(H/T to Jose3030 for the video)

“If you look at the playoffs with Dallas, you saw what Tyson Chandler did,” Dalembert said, referring to the 7-foot-1 center who helped the Mavs beat the Heat in six games for the title last June. “He was basically a key ingredient for them to win a championship. And Miami didn’t have somebody like that. Somebody able to stop (foes from) getting second shots and somebody able to rebound and finish. I could fill that role and be an asset for that team.” (FOX Sports Florida)

Samuel made some great points in that quote and I’m sure the Heat had already thought of those before the lockout even ended. Question is was Dalembert the player they were hiring to help fix that. That I’m not sure.

There are only two things I’m sure of here. Dalembert wants to play for a team who can make the playoffs, preferably contend for the title like the Heat. The other is that he’ll have to take a paycut if that’s what his goal.

The Heat would only be able to offer Samuel the teams mid-level exception, just like another one of the teams he’s considering.

“It’s one of my options as well,” Dalembert said of New York, where he spent portions of the offseason working out with Elton Brand, his one-time teammate in Philadelphia. “It’s a building process. It can be similar to Miami when they get all the pieces together. It’s something that can work and they need a big,” he said, adding that if the Knicks get a quality center, Amar’e Stoudemire can play less at center and more at his natural position of power forward. (FOX Sports Florida)

I have no doubt Samuel will have no shortage of options, he also mentions the Houston Rockets as a preferred landing spot. Most teams in the NBA would love to have a seven foot center, who scores eight points a game, eight rebounds and just under two blocks a game. The guy is a nightmare for opposing offenses.

The question is does he care more about the money or the winning. He made over $13 million while playing for Sacramento in 2010-11, I doubt he makes anywhere near that for the 2011-12 season. So does he take even less to play for a winner?

So let’s first start off with last years Slam Dunk winner, New York Knicks Nate Robinson. He’s been in coach Mike D’Antoni’s doghouse barely getting on the court but yesterday he got plenty of action and took advantage of it. Robinson will be back to defend his crown and wasted no time getting the hype going.

Loose balls create some of the best dunks in the NBA, but in the Sacramento Kings / Charlotte Bobcats game last night a dunk was created by some impressive loose ball acrobatics. Kevin Martin started it all with a steal, then came the bouncing ball and then an easy Jason Thompson dunk.

The Nets are pretty bad but Courtney Lee can definitely provide a spark when he wants. On this play the Los Angeles Clippers for some reason decided to help cover someone without the ball, leaving Lee and the rock all by himself. So what else would someone do? Take the rock and drive the lane for an easy dunk.

NBATV’s Dunk of the Night came from the Thunder’s Jeff Green and this one time I can’t really argue with their choice. Josh Smith of the Hawks was guarding him at mid-court and still gotten taken all the way to the hoop and jammed on. Smith never even left the hip of Green. Sick.

Jerryd Bayless of the Portland Trailblazers had a pretty easy alley-oop that was dialed up from long range. Andre Miller was about half way between the midcourt and three point line, and threw a line drive pass up to Bayless who snuck behind the Wizards defense.

Now this next play took place in the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic game, it’s not quite a dunk but more of an attempted dunk. Shannon Brown decided to take it to the hole and go up against one Dwight Howard, that’s usually not a good idea. Maybe Brown was feeling a little bigger then he actually is as he was named to the 2010 Slam Dunk contest as well. Yea, Howard got called for the foul but it was still embarrassing for Brown nonetheless.

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?

A new feature debuts here today, and that’s the Daily Dunk. There won’t be game highlights and recaps, it will be a six pack of dunks that I found exciting from the previous day. The dunks could come from both the NCAA and the NBA. Most days this will be up by noon, so if you got a dunk you want to see listed, email me early on mysportsrumors [@] mysportsrumors.com and you could see it here.

The first video comes via my boys over at Pippin Ain’t Easy. This is Shannon Browns fast break jam in the Lakers / Bulls game.

