Bulls hoping for Chris Bosh blockbuster trade?. An intriguing possibility is All-Star power forward Chris Bosh, who becomes a free agent next summer. While the Toronto Raptors have said they intend to sign Bosh to a contract extension, if they don’t and Bosh becomes available via trade, the Bulls would be interested. That would make Tyrus Thomas even more expendable. Unlike Noah, who progressed appreciably as the season went on, Thomas was the same maddeningly inconsistent and often unthinking player in Game 7 as he has been through three seasons. Coach Vinny Del Negro played Thomas only 17 minutes Saturday. – Chicago Sun-Times
Lakers will let Odom or Ariza leave?. I’d be surprised if both Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom return to the Lakers. The Lakers have already earmarked $74 million for only eight players next season. If the two free-agent forwards command, say, $15 million a year in combined salaries, the Lakers would be pushed pretty deep into the luxury-tax stratosphere, where nobody seems to want to be in this economy. In other words, it’s probably going to be one or the other. Odom, 29, will be more expensive and more versatile. Ariza, 23, will be younger and cheaper. To be continued in July. – LA Times
Posey, West say Hornets didn’t sour on Byron Scott. After a sobering first-round playoff elimination by Denver, does Scott still have the ear of this Hornets team? “I believe so,” said West, the elder statesman who has been with the Hornets since he came into the league in 2003. “The guys understand the way he wants to play. Guys play for him. Guys have respect for him. I know I do. I respect what he tries to do. Like I said, we got put in a tough spot. He was put in a tough spot with guys being banged up. Even in the beginning, I don’t think we had a good enough rhythm, where we played together well enough throughout the year to make a sustainable run.” Forward James Posey, who has played for six NBA teams and won two championships, said Scott and the staff did their jobs this season. It was the players who didn’t. “I believe that even though they fire the coaches and things like that throughout the league, regardless of the level, it’s the players that go out there and are supposed to get it done,” Posey said. “If you have players that buy into the system and go out there and do what they’re supposed to do, everything is fine. Sometimes when you don’t have players out there doing what the coach asks them to do, man, the players for the most part don’t get punished. It’s always the coaches that go. “I think everything is pretty positive around here. I think we have a good coaching staff that prepared us every night for what we were supposed to do. When we didn’t do it, that’s when we lost ball games.” – New Orleans Times-Picayune
Jamaal Magloire to Raptors?. The Raptors are looking for toughness, an area GM Bryan Colangelo admitted needs addressing when he talked to the media at his season-in-review news conference. Politics and personal baggage aside, Magloire can help the Raptors because the team is so thin up front. … Now comes the moment of truth of whether the Raptors are willing to take a gamble on Magloire. One of the NBA’s unwritten rules of thumb is to avoid, if possible, signing players who live in that team’s city. There are too many headaches associated with such a reunion, but there are exceptions. The Raptors should at least look at Magloire, whose stock isn’t exactly high. – Toronto Star
Kevin McHale has three-year offer to coach Wolves. An NBA source said former Celtics star Kevin McHale turned down a three-year offer to coach the Timberwolves after he was moved from his general manager position to coach Dec. 8. While McHale has been noncommittal about whether he’d like to return next season, the three-year offer is off the table now, since owner Glen Taylor is expected to hire a new GM, likely from outside, who will make the coaching hire. By removing himself from the coaching decision, Taylor would make it easier to deal with the situation if the new GM doesn’t bring his friend McHale back. – Boston Globe
One Comment
Who thinks that Dwayne Wade deserved MVP i mean he had a harder team to do it with and his numbers are better than LeBrons as well i mean LeBron has a team with Mo Williams Delonte West and Zydrounus Ilgouscus. Wade only had Jermaine and i mean Beasly and Chalmers where on and off all year he didnt have a player that could always perform like Mo Williams when Wade went off then Miami couldnt keep the lead they had if Lebron went off Mo or Delonte could carry the team. Lebron is amazing but i think Wade deservies it because he had to do it with a team that where underperforming and where such inconsistant