Indiana 118* vs. Washington 98 (National Basketball Association)

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National Basketball Association

Indiana 118
Washington 98

Power Rankings: Celtics begin on top, back and ready for more

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Can the Wizards catch a break? Not only is Arenas hurt but now Jamison is. Is the Wizards season in jeopardy without their two best players?

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2008-2009 NBA Expert Picks

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Ranking the best available free agents

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At midnight Wednesday, NBA free agents finally could change teams. As you might have noticed, there already has been plenty of action. Baron Davis stunned us by agreeing to a five-year, $65 million deal with the Clippers. Then, Elton Brand one-upped his buddy by bolting the Clippers for a five-year deal with the Sixers. Then, Corey Maggette bolted the Clippers for the Warriors, agreeing to a five-year deal worth about $50 million. Also, Chris Duhon is leaving the Bulls for the Knicks, DeSagana Diop is saying goodbye to New Jersey and returning to Dallas, Mickael Pietrus is jumping from the Warriors to the Magic, and James Jones is leaving Portland for Miami. So much for the sleepy, uneventful free-agency period we predicted. Only a handful of free agents have agreed to re-sign with their teams. Gilbert Arenas agreed to a huge six-year, $111 million deal with the Wizards. Jose Calderon quickly agreed to re-up with the Raptors. And Beno Udrih agreed to a five-year, $33 million deal to remain with the Kings. It's the restricted free agents who have struggled to get deals done. Though the Hawks' Josh Smith has earned some interest, it's been uncomfortably quiet for a number of restricted free agents, such as Emeka Okafor and Luol Deng. Teams are hesitant to offer big deals to restricted free agents because once the player signs an offer sheet, his former team has seven days to match -- which thus ties up cap space for a week. However, with all of the top unrestricted free agents off the market, the focus should shift to the restricted free agents. Now that Brand is leaving the Clippers, Los Angeles becomes one team flush with cash to spend on free agents. Even with Baron Davis' deal in the books, the Clippers should have $13.8 million to spend given the new $58.68 million salary cap number. The Warriors also have significant room, even after signing Maggette. Assuming the Warriors keep restricted free agents Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis, the team should have roughly $9 million to $10 million of cap room to spend, depending on Maggette's starting salary. The Grizzlies got under the cap by trading away Pau Gasol for expiring contracts at the trade deadline. But Memphis GM Chris Wallace has been sending signals that the team might not spend its estimated $14.5 million in cap room this summer. The Grizzlies are hinting that they will wait until the summer of 2009, when they'll have more cap room. Meanwhile, the Sixers will use virtually all of their cap space on signing Brand. Here's a look at who's left on the market: Group I: Restricted free agents Only six first-round draft picks from the 2004 draft were signed to extensions last fall. That means some serious young talent is available this summer. These players' restricted status makes it likely they'll stay with their current teams, but at least they'll be in play: Smith1 .Josh Smith, Hawks: Smith has been the hottest restricted free agent, drawing interest from the Sixers, Clippers and Warriors. He's a freakish athlete who can score, rebound and block shots. What holds him back is his questionable attitude. Right now, only two teams, the Clippers and Grizzlies, are far enough under the cap to give Smith an offer sheet big enough to potentially scare the Hawks. Given Atlanta's messy ownership situation, would the Hawks match a huge offer from L.A. or Memphis? That's the big question right now. 2. Andre Iguodala, Sixers: Iguodala's decision to turn down a $57 million deal last summer is tough to justify. At the time, the Sixers appeared to be the only team with significant cap room; I'm not sure where he thought his next paycheck would come from. Now that Elton Brand's on board, expect the Sixers to do everything possible to lock him up. Okafor3. Emeka Okafor, Bobcats: Okafor turned down $13 million per season to hit free agency this summer. He's not the best player on this list, but he's the best young center on the market and one of the few guys in the league who's a lock to average a double-double. It sounds as if the Bobcats are open to a sign-and-trade if the right deal were to come along. 4. Luol Deng, Bulls: Everyone loves Deng's talent, including the Bulls. At least they used to. Injuries and a poor season have hurt his value around the league. Still, it's hard to see the Bulls not matching any offer Deng gets next summer. He declined a $57.5 million extension in October, so if he makes more than that, he'll come out ahead. It will be interesting to see whether the budget-conscious Bulls will take advantage of the market conditions and offer him much less. Biedrins 5.Andris Biedrins, Warriors: Biedrins didn't get the lucrative contract offer that several others did. He was looking for something in the five-year, $50 million range but got an offer that reportedly was substantially

With new acquisitions such as Beasley, Brand and J O'Neal what will the playoff picture look like in the east?

