Uncontested Shots: The Latest on the Rockets, Nets, Nuggets and More

We’re less than six days away from the NBA’s first preseason game between the Jazz and Nuggets. While most sports fans are still basking in the afterglow of the NFL and college football seasons getting underway, I couldn’t be more pumped about watching turnover-filled exhibition basketball games featuring 20-man rosters and 32 percent combined shooting efforts.

One of the least mentioned byproducts of having your team make a deep run in the playoffs is that it dramatically cuts your off-season in half. If you’re a fan of the Washington Wizards you haven’t seen your team play since Tax Day. But if you’re a fan of the Lakers or Magic then you’ve only had to wait since June 14.

A couple more free agents, Rashad McCants and Flip Murray, have found homes. A couple of restricted free agents, Nate Robinson and David Lee, have officially re-signed for one more year in New York.

It looks like the days of struggling to find NBA material to write about are officially over.

Without further ado, here is my latest round of Uncontested Shots, or should I say, things I was thinking about while wondering how a guy can shoot only himself and get two years in jail while another kills somebody while driving drunk and high and he only gets 24 days.

He’s Got the Power

When he’s not tweeting about Manchester City soccer or boring us with stories about 1980s Cal State Fullerton basketball, Marc Stein likes to amuse us with his weekly Power Rankings. Stein debuted his first Power Rankings of the season. No surprise that he’s got the Lakers and Magic at the top. I am a little surprised that he’s got the Phoenix Suns at number 10.

Regardless of how you feel about Stein, it’s better to have him around and disagree with him on everything than it is to not have him around. The return of Stein means the return of the NBA.

Cuban on Prokhorov

Tuesday I mentioned that Russia’s wealthiest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, was going to buy a controlling interest in the New Jersey Nets. DallasBasketball.com has Mark Cuban’s take on the NBA’s newest potential owner:

“I love it. I think he will bring fresh ideas and viewpoints, and hopefully this will be the start of a trend toward international investors. Plus I took Russian in high school, so it will give me a chance to refresh.”

Personally, I’m for anybody who wants to feed $200 million in outside money into our economy. Now if Prokhorov decides to change the name of the team to Dynamo New Jersey or the Hammer and Sickles and change the team’s main color to Red and Yellow then you’ll hear from me.

But until then, welcome Mikhail!

McCants Finds a Home

Rashad McCants has signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Houston Rockets. The former UNC standout will compete for a roster spot on a team that seems to be making a habit out of giving underachievers second (and sometimes third) chances. Last year the Rockets traded Rafer Alston for Kyle Lowry and Brian Cook.

The Rockets also announced they have re-signed general manager Daryl Morey. While Morey has done a nice job of putting together a group of young role players I’m still not a fan of GMs who haven’t played the game. Morey might have all kinds of charts and graphs and secret software but this isn’t fantasy basketball. Its the real thing. Just because you know which players are bargains doesn’t mean they will bring home a championship.

There are only three players on the Rockets current roster in their 30s, Shane Battier (31), Tracy McGrady (30), and Brent Barry (37). They should have some cap space to make a big move next summer when McGrady’s contract expires. They will probably miss the playoffs this year so they’ll have another lottery pick to add another quality rookie in next year’s draft.

The biggest problem with the Rockets is that Yao has only one more on his contract after this upcoming season (which he’ll miss due to injury). If the Rockets sign Yao to an extension that continues to take up more than a quarter of their available cap space then they’re running the risk that his salary would cripple the team when guys like Trevor Ariza, Aaron Brooks, Carl Landry, and Lowry are entering the respective primes.

I know that I didn’t play the game professionally either. But if I’m Morey I let Yao walk. Sure he’s the second best center in the league. But how many good centers are there in the league when the Mavs are talking about starting Drew Gooden? If Australian David Andersen turns out to be above-average at center while filling in for Yao, I say let Yao go than take the risk that re-injures his foot permanently.

Bobcats Making Moves

The Charlotte Bobcats added another player to their roster and, much to my surprise, it wasn’t an underachieving center (see Tyson Chandler, DeSagana Diop, and Nazr Mohammed).

The Bobcats added journeyman swingman, Ronald Murray.

Larry Brown squad now looks a lot like the type of team that Brown took to the NBA Finals against the Lakers in 2002. It’s a roster filled with role players. The only glaring difference is that those Sixers had a future Hall of Famer in Allen Iverson while the closest thing this Charlotte team has to an All-Star is Gerald Wallace.

I’m not exactly sure what Brown and Michael Jordan are doing in Charlotte but I do think the Bobcats will make the playoffs this year. The combination of Brown with a veteran roster should be savvy enough to put together a 42-40 record and squeak in.

No Love For George

The Denver Post is reporting that the Nuggets have yet to offer a contract extension to head coach George Karl. Considering that you could count the number of really good NBA coaches on one hand, I’m surprised that the Nuggets would allow him to start the season as a lame duck and run the risk that Karl opts not to sign an extension and test the market next summer.

With so many big name free agents available next summer and so few good coaches, we could see a case where a free agent tells a potential suitor that they don’t want to play for the team’s existing coach but if Karl were the coach they might reconsider.

I’m pretty sure that Karl and the Nuggets will come to some type of agreement before the season starts. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Karl made the Nuggets pay for not taking care of him earlier in the off-season after taking the team to the Western Conference Finals.

Quick Hits

• Here’s a cool story from the New Republic about Ron Artest helping to raise money for a Jewish organization at the last minute.
• Really interesting five-part series in the Washington Post about retired athletes and whether money has bought them happiness or not.
• Bizarre story in the Philadelphia Daily News involving former NBA point guard Pooh Richardson’s involvement in the conviction of a police detective who tried to prevent Richardson’s sister from getting arrested in a police raid involving her drug dealer boyfriend.

A Quick Thank You

I just wanted to give a quick thanks to Mike Horn, Jack Roberts, and Paul Stern over at CRN who gave me the chance earlier this week to fill in for Joe Rosenson on his radio show. I had an absolute blast.

I would have mentioned something in advance about my appearance but I was afraid I was going to suck and I didn’t want to embarrass myself. I will definitely alert everyone if I get the chance again.

Uncontested Shots will debut every Tuesday and Friday from now until at least the start of the season. For up to the minute updates on all free agent happenings and random brilliant thoughts and observations follow Andrew Ungvari on Twitter.