It’s a little late — this dunk happened earlier in the week — but nevertheless the jam is memorable. Boston’s Rajon Rondo blows past Richard “Rip” Hamilton and does the nasty in the face of Jason Maxiell.

Exhibit A through X:

Check out Rondo’s blog on Yardbarker some time. Gotta love athletes in the blogosphere, no?

• 

  Kareem Abdul Jabbar has a blog through the L.A. Times website. Where have I been?

• Kobe put up 30 (of his season-high 52) in the 4th quarter and OT en route to a Kidd-added Mavs shut down.
• LeBron put on his own show while shutting down the Bulls and their own new-look team.
• No word yet on where Randy Moss might land. How entertaining would it be if he landed in Big D?
• Philly’s Donovan McNabb needs a formidable receiver? What breaking news, go on…
• Atlanta won in the “L.T.’s backup” sweepstakes, and will send Warrick Dunn packing.
• Norman Chad condenses the various sports headlines to 6 words each.
• 10 losing seasons in a row and a crappy draw in divisions (nobody should have to face the Red Sox and Yankees as much as they do each year) the Orioles finally admit to rebuilding.

Some NBA superstars demand trades when they feel like their team is inadequate. Some stay with their team against their will but phone in games. Others, who often get compared to larger-than-life deities, simply step up and proceed to carry their team to the NBA Finals.

For the superstars who prove they can single-handedly take their team to the “promise land,” teams find it in their best interest to go out of their way to stockpile as much talent as possible. In Cleveland, general manager Danny Ferry has but one goal, and one goal only: keep LeBron James happy. A player like James comes once in a lifetime; with his contract up in 2 years, the Cavs knew that adding talent around their star would be the best chance they have at keeping “The Chosen One” for the long haul.

So, to prove that complacency is overrated in the NBA, the defending Eastern Conference Champs traded away 60% of their roster. A shake-up with a bow around it and a note:

Dear Bron-Bron,

Thought you might like to play with these pieces; might just get us over that NBA Finals hump. Enjoy.

Thanks,
Management.

Unsatisfied with being the first-place losers, just before the 3pm traded deadline buzzer, the Cavs shipped out old parts — Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall, Drew Gooden, Ira Newble and Shannon Brown — and imported new ones — Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith and Delonte West. They also secured a 2009 second-round pick from Chicago.

The move gives James a solid outside shooter in Szczerbiak, a power defender to make the hustle plays as he gets healthier with Wallace, and a up-and-coming young point guard who can bring the ball up court with a little toughness.

But will this move fend off the thoughts of jumping ship to New York in two years?

Needless to say, the odds are against the Cavs. Even if these players turn out to be the major pieces to get the Cavs the title in the next two years, would LeBron still stick around? The number one goal in his mind, many a time, is to become sports’ first billionaire. Yes, championships will help, but from the standpoint of making money, where’s the money-making capital of the world? New York.

His buddy and great pal Jay-Z has a partial ownership of the New Jersey Nets, who should set-up shop in Brooklyn by 2010 or so. What’s stopping him from beauty pageant-waving his way out of Cleveland and into the city where moneymakers are insomniacs?
Kobe Bryant wanted out of Los Angeles… until the Lakers front office pulled off a coo, acquiring Paol Gasol from Memphis for practically nothing in return.

Shaq was having one of his worst pro seasons… until he was shipped out west to Phoenix to play alongside 2-time MVP Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and the fun and gun Suns offense.

LeBron won the Eastern Conference for the Cavs single-handedly, a la 2001 Allen Iverson with the 76ers, despite the charges he did not have the “fire” or “killer instinct” to get to the “promise land” of the sport…

Want to know what’s next for the kid who we already know is the cause of, and answer to, the big question: “Who’s Now?”

Sorry to tell you this, Cleveland, but herein lies LeBron’s future — he will soon be discussing his fondness to great, Big Apples, and there won’t be a thing you or your mounds of dollars can do about it.

Some of us in the “Madden Era” of video games often view professional sports trades only on the surface. With analysts, blogs, in-depth reports and the intricate details of games these days, many like to claim to be a little more than just Monday Morning Quarterbacks; we’re Monday through Sunday general managers, too.

But lost in the transactions are the more personal side — and effect — of the players, teammates and families involved. When a player gets traded from Los Angeles to Miami, they have to up and move their entire well-being. New houses need to be purchased, new schools to be enrolled into and new friends to be made. We see someone like Shaq taking a bit of time trying to adjust to the fast-paced Suns team after his trade to Phoenix; what about his family’s adjustment? That would seem to be much harder.

