.5 games back of the final playoff spot -- definitely still within striking distance. However, I just don't see it happening. The team has been slumping big time and seems to find ways to lose games at the end, instead of the other way around. I don't think it will be this bad the rest of the season as the new guys will get accustomed to the team and the play-calling system as well as the rest of the guys getting used to playing without D-Will. However, I still don't think they'll win enough games to make it to the postseason, which of course saddens me. The Jazz take on the Sacramento Kings (15-44) Saturday night at 7 p.m. MT on FSN-Utah.

More thoughts on the D-Will trade

Great article on espn.com about the trend of star players moving to large markets. D-Will was a great player here in Utah and I'll definitely miss him, but it looks like the Jazz did act proactively. It's hard to blame the organization, they did get a pretty good package in return. It's just a shame the Jazz couldn't get D-Will signed to a long-term contract.

In other NBA news, Baron Davis has been traded from the Clippers to the Cavaliers in along with a first round draft pick for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon. Looks like both teams will still miss the playoffs.

D-Will traded to Nets

Today the Jazz (31-26) traded All-Star point guard Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets (17-40) in exchange for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, and a pair of future 1st round draft picks. It's a sad day, really, for the Jazz, who have now shipped out their best player. I think the Jazz will struggle to make the playoffs now (they were already struggling anyway).

The Jazz will miss the scoring and assists from Williams as well as just having a great player on the team. Clearly the Jazz didn't think there was a good chance of Williams re-signing. On the other hand, they did get quite a few assets in the trade which is better than the nothing they would have received had Williams left as a free agent following next season. Favors is young and has a lot of potential. Harris is at the very least a competent point guard who has the potential to be quite good. And there is a pretty good chance that the two draft picks the Jazz have received will turn out to be pretty high.

Still, the team still feels as though it is in rebuilding mode at this point and that's a little hard to stomach. But, who knows I guess, we'll see how things play out, maybe the new guys will really mesh with the rest of the team and the Jazz can make a good run.

I think this whole trend as of late was really sparked by the LeBron James-Dwyane Wade-Chris Bosh thing last summer. Those three all decided to team up and try and go for something big. Following this there was the whole Carmelo Anthony saga which ended up with him being dealt to the Knicks this week. It seems like all the stars got it in their heads that they needed to do something LeBron James-ish, i.e. play in a big market with other superstars. It really is a sad trend in the NBA as guys don't seem to be concerned with team loyalty at all, or building championship teams the conventional way, as in the actual sense of being a team with all the guys working together. The league seems to have lost most of the traditional competitiveness as far as teams and franchises and rivalries are concerned -- now it's just how guys can get what they want in whatever way possible. It's not that guys don't want to win, they would just rather team-up with fellow cohorts and/or play in a large market.