There's plenty of things that I' ve seen that surprise me and plenty that don't. Here's what I mean.



I'm surprised the Celtics would sign Stephon Marbury. But not because of his attitude or locker room influence. So much of what the Celtics do revolves around smothering halfcourt defense. Marbury is, at worst an unwilling defender and at best, a defender who takes too many chances.



I'm surpirsed that with all of the coaching firings thus far this season, that Byron Scott has kept his job with the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets are trending well below where they were at this point last season with a little more talent and a young strong core. They play with the body language of a team that doesn't like each other and Scott doesn't appear to want to be bothered with it. In a different financial climate, Hornets owner George Shinn might have no issue paying two coaches at the same time, then again, maybe not.....



I'm not surprised that the Chicago Bulls have started to playing better basketball. As bad a coach as Vinny Del Negro is, they've got a ton of young athletic talent. It took Vinny 50 games to figure out that if you want your young guys to help you, you actually need to put them out on the floor.

I'm surprised that the Knicks would trade for Chris Wilcox, when every spare minute they would have for him should be going to Danilo Galinari

I'm not surprised that the Dallas Mavericks unsuccessfully tried to move Jason Kidd at the trade deadline. Kidd is no longer a capable defender and he isn't exactly a coaches' dream. Mark Cuban may have undermined his own ability to win a championship in the next 5 years by NOT keeping Devin Harris.

I'm surprised that the Philadelphia 76ers are a much better team without Elton Brand. He was the wrong signing and with his accumulated injury history and bloated contract, he will be impossible to move in the offseason. At least he has his stellar reputation in tact.......

Speaking of Brand's stellar reputation, I'm still surprised how he blatantly screwed Baron Davis in the off-season. His "you sign first, then I'll sign after" act wreaks of two brothers going for crew cuts and the one who goes 2nd decides he only wants a trim.

I'm not surprised that Carlos Boozer would make it so obvious that he wanted to leave Utah after the season. After violating his verbal agreement with Cavalier owner Gordon Gund five years ago, there was no reason for the Jazz to believe that Boozer would be any more loyal to them, even though they paid him all that money. The Jazz' late owner Larry miller deserved better.

I'm not surprised that both of the two players I just referenced are disciples of that "great molder of men" Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Keep churning them out, Coach.

I'm surprised that the Washington Wizards are so bad. They have much better than 14 win talent. This is a direct indictment on Coach Ed Tapscott.

I'm surprised the Spurs beat Dallas and Portland on back to back nights this week without Duncan and Ginobili. Their head coach Greg Popovich never ceases to amaze me.

I am not surprised that Mike Dunleavy still has his head coaching job with the LA Clippers. Despite an epic squandering of talent and endless nights of effortless basketball, Clipper owner Donald Sterling will not hold him accountable because Sterling needs to keep paying him regardless.

I am not surprised that Greg Oden has made a limited impact on the Portalnd Trailblazers. He plays like the oldest 21 year old in the world. He's like a modern day NBA version of Benjamin Button.

I am surprised that Michael Beasley has not had a better rookie season for the Miami Heat. When he came out last year, I thought his game was tailor made for today's NBA. But he has definitely gotten a wake up call for what kind of work ethic it takes to make it in the league. Very nice job by Heat rookie coach Eric Spoelstra. He gave Beasley no entitlements as last year's #2 pick in the entire draft. It will serve Beasley better in the future and continue Pat Riley's culture of accountability in Miami.

I am not surprised that Larry Brown has helped improve the Charlotte Bobcats. He could have done it with the Knicks if Isiah Thomas and Stephon Marbury were not working to undermine him at every turn. Larry's problem has never been turning around a bad team. His problem lies in staying around with good ones.

I am not surprised that the Atlanta Hawks have carried their momentum from last year's 7 game 1st round playoff loss to the Boston Celtics into this season. They have good young players who are growing together and they will once again be a pain in someone's rump in the Eastern Conference again in this year's playoffs.

I am still surprised how much the Toronto Raptors stink. There is no doubt that if their GM Bryan Colangelo could do it all over again, he would not have fired Sam Mitchell 17 games into the season.

I will be very surprised if the Houston Rockets don't give San Antonio and Denver everything they can handle in the race for the #2 seed in the Western Conference.

I will be surprised if the Ben Wallace injury derails the Cleveland Cavaliers. Increased minutes for Anderson Varejao and JJ Hickson may not be a bad thing for the Cavs. Playing with LeBron James makes everyone better.

I will be very surprised if Don Nelson is still coaching the Golden State Warriors next year. Chris Mullin has created a personnel mess by giving Nellie everything he's wanted. And before you envoke an injury excuse, this team had no chance of making the playoffs in the West without Baron Davis, no matter who stayed healthy. They are in NBA no mans' land. Not enough good young players to rebuild around and not enough good veterans to be competitive. If owner Chris Cohan is reading, time to clean house my man.

And finally, I will be very surprised if we do not see a few significant playoff upsets this year. Too many key injuries on too many teams at the top. It should be real interesting. Catch up with you later in the week.

Y'all be cool. Giddyap.