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I think it is Ellington’s last chance to show himself. He will be playing in a well organised team for the first time.
Is this trade still happening?
That was a decent move on both sides. Memphis needed a good shooter behind Tony Allen and Tony Wroten, and Ellington is pretty legit when given the playing time.
The T-Wolves also really needed a backup PF, to stay athletic, and to loosen up their logjam on the wing. They did that in making this trade and by waiving Martell Webster.
“With Korver, playing against him in the playoffs, his ability to stretch the defense is unbelievable,” Teague said. “And I know a lot of people haven’t talked about it but Jenkins, man, that guy can really shoot the basketball. He’s an unbelievable shooter. I think our offense is going to flow a lot better. I think we’re going to be able to get up and down (the floor) a lot more. We have probably the best shooting team in the NBA with Korver, Morrow and Jenkins’ ability to stretch the defense.”
The guys not named Rondo are right about him stepping up in to a new role. He IS their leader. On the court, the ball is in his hands more than any other. He orchestrates offenses, often independent of Doc Rivers, who is content to let his point guard’s CPU process everything he sees before him. And like Garry Kasparov flying through move after move in his head before placing a fingertip on a bishop, Rondo cycles through options at a dizzying mental pace before actually triggering the offense. 234232
Rondo’s eyes may as well be motion-detecting cameras, picking up flinches, sideways glances, and missed assignments within milliseconds of them happening. And he has no qualms about letting anyone, from Kevin Garnett to Dionte Christmas, know that what’s happening, when it will happen, or why they missed it. hdfh4545
But Garnett, Pierce and Terry have been through the wars. They are still among the best in the business even at combined 106 years old. You do not hang around the NBA into your mid 30’s in very important roles unless you know a little something about the game. These guys have forgotten things about basketball that Rondo hasn’t learned yet. Of course they will lead. jhfgh5r44
Smith will not sign an early extension with the Hawks, not because he doesn’t want to play in Atlanta, but because the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) makes it foolish business to give the franchise an early autograph.
I spent a good deal of the morning answering those questions to one degree or another in my chat, so be sure you’ve read that.
There’s another question, however, that would seem to overshadow the others: Is James Harden truly a maximum contract type of player? That, after all, is the reason he was traded. The Thunder did not believe him to be a max player, while the Houston Rockets, with less to lose, were willing to make that kind of commitment.
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