Melo Traded

I'm still sifting through all the facts and will have my take on the trade either this evening or tomorrow morning. Here's what you should read now:

Nate Silver's take here. We all know Nate is much smarter than all of us. One caveat though, is he used Hollinger's PER to do his analysis. Skeptical Sports Analysis discredits PER here.

Despite the flaws in Hollinger's stats, I still respect his opinions see his take here (ESPN Insiders only).

Couple quick thoughts:
I'm happy for New York fans. This may never lead to a title, but at least the Knicks are now a team to be taken serious for the next few years.
Someone needs to explain the Brewer/Randolph trade to me, just don't get it.
Denver will avoid the Cavs & Raptors horribleness by making this trade.
The NBA is great and the playoffs just got that much more exciting.
This whole thing might come down to how CP3 and Amare's knees hold up.

What to watch tonight: Atlanta @ LA Lakers 7:30 PM PST on NBA TV.  Line: Lakers -7.5

I'm a firm believer that the Lakers need to catch Dallas for the 2 seed in the West if they want to have any chance of winning the title for the third straight year.  The Lakers currently trail Dallas by 2.5 games in the standings.  The run to catch Dallas has to start tonight.  Hopefully the All-Star break is just what the doctor ordered.  Kobe sure looked the freshest he looked all year on Sunday.  Nothing like taking the last two regular season games off to make sure you're ready to go in a meaningless game.  The ego is a wonderful thing.  Atlanta who trails Orlando by 1 game for the 4th seed, might now just be the 6th best team in the East.  They do have a 5.5 game lead on the Knicks.  Despite Atlanta's struggles against Orlando, I'd much rather play them in the first round then however the 3 seed is between Boston, Chicago, and Miami.  Just under 30 games to go and the races are tight in both conferences.  Do yourself a favor and enjoy a quality NBA game to get for ready for the next few months.

Degenerates take LA Lakers -7.5.