Busy Offseasons For Texas NBA Teams

June 25, 2009 by Guest Contributor

The NBA season has been finished for about and you would think people would be more interested in Wimbledon odds, since tennis’ preeminent Grand Slam is underway or Super Bowl odds, since the season is rapidly approaching, but all of the water cooler chatter has been regarding the NBA offseason.

The Texas teams are right in the thick of things, including the San Antonio Spurs, who pulled off a blockbuster trade on Tuesday.

The San Antonio Spurs shipped off some spare parts in the form of Fabricio Oberto, Kurt Thomas and Bruce Bowen to the Milwaukee Bucks to get Richard Jefferson.

Jefferson fills a huge void for the Spurs in so many ways, which should make them a real threat once again in the Western Conference. I’m betting management was thrilled with the deal considering they didn’t have to trade away any of their core.

For starters, the Spurs do get a starter in return for three bench players. Jefferson will add a legit 20-point scorer to go with Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, who is off a career year.

While the Spurs first moves have made their Southwest Division cohorts kind of nervous, the other teams don’t figure to stand pat.

The Dallas Mavericks have been linked to Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Anderson Varejao, are in the thick of a lot of rumors. Reports indicate that they tried to ship out Josh Howard for the fifth pick overall but the Washington Wizards were not interested. The Mavs have also been linked to Shaquille O’Neal, although he isn’t exactly a team priority. A player the Mavericks are more likely to move is Jerry Stackhouse.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks have already made before the start of the draft, shipping off the 22nd pick in the draft to Portland. The Trail Blazers traded three picks to move up two spots and now own the Mavs 22nd pick. Meanwhile, the Mavs moved back two spots to No. 24 and received Portland No. 56 pick and another second-rounder in 2010.

Apparently the Trail Blazers are interesting in international player Omri Casspi and were worried that the Sacramento Kings might take him with the 23rd pick in the draft.

As sports wagering experts know, the draft is a hectic time when teams reshape themselves. Keep an eye on Thursday to see what else the three Texas teams pull off.