After discussions with Amare Stoudemire’s agent that didn’t appear destined to lead to a contract extension, the Phoenix Suns have increased their efforts to trade the All-Star forward before the February 18 trade deadline, league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Sunday night.

The Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets are among multiple teams that have a strong interest in Stoudemire, sources say. The Arizona Republic is reporting that the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers have also inquired about Stoudemire. Major hang-ups in a possible deal are the Suns’ need to get good value in return and the other teams’ need to feel secure in knowing it has a chance to keep Stoudemire, who can opt out of his contract this summer. The Suns want a combination of young talent, salary-cap relief and draft picks for him. Phoenix is currently $4.8 million into the luxury tax threshold. Losers of five of their last seven games, the Suns have a tenuous grasp on the seventh spot it the race for the Western Conference playoffs.

According to the Yahoo report:

With Stoudemire having undergone knee and eye surgeries in recent years, there are differing perspectives on his market value. Nevertheless, Stoudemire has made a strong comeback from eye surgery this season – averaging 20.9 points and 8.6 rebounds – and impressed rival executives and scouts. Stoudemire has been inclined to use Pau Gasol’s three-year, $57 million contract extension as a parameter for negotiations.

Attendance across all NBA franchises has reportedly dropped far less than originally projected over the summer. The league expected a 6% to 7% drop in attendance but, according to the New York Times, there has only been a 1.7% drop to date. League-wide, arenas are filled to 89% of capacity. Attendance is flat or ahead of last season’s pace in the majority of NBA arenas. The Nets and Pistons account for most of the small overall decline.

With attendance so far beating forecasts, the league’s salary cap might drop significantly less than first feared. The salary cap is determined based upon a percentage (51) of projected league revenues for the upcoming season, of which revenues from projected ticket sales are a large component. Revenues from projected ticket sales are determined based upon a 4.5% increase over the previous season’s actual results.

The NBA sent a memo to teams last July warning of a potential decline in the salary cap to a figure between $50.4 million and $53.6 million for the 2010/11 season. But revenues could be on pace for the 2010 cap to be above $54.0 million.

Maximum player salaries for Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire would not be affected by any such increase.

Dwyane Wade, All-Star starter for the 6th straight season (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

Well… another NBA season is upon us, and Dwyane Wade has been selected by fan vote to start in another All-Star game.

Wade finished fourth overall in fan voting with 2,327,550 votes, behind Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James.

Dwyane will start alongside guard Allen Iverson, forwards LeBron James and Kevin Garnett and center Dwight Howard for the Eastern Conference. West starters include guards Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant , forwards Carmelo Anthony and Tim Duncan and center Amare Stoudemire.

That makes six times in his seven year career. It also means he has surpassed Alonzo Mourning for most appearances by a Heat player. In his five previous appearances, Wade has averaged 15.2 points, 3.0 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 steals.

NBA coaches will vote next week to determine the 14 reserves.

The game will be played on February 14 at Cowboys Stadium.

We’re now exactly halfway through the Miami Heat basketball season. I figure this is as good a time as any to reflect on the team’s performance thus far, evaluate the players, suggest some areas for improvement and make some projections for the second half of the season.

PERFORMANCE THUS FAR

The Heat currently stand at 21-20, good enough for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, one game behind last season’s total to this point. Miami has now completed the tougher half of its schedule. Of the 41 games played, 28 were against teams with a .500 record or better.

Miami had no problems beating the teams it should, winning 85% of games against below .500 teams. But, not surprisingly, they had a difficult time beating the class of the NBA, winning just 36% of games against teams at .500 or better. It didn’t seem to matter whether such games were played at home or on the road. Here’s how it all broke down statistically: Read more…

All-Star Game starters are determined by fan vote. But the fans can get it wrong. Two undeserving players — Philadelphia’s Allan Iverson and Houston’s Tracy McGrady — are among the leading vote-getters due solely to fame despite actual performance. So John Hollinger has provided his own list, the list of deserving All-Star starters.

Not surprisingly, Dwyane Wade is on the list. In a conference devoid of competition at the position, Wade is the obvious choice:

Another no-brainer. Wade may not be playing quite at the MVP-caliber level he was last season, but he’s not too far off the pace, either. He’s third in the NBA in PER (26.93) and second in estimated wins added — pretty darned good for a guy who seems to be lacking some explosion compared to last season. As with Rondo, Wade benefits from the lack of competition at his spot: Joe Johnson and Andre Iguodala are the closest competition, and they’re only tiny specks in Wade’s rearview mirror.

Hollinger’s Eastern Conference Selections
Point Guard: Rajan Rondo, Boston
Shooting Guard: Dwyane Wade, Miami
Small Forward: Lebron James, Cleveland
Power Forward: Chris Bosh, Toronto
Center: Dwight Howard, Orlando

Hollinger’s Western Conference Selections
Point Guard: Steve Nash, Phoenix
Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant, Lakers
Small Forward: Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City
Power Forward: Tim Duncan, San Antonio
Center: Zach Randolph, Memphis

Read more…

Don’t believe in curses?

The 24-18 Phoenix Suns fell 125-118 Monday night in a road game to the Memphis Grizzlies. It was the 18th straight time the Suns have lost while playing a game televised on TNT. They haven’t won a game since the 2008 postseason series against the San Antonio Spurs.

Most of the games haven’t been close, with the Suns losing by an average of more than 11 points per game. I’m not one to believe in the supernatural, but I’m at a loss for words.

January 28th. The Suns play at home against the Dallas Mavericks. It’s a Thursday. On TNT.

