Barry should be Rockets' secret weapon

The Rockets pick up of Brent Barry will give them someone they can look to in the playoffs to knock down shots. Coach Rick Adelman will have to monitor his minutes this year. Put him in there enough to learn the offense, but they don’t want to be in a situation where they are counting on him to play in heavy rotation to win games. He’s the type of player that it would be good if they won without him during the regular season and then brought him in as a secret weapon heading into the playoffs. They should treat him like Detroit treated Lindsey Hunter last year. The Rockets could have been the Western Conference representatives in the Finals last season had Yao Ming stayed healthy. He's the best center in the league right now and was playing at the highest level he'd been at since joining the NBA as a no-English speaking rookie. They are very close. It's going to be players like Barry that are going to push them over the top. He can make the shots that Posey made for the Celtics during their title run.

Camby loss makes weak defensive team weaker

For the last two years, the Nuggets couldn’t make it out of the first round in the playoffs. They basically needed win out during a grueling end-of-season run saturated for two months with must-win games. They made it to the playoffs, but for most of the season looked like the ninth-best team in the Western Conference. If Andris Biedrins hadn’t been hurt for the Warriors, the Nuggets would have been sitting at home for the playoffs. Besides the fact that Denver traded Camby for potential rights to a second round pick, the Nuggets also let go of their best defensive player. The Nuggets had no interest in playing defense last year, which was the major reason they weren’t serious title contenders. Not kind of defense, yet they had the reigning defensive MVP patrolling the paint. What is going to happen to Denver now that Camby’s gone? Will the Nuggets be able to stop anyone? Who is going to play center? Right now they have Steven Hunger and Nene. Looks like its time for the Brazilian to earn the right to be called by one name in America.

Gibson a nice fit for Cavs bench

The Cavaliers solidified their bench today with Boobie Gibson’s signing. For the next five years, he can play that role as a knockdown shooter that teams need to come in the game when it’s established the other team is double-teaming the star. If Gibson was 15-20 pounds heavier and an inch taller, he might be a starter. As it stands now, his body is too frail to play good enough defense for an entire game against some of the point guards on the better teams in the Eastern Conference. It was a good signing, and it will further allow the Cavaliers to let the core group Danny Ferry put together in the middle of the season last year mature. They never really learned how to play with each other well enough to do some damage last year. That should change by opening tip in November.

Peterson might be key to Posey deal working

James Posey is a nice player, the best of the remaining unrestricted free agents. The Hornets were willing to meet two demands in order to land the 6-foot-8 small forward. They gave him the four-year contract he wanted and they also paid him more than just the mid-level exception of $5.8 million per year. They overpaid for him. Not because of his market value. He might be worth that kind of money to another team, but where is he going to fit in with the Hornets? They desperately needed a shooting guard last season and now they’ll most likely have a starting lineup that will include two small forwards, Posey and Peja, two players that like to hover around the 3-point line. They might be able to make it work defensively with they way Posey can play on defense, but he’s going to go from playing on other teams top scorer for a handful of minutes to a player that will be counted on to shut down an opposing team’s best player for an entire game. He had the chance to start in Houston and was one of the reasons the Rockets didn’t make it out of the first round. The thought was they needed an upgrade there. Posey would make a great sixth-man for the Hornets. Unfortunately they won’t be able to play him in that role unless they start getting something out of Morris Peterson, last year’s starting shooting guard.

Spurs ready for infusion of new talent

The Spurs are old. They could stand to get younger, but it's not the age or the skill set that they have to be worried about during the course of a game. The problem is the older they get, the less likely players are going to be around for a deep postseason run. If they’re healthy, that’s fine. But getting them to late May injury free is going to keep getting trickier. Not only do the Spurs have aging players in the starting five, the players they bring off the bench are equally old. The problem is the players they already have in the starting lineup are incredibly skilled. It’s going to be hard to bring in a young player at any position without sacraficing in the short term. There’s not going to be a young player brought in through the draft that is going to have the skill set of Bruce Bowen or Tim Duncan. At 26 and 30 respectively, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli can’t be considered old yet, although many games last year 35-year-old Michael Finley started. San Antonio has also been hurt by being out of the lottery nearly every year. They played in the Western Conference finals last season, beating an up-and-coming Hornets team in seven games, but the Hornets are on the rise. What are the Spurs? No way they’re better an infusion of new talent.

Artest for Odom is a rip-off

Other than the fact that Ron Artest is set to make about half the money that Lamar Odom will make next year, it’s curious to see the reports that the Lakers would be willing to part with Odom for a perennial firestorm in Artest. No doubt Artest would bring toughness to the Lakers, but he will also pack a wild card everywhere he goes. This is a person that once wanted to take a few months off during the season in order to promote his rap label. How distracted would he be in Los Angeles? The Lakers made it to the Finals last year and they weren’t 100-percent. They’ll still have arguably the best player in the world on their team and it’s not clear that any of the other Western Conference teams will be any better than they were last year. Bringing in Artest could upset last year’s chemistry, especially if the team doesn’t win right away. In the best case scenario the Lakers would be getting a motivated Artest that gives the Lakers scoring and rebounding and quickly learns Phil Jackson’s triangle offense. Scoring and rebounding should be a given with Artest. Motivation and learning the offense? That’s another issue all together. Odom can dribble, shoot, pass, rebound and won’t fly of the handle at any given time. Odom for Artest is a steal for the Kings.

