@MarcGasol: I’m proud to say that we have reached a tentative agreement with my team @memgrizz , can’t wait to get on the court with all my teammates!

It’s great news for the Grizzlies as they look to become a Western Conference power. They finished eight in the conference last season and are looking to improve on that in 2011-12. Having a center with the talents like Gasol will definitely help.

His career averages after three seasons is 12.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. I’d expect his numbers to increase with the experience.

Los That Sports Blog – Video: Rajon Rondo’s Off-The-Forehead Alley Oop To Rudy Gay
Guyism – John Elway may not support Tim Tebow, but these girls in bikinis do
Larry Brown Sports – Rather Large Fan Fight Breaks Out During Bruins-Canadiens Game (Video)
Unathletic Mag – Doesn’t Tim Tebow Look a Little Like the Werewolf from Monster Squad?

Camel Clutch Blog – Comic Book Storylines I would like to see play out on WWE Television
Tailgating Ideas – Video: ‘Bama Dancing Grampa
Gunaxin – Thanksgiving Football Fun
Buzz on Broad – Sixers and Hip Hop Part Ways

Moon Dog Sports – Dear Urban Meyer: Please Take The Ohio State Job
Backyard Sports – Twitter Takes Over Mississippi State End Zone
Terez Owens – Phillies and Wives Hit Up Havana Nights
Pro Football Zone – A.J. Smith, Norv Turner Likely Gone After this Season

And now it’s time for the actual links.

Unathletic Mag – 5 Active Athletes We Watch And Don’t Realize They’re Headed To The Hall of Fame
Ball Junkie – Bill Walton Says Carmelo Anthony Can’t Be A Great Player
Waiting for Next Year – LeBron Announces He Would Now Change “The Decision”
Bob’s Blitz – Sterger, NFL Likely Meet Next Week: Agent, Attorney

Hugging Harold Reynolds – Ocho Vies for Sexiest Man in Social Media
Moon Dog Sports – Time To Recognize Notre Dame For What They’ve Become
Busted Coverage – Video: Our Admiration For Dominican Baseball Cheerleaders Taken To Next Level – WATCH THIS ASS SHAKE!
The Penalty Flag – Have The Dallas Cowboys Had Enough Of Wade Phillips?

The Hoop Doctors – Rudy Gay Holds In-Game Dunk Contest Vs. Wolves
Midwest Sports Fans – The All-Undrafted Free Agent Fantasy Football Team
Pro Sports Blogging – The End is Near for Rich Rod
PSAMP – We Were Party Down. And We Saw Troy Polamalu

“The idea that we’re thinking we have to move up to three is ridiculous,” Kahn said. “We like four a lot. It’ll be fine, no matter how it plays out. I can assure you, with almost near certainty, that we will not try to move up in these last few days of the draft into the top three.”

ESPN’s Andy Katz said the team is actually in talks to move their 16th pick for the Memphis Grizzlies 25th and 28th picks. If this were to actually happen it would give the TWolves four picks in the first round. The 4th, 23rd, 25th and 28th, not a bad haul.

Now that rumor would make a lot of sense wouldn’t it? The TWolves are a very young team and can use as much young talent as they can get as they try to figure out which players can be competitive on the NBA level. If the trade with the Grizz happens they’ll have four rookies from the first round and two second round picks to add to the mix, that’s a lot of talent right there if they draft wisely.

The team is considering three players at number four, Syracuse forward Wesley Johnson, Georgia Tech forward Derrick Favors and Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins. They all make sense as size is definitely something the team needs to prioritize on.

In the late first round they’d probably just draft the best available players, with that amount of picks you can take that kind of chance instead of focusing on just a position.

I’m hoping the Timberwolves make that trade with the Grizzlies, but even if they don’t they’ll still have three first round picks which will help their roster tremendously. But if they can add that fourth it would add some more chips to grow with the likes of Kevin Love, Jonny Flynn, Ramon Sessions, Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes and company.

We’ll get things going with an alley-oop in the Sacramento Kings / Washington Wizards game. This went from being an ugly bouncing ball all over the court play on the Washington end of the court to a nice simple alley-oop from Tyreke Evans to Spencer Hayes on the other end.

