I'm still a fan of Ty Lawson but the Denver Nuggets without Chauncey Billups are one of my least favorite teams to watch. It's 'Melo and the Mad Bombers with everyone resorting to jumpers. This team desperately needs to move supersub J.R. Smith and bring in a shooting guard who they have some faith in and who will take it to the hole every so often. Then again, trying to get a more dependable low post option might be better because, while Nene is OK, he's hardly someone I want as a main low post threat. Denver needs to figure this out or else next year they could find themselves facing the question of "Where's Melo gonna go?" over and over again.

I still can't help but see Kevin Durant as the Nuke Laloosh of the NBA. All of his quotes come off as something that someone told him he's supposed to say and I never feel like he really gets what he's supposed to mean. Still, the kid is undeniably talented and has a chance to be an all-time scorer. I still don't see him as the kind of guy that takes a team onto his shoulders or finds a way to help his team win when his shot isn't falling but he's still young.

Ty Thomas might be about to make the leap that people have been waiting for and that will get someone to overpay for him. I have no doubt that Thomas has a half-season of good basketball in him; whether he'll go back to his inconsistent ways once he gets paid remains to be seen. I'd bet on him settling into mediocrity.

I haven't had a trade of the day for a while so I'll throw this one out there: Brad Miller and Jerome James for Tracy McGrady. The Bulls bring in a 2-guard who can move John Salmons to the bench where hopefully he'll remember how to play basketball. The Rockets save some money, grab a big man who should add some size to their bench, and don't add any salary to their 2010 payroll.

The Magic lost the Christmas game more than the Celtics won it. One issue was Pietrus's horrific play and another is that the Magic refused to acknowledge that Dwight Howard shouldn't be plan A whenever Orlando meets Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Garnett (and now Rasheed Wallace as well). I almost feel like they would have been better off if Gortat or Brandon Bass had gotten some of Howard's minutes.