Brand exit makes Clippers major player for UFAs

After losing both Elton Brand and Corey Maggette the Clippers appear to be a wild card that is left in this free agency period. Along with Golden State, they appear to have the financial resources now to be able to put a package together that any free agent, restricted or otherwise would have to seriously think about. Andre Iguodala should stay in Philly, but the Clippers can put an offer out there he would have to consider. Until today, his name hasn’t been brought up, but after the Clippers watched Brand and Maggette out the door, they’re getting a little desperate to find someone to pair with Baron Davis. There are some impact players still out there as restricted free agents:

Josh Smith (ATL)
Josh Childress (ATL)
Emeka Okafor (CHA)
Luol Deng (CHI)
Ben Gordon (CHI)
Andris Biedrins (GS)
Monta Ellis (GS)
Nenad Krstic (NJ)
Andre Iguodala (PHI)

Magic management decisions questionable

The Magic are content to let a promising team fall into the tank. They’re offering Kenyon Dooling a little more than have the money he made last year as Nelson’s backup. Obviously they’re willing to wait and take a backup point guard that they can pay the least amount of money to. They paid Michael Pietrus, but have failed to find a complement to Dwight Howard, they’re most important player. They still have Rashard Lewis playing out of position at the power forward spot and without Dooling, there is not point guard coming off the bench. The Magic had something good started last season. Whether management is going to mess it up is the lone question now. The answer could go either way.

Pargo’s demands are going to have to wait

Hornets reserve guard Jannero Pargo isn’t going to find a better situation that the one he’s at in New Orleans. Anywhere he goes, he will be a backup and there has to be some value to playing with Chris Paul and being part of a situation that could turn out to be something special in the next five years. The only problem is he’s looking for a three year deal and although he’s a nice player, there are a lot of backup guards out there. The Hornets are really going to have to be happy with a bench whose top player is Pargo if they give him the three-year deal now. That’s not exactly a bench that is going to strike fear in the opposition. They’ll still need somebody else. That’s why they’re going to have to find their main guy first before they can think about what kind of backup point guard they want. There are probably a few veteran backups out there that would love to play with Paul -- Tyronn Lue comes to mind. He and Pargo are virtually the same player and are both shopping themselves elsewhere. The Hornets could take the one with the least financial burden after finding a big gun to come off the bench, which, actually, they already have in Bonzi Wells.

Pacers now have hope, direction

The Pacers are going to lose a lot of games next season, but they definitely have some pieces in place now that can at least give fans a hope. A true back to the basket center with the skill that Roy Hibbert has is definitely going to something interesting to watch. He’s a rare breed in today’s NBA. It shouldn’t take him long before he’s able to force double teams and he has the potential to become a very good offensively player. Though slow, he already seems to posses post moves and appears to be used to his long body. Players that are 7-2 with the skill that Hibbert has shown don’t tend to stay in college as long as he did and that might have been the best move of his career so far. The addition of T.J. Ford at point guard gives the team someone that can handle the load of playing the one spot right away, but Jarett Jack isn’t a just a throw-in. He’s a physical point guard that, with time, could present matchup problems with his physical nature. He’s in the mold of Chauncey Billiups. The Pacers have a future.

Celtics sign project in O'Bryant

Players that are over 7-0 will continue to get a chance in the NBA as long as they’re young. The Celtics signed Patrick O’Bryant, who hardly received any playing time with the Golden State Warriors, but was a force in the NBADL. A sidebar to the idea that O’Bryant didn’t play in his first couple of years in Golden State is that Golden State was one of the best teams in the Western Conference and they have a tendency to go small rather than load the floor with bigs. In addition to that Warriors coach Don Nelson has a reputation not playing young players. He’s a coach that would rather rely on veteran players. Rookies seem to have to do a lot to impress him enough to make an impact and judging by the lack of playing time, it’s clear he didn’t do that. Effort was the main problem cited in today’s Globe story. The hope is Kevin Garnett can inspire him enough to change. Maybe, but Garnett is over 30 now. He might know what O’Bryant needs to do, but can he still do the things he did in the offseason when he was in his early 20s? It might be more difficult to lead by example. Another thing is it will be interesting to see if Garnett can keep his intensity as high as it was before now that he’s won a championship. The trend in recent years has been for the champion to rest on its laurels the following season.

Pieces coming together for Hawks

The Hawks were indeed lucky, as the Journal-Constitution’s Sekou Smith said, that the Sixers opted for Brand over a better prospect in Josh Smith. Now they have a chance to build off of what they accomplished last year and things should get better with the return of Speedy Claxton. Before last season, the Hawks didn’t have a point guard and now they have three with Mike Bibby, Acie Law IV and Claxton. Claxton potentially will give Atlanta a veteran point guard that can come in, run sound offense and score, especially with him playing against another team’s second unit. On many nights he’ll be playing against a less experienced player and will have the quickness that players with that level of experience usually don’t have. The only thing separating the Hawks from a second-round-type playoff team is a stronger post presence. But what better person to be developing down low than Al Horford, who was the most NBA-ready of those national championship Florida Gator teams.