Warriors send disgruntled Jackson to Charlotte

It’s been nearly five years since Stephen Jackson joined Ron Artest in one of the ugliest events in US sports history, “The Malice at the Palace.” Three days from now will mark the five-year anniversary of that disgraceful night in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

On the other end of that brawl was Larry Brown. The Detroit Pistons head coach, fresh off a championship, grabbing the microphone from Pistons PA announcer John Mason and pleading with Detroit fans to stop and leave the arena in peace.

The two sides have both came so far in those five years and now are about to collide in Charlotte.

After demanding a trade (preferably to a contender), Jackson finally gets his wish — sort of. The Warriors are sending Jackson and guard Acie Law to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for guard Raja Bell and forward Vladimir Radmanovic, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein. Jackson finally gets his way out of Golden State, but the Bobcats are far from a contender.

The Bobcats are currently on a four-game losing streak, have the worst offense in the league and are shooting under 40 percent, their leading scorer is Gerald Wallace who gives them less that 14 points a night.

This is where Jackson comes in.

Jackson is dynamic offensively and the last time he changed teams was when he turned the Warriors around and helped them pull off the biggest upset in league history. With Larry Brown on his side and some talented versatile players like Wallace, Boris Diaw and Raymond Felton, Jackson has a chance to be a leader again and potentially carry this team to their first-ever playoff appearance.

Sure, it’s not Cleveland, but it’s also not the pitiful Warriors and Don Nelson, who apparently has completely lost his mind.

UPDATE: ESPN’s Ric Bucher is reporting that Jackson is happy with the trade and is on his way to Orlando right now in hopes of playing tonight with his new teammates.

Tayshaun Prince is about to get traded

For the last six years Tayshaun Prince hasn’t missed a game, 496 consecutive appearances to be exact. The streak was the second longest active streak in the league behind Portland’s Andre Miller.

Prince didn’t play in Detroit’s 85-80 victory against Orlando Tuesday night, and it was the first time he’s missed a game since April 13, 2003. Shortly before tipoff the Pistons announced that Prince would miss the team’s next three games because of a lower back strain.

Prince wasn’t on the bench last night, and neither was Richard Hamilton whose missed the team’s last three games with a sprained ankle (at least an injury we all saw happen). Hamilton likely will return Friday in a rematch against the Magic.

Something just doesn’t seem right.

Vince Carter heading to Orlando?

My main man Adrian Wojnarowski over at Yahoo! Sports is reporting the Magic and Nets are working on a deal that would send Vince Carter to the Magic in exchange for Tony Battie, Rafer Alston and Courtney Lee.

This is definitely interesting, and is showing that teams in the East are not messing around, many teams making moves so far.

Woj has been on top of all the deal so far, and has broken quite a bit of the news to the sports world, for more of what he’s got going on, check out his latest updates.

It’s been a crazy few pre-draft days.

The trades have been crazy, and I’ve been slacking on my game, so if you have to, get caught up with me:

• The Los Angeles Lakers have sold the 29th pick to the New York Knicks.

• The Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors are working on a trade to send Don Nelson’s favorite player, Jamal Crawford, to the Hawks.

• The Spurs made a bold move and acquired swingman Richard Jefferson from the Milwaukee Bucks, adding youth and more talent to their aging squad.

• The Pistons acquired Frabricio Oberto from the Bucks for Amir Johnson, in a cap clearing move.

• The Wizards shipped Etan Thomas, Darius Songaila, Oleksiy Pecherov and the No. 5 pick in the draft to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.

It’s Official: Shaq is a Cav.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Just a little more than a week after Kobe Bryant won his title and had all the headlines, Shaquille O’Neal came back and stole the spotlight, along with that other puppet, LeBron James.

O’Neal has been traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers and will be joining James in Cleveland to not only hopefully win a title, but to force James into sticking around with the Cavs for more than just another season.

The Cavaliers sent Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic to the Suns, along with the 46th pick and $500,000.

The Suns are obviously making financial moves for their future, reports say that they will more than likely buy Wallace out of his contract, and possibly Pavlovic as well. The Suns, are definitely going into a rebuilding process, and Amare Stoudemire could be the next player shipped out of town.

Kapono going to Philly for Reggie Evans.

