Around the NBA: July 26th

By: Chris

In this segment, I'll briefly comment on the events/news of the past few days concerning the NBA. Here are the top three stories:

ESPN.com: "Heat's Wade continues Odom recruitment in LA"

Apparently, via Wade's twitter account (http://twitter.com/DWadeOFFICIAL), he has flown to LA in an effort to convince Odom to rejoin him in South Beach (see above). At this point, Odom is in a really tough spot. After stupidly having played tough guy with Jerry Buss (a la Trevor Ariza) over just a few millions, Buss promptly pulled the offer and promised to never re-offer the same amount. Odom truly screwed himself over there, as Miami really can't provide more money than the Lakers were offering. Why would he do that? Didn't Odom see that the Lakers easily moved past Ariza and ended up getting an upgrade for the same, if not cheaper? Ultimately, I believe Odom will return to LA. Even with the addition of the 6-10 forward, the Heat would still be lagging behind teams like the Magic, Cavs, and Celtics. As for Wade, if this does not work out, I'm not too certain about his status regarding his extension or staying in Miami. He really seems to love the fans and city, and vice versa, but at some point one has to realize he is a winner and would love to go get a championship again. Conclusion: Odom will sign with LA, for a lot less, because he frankly was an idiot and pushed too hard. Wade will be stuck again on a mediocre team and ditch in 2010 for a contender.

Yahoo! Sports: "Nash signs 2-year, 22 million extension with Suns"

Honestly, I'm puzzled by what the Suns are doing. Seemingly in a limbo between being contenders and rebuilders, they seemed to have further taken a step to being old and mediocre by signing the 35 year old permanently back-injured Nash. This seems to be more a move out of respect and loyalty (unlike say.. the Philadelphia Eagles) and they really wish for him to end his career there. Still, I really don't know what to think of the Suns right now and it really wouldn't surprise me if Stoudamire wants out. Even though they were one of the top teams in the West the past few years, they never ever seemed to have enough to get over the hump and were just never poised to be much of a title contender. Anyways, good luck to Nash and the rest of his career. The guy is a class act and deserved this extension!

NBA.com: "Mavs, free agent Gooden agree to contract"

The fact that we are talking about Gooden's signing just shows how lifeless and dead recent happenings have been in the NBA. However, boy, the Mavs got a steal after they lost out with Marcin Gortat, I mean Gooden has so much more upside and potential! All kidding aside, this is still a solid move for the Mavs. They did need help in the front court and Gooden is just a "show up every game to play" player who can board and is at least average on the offensive end. At 27, he still hasn't peaked (although his ceiling isn't much higher than the level he plays at now) but at least he isn't aging. Not a fan of though goatee-twisted-facial-hair-thing though (Stay classy ;-). See above. Good luck Drew!

Obviously, not much new in the NBA world. Hence, I am announcing my Eastern and Western conference previews coming in the next few days or weeks!