Washington Wizards Sign Martell Webster

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed free agent guard/forward Martell Webster. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released.
“Martell brings a combination of versatility and shooting in addition to his experience,” said Grunfeld. “Adding him to the roster provides us with another solid veteran presence and gives us flexibility with our lineups at both the shooting guard and small forward positions.”
Webster (6-7, 230) holds career averages of 8.4 points and 3.2 rebounds while shooting .374 from three-point range in 394 games (191 starts) over seven seasons with Portland and Minnesota. He was originally selected by the Trail Blazers with the sixth overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft as an early-entry candidate out of Seattle Prep High School. Webster averaged 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and a career-high .417 three-point percentage for the Timberwolves in 2010-11 and averaged career highs of 10.7 points and 3.9 rebounds for the Trail Blazers in 2007-08. He averaged 6.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in 47 games (26 starts) for Minnesota last season.
The Wizards’ roster now stands at 14 players.

Amar’e to Benefit from Jason Kidd

New York Knicks point guard Jason Kidd may be in his 40′s, but he’s planning on having a big season in the Big Apple. However, he’s just not planning on making it a big individual season for himself, but instead has his eyes on Amar’e Stoudemire as well.
Both Stoudemire and Kidd are coming off of 2012 seasons that weren’t the greatest by their standards. But Kidd sees a rebound season from STAT and also sees himself playing a Steve Nash-type of role for Stoudemire.
Stoudemire pushed very hard for the Knicks to bring Nash aboard and it looked like they might before the Lakers snuck in and stole him away. But by the sounds of Kidd, everything will work out just fine. Kidd addressed his situation to KnicksNow.com.
“With Amar’e, I hope I can be like a Nash to be able to get him the ball where he likes it to be successful. Make it where he doesn’t have to work as hard, easy layups, catch and shoot where he likes it,” Kidd explained.
If Kidd did indeed have that type of effect on Amar’e, it would be huge for the Knicks as Stoudemire must play a huge role in 2013 if the Knicks are going to contend for a championship.

NBA BEATS - The only people that benefit from Jason Kidd is the other team. Never been a kidd fan. I think he is one of the most overrated players in the history of the league.  I don't get why people have always been high on him. He can not shoot. His shot is ugly and unorthodox. He is good. He is just so overrated! Amare has Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd. That is a career stopper. Amare would be way better off with even a Goran Drojac or a Luke Ridinour.

Will Thunder Match Max Offer to Harden?

There’s also pressure on guard James Harden.
Harden is on the verge of making $50 million to $60 million over a four-year span. Yeah, I know. We should all endure such “pressure.”
The closer his deal is to $50 million, the more likely he remains in a Thunder uniform.
The closer his deal gets to $60 million, the more likely he’s headed back to the Phoenix area, where he played collegiately at Arizona State for two years before becoming the No. 3 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
The deadline to sign rookie contract extensions is Oct. 31. If Harden doesn’t sign with the Thunder by then, he’ll become a restricted free agent next summer and free to receive offers from all suitors.

Bosh: Lakers Best Team in NBA on Paper

It’s been two weeks since the Lakers acquired Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic, which at least has given Chris Bosh time to collect his thoughts.
“As soon as the deal happened, my brain went 100 miles an hour to another place, far away from here,” the Miami Heat forward said Friday during a radio appearance on WQAM.
And now that he has collected his thoughts, where does he view the Lakers in terms of his own championship team? His candid answer caught hosts Steve Goldstein and Adam Kuperstein a bit off guard.
“The Lakers, I think, right now, I mean on paper, they probably have the best team in the West and probably the league right now,” he said. “On paper. I’m saying on paper. But it’s a lot, a lot, it’s a long season. And the best team always isn’t the one who starts out the season as the best team.
“We know we’re the champs, but we have to start off from scratch. We have a lot of chemistry building to do. And we have to come out there and we have to start over. We know favorites and all that stuff really doesn’t matter.”

Brown to Give Nash Offensive Freedom

(Lakers coach Mike) Brown understands the pressure facing him this year, one of the many things we covered in our phone interview. Below is a transcript of highlights from our conversation.
LO’L: How does the Princeton work with having someone like (Steve) Nash? As is my understanding, it’s not as much a heavy pick-and-roll offense, but more motion and ball movement.
MB: “The way that we’ll put it together, Steve’s going to have an opportunity — he’s going to quarterback the team — and so he’s going to have an opportunity to come down the floor every possession and in early offense play pick-and-roll if he wants to. It’s up to him, based on where he decides to take the ball or a call that he makes or an action that he does, it’s up to him to get us into some of the looks of the Princeton offense.

NBA BEATS - In my opinion Nash was the biggest acquisition LA made in the off season. He will make a big difference. Nash will make everybody better. He will take a lot of stress away from Kobe.

Wade Unsure if LeBron Can Surpass Jordan

Dwyane Wade isn’t ready to put Miami Heat teammate LeBron James in Michael Jordan’s category.
Not yet anyway.
“I don’t know if (James) has the ability to surpass (Jordan) or not,” Wade told ESPNChicago.com on Thursday during a promotional event for his Wade’s World Foundation. “That’s yet to be seen. My version as LeBron being on par with Michael is this: They’re both on the golf course. Michael’s on the 18th hole. LeBron is somewhere on like the fourth hole. He’s got a long way to go, but he’s on par to get to the 18th hole.”

NBA BEATS - Dwayne Wade is right on. Kinda odd that he is making these comments though. I think he kinda resents Lebron coming in and taking his thunder. Taking his team. Who knows? But the comparision is to MJ and anybody who follows this blog knows how I feel about the Lebron and MJ comparision. Lebron is a heck of a player but is nowhere near MJ. MJ would dunk over people. Lebron just dunks when the lane is open. MJ could shoot. Lebron misses free throws all the time. He is not a shooter. The comparision is not fair. They are different players. Kobe Bryant is more of a Jordan, but still nowhere near him. Although alot closer than James. Lebron is more of a with a lot more speed and muscle.

Corey Maggette May Retire After Season

Corey Maggette, acquired this summer in a salary-shedding deal that brought in his expiring contract in exchange for the considerably more expensive Ben Gordon, appears to be a member of Column A. That doesn’t mean he’s heading into this season with designs of cheering from the bench in street clothes, however. Maggette still thinks he has some juice left in the tank.
Either way, he’s grateful for a fresh start, even this late in his career.
But how much longer will that career continue? Maggette doesn’t know, and he probably won’t have much of an idea until he’s able to test his degenerating body over the course of a full season. Retirement, he admits, is an option.
“I work hard, but we’ll see how long I want to go on after this year,” he said. “We’ll go from there.”