The next video comes from the Pistons / Rockets game where Aaron Brooks and Chase Budinger dialed it up from long range on a deep alley-oop.

Up next is Michael Beasley of the Miami Heat. He has a great defensive play on one end turning it into a big jam. This one has to be the favorite of the day.

Gerald Wallace absolutely embarrassed my Knicks last night, scoring 21 points. Two of the points came from a monster windmill dunk.

Out in Portland the Sacramento Kings Beno Udrich and Jason Thompson teamed up on a pretty sweet dunk themselves. The best part of this dunk was actually Udrich’s drive to the hole that opened up the lane for Thompson.

Finally, we’re going to go back to the Pistons / Rockets game. Jonas Jerebko had a pretty nice dunk that really shouldn’t of been all that impressive. Well that’s till Carl Landry thought he had a chance to block it.

Best Picture: Winner – New Orleans Hornets

The Hornets had to have the worst trade season of them all but who can deny they had the best story? It obviously would of made for good theater. They made a shocking move by trading Tyson Chandler to the Oklahoma City for Joe Smith and Chris Wilcox. Again an absolutely shocking trade for a team that is smack in the middle of the Western Conference Playoff Standings. The move cleared up room under the luxury tax but robbed them of their front court. After that, the Thunder rejected the trade due to a failed physical by Chandler. He now comes back to the Hornets and the playoff race, meaning the team must mend fences and go forward.

Things look bright on the court thou as Chandler came back with an open mind ready to play with his teammates. So much so he quoted former Oscar winner Denzel Washington in Training Day with the line “Ya’ll couldn’t get rid of me!”. The players were happy to get him back and they need Chandler to go forward. Things with management will be dicey for a while thou. So this years best picture, might also be next years best picture.

Best Actor In A Leading Role: Winner – Kyle Lowry

Kyle Lowry has down without a doubt the Best Acting job out of all the players moved at the deadline. Lowry got himself traded from the lowly Memphis Grizzlies to a perennial contender in the Houston Rockets. Lowry has had a decent season, nothing special. He did outplay Mike Conley to earn himself a starting role with the Grizz and has even performed solidly in that time, averaging about 9 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds a game. Those numbers made the Rockets believe he can be the starting point guard that leads to the promise land. But like Kelly Dwyer at Yahoo Sports, I believe he’ll never be an All-Star or a starter on a championship contender. He’s not as good as former Rockets starter Rafer Alston, but he should give the team a boost on the defensive end of the ball.

For exactly those reasons his performance with the Grizzlies earns him the Best Actor Role. He’s done a great job making people think he can be that quality point guard they’re looking for.

Best Actor In A Supporting Role: Winner – Rafer Alston

Personally, I believe Alston was the biggest winner at the deadline, especially when you consider the team he landed with. Playing for the Orlando Magic is even bigger then playing for the Rockets. The Magic are more of a contender especially with Superman Dwight Howard as a teammate. Alston is also a much better point guard then Best Actor Kyle Lowry. So why did Alston not get the first award?

Alston is going to be in a huge supporting role, a much bigger one then Lowry. When you look at things Lowry acted his way into a major trade, while Alston has earned his way. He’s a veteran point guard which the Magic sorely need after losing Jameer Nelson. He’s not nearly as good as Nelson BUT much better then alternative Anthony Johnson. At the age of 32, his best years are behind him but he’ll be playing a huge supporting role to Howard. This is what earns him Best Actor In A Supporting Role.

Animated Feature Film: Winner – Chicago Bulls

I know you must be wondering Animated Film? Well Larry Hughes has a lot to do with that. The whole Chicago Bulls and Hughes situation has been straight comical this season. The falling out between General Manager John Paxson, Coach Vinny Del Negro and Hughes had reached the level where nothing would ever be solved. Hughes hadn’t played since January 12th and would never have played another game in a Bulls uniform. The whole situation has dragged on for so long, that it keeps getting uglier and uglier, so the Bulls earn an award for finally being able to move him. In landing Tim Thomas and Jerome James they don’t get much. No cap relief, no help in the rotation. All they do is dump a huge headache and the franchise can now move forward.