The Philadelphia 76ers are sending forward Reggie Evans to the Toronto Raptors for sharpshooter Jason Kapono.

Role player for role player.

Nothing too exciting, but both players can definitely help out each team. Any team can use a shooter like Kapono, and who wouldn’t want a player like Evans on their team? A gritty forward, who loves to do the dirty work on the court.

Evans is heading to Toronto in exchange for two-time 3-point champion Jason Kapono. (Photo: Getty Images)

Knicks overhaul lineup trading top two scorers in quest for cap room.

Today’s first reported deal was the deal that sent Jamal Crawford to the Golden State Warriors for disgruntled big man Al Harrington.

Harrington was miserable with Don Nelson in Golden State and had demanded a trade a few weeks back reportedly, he then became inactive. Harrington isn’t known for his defense and neither are these new brand of Knicks that lead the NBA in scoring at 105.3 points per night. Who is right behind them in scoring? None other than the Golden State Warriors at 105 points a night.

Crawford was the Knicks second leading scorer at nearly 20 points a night, his presence in Golden State fills the void at point guard left by the injured Monta Ellis. In a Don Nelson led offense, Crawford should continue to thrive.

The Knicks weren’t done yet…

It’s now being reported the Knicks have shipped off their leading scorer Zach Randolph to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Tim Thomas, Cuttino Mobley and Mardy Collins.

This means in addition to starting two of the leagues better big men in Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman, they now add another all-star potential power forward to that mix in Randolph, who is currently dropping in nearly 21 points and 13 rebounds a night, talk about a log jam. Could we see a possible end to the Chris Kaman in LA era?

What does all this mean for the New York Knicks….?

Plain and simple it’s about a near $27 million in cap space for the summer of 2010, and we all know that this only gets them closer to the dream in New York that is known as LeBron James.

Iverson to Detroit, Billups and McDyess heading to Denver.

Allen Iverson and his career 27.7 points per game are heading to the Motor City.

The Detroit Pistons are sending Chauncey Billups, Antonio McDyess and Cheikh Samb to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson, according to ESPN. The deal isn’t completely official yet, there may be someone else involved but this is the basis of the deal that should be completed shortly.

This is a huge deal for the Pistons, and definitely changes the dynamic for the Nuggets as well.

The Pistons have struggled the last three seasons to get past the Eastern Conference Finals, Iverson gives them the scoring dynamic they’ve never had, which might help them do that. 

Iverson will be a free agent this summer, coming off Detroit’s books at around $22 million, along with Rasheed Wallace who is coming off at roughly $13 million. That means the Pistons will have around $30 some odd million in cap space this summer, that is absurd.

UPDATE

According to Steven A. Smith of ESPN, McDyess will most likely get waived by Denver.

Rasheed Wallace no longer a Piston??

Yesterday I received an e-mail from the Detroit Pistons about the new line of Swingman jerseys they have available. The jerseys are normally $69, but with a promo code offered to me I can score them for $42 bucks. What a deal!

Though that didn’t stick out to me. 

They are now offering Amir Johnson, Aaron Afflalo, Antonio McDyess, Rodney Stuckey and Jason Maxiell in the home whites, in addition to current players Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton and Chauncey Billups.

Wait, is someone missing?

Yeah, what about Rasheed Wallace, isn’t that strange?

I sure thought so. He was available in youth in the swingman style, but only available in the alternate red duds in adult sizes.

I started telling people, and most thought I was nuts or just being a little too intense, I didn’t want to look into it too much, but today that all changed.

I decided to check it out again, and today, things were different.

RASHEED WALLACE’S JERSEY IS NO LONGER OFFERED ON THE PISTONS’ WEBSITE. NOT IN YOUTH, NOT IN AUTHENTIC, SWINGMAN OR REPLICA. IT IS NOT LISTED ANYMORE AS A PRODUCT.

Also, 97.1 FM The Ticket in Detroit is reporting that Rasheed Wallace’s house is up for sale. (EDIT: It looks like this may be his house in Portland, not Suburban Detroit)

Maybe, I’m overreacting, but remember who told you all this first.

THE FRESH PRINCE

 

Rasheed Wallace and his wife, Fatima, show off his championship belt. Wallace helped Detroit win their third NBA title in 2004. Has he played his last game in the D?