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What Nba team is going to have the best off season?

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What NBA team will have the best offseason

Reports: Arenas agrees to six-year, $111M contract to help Wizards' future

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WASHINGTON -- Gilbert Arenas is accepting less money from the Washington Wizards, invoking an attitude far, far removed from the world of his working-class fans. "What can I do for my family with $127 million that I can't do with $111 million?" he told The Washington Post. The unpredictable three-time All-Star point guard, in vintage Agent Zero fashion, told the Post and the Washington Times on Thursday that he has agreed to re-sign for $111 million over six years, considerably less than the maximum deal he said the Wizards offered him when the free agency period began on Tuesday. Arenas negotiated the deal from China, where is traveling as part of promotional tour for a shoe company, and did so without an agent. "I'm basically giving back $16 million," Arenas told the Washington Times. "This is in line with what I've been saying the whole time. You see players take max deals and they financially bind their teams. I don't wanna be one of those players and three years down the road your team is strapped and can't do anything about it." Arenas became a free agent after opting out of the final year of his six-year, $65 million contract at the end of last season. He initially said he was opting out to receive a max contract, but he later indicated he would be flexible in negotiations. Expens iveArenas Since the NBA's current collective bargaining agreement was put in place in 1999, only five players have signed larger total contracts than Gilbert Arenas (six years, $111 million) agreed to on Thursday night. Here's a look: Largest Total Contracts in NBA Since 1999 Player Year Signed Total Kobe Bryant 2004 $136.4M Jermaine O'Neal 2003 $126.6M Rashard Lewis 2007 $126M Chris Webber 2001 $122.7M Tim Duncan 2003 $122M Gilbert Arenas 2008 $111M* * Agreed to contract Arenas also said that he would not re-sign unless the team retained two-time All-Star forward Antawn Jamison. The Wizards lived up to that part of the bargain Monday by giving Jamison a four-year, $50 million deal. Arenas has proven to be one of the most dynamic players in the NBA when healthy, but a major knee and an overzealous rehabilitation sidelined him for most of the last season. He had a first surgery on the knee in April 2007, tried to come back too soon and had a second operation in November. He missed 66 games before returning late in the season, but he had to shut himself down again during the first-round playoff series against Cleveland. Arenas has vowed to be more cautious about his rehab this time, and the state of his knee didn't appear to devalue his worth in talks with the Wizards. The Wizards cannot comment on talks with Arenas or announce the deal until a league-mandated moratorium expires next week. Arenas has averaged 22.8 points, 5.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds in his seven-season NBA career. He was known as much for his tantrums as for on-court play when he came to Washington from Golden State in 2003, but he began to display more maturity as he developed into a take-over-the-game player with a knack for hitting buzzer-beating shots. Although he still has his many quirks -- yelling "Hibachi!" after making a big shot is just one of many -- he has helped the Wizards became a playoff regular. Arenas' deal means the Wizards will have room to sign other players -- including free agent guard Roger Mason -- and still remain under the league's luxury tax. "It's a relief," Arenas told the Washington Times. "It was a burden at the same time. Your whole city is depending on you, wondering if you're going to make the right decision. I'm a franchise player and sometimes franchise players need to make franchise decisions."