In the wake of the disaster that struck the people of Haiti on January 12, a 7.0 earthquake that hit the capital of Port-Au-Prince, the Miami Heat’s Alonzo Mourning and Dwyane Wade have stepped up.

The two have co-founded the Athletes Relief Fund for Haiti, which has now received more than $800k in pledges from a group of NBA and NFL players since being formed on Friday. Wade contributed $175,000 to the effort and Mourning $100,000.

Mourning also spent about 36 hours in Haiti last week, with plans to return on Tuesday. The retired Heat center worked at a makeshift hospital and assisted rescue workers get badly needed supplies like water, food and medical equipment to the people in need.

Additional contributions to the fund have been received from NBA players including Al Horford, Anthony Parker, Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith, Carmelo Anthony, Ben Gordon, Mike Dunleavy, Michael Beasley, Udonis Haslem, Quentin Richardson, Devin Harris, Michael Finley, Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Ronnie Brewer, Caron Butler and the suspended Gilbert Arenas.

NFL players participating in the effort include Michael Vick, Terrell Owens, Josh Cribbs, Wes Welker, Randy Moss and Clinton Portis.

It is the most devastating, deplorable images I’ve ever seen in my life. [An] inhumane atmosphere to where we can only pray and do the best we can to assist those individuals. The response from our colleagues has been overwhelming,” said Mourning.

An estimated 220,000 have passed away in the tragedy, with another 1.5 million left homeless.

Well, we are now halfway through the 2009/10 season (ok, so we’re two games short of 41; it’s MLK Day and I’m free to do what I want). The Heat, for better or worse, have pretty much lived up to their billing. They stand at one game better than .500, at 20-19, good for 5th in the Eastern Conference… but not by much.

Here’s a brief team-by-team look at the rest of the conference.

***

After struggling out of the gates, the Cavaliers currently hold the best record in the Eastern Conference at 31-11, just one game back of the Lakers for best record in the league. Lebron James is having another MVP season. He is shooting a career high 51% from the floor. His Hollinger PER, 31.3, is approaching last season’s record total. And with free agent signing Leon Powe set to return before the All Star break, their depth is set to improve.

But James believes his team was playing better last season. The team is currently 3 games behind last season’s pace. Adjusting to the addition of Shaquille O’Neal, who is averaging 22.5 minutes per game starting in place of fan favorite Zydrunas Ilgauskas, has been a challenge. James had this to say:

Right now we’re playing at an OK level, we’re not playing as well as we did last year but we can be better than that team. But we had to go through some bumps coming out of the blocks and we’ve done a great job of playing consistent basketball.

The Celtics bowed out of the playoffs early (for them, anyway; it’s all relative) last season after their star player and emotional leader, Kevin Garnett, suffered a knee injury. With key offseason acquisitions Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels to improve the team’s depth, the Celtics started off strong at 6-0. But sure enough for this aging team, each of the players mentioned above (throw in Paul Pierce for good measure) has missed games due to injury this season.

What has it meant for the Celtics? Nothing. Despite a horrendous stretch of injuries, the Celtics are 27-11 and sit a mere 2 games behind the Cavs for the top spot in the East. And things should get better from here. Garnet and Wallace are set to return shortly, leaving only Daniels still on the shelf. He is hoping for a mid February return. Read more…

The always dapper Dorell Wright

As the NBA trade deadline fast approaches, questions are naturally beginning to surface in South Florida as to what activity we are likely to see from the Miami Heat.

The answer, quite simply, is nothing too exciting.

Pat Riley has a plan now nearly three years in the making. The plan, however tenuous it may appear in the current salary cap environment, is to sign three max contract free agents to long-term contracts next summer. The plan has always been to sacrifice the present for the benefit of the future.

At this point, nothing will – and nothing should – deter him from that goal.

Trading away the only continuing contracts – those of Daequan Cook and James Jones – would be ideal, but to think there would be a market for either would be exceedingly naive.

And so all that remains are financial considerations.

Miami’s payroll currently stands at $72.7 million, $2.8 million over the luxury tax threshold. Unfortunately for Dorell Wright, he happens to be making a tidy $2.9 million. That puts him directly in the line of fire.

Should Dorell Wright be traded? Read more…

Al Capone official mugshot

Happy 28 to all-world Heat guard Dwyane Wade.

You share the same day of birth as Kid Rock (39), Jim Carey (48), Muhammad Ali (68), James Earl Jones (79), and fellow Chicago native and infamous gangster Al Capone – born January 17, 1899, died January 25, 1947.

Wade may well be giving himself his own birthday present. After suffering through the worst start to a season in his 6 year pro career, prompting detractors to question everything from his short-term fitness to his long-term potential, Dwyane has resurrected his season in recent weeks.

Ironically, it has coincided with injury. Make no mistake, Wade is playing through pain. He injured his right wrist when he jammed a basketball against the rim on a missed dunk attempt on a December 11 home game vs. the Mavericks. He then aggravated the wrist of his shooting hand with 1:22 left in the first quarter of Monday’s game at Utah when he lunged for a loose ball and banged his arm.

Since that time, Wade has been playing his best basketball of the season. In the month of January, he’s averaging 30 points (on 51% shooting), 6.9 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game.

Dwyane’s take on the injury:

It’s helped me mechanically. Normally, I’m a line-drive shooter, so I have to put the ball over the rim a little more, because I don’t have the rotation and wrist that I want to. So I’ve had to shoot it a little higher and it’s helped me out a little bit.

Wade went on to comment that his wrist might not have a chance to fully heal until he has a chance to rest it  in the off-season.

Enjoy the day, Dwyane.