New Orleans Hornets big-man Tyson Chandler broke down his perspective on the recent trade which sent his teammate and friend, Bobby Jackson, to Houston, along with two other players and a 2nd round draft pick, in order to acquire Bonzi Wells and Mike James.

On the surface, the trade gives the Hornets depth. But on the other hand, New Orleans lost more than just a great player, Chandler explains in his NBA.com blog:

I always understand that it’s a business. The team is just trying to get better, trying to get deeper. To get something good like that, you’re going to have to give up something good. I understand the basketball decision of it and I understand Jeff Bower’s position. Even if I was the GM, just because I was friends with somebody doesn’t mean I would keep them on my team. The ultimate goal is to make the basketball club better.

But I look at it from both ends. We’re losing a friend and a great teammate. But on the business side, I can understand it, because we just got deeper and it will help us in the long run going into the playoffs.

These trades mature players quickly, whether they like it or not. They are always forced into viewing the game as the business it is, but the notion only comes to fruition when it hits home:

I had an appearance after practice yesterday, but I went over his house after that. He was packing and my daughter was in the room with him, because my wife took my daughter over there to play with the kids before they left. My daughter was helping him pack, bringing him hangers and just spending time. He and her had gotten really close, because he would always come, pick up my daughter and take her with his girls to the movies, Chuck E. Cheese, the museum, or just on family outings.

He was just sitting in there, getting his stuff together and we were actually watching the game, Miami and Houston. He was in there watching his team now. Normally, we’re teammates watching the game together, but he was watching the team he was about to go to. He was just moving slow and I could tell that he was going to miss everything.

The breakdown is one of the best ones yet by any NBA blogger. It’s touching, honest and smart. And, of course, quite depressing.

I’m headed to GameStop first thing in the morning to trade in a my NBA Live ‘07…

• Shaq loses a close one in his Phoenix Suns.
• Kidd loses in Dallas debut.
• Phillies’ Ryan Howard wins $10 mil in arbitration.
• Getting to know new Washington National outfielder Elijah Dukes.
• Gary Sheffield hates Scott Boras, too, calling him a “bad person.” Oh, snap! Boras, you gonna let him call you names?!
• Will Leitch’s God Save The Fan book tour hits D.C. tonight, at the Barnes & Noble in Georgetown. Support the sports blogosphere, folks!
• The New York Times printed a story where they say John McCain has a constant battle within on ethics; and he may have had an “inappropriate relationship” (read: affair) with lobbyist years ago.

After a few mishaps, shake-ups and slips of tongue, the Jason Kidd deal is finally complete. Now, in a matter of days, Kidd will suit up with the same team that drafted him 2nd overall in 1994 NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks.

With the trade speculation behind us, now we can carry on getting excited for the second-half of the NBA season!

The original deal had the Mavs giving up Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, $3 million and two first-round picks for the Nets’ Kidd and Malik Allen. The finalized deal swaps out the Mavs’ Stack and George for Trenton Hassell and newly re-signed retiree-to-be (aren’t they all?) Keith Van Horn. Also, the report mentions a $1.6-million trade exception, but I am not so keen to elaborate on how that fancy two-step works.

Just so you know, I stand by my original statement that the Mavs are the losers in the deal –

What happens to Dallas’s depth at that point? How do they keep up with the fast-running Suns (yes, even with Shaq Daddy) and the super-deep returning champ Spurs? Is it worth unloading Diop and Harris (two of their best defenders) just to get one great but aging point guard?

I think not.

But maybe the Mavs are just trying to keep up with the Joneses (Lakers & Suns) by making a move — any move — for a big name to join them in the arms race out West. Not that Kidd isn’t great — he most definitely is — but the apparent imbalance makes it believable that panic caused Mavs owner Mark Cuban to keep nodding his head as the Nets kept piling on the demand request (dessert) tray.

The Mavs are making it clear they want to win yesterday, and have no qualms in mortgaging their future (don’t mind my use of phrase presidential hopeful Barack Obama keeps saying on the campaign trail) to reach that goal.

Retaining George, a 3-time NBA champion, does help the Mavs in this revised deal. He has lots of experience (as is exemplified with the championship titles at such a young age) and is one less vital piece they had to give up. But still, they gave up a lot — too much even — to get get their Kidd.

Just to pile on top: With Kidd shooting 36% from the field, teams will be 100% more fearful of him contributing the game-winning toss, and less of him hitting the game-winning shot.

NBA commissioner David Stern walked away from this weekend on top of Cloud 9. His All-Star weekend in New Orleans was a soaring success, despite all the nay-sayers who predicted a sequel to the chaos that “rained” down on Las Vegas last year.

