The Suns bought out Pietrus’ contract, paying him about $4.2 million of his $5.3 million salary. Once he clears waivers, Pietrus can pick from a group of other interested teams, led by Boston, to make up the difference.

“Both Mickael and us realized it’d be beneficial for both parties to party ways,” Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby said. “There’s an expression that, ‘All’s well that ends well.’ In this case, all’s well that ends.” (The Arizona Republic)

Just a few days ago the Suns had a trade lined up with the Toronto Raptors. That trade was “postponed” because of Pietrus’ knee. The reason being he had a setback in his return from off season knee surgery and would be out an addition two to four weeks.

In the grand scheme of things that’s a small of time and with others like the Boston Celtics also interested in his services, is his knee enough to warrant him being bought out? In my opinion, not at all. So there had to be more to this and Suns coach Alvin Gentry completely threw him under the bus.

“He was really our kind of player — a big guy who can shoot,” Suns Coach Alvin Gentry said. “In order for it to be a good fit, you’ve got to want to be here and I’m not sure he was every fully engaged about being here.” (The Arizona Republic)

So basically Gentry said he’s become a cancer to the team and someone who has no interest of being a Sun. I’m just surprised that the Suns would do this when they could have gotten something of value in return.

Pietrus is one player I don’t expect to clear waivers. I’d think the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics would both put in claims. I’m sure some others would love to have his seven points and two rebounds in under 20 minutes a game production.

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Unathletic Mag – 2011 Professional Sports New Years Resolutions
Browns Central – Browns to lose Rob Ryan to the Carolina Panthers?

First off, J.R. Smith of the Denver Nuggets had a beauty of a steal turned into a reverse dunk on the other end against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Don’t ya love it when a guy turns a steal into an amazing breakaway finish, none of those weak ass layups here.

During his collegiate days Emeka Okafor was known for his defense and shot blocking abilities, not many players would challenge him in the post. In the NBA, well Philadelphia 76ers center Samuel Dalembert had no problem challenging him last night dunking on Emeka the Rejecta.

Speaking of getting dunked on. Udonis Haslem of the Miami Heat was absolutely embarrassed last night by the Utah Jazz’s Carlos Boozer. This one might have to go into the dictionary next to the word posterized (once it officially makes it in to one). Not only did he get dunked on but Carlos hit him with a beautiful ball fake before running him over.

In my opinion one of the most exciting plays in the NBA is the alley-oop. I don’t mean the little weak ones where the ball is tossed up for an easy slam. I’m talking about the high flying above the rim kind. The slam on this next video from DeMar DeRozan wasn’t the greatest but what makes this my NBA play of the day is the dish from Hedo Turkoglu. The pass itself makes this a great alley-oop.

The dunk of the day thou didn’t even come from the ranks of the NBA. It came from the collegiate ranks and a small school down in Arkansas. Tavaris Washington of Arkansas Pine-Bluff completely jumped over an Alabama State player. A lot like Vince Carter over Frederic Weis, although this defender wasn’t nearly as tall.

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.

“(When) I signed a three-year (extension in 2006) I had a goal in mind and that was to put myself in the best position (in 2010) … I’m thinking I just want to stick to my goal, stick to what I was doing. That’s a part of the plan. I just want to address things (after) next season. There’s a reason why I did things the way I did them back then.” Bosh told reporters Thursday

You have to give Bosh credit he played the game and knew what the summer of 2010 would look like. Everyone knows LeBron James will be a free agent but Dwayne Wade and Amare Stoudamire will too. There are so many young stars set to be free that teams have been saving up their money for years (i.e. the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets and others).

Even with all that money on the market there still is a chance Bosh signs an extension. “An old school guy told me: ‘Take advantage. You can’t play this game forever. Make sure you maximize your potential,’ ” Bosh said. So you know what that means, Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo must offer a max deal if he wants him back in the fold.

