Sports News and Humor at SportsNewGuy.com

It’s being reported that UNC’s Ty Lawson will declare for the draft today, but will not hire an agent. This comes as a surprise since many assumed he would wait for National Player of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough to declare first. There is still no word on whether Hansbrough or Wayne Ellington will declare but with the Sunday deadline looming we should hear something in the next few days. Lawson is not expected to be picked in the lottery but could go late in the first round. Without hiring an agent, Lawson keeps his options open to return to school if he wishes.

Michael Beasley 
Beasley is expected to be in the lottery and he is the first major player to declare his eligibility for the NBA draft. Beasley was runner-up for many of the National Player of the Year awards and led Kansas State to the second round of the NCAA tournament, as well as an impressive victory over Kansas to end the 24-0 streak they held over Kansas State. He is a skilled player and should be great in the pros.

Derrick Rose
Rose declared his eligibility after an amazing season with the Memphis Tigers. The freshman led his team to the championship game and, if it weren’t for some choked free throws at the end of regulation, would be the champion. It would appear to me that either him or Beasley would go first in the draft, but for me it’s Rose first. His leadership skills on the court have been amazing and he took the team farther than they’ve been in a long time.

Kevin Love
Announcing his eligibility didn’t surprise me, but I don’t think Love is ready for the NBA. He was out hustled and out played by Memphis in UCLA’s Final Four loss and it’s unfortunate to see players go before their time. Much like Brandan Wright of UNC the year before, I don’t see Love getting much playing time in the NBA, but money talks I guess.

Still waiting…
As a Tar Heel fan I am still waiting to hear whether Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, and Wayne Ellington will declare. While I don’t feel any of them are ready for the NBA, I also think that they lost worth by getting completelly dominated by Kansas. That sort of loss completelly overshadows the amazing season they’ve had and if those three return, Carolina could be a heavy contender for the Championship next year.

I’m sure the next few weeks will have a lot more players declaring or staying, it should be interesting to see how oppionions of next years NCAA contender teams change as more and more players begin to take off.

After a week of drama the deal has finally closed, Jason Kidd is now traded to the Mavericks. The deal was finally sealed. That deal is, Kidd, Malik Allen and Antoine Wright sent to Dallas for point guard Devin Harris, center DeSagana Diop, swingman Trenton Hassell, guard Maurice Ager, Van Horn via sign-and-trade, first-round draft picks this June and in 2010 and $3 million in cash. The teams originally planned to move Wright to Dallas in a separate transaction but were able to make the salary-cap math work in a single trade after the deal was reconfigured over the weekend.

The Mavericks reserve foward Devean George has not signed the deal that would allow a multiple player trade to go through and send Jason Kidd to the Mavericks. That’s right, Devean George who said he wanted to be traded if his playing time didn’t increase, has now taken advantage of a rule to block this trade. This trade is most likelly blocked temporarilly but it is a possibility that due to George, this trade could never go through.

With only a week until the trade deadline, this could get very interesting and there may be some scrambling on the Mavericks side to make this trade go through.

Looks like Jason Kidd is getting his wish and getting out of New Jersey. Sources say that the trade is imminent and would require Dallas to send Devin Harris, Jerry Stackhouse, the expiring contracts of DeSegana Diop and Devean George and another player such as guard Maurice Ager to New Jersey for Kidd and possibly veteran guard Darrell Armstrong.

In a move that shocked me, it’s being reported today that once Shaq passes the physical, he’ll be traded to the Phoenix Suns in return for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. This comes as a big shock to me because this will slow down the run-and-gun style that Phoenix has used so well in the past. This also gets rid of a young strong player in Shawn Marion, for an old, injury prone player in Shaq. I guess we’ll see how it works out.

According to AZCentral.com the Suns are planning to put on the NBA’s first outdoor game. The game would be played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California during the preseason. The Suns always play three preseason home games and then are able to pick any site for the other five. They would be in charge of bringing the court, scoreboard, and video boards.

Not long ago there was a women’s college basketball tournament in Phoenix that was played at Chase Field, home of the Diamondbacks. While the idea was neat the baseball stadium was far to large to offer the best possible seating arrangements, they did have two courts going at the same time though. It’s a cool idea but we’ll see if it works out, it should work much better in a tennis stadium.