There is hope for the NBA yet. Any and every distraction from the Tim Donaghy referee scandal is great for the league’s image, obviously. I’m sure the NBA spin doctors are already speaking in double- and triple- negatives at this point — “What ref scandal? We didn’t not not know about that! Maybe it was a figment of your imagination…”

A few glowing remarks from this weekend’s NBA fun:

• The 2008 Dunk Contest Soars
• Mike Wise (Washington Post)
• Jason Whitlock (KC Star)
• J.A. Adande (ESPN)

With Shaq Diesel in the desert, Paol Gasol in Hollywood and Jason Kidd Texas-bound, there are lots of reasons to tune in to the second-half of the NBA season.

Last night we saw creativity, showmanship and theatrics to last us for many years to come. When the smoke cleared, the biggest man in the competition, Dwight “Superman” Howard, emerged victorious.

Needless to say, the 2008 NBA Slam Dunk competition did not disappoint.

The last big man to have the same explosiveness and hops as Howard used to be my personal favorite player in the league, Shawn Kemp, before drugs, alcohol and baby mommas (Kemp allegedly fathered 13 children with 9 different women) took over his life.

Those who surveyed the video vault of YouTube.com were able to see most of the dunks Howard used to bring home a win; of course, a few “super” props and a few thousand of his closest friends screaming in the background didn’t really hurt his chances, either.

The contest hasn’t been as fun as it was since Vince Carter brought home the 2000 championship in one of the top-2 all-time greatest performances. (How can you deny His Airness vs. The Human Highlight Film?)

Argue with me if you must, but the most notable and creative jam last night was Gerald Green’s “birthday cake” dunk. I could go on to try and explain it, but it’s best if you see it for yourself. Ah… who says NBA players aren’t creative?

As much as I’m almost completely tired of seeing Charles Barley all over my TV (his cell phone commercials with Dwayne Wade played every commercial break — and I like the “finally made the 5″ one, too), he correctly predicted both the dunk contest and 3-point shootout winners last night.

The 2008 3-point champion was last year’s champ, Jason Kapono of the Toronto Raptors (formerly of the Miami Heat) with a record-tying 25 in the final round to seal the victory.

The 2008 All-Star Game begins tonight at 8 p.m. Can it possibly top last night’s fun?

* * * * * * * * * * *

BONUS LINKS:

• TNT did a great job telling the story of the 27-year-old rookie, Jamario Moon, from Goodwater, Alabama.
• The NBA created a page where you can see the top-10 dunks of each of the four participants.
• The Washington Post put together an in-depth story of how Caron Butler went from being a drug dealer in Wisconsin to an All-Star in 2008.
• Someone must be writing and boozin’ –  tries to say the Daytona 500 is better than the Super Bowl. Um… wow.

While many of us “outsiders” assumed triple-double machine Jason Kidd was Dallas-bound, true “insiders” — so inside they were part of the deal — knew otherwise.

What initially lined up as a deal stacked heavily in favor of New Jersey — The Mavericks offered Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, Devean George, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, $3 million and two first-round picks — ended up on the chopping block not due to its imbalance, but instead, thanks to a rejection by Mr. George, and an outspoken exploitation of a lesser-known NBA trade loophole by Mr. Stackhouse. If Stack went to the Nets, it would be by name only, as they were expected to buy out his contract immediately, and due to a rule implemented by the league 3 years ago, he would have to sit out 30-days before he re-signed with the Mavs. So, in fact, he would not be “part” of the deal, per say.

The deal still may be in play, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein. If the Nets can convince George to rescind his trade block by working out some type of deal, the 34-year-old Kidd may end up rejoining the team he was drafted to in ‘94 and subsequently shared Rookie of the Year honors that season along with Grant Hill.

But seriously, a 34-year-old for 2 first-rounders, a great young guard, a defensive big man (Diop) and a player whose headed back to his original team once the teams sign at the dotted lines?

What happens to Dallas’s depth at that point? How do they keep up with the fast-running Suns (yes, even with Shaq Daddy) and the super-deep returning champ Spurs? Is it worth unloading Diop and Harris (two of their best defenders) just to get one great but aging point guard?

I think not.

But maybe the Mavs are just trying to keep up with the Joneses (Lakers & Suns) by making a move — any move — for a big name to join them in the arms race out West. Not that Kidd isn’t great — he most definitely is — but the apparent imbalance makes it believable that panic caused Mavs owner Mark Cuban to keep nodding his head as the Nets kept piling on the demand request (dessert) tray.