Next up we’ve got one from the King, Lebron James. He made a steal against the Los Angeles Clippers and took the rock coast to coast himself with a powerful jam on the finish. He tried to do the ol’ jump from the free throw line but took one huge step to much to make it happen. When you watch his speed on this play you’ll see that the dunk wasn’t even the most impressive part.

Got another alley-oop for you today. The Ronnie’s out in Utah took it to the Milwaukee Bucks on this play. Ronnie Price made the pretty sweet pass from long range and Ronnie Brewer slammed it home.

When it comes to plays in the post one of my favorite is the putback dunk, preferably the power ones that shake the rim and make all the defenders underneath feel like shit. Well, Amare Stoudemire did just that last night against the Charlotte Bobcats, too bad his team was the one getting embarrassed at that time.

This next one probably included the most star power of any of the dunks today. It involved Rudy Gay and Tim Duncan. Duncan played some help defense in the post and I’d have to say it was pretty weak at that.

Finally is the dunk that NBATV chose as their Dunk of the Night. It comes from Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat. It was a steal in the back court taken all the way down for the one handed jam. It was nice, I just don’t know if it was really the Dunk of the Night thou. What do you think?

The dunk is advertised as being a double pump via their You Tube account. Me, I’d call it more of a windmill then a double pump.

Watch the video and you tell me what you think this was.

“Because of personal matters that forced him to leave the team on November 7, Allen will step away from the game at this time, allowing him to focus on those matters,” general manager Chris Wallace said. “As a result, we will be ending our contractual agreement with Allen, which will allow both parties to move forward. We wish Allen the best.”

The move does do two things for the Grizzlies. First it saves them a decent amount of money, Iverson was scheduled to make $3 million this season. The team is now just on the hook for a fraction of it. And the other thing it does is free up shots for the teams young guns like Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo. The team doesn’t have a chance to make the playoffs so letting AI hog the ball could of kept those guys from developing.

So where does AI go from here? Some think this may of been his last chance at a career in the NBA. He just became the fourteenth player to score 20,000 points in a career but he isn’t cut out to be a starter anymore. If he does start it would really only be for a cellar dweller. Someone like say the ummm New York Knicks.

Knicks president Donnie Walsh has already expressed his interest. I could see this happening, the Knicks surely would let AI start over Chris Duhon, someone that has been a mild disappointment for them. He’s someone that would bring excitement for a team that is 1-9. AND it would sell some seats at the Garden.

Some think adding a player like Iverson would hinder the development of players like Danilo Gallinari (an amazing start to his sophomore season) and rookie Toney Douglas. I agree somewhat, but you know what unlike the Grizzlies what do the Knicks have to lose?

The Grizzlies at least hold their pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, the Knicks do not. So the Knicks have two options.

1.) Sign Iverson, bring some excitement to a team that lacks it.

or

2.) Let Iverson ride into the sunset and let their young kids to continue to develop.

Ironically, I think Iverson can do both. AI would bring something other then excitement to the Knicks, he’d bring toughness. This is a sit around, play soft, don’t create opportunities team. Iverson is a scorer by nature and loves to drive to the basket, something none of the Knicks player do. Having a true penetrating guard could help open up even more shots for the youngsters, in a way helping them continue their develop but in possible winning situations.

I’ve lived in Philadelphia for over a decade now and have seen Iverson play many times. The guy has always had talent but I always said I’d never want him playing for my Knicks. But you know what, my opinion has changed and for one reason.

The Knicks don’t have their 2010 pick. Right now it looks like the Knicks will have the best chance at winning the draft lottery and what will they have to show for it? Absolutely nothing, so really what good is it finishing last?

I want the Knicks to bring in Iverson, even if it does stunt the growth of some of the youngsters. Adding AI to the mix should translate to a few more wins and hopefully a pick in the 7-10 range again. It would still hurt to lose that but hey at least we wouldn’t be giving away the TOP draft pick.

Now if the Knicks don’t sign Iverson, I think it could be a while before he latches on to another NBA team. There aren’t many that would want to take on that headache.

