JOY TO THE WORLD, THE WORST SIGNING OF THE OFFSEASON IS UPON US

Anderson Varejao re-signs with the Cleveland Cavaliers for a staggering $50 million spread over 6 years. Varejao becomes the FIRST player in the NBA to have a contract lasting through 2015. Every offseason there is a signing that is so comical that, from literally the minute it is reported, everybody and their mother knows its awful. Jerome James for the full mid-level exception was a good example of this, back in the Isiah days. Varejao for $50 million guaranteed takes the cake for 2009. I cannot imagine how this will be topped. Varejao is a one-dimensional forward, a good rebounder who flops all the time and has little offensive range. Why he is worth $50 million is beyond me. Somewhere, David Lee is no contemplating asking for a max contract.

In other, more sensible news, the Spurs have locked up Antonio McDyess to a 3-year deal. So the Spurs deal Kurt Thomas and Oberto to get Richard Jefferson, then replace Oberto and KT with McDyess and the NCAA's best rebounder in DeJuan Blair. Not bad. The Spurs have the talent to play with the Lake Show next season, no doubt about it.

MICHAEL BEASLEY IMPROVING HIS GAME

If DWade is going to stay in Miami, Beasley needs to improve upon the 14 and 5 he put up last year as a 19-year-old.  Here is some encouraging news, complements of the Palm Beach Post via TrueHoop:

"Michael Beasley's friends don't enjoy watching NBA games with him anymore. After a year in the league, it seems that he has developed the irritating habit of breaking things down as though he were a coach. 'When you play it and you've lived it ... you understand,' Beasley said. 'I can watch the game and see who missed a rotation or who messes up the play, who was supposed to be there on the other end of the pass. You understand why coaches get so intense and so emotional toward you on the court, because when you see something go wrong that could have been so perfect, of course you get mad.' That kind of perspective is a sign of growth for Beasley, 20, who was still a teenager last fall when he began his rookie season with the Heat. So, too, is his attitude toward off-season workouts that he began a month ago at AmericanAirlines Arena. Beasley, who averaged 13.9 points and 5.4 rebounds in an up-and-down season, has been fastidious about working on his skills during the day and playing pickup basketball with other local NBA players three nights a week."

GRANT HILL SAYS IT ALL

Hill told reporters yesterday at the Garden playing "at the mecca" has always been appealing to him and he has always loved New York.

JKIDD RE-UPS; RASHEED TO THE C'S

Jason Kidd to stay in Dallas for 3 yrs/$25 mil. ($8 mil/yr)  NY was apparently offering 3yrs/$15 mil.  Well-played by Donnie Walsh, Knicks still scoreless in the "Good Players" department.

IMPACT:  I still don't think Dallas is a contender in the West, but there are moves to be made so too early to tell.  LA, San Antonio, and Denver all have more firepower right now, from a talent stand point.  How those teams fill their benches will go a long way in determining who is playing in June.

Rasheed Wallace to the Celtics for 2 yrs/$11.6 mil. ($5.8 mil/yr)  Also had overtures from San Antonio, Orlando, and Dallas.

IMPACT:  Huge.  Boston now starts and goes into crunch time with Rondo, Allen, Pierce, KG, and Rasheed.  Wallace and Garnett will be a very interesting and potentially threatening front court duo.  Rasheed can stretch the D with his 3ball, play pesky defense, he's just a great addition and I think they will really mesh well.  Like Artest in LA under the influence of the Zen Master and Kobe, Rasheed with KG and Doc and Pierce and Jesus and the whole UBUNTU stuff will keep him somewhat grounded.  Teammates always love Rasheed, and Doc's a player's coach so I don't think it will be an issue.  Beyond that, his game fits in real well with the Celtics.  I think this move makes them the odds-on-favorite to rep the East in the Finals.