Brand is getting huge offers from Golden State

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Wizards close on 4-year, $50 million extension for Jamison

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The Washington Wizards appear to be getting a jump on their offseason business. A contract extension with Antawn Jamison that would keep the veteran forward off the free-agent market is "imminent," according to NBA front-office sources. Sources told ESPN.com on Monday that the Wizards and Jamison would soon finalize terms on a four-year extension believed to be worth around $50 million, mere hours before Jamison was to become an unrestricted free agent. Antawn Jamison Power Forward Washington Wizards Profile 200 8Season Stats GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT% 79 21.4 10.2 1.5 .436 .760 Free agency in the NBA begins at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday and Jamison was expected to draw serious interest from the Philadelphia 76ers, one of the few teams -- along with the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Clippers -- to have salary-cap room this summer to bid for top players. A deal must be completed before midnight or the Wizards would be forced to wait until July 9 to re-sign Jamison when the league's moratorium on signings and trades is lifted. That could also expose Jamison to interest from other teams. Although he just turned 32, Jamison is coming off his best season as a pro. He averaged 21.4 points and a career-best 10.2 rebounds in 79 games, earning a spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team and helping the Wizards (43-39) reach the playoffs as a No. 5 seed despite injuries that limited franchise guard Gilbert Arenas to 13 games and fellow All-Star forward Caron Butler to 58 games. Washington's first-round loss to Cleveland in six games was its third consecutive playoff elimination inflicted by the Cavaliers, but the Wizards believe that they can compete with the East's elite if the Arenas-Butler-Jamison core could find some sustained health. The Wizards did post a 3-1 record last season against the eventual champions from Boston, with no other team in the league beating the Celtics more than twice during the regular season. Securing Jamison's signature would enable the Wizards to focus on re-signing Arenas, who has opted out of next season's $12.8 million salary to become a free agent despite the knee problems that have plagued him for more than a year. Arenas maintains that he intends to represent himself this summer as he seeks a new six-year contract in excess of $100 million. Jamison earned $16.4 million last season in the final year of max extension he received from the Golden State Warriors back in August 2001. Although he's taking a healthy pay cut in terms of annual average salary, Jamison has maintained for months that he hoped to re-sign with Washington after four successful years with the Wizards following a one-season stint with the Dallas Mavericks in 2003-04, which earned him NBA Sixth Man Award honors. "This organization has believed in me from Day 1. ... I definitely know they want me to stay and I want to stay," Jamison told ESPN.com in December. Jamison also spoke fondly at the time of his role as Washington's elder statesman, saying: "You know what? I've been in a lot of situations before. I've been the young fella, I've been the guy who's trying to learn how to be a leader, I've been the guy coming off the bench as a sixth man. And now all of a sudden I'm the old head. It's been 10 years and it's gone by fast. But I'm really enjoying this."