Best Directing: Winner – Sacramento Kings President Geoff Petrie

Geoff Petrie did an amazing job for the Sacramento Kings in dumping salary. The Kings have the worse record in the league and there is really no future in sight. There are rumors going around that next years NBA Salary Cap will be lowered to $58 million which will leave many teams over the cap. What Petrie did in this dumping was put the Kings underneath that number. Petrie didn’t get any players that can be of assistance now, unless you can count Andres Nocioni but he did get the team about $6 million under next years cap. Which is pretty important for such a lousy team.

There you go boys and girls, that’s my NBA trade deadline review. Let me know what you think. Who would you have given these awards too??

The person most excited to hear that Riley would consider moving the pick, is Knicks General Manager Donnie Walsh. ‘I’m glad to hear that, because I’ll be talking to him then,” Knicks president Donnie Walsh said “It’s an asset, and a lot of people want that pick. There will be a lot of [trade] talk with this draft, but it’ll get weeded out.” The Knicks were desperately hoping to win the lottery to get a chance at point guard Derrick Rose, but they’ll easily take the second pick and whatever talent that brings.

Riley hasn’t said what the team is officially looking for but you could assume it would be a draft pick switch for one, salary cap relief, and veteran players that can perform. The Heats biggest needs would be center and point guard. Can someone say Stephon Marbury??? Can play point guard this season, and then come off the books after the season. You could also expect the Heat to require their trading partner to take some of their own bloated contracts. Players like, Mark Blount, Marcus Banks. Blount is on the hook for $7+ million per the next 2 seasons, while Banks is $4+ million per the next 3.

Right now, any trade scenarios would be complete speculation as no one has seriously begun talks. There is still a really good chance the Heat keep the pick to, and there is one very good reason. If the Chicago Bulls surprise and take Beasley, the Heat would jump on the chance to have Derrick Rose at their point.

Let the rumors begin, the draft is a month away and MySportsRumors.com will be on top of it.

Here is an article in the Miami Herald about this, it’s much more in depth. Photo courtesy of CollegeInsider.com.

Here’s the scenarios where this takes place:

First, Ron Artest can opt out of his current contract at the end of the season. If he becomes a free agent, the Knicks would be able to offer Artest a 5-year $30 million contract under the leagues mid-level exception.

Another option, The Knicks and Sacramento Kings work out a sign and trade deal. Where Artest will get paid as much as he wants, and then the Kings actually get some compensation for Artest.

I think this off-season those rumors are finally put to bed and the Knicks get the long sought after Artest. First thou, the team would have to find someone to take Eddy Curry or Zach Randolph. It’s become blatantly obvious (well didn’t most expect this on draft day?) that the two don’t work well together and never will. The Knicks may have to take on a lot of dead weight this off-season to make a deal happen thou as neither has much trade value at this point.

But hey like most off-seasons, it will be interesting to see how Isiah Thomas ruins the team even more. FIRE ISIAH!!!!!!

When notified this morning, Bibby was not surprised to be on the move, but was surprised by the team he was going to. He did have nothing but good things to say about the Sacramento organization. “I had some good times here in Sacramento,” said Bibby, who became known with the Kings as one of the league’s better clutch shot-makers. “Sometimes you need a change and you never know where that might take you … I’ll always have love for the people in Sacramento, the Maloofs and (President) Geoff (Petrie).”

The reasons behind this trade actually make a lot of sense. Maybe the first trade the last two weeks that does. The Hawks are extremely young but yet in a playoff race in a weak eastern conference. So with that being said, an experienced point guard of Bibby’s caliber could be a huge plus.

For the Kings,well its time to rebuild and the team wants to be players in this years free agent market. All 4 Atlanta players have contracts expiring at the end of the season and will give the Kings a lot of maneuverability.