The Atlanta Hawks have tried playing with Joe Johnson at the point.  They have refused for the last two years to draft a point guard to allow him to slide over to his natural position at shooting guard.

Now they have signed Speedy Claxton to play alongside Johnson.

I think this is a good move for Atlanta.  Claxton isn’t great, but he sure is a lot better than forcing Joe Johnson to play a position which deminishes his capacity to play to his strengths.  Atlanta’s back court is a lot stronger for the move.

If they could manage to keep Al Harrington, they would have a decent chance to win half of their games.  That would be a miracle for the Hawks.

Unfortunately, that isn’t very likely as Harrington is rumored to be heading back to Indiana to play alongside his friend Jermaine O’Neal.

Ben Wallace split for division rival Chicago and its $10 million more per year.

The Detroit Pistons wasted no time in stealing a much cheaper Nazr Mohammed from the San Antonio Spurs.

Should Detroit have spent the extra money on Ben Wallace?

No.

Will Nazr Mohammed help them enough to get back to the NBA Finals?

Possibly, but I’m not so sure that Detroit, even with Ben Wallace coming back, could have beaten the improved Lebron James and Dwyane Wade, having another year of experience under their belts.

I think it was a good move for Detroit to sign Mohammed to the smaller contract rather than signing Ben Wallace to the one that Chicago signed him to.  He isn’t any better than Wallace, but for the price, he isn’t much worse either (especially when you count Ben’s age into the equation).

If you look back not too long ago, Marquis Daniels was the unsigned rookie that everybody wish they had picked up.  Dallas signed him to a large deal, locking him up for years to come.

Last year, Dallas hardly played him under new head coach Avery Johnson.

Now he has been traded for Austin Croshere, and the last year of his contract.

What a difference a year makes!

After losing Peja Stojakovic to the New Orleans Hornets, this was probably an excellent move by Indiana.  They get an excellent slasher, and a promising young player to play the 3.  They didn’t give up anything they wanted in return.

For Dallas, this is simply a way to save money on a guy that no longer figured into their plans.

The Utah Jazz signed Matt Harpring for what is rumored to be a 4 year deal with $25 million.

Is he worth it?

He would be if he were healthy, which he never is. If I were Utah, I wouldn’t have made this move. They should have saved the money for another big body rather than signing back another injured swing man.

Don’t get me wrong. I like the guy. He is a great influence in the locker room, and he works hard every night that he is not sitting behind the bench in a suit. The problem is that he is ALWAYS sitting behind the bench in a suit. And at 30 years old, his health is not likely to suddenly improve.

They are also rumored to be dealing Devin Brown, Andre Owens, and Milt Palacio for Derek Fisher.

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The Chicago Bulls, if media reports are to be believed, beat out Detroit in signing Ben Wallace. There offer is estimated at 4 years and $60 million, which is said to be $10 million more than Detroit was willing to offer the aging center.

To afford the price, the Chicago Bulls will trade away Tyson Chandler and his large multi-year contract to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for J.R. Smith and P.J. Brown and their substantially smaller contracts.

Was it a good move?

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