They didn't win the lottery with these picks:The Top 14 Worst picks in history

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The first NBA draft lottery was held in 1985. The Knicks drew the lucky card and the obvious top prize: Patrick Ewing. But the history of bad lottery picks soon began, as players such as Benoit Benjamin (third overall to the Clippers) and Jon Koncak (fifth overall to the Hawks) were drafted ahead of future All-Stars such as Chris Mullin (seventh), Detlef Schrempf (eighth), Karl Malone (13th) and Joe Dumars (18th). Here are the worst picks for the top 14 slots in the draft since 1985 (though we'll try to avoid players who suffered unexpected injuries such as Jay Williams or Dajuan Wagner): 1. Kwame Brown, 2001 (Wizards) Michael Jordan made this pick, and there's a reason NBA TV hasn't aired any specials on Jordan's career as an executive. Somehow, Brown has lasted seven seasons in the NBA even though he's never averaged better than 10.9 points per game. (And that was just one season -- his career average is 7.5 ppg.) Brown also has been involved in two of the most lopsided trades in recent years, going to the Lakers in exchange for Caron Butler and ending up in Memphis in the Pau Gasol "trade." Speaking of Gasol, he's one of the many players the Wizards could have picked instead of Brown. Dishonorable mentions: Pervis Ellison (Kings, 1989), Michael Olowokandi (Clippers, 1998), [+] EnlargeAP Photo/Ed Betz How many titles would the Pistons have if David Stern had instead greeted Dwyane Wade with the No. 2 pick? 2. Darko Milicic, 2003 (Pistons) In the past two seasons, Milicic has improved from comically horrible to just your run-of-the-mill bench player. His per-36-minute averages put him near double-double territory, but considering he was drafted immediately ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, that's just not good enough. Dishonorable mentions: Danny Ferry (Clippers, 1989), Shawn Bradley (76ers, 1993), Stromile Swift (Grizzlies, 2000) 3. Chris Washburn, 1986 (Warriors) Let's be honest. We could put a lot of people from the 1986 draft in this list (and we've got one more coming), but Washburn is the poster child for the flameouts that followed. He played just two seasons, never showing any kind of maturity or ability on the court while getting into trouble with drugs off it. Sure, there weren't many great players picked in this draft, but the Warriors would have been better off with John Salley or Dennis Rodman, who teamed for two titles in Detroit. Dishonorable mentions: Benoit Benjamin (Clippers, 1985), Dennis Hopson (Nets, 1987), Adam Morrison (Bobcats, 2006) 4. Marcus Fizer, 2000 (Bulls) The 2000 draft was nothing special (Kenyon Martin was the top pick), but Fizer was special in his disappointment. A power forward who measured surprisingly short leading up to the draft (Ring any bells, Chicago?), Fizer started just 35 games in his career and has been out of the league for two seasons. Dishonorable mentions: Donyell Marshall (Timberwolves, 1994), Antonio Daniels (Grizzlies, 1997) 5. Nikoloz Tskitishvili, 2002 (Nuggets) For all the flak Darko Milicic takes as the poster boy for workout wonders, it's a wonder that people have forgotten about Skita. He demonstrated amazing athletic ability in his pre-draft workouts, then showed nothing on the court. Amazingly, this scene repeated itself in the summer of 2005, when a great showing in the NBA Summer League got Skita a contract with the Timberwolves. He lasted five games. Dishonorable mention: Jon Koncak (Hawks, 1985) [+] EnlargeAP Photo/Luis Alvarez Suggested rule for NBA GMs: Don't draft a guy nicknamed "Tractor." 6. Robert Traylor, 1998 (Mavericks) Don't blame Dallas for this one. They picked Traylor only to trade him to Milwaukee for some tall guy from Germany with funny hair. Oh, what's that? That guy turned into future MVP Dirk Nowitzki. And Traylor turned into a guy who ate too much, averaged 4.8 ppg in seven seasons and later pleaded guilty to preparing a false tax return after hiding assets for a convicted drug dealer. Dishonorable mentions: Joe Kleine (Kings, 1985), William Bedford (Suns, 1986), Bryant Reeves (Grizzlies, 1995) 7. Roy Tarpley, 1986 (Mavericks) Tarpley's stats (career averages of 12.6 points and 10.0 rebounds) are actually decent. He even won the NBA's sixth man award in 1987-88. But he managed to get into so much trouble with drugs that he was twice banned for life (1991 and 1994). Dishonorable mention: Chris Mihm (Cavaliers, 2000), Eddie Griffin (Nets, 2001) 8. Bo Kimble, 1990 (Clippers) Kimble is best remembered for shooting left-handed free throws in honor of his late teammate and friend Hank Gathers during the 1990 NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, though Kimble was a good college player, he wasn't Gathers. He was already 24 years old as a rookie when he shot just 38 percent and averaged 6.9 points. Injuries shortened his career after that, and his most notable contribution to the Clippers was his involvement in the trade

CALLING ALL KOBE LOVERS. JORDAN BEATS KOBE IN ALMOST EVERY SINGLE STAT CATORGORY. SO HOW THE HELL IS HE BETTER? POST STATS ONLY

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Should Gilbert stay with the wizards?

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What team do you think Gilbert Arenas would best fit with???

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Doug Collins hired as Bulls Head Coach

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Can Lebron James and the Cavs beat the Boston Celtics?

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What are your thoughts on this series? The Cavs overcame a loud and boisterous Wizards team in the first round. Meanwhile, Boston went to 7 games with a young Atlanta Hawks team before routing them in Boston on Sunday. What are the keys to this matchup?

Washington 86 vs. Cleveland 93* (National Basketball Association)

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National Basketball Association

Washington 86
Cleveland 93

Who u got:Cavs or Wizards???

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Barkley calls Wizards " Dumbest team in the history of civilization. "

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Whats going to be the best 1st round matchup in the East???

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