Speaking of free agency, its got Bosh working harder then ever this off season. He’s been working with a trainer and attempting to put on some more weight (all muscle of course). He admitted to reporters that he tried to do so a few years ago but got discouraged and gave up. “I was like doing this, doing that, doing this and I wasn’t seeing any results,” Bosh said. “I think perseverance is a big thing for me this summer.”

If he can keep himself on track this time then just maybe he can take Wade over as the #2 free agent on the market next year. A bulked up Bosh would be a terror on the court.

“It’s hard. I mean, I eat three meals a day but it’s not like I’m killing the food. I eat until I’m full and that’s it. Now I have a schedule and it doesn’t matter how I feel (hungry or not), I eat.”

Hopefully he keeps at it cause he’d look great in a Knicks uniform should they lose out in the Lebron sweepstakes.

First lets look at the Toronto Raptors. Coming into this off-season the Raptors were eager to add another big body to their front court, while clearing up room for Jose Calderon to be the full-time point guard. This trade solves both of those needs.

Ford was Calderon’s competition at the point, and when healthy could easily steal quite a few minutes from Calderon. The problem was of course, when Ford could stay healthy. Calderon is currently a restricted free agent, and General Manager Bryan Colangelo decided he wants Calderon to the future of the franchise. To make that happen money and playing time wise, Ford was very expendable. Ford has approximately $25 million and 2 years left on his contract, and for someone so oft injured the team felt he’s not worth the money no matter what he produces when on the court.

Bringing in O’Neal brings another very athletic big man into the mix, pending he stays healthy. Isn’t it kind of funny that one guy gets moved after injuries, and then the team brings in someone even more injury prone? Well back to the topic. O’Neal now joins Chris Bosh and Jamario Moon in making a very solid starting front court. O’Neal should take the role of starting center as long as he stays healthy.

Now the Pacers, the team who I feel is the winner in all of this. The Pacers have been trying for a while now to move Jermaine O’Neal and to move him for so much is a pretty good deal. T.J. Ford and the 17th pick highlight this deal. We’ll discuss the pick later, but first Ford.

Like I said before, when on the court TJ Ford has been a very productive player at the point position. The point is a position that the Pacers have sorely needed help at for a while now. Bringing in Ford who averages just under 7 assists a game in his career should be a big plus for this team. They’ll now have an efficient ball handler who can run their offense. Yes I know, they did have Jamaal Tinsley who actually had a career best 8.4 assists a game , but he is on the way out as Larry Bird looks to clean up the teams image.

Nesterovic is basically a salary guy that was thrown in to help even contracts out, and also minimize the Pacers loss of O’Neal. Truthfully, in the what have you done for me lately NBA, Nesterovic isn’t to much of a downgrade. Yes, I know O’Neal is the better center but based off injury and recent performances the numbers aren’t to far off. Nesterovic averaged about 8 points and 5 boards a game in 21 minutes, while O’Neal averaged 14 points and 7 boards in 28 minutes. Career wise different story thou.

The kicker in the deal the #17 pick in the draft. The Pacers all along have been trying to land a second pick in this years draft. This now gives them the 11th and 17th picks, which could be used to add some considerable depth to this team. I’d still look for the Pacers to take a guard with one of those picks, and then more of a project big man with the other. Another possibility would be to trade up in the draft now with those two picks, that would be way to tricky and a pretty big long shot. The reason being is this deal can not become official till July 9th because of provisions in Ford’s contract.

So why do I call the Pacers such big winners when both teams gained a lot from this deal? The main reason once again is they found a taker for Jermaine O’Neal. They’ve been trying to move him forever now! He’s one guy I truly did not expect them to be able to move and still get something of value in return. I guess I was wrong, not the first time, definitely won’t be the last.

This deal is a pretty big way to start of the 2008 NBA Draft Day. This is just one of what I’m sure will be many deals as this is usually the most exciting draft out of all the major sports. The deals are plenty and they come fast and furious. It’s going to be a fun day for NBA fans.

Live in the Indianapolis area? Looking for something to do, here’s some things you can look at.