Perkins is on the bench, where he belongs.  (Not knocking the guy, he's a serviceable big off the bench, but he's not a starting center.)  House, Tony Allen, and Scalabrine are also under contract.  Gone are Marbury and Moore, both stiffs but still bodies on the bench.  Big Baby Davis is a restricted free agent and is meeting with other teams.  He would be their best bench guy, I imagine they'll bring him back at the right price.  They just have to hope the Thunder don't offer him $50 million.  If he's back, they have nice front court depth.  Still, the cupboard is bare to rest Pierce and Jesus.  House is good quick O, Tony Allen is mediocre.  Can Giddens, Billy Walker, or 2nd round sleeper pick Lester Hudson develop into a serviceable player?  Who else will make up their lacking second unit?

WHO GOES WHERE NEXT?

Lamar Odom will re-sign with the Lakers?  That is the next obvious move to happen, especially with former BQ Express teammate Ron Artest hooping for the Lake Show.  I would be surprised if he decided to leave, as the teams that want him (Cleveland, San Antonio) can only offer the mid-level.  Lakers have his Bird Rights so they can offer him more money.  Once he re-ups, the Lakers are obviously the odds on favorite.  (C's countered nicely with Rasheed though, they surpass Orlando as the favorite in the ECF).

The Thunder and Blazers both have gotta use their cap space to get some talent in their front court.  Enough with the Lottery appearances and team-building via the draft, it's time to get KD & Co./BROY & Co. some depth.  Let's see what these guys can do, both are upper-echelon, top-5 NBA talent.  Paul Millsap and David Lee for $8-$10 mil/yr has been rumored, I think that's too much for both of those guys.  If Gortat got 5-yr, $34 mil, I think fair value would be 5-yr, $40 mil for either of those guys ($10, $9, $8, $7, $6 would be how I structure it so you get more cap-space at the back-end of the deal when Durant and Green are re-upped at big money in a few years.)  Regardless, I imagine the Thunder and Blazers scoop up one (or both) of those guys, the best 4's on the market, and both young too.

OTHER POSSIBLE FA MANEUVERING

Antonio McDyess, Andre Miller, Mike Bibby, Linas Kleiza, Ramon Sessions, Chris BIRDMAN Andersen, Leon The Show Powe, Brandon Bass, and Grant Hill are all players who I think could help playoff teams if put in the right situation.

McDyess has been in talks with San Antonio, they need some front court help.  Only bigs under contract right now for Los Spurs are TD, DeJuan Blair (presuming he makes the team, which he will), and Matt Bonner (if you even want to consider him a big).  Oberto is in Detroit now, and Kurt Thomas was in the Jefferson deal.  That's a lot of minutes, and Timmy's minutes will continue to go down.  Blair was a great draft pick for them, I think he will help them right away.  6'6" and over 270 pounds with a wingspan over 7', the most dominant offensive rebounder in college basketball (and doing it in the Big East!), the guy is going to be able to hang in an NBA game.  I love the Spurs guards with Tony P, Manu, Roger Mason Jr, and George Hill (a great first round selection in 08).  Findawg Michael Finley and RJ at the 3.  The Spurs have a lot of talent, if they are healthy and can fill out the front court they will give the Lakers some real problems.

There were Marbury to Washington rumors given the Flip Saunders connection.  What did he say to Flip, "Hey Coach, remember when I forced my way out of Minnesota and a budding dynasty with KG so I could be the Man in East Rutherford, New Jersey before turning into the biggest joke in the NBA."  Honestly, what did Steph tell Flip.  I hope that is not true for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which is obviously Steph is a team killer, chemistry killer, coach killer, and will not contribute to a championship team.  Plus, the Wizkids have swag with Mike Miller and Randy Foye now, with everyone healthy they could be at least a playoff team with some bite (Arenas/Miller/Tough Juice/TWAN/Brenda with a pretty deep bench feat. Nick Young, Foye, Blatche).    That much is a good thing in the Leastern Conference.

