Did Derrick Rose, Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook discuss teaming up in the NBA when their contracts expire? Are the New York Knicks interested in trading for Suns star Steve Nash even though Raymond Felton is having a borderline All-Star season? Did Carmelo Anthony reject the Denver Nuggets latest attempt at offering a contract extension? Are the Dallas Mavericks looking to deal for Andre Iguodala after learning Caron Butler will be out for the season?
Plus, could it be true that LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh are now calling themselves “The Heatles”?
Anybody have a trash can readily available? I think I’m going to be sick.
Those three in Miami sure are full of themselves, huh? If only the Warriors had held onto that 20-point lead the other night…
I’ll examine these rumors and a couple more in today’s edition of “NBA Rumors” for January 4, 2011.
As far as Love, Rose, and Westbrook are concerned I really think the Heat opened up a can of rotten worms by signing their three mega-stars this summer. Was this whole idea of “joining forces” around before this past year? Do you despise this new concept of “superteams” or is it just me?
Look, I understand that Magic had Kareem, Jordan had Pippen, Bird had McHale and so on but they were acquired by trade and through the draft. Each time I hear a story like this I am reminded of how much I loathe free-agency.
Speaking of free-agency and the “Summer of LeBron” check out my 2010 NBA YEAR IN REVIEW by CLICKING HERE if you’re interested. Let me know what you think!
Here are the six topics I’ll cover today from various sources:
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Are the Suns finally looking to trade Steve Nash? Are the Knicks interested?
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Have Love, Rose, and Westbrook discussed teaming up?
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Did Carmelo Anthony reject the Nuggets once again?
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Is Andre Iguodala on the Mavs radar after Caron Butler’s injury diagnosis?
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Have the Miami Heat super-trio given themselves a new nauseating nickname?
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Has Stephon Marbury already started to bore the fans in China? You bet!
Why am I including an update on the always-enamoring Stephon Marbury? Because I’ve included articles about Steve Francis flaming out in China and Allen Iverson thinking about ending his career in Australia in past editions and figured I couldn’t leave Stephon out.
Next up: Our old friend Antoine Walker.
Let’s get started!
As usual, please click on the bold headlines to view each column in its entirety from the original source
(NOTE: To view the past five days of “NBA Rumors” please scroll to the bottom of this column.)
Is Steve Nash finally on the trading block and would the Knicks be interested? Via Fanhouse:
There’s not much mystery when it comes to the sort of teams that are closely monitoring the Nash situation, as any competitive club without a Hall of Fame-caliber point guard would stand to improve significantly by bringing him aboard. And the New York Knicks, according to a source with knowledge of their thinking, are most certainly still among that group. Despite the career year being had by free agent addition Raymond Felton, the Knicks have continued to target Nash and are prepared to make a pitch if the Suns send word that he is available. The pieces needed to land him would almost certainly be similar to those in discussion for a Carmelo Anthony deal with Denver, even if former Suns president Steve Kerr said recently that he didn’t think the Knicks had enough to land either player because of the absence of draft picks available to offer. The prospect of landing the Nuggets small forward would be the clear priority, and the status of that situation would affect the possibility of landing Nash for what the Knicks would expect to be a significantly lower price. But even with their 19-14 start and all the positivity that has come with it, the intrigue in Nash is as strong as ever.
Wherever Love goes, he won’t come cheap. The five-year, $60 million extensions signed by Joakim Noah and Al Horford last year will likely be Love’s starting point in negotiations. And his deal could be bigger. When asked what kind of contract Love could be in line for this summer, one league executive’s answer was succinct: Max. Then there is this: Love told SI.com that during last summer’s World Championship in Turkey he had conversations with USA Basketball teammates Russell Westbrook (who played with Love at UCLA) and Derrick Rose about the possibility of someday teaming up in the NBA. Oklahoma City’s Westbrook and Chicago’s Rose are also permitted to sign extensions this summer. “We all talk about playing together,” Love said. “It’s fun to talk about. When the time comes, we’ll assess the situation and figure it out.”
Did Carmelo Anthony reject the Nuggets attempts at negotiating once again? Via Yahoo! Sports:
Once Carmelo Anthony returned from the recent loss of his sister, his team, the Denver Nuggets, apparently hoped he’d be more open to signing the three-year, $65 million extension that it offered him last summer.But NBA.com is reporting that the Nuggets’ hopes were dashed and that Anthony told the team again last week that he wasn’t planning on signing the extension or staying in Denver. He’s “looking for a combo of superstars like Miami put together to play alongside for the next few years,” the site reports, though Anthony will only say publicly that “he’s just playing and isn’t thinking about the future.” It’s becoming more and more likely that Anthony will be gone by the Feb. 19 trading deadline.
The Mavs have engaged in-house discussions regarding Andre Iguodala as a replacement for the injured Caron Butler, sources tell DallasBasketball.com, but are grappling with the Usual Suspects of obstacles and two more wildcards: Caron’s value halved, and the coming labor dispute.
Have the Heat super-friends given themselves a new nickname? You bet they have! Via SpursNation:
Sure, they’ve touched off a wave at every basketball arena they’ve played at this season. But can we end all of the self-directed narcissism with the Miami Heat calling themselves “The Heatles?” LeBron James coined this name for the team because of the large crowds it attracts on the road. “I see we sell out 99.1 percent on the road, so we call ourselves the Heatles off the Beatles, so every time we take our show on the road we bring a great crowd,” James said. If he wants to go there, a case could be made for James being the John Lennon for this group because of his unique talents overwhelming the rest of the group. And Dwyane Wade could be the Paul McCartney for the Heatles, because of his adept abilities to step away from the spotlight, but still emerge as a star in his own right. Chris Bosh looks like a Ringo Starr to me — a complimentary player whose abilities become overblown when working with a supreme group.
Has Stephon Marbury already bored his once-rabid Chinese fan-base? Via Niubball:
Last year, Marbury set the CBA on fire playing for Shanxi Zhongyu, averaging 22.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 9.5 assists in 15 games, delighting fans in his team’s hometown of Taiyuan and selling out every arena his team went to. And his 30 point, 10 assist MVP performance at at the CBA All-Star game was considered by many as the dopest thing to ever happen to Chinese basketball since… well, ever. But, this year it’s been a different story. Playing for newly relocated Foshan this year however after being released by Shanxi just before the start of the season, Steph’s production has dropped off to much more pedestrian levels of 16.1-5.0-5.3. At the time of the story, Foshan was sitting 15th out of 17 teams, although they have since improved to 11th. Besides his dip in play, there might also be another reason why Chinese fans are yawning at the prospect of paying to see Starbury play: they all saw him play last year.
PREVIOUS NBA RUMORS:
**01/03/11 - Are Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson feuding? - CLICK HERE **
**01/02/11 - Are the Magic looking at either Boris Diaw or Troy Murphy? - CLICK HERE **
**01/01/11 - Are the Bulls interested in either O.J. Mayo or Stephen Jackson? - CLICK HERE **
**12/31/10 - Did Michael Jordan ask Patrick Ewing about coaching the Bobcats? - CLICK HERE **
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