AC TITTICOCK'S WEEKLY FREE NBA BASKETBALL PICKS AND WINNERS

The NBA trade deadline has just passed and Danny Ainge did his best ML Carr impression while Joe Dumars pulled off the biggest coup. Utah was active, Phoenix got rid of deadweight, and even Isiah Thomas managed to pull off some moves that I like (yikes, did I just say that, I can’t believe what is happening with the Knicks). So here is the breakdown of this week’s moves, team by team.

Atlanta: Gets Zeljko Rebraca (which incidentally is Croatian for Greg Kite), Bobby Sura (Wilkes-Barre in the house), Wesley Person, and a #1 pick for 1 game of RaWeed Wallace, Theo Ratliff, and Shareef Abdur Radio Raheem.

So basically Atlanta got rid of big contracts and good players for some crappy white guys (Wesley person might as well be white), a mid first round pick, and salary cap room. Hmm, seems like they couldn’t be worse than they are so I’ll give them credit for trying.

Boston: Gets Chucky Atkins, Lindsey Hunter, and a late late first round pick for Mike James, Chris Mills (valuable contract ending), and the last functioning piece of Danny Ainge’s sanity.

I just don’t know what to make of Mr. Ainge. I got an e-mail from my dad saying at least Danny is not as bad as ML, Pitino, or Chris Wallace, and I actually had to ponder if this is true. Seriously, Danny has decimated a mediocre team and turned it into a pathetic team. The Celtics now have Chucky Atkins at the point, Jiri Welsch at the 3, and Walter McCarty is still getting 40 minutes a night. I guess Ainge has a plan but for the life of me I can’t figure it out. He is so close to making Pitino look like Arnold Auerbach that I want to throw up on my socks. Seriously, Ainge is that bad, Isiah Thomas has run circles around this bozo. Just Pathetic.

New York: Gets Nazr Mohhamed and Tim Thomas for Keith Van Horn, Michael Doleac, a second round pick, and another crappy white guy to be named later.

Wow, I really like this move. I am a huge Nazr Mohammed fan, and yes I said that with a straight face. Give him some game time and he will rebound. He averaged 9 boards and 12 points in 2001 which is better than what most teams are starting (ok, maybe not but as a bench guy he’s near the top). As for Tim Thomas, I actually like him and think he has been playing well for the Bucks. Giving up Van Horn is no big deal but boy will they miss Doleac (kidding). I have to applaud Isiah for what he has done. If this keeps up next week’s column may take the form of a love letter to Rosie O’Donnell. Seriously, did Isiah just completely transform the Knicks?

Orlando: Gets DeShawn Stevenson and Sean Rooks for Gordon Giricek and Shammond Williams.

First of all, Sean meet DeShawn, DeShawn meet Sean. Now that formalities are out of the way, let’s figure this out. If you’re an Orlando fan, the good news is that you don’t have to watch Shammond Williams dribble with his head down anymore, the bad news is that you still have to root for the Magic. These trades don’t do anything for the Magic though DeShawn may flourish in ways that Giricek just couldn’t playing alongside McGrady.

Detroit: Gets RaWeed Wallace for Sura, Rebraca, Atkins, and some draft picks.

Nice job by Dumars, gives up nothing for Smokey the Baller. Make the run to the title Joe because every day you have to root for Darko while all Melo does is score. Good move for the Pistons, especially since Wallace did such a great job of leading the Blazers deep into the playoffs the past several years (yes that is sarcasm). Nothing like getting the team leader of the team that had the biggest 4th quarter playoff choke in history (Blazers vs. Lakers).

New Orleans: Gets Shammond Williams for Sean Rooks.

Reminds me of something that happened in the past that mattered so little I have completely forgotten about it. Now what was I saying?

Utah: Gets Gordon Giricek, Tom Gugliotta, and two first round picks for DeShawn Stevenson, Keon Clark, and some guy named Ben Handlogten (and I am not making that up).

Looks like Utah is cornering the market on whitey, interesting move, too bad it’s not hockey.

Portland: Gets Shareef and Theo Ratliff for RaWeed and Wesley Person.

Good move by the Blazers getting a fan friendly Rahim and a tall crappy fan friendly player in Ratliff. If Shareef and Randolph can play together, this is a good move. Of course, pot dealers all across Oregon and the West Coast are now standing in the unemployment line.

Phoenix: Gets Keon Clark and Handlogten for Gugliotta and 2 first round picks.

Huh? Keon Clark? I really don’t have anything to say.

On to the free NBA picks for Saturday:

Thanks to Washington choking in the final quarter and being outscored by 12, I only went 1-2. I’d still take the Spurs over the Cavs but LeDong will get lucky ever now and then.

Here are Saturday’s picks:

Seattle +3 at Golden State:

The Warriors handed it to the Sonics last time they met in Seattle. The Sonics are not going to let that happen again.

Denver at Miami Even:

Dwayne Wade is really good and Lamar Odom appears to be off of the crack pipe. The Nuggets are playing the second of back to back games on the road having lost to the Magic last night. Usually I would go with the reversion to the mean theory here and pick the Nuggets, but when Miami is healthy, they can ball.

New Orleans at New Jersey -5.5:

I’m picking them until they lose, spread and all.

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