Will Bibby sign with Cleveland to join LeBron's Revolving Door of Undersized Shooting Guards who moonlight at point?  That could be interesting, Bibby with Shaq after all those Kings/Lakers wars, trying to win one for the King.

Iverson is obviously also still a free agent.  Will he really sign with the freaking Grizzlies?  I think the Bobcats make a ton of sense -- he can be the Alpha Dog (since he obviously needs to be), and play for Larry Brown again and (kind of) under the watchful eye of MJ.  They may even be good enough to make the playoffs.  Iverson at 2, Gerald Wallace and Boris as the forwards, Okafor holding down the block, Ray Felton and DJ Augustin at point.  They also got Gerald Henderson in the draft, a Duke panzy no doubt but probably as good as Dahntay Jones, a good bench guy, athletic and annoying on D.  They also have Vlad Radmonvic and Diop, both absolute trash but NBA caliber players no less.

Birdman's gotta go back to Denver, right?  Will OKC throw mad money at that guy?  Somebody's going to get overpaid, it's bound to happen.  Gortat for $34 million can't take the cake as worst signing of the offseason, an egregiously bad and stupid signing is lurking out there.

Grant Hill to the Knicks?  Really, is that the best you guys can do?  I have a feeling Walsh and D'Antoni will spend the MLE for 2 or 3 yrs to add some talent to a team sorely lacking in talent because they don't want to be in the Lottery again.  (Utah holding the rights to their pick from the Marbury deal.)  Hill, Marion, Linas Kleiza, Ramon Sessions have all been mentioned.

Summer League season starts in less than 10 days, obviously NY is MECCA will be catching the games and giving recaps of who looks good and who's a bust.  I think Darko may even play on the Knicks squad.  I know Morris Almond is, so we have that to look forward to.  Blake Griffin is a guy who may be able to bring down a backboard during Summer League.

Any rookie have a chance to break Von Wafer's SL game-high record of 41 points in 40 minutes?  Stef Curry probably.  Belinelli has always lit it up for the Warriors in SL, I imagine Curry will do the same.

Sadly, Summer League is the last event on an NBA fan's calendar until Halloween.  NBA preseason always sucks.

HEDO HEADS FOR THE BORDER

From ESPN's Chris Sheridan:

Turkoglu will make about $3 million more over the life of the contract than he would have made in Portland, but a bigger reason for his change of heart, a source told ESPN.com, was his desire to play in Toronto, a more international and cosmopolitan city -- one with a large Turkish population -- and his familiarity with the Eastern Conference after having spent the last five seasons with the Magic.




Probably the only time you'll ever read that as a reason to sign.  Brian Colangelo, is this the best you got?

If the rumors are true, than Marcin Gortat (is that even his first name) to the Dallas Mavs for the full mid-level wins this year's Jerome James Award for just an unquestionably and unequivocally horrible signing.  Fantastic stuff.  I love this game.

Rasheed to decide on Boston, San Antonio, and Orlando sometime next week.

Heat showing interest in Iverson, and Iverson showing interest in...Memphis?  Apparently Iverson's people called Memphis and said "we're interested."  Doesn't it usually work the other way around?  And if Iverson does really sign with Memphis to be the alpha-dog leading scorer over going to be D-Wade's wingman in Miami, he will have confirmed the "I am a selfish ballhog who doesn't practice" stereotype that has dogged him throughout his career.  Show us you care AI, sign with DWade and prove you at least give a little damn about winning and not just about your numbers.

IN CASE YA'LL FORGOT

WELCOME TO LA LA LAND

I miss spending my nights with Ernie, Kenny, and Chuck.

Tru Warier Ron Artest in Hollywood, this is going to be great. Hopefully Lamar Odom AKA The Goods AKA The Candy Man decides to re-up and we get a 2009 reunion of the Brooklyn Queens Express.

"I'm playing to win. I'm not playing for the money anymore." -- Ron Artest