“We’ve agreed to not agree,” Gay’s agent Jeff Austin said. “It will not happen. We looked at different ways we might try to get something done and we weren’t able to agree.”

Austin even says the two sides weren’t even close to an extension, “We never agreed on a deal so obviously we weren’t close.”

Personally, i already felt the 2009-2010 season was going to be big for the development of the 23-year old Gay. But with free agency the season becomes even larger.

After three full seasons, Gay has shown he has the talent to be a major player in this league. His career numbers stand at 16.7 points a game, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists. He’s been pretty much around those numbers throughout each of the first three season, to break into the next tier of players this would be the season he’d have to do it.

With free agency looming, I’m sure he’ll attempt to make himself even more of a focal point of the offense. He averaged 16 shots a game last season, that may not rise with a player like Allen Iverson on the team but I’m sure he’ll be looking to get himself into better scoring situations.

Back to his contract thou, Austin says the two sides weren’t close to a deal. So where are the numbers? No one is really sure, there have been rumors of a deal in the $50-60 million range over 5 seasons. Those make sense with past deals and the production you’ll get on a nightly basis from Gay. His agent thou says, “A lot of numbers I’ve read I’m trying to figure out where they come from.”

Those numbers make a lot of sense, so that quote leads me to believe that Austin is trying to work out a higher deal. OR the Grizzlies are just being their stingy selves and will wait till the offseason and see how the market plays out. For a team that only won 24 games last season, I can understand that.

Without an extension the Grizzlies will get a chance to see what they have in Gay. They’ll be times where he tries to assert himself more in an effort to show he can carry the load. They’ll be days where the pressures of playing for a contract gets to him mentally, so they’ll see what pressure the kid can handle.

2009-2010 will be the year we see what kind of player Gay will be. Will he step up to the plate?

So far the biggest deal on the table comes from the Memphis Grizzlies at a price of around $5 million. The Miami Heat would love to bring AI into the fold but they don’t even want to cross the $2 million mark. I’d have to say those are amazing drops for a player that made $21 million last season.

Memphis owner Michael Heisley would love to bring in AI but doesn’t think his team is the favorite, even with the money on the table.

“Obviously I would think that the odds-on favorite would be Miami, because Dwyane Wade would like to get with him and I think that would be where [Iverson and agent Leon Rose] would like to go. But we’re still talking to them and we’ll see what happens.”

Labeling the Heat as the favorite is pretty easy to do since Wade came out and said he’d stay in Miami IF they worked towards being a contender. Adding Iverson to the mix could definitely help towards that.

“With A.I., you look at a guy who is one of the best guys to ever put on an NBA jersey,” Wade said in a recent radio interview. “A guy who can still score in the right offense, in the right flow. So you can never turn your nose up at a guy like Allen Iverson. I hear a lot of people that love and want to come to Miami, but it hasn’t happened yet.”

Wade and AI together could definitely be a high octane offense in the right system. The question would really be can they co-exist. Both players are scoring guards who can handle the rock. They both could play some point if needed but both are better when the shots are funneling through them.

I’m saying they can’t. Remember AI couldn’t handle playing with Richard Hamilton in Detroit last season. He didn’t take too kindly to coming off the bench and made a big stink about it.

How can I say so definitively that they can’t? With Hamilton’s size and versatility he was able to play small forward so both can be on the court at the same time. Even with that happening those two couldn’t work together.

So really how would two players who play the same position work?

Like I said earlier its easy to label the Heat as the favorites but after reading that can you still consider them the favorites? To me, it’s hard to do so.

In my eyes the favorite has to be Memphis, I don’t see how Iverson can turn down the money. More importantly I don’t see how AI can turn down the chance at showing he can still perform.

The Grizzlies may have had a dismal 24-58 record last season but they do have plenty of young talent on their roster. Adding a player like AI to the mix of Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Quentin Richardson, Hakim Warrick and Hasheem Thabeet could be huge.

They could easily become a team threatening the 40 win plateau. Not enough to make the playoffs but enough to make the team relevant and give those young guys plenty of bigger game experience.

A one year deal with the Griz could also set Iverson up for a better payday in the big ticket free agent summer of 2010.