Around the League

Posted by HoopsAvenue on August 30, 2008 under Fantasy Basketball, Free Agency, General NBA | Be the First to Comment

With the Olympics ending and the major free agent signing period over with, it’s a boring time of year for NBA fans as we await training camp, but there were a few stories that caught my eye this week:

• Ginobili To Have Surgery – The Spurs did not want Manu to play in the Olympics.  He played.  He hurt himself.  He’s going to be out six weeks after getting surgery done.  So should Manu have sat?  I don’t think so.  If you consider he got hurt on such minimal contact, he was bound to get hurt in the pre-season or early in the regular season so the timing actually works in the Spurs favor.  Manu’s not going to miss much game action and the Spurs don’t seem to mind that Tim Duncan doesn’t wake up until March anyways so Manu should be no different.  Don’t be surprised to see the Spurs hovering around .500 for a while though.
• Monta Ellis Out 3 Months – Sorry, Warriors, fans.  Not a good summer for you.  First, Baron Davis bolts for the Clippers of all teams and now your most exciting player is out.  At least you got Corey Maggette, though.  If he can carry the load for a while and you get some guys to step up, you could still be in playoff contention when Ellis returns.
• Grizzlies Sign Hamed Haddadi – Haddadi will be the first Iranian player in the NBA.  He did well in Beijing, but some scouts don’t think he’s ready.  The competition in the Iranian league is, well, softer than a marshmallow so we’ll take a wait-and-see approach on this guy.  Just don’t expect the next Yao Ming.

Don’t hold your breath, September won’t be much more exciting.

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