There have been a few big names that went but there were still the ones that stayed. Phoenix never shipped Amare off to the Cavs, which is probably a good thing as the Shaq-Amare experiment was a disaster with both players destroying the other’s value. SO which were the good trades and which teams benefited the most? Here are the 5 best ones in my opinion and who, if any, suffered the most from the changes.

T-Mac to the Knicks - I was never a T-Mac fan because he always stayed safe and stayed down from his injuries. Never a warrior of the week by Kamla’s standards. But this move by the Knicks to grab one of the most talented guys in the league was great for them. They finally got a crunch time player and a veteran leader for this squad and that’s what they really needed. When was the last time you heard MSG chant a player’s name, eh? There is now life back in the Garden!

The red flag will always be his injuries but if he is indeed as healthy as he says he is, the Knicks are going to be tough for everyone after this trade and will make a very strong push for that bottom playoff spot in the East. The biggest loser here is Wilson Chandler as I see his production dipping as T-Mac smooths into the lineup and dominates majority of the possessions he usually gets.

Butler to the Mavs - The Big 3 that the Wiz had is now gone and all that’s left is Arenas with his hefty salary and long term suspension. Lucky for Butler, just like Jamison, he went from the bottom of the East to one of the top tier teams in the very competitive West.

Caron will immediately fill in the spot Josh Howard left when he was traded to the Wiz but will be starting and move Terry back to his 6th man role. This move definitely improves the Mavs in terms of D and toughness. No losers here but Terry or Marion might take a small hit in minutes. No matter how you look at it though, the trade makes a lot of sense for Dallas. Before this trade, they didn’t have a lineup that had a chance.

Jamison to the Cavs - You shouldn’t always buy in to the hype of debuts as Antawn set a historic 0-12 shooting record from the field in his first stint with Lebron’s Cavs. As Jamison said, it won’t happen again, and payback is in the form of the Orlando Magic in their next game.

The most likely loser here is Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao. Jamison and Andy play the same position and he will lose a minutes to Jamison, but the Cavs chemistry might be the bigger loser. Mo Williams might also be affected negatively as he most likely becomes the third scoring option now. I see the Cavs losing a few games with the adjustment but the long term result should be positive. Anthony Parker was practically useless playing a chunk of the minutes, so the addition of Jamison should help a ton in terms of offense and rebounding and will be more efficient than Parker.

Thomas to the Bobcats - Tyrus Thomas must be thanking his lucky stars just about now. There isn’t a happier player after the trade deadline for sure. And if there was a sleeping giant somewhere in the NBA that was waiting to be unleashed, it would be him. Finally released from the Bulls before the deadline, the disgruntled PF looks to wreak havoc in a system where he can finally thrive.

If the first game was any indication, the Bobcats destroyed the league leading Cavs with Tyrus anchoring the D with 12 rebounds and 6 blocks for a sneak peak at what this kid can do for the playoff-bound Bobcats! Look for the same consistent line every game thereafter. If there was a perfect fit for Tyrus to land, the Bobcats are it. Losers here are Nazr and Tyson Chandler, but they had no value to begin with anyway.

Camby to the Blazers - After the demise of Oden for the 2nd straight season and the season-ending injury dealt to his backup Przybilla, the Blazers needed a legit center to help in their playoff push. And boy did they get a center! Marcus Camby comes off the Clippers and will definitely help this squad in many ways. He had a terrible debut, but once he settles in, he should be a great fit in a center-less Blazers squad. No losers here unless you’re counting Juwan Howard.

The Blazers add what they desperately needed and got a ton of boards and blocks while giving away players they really didn’t need. Outlaw was a key piece but with the abundance of young guns they had playing the same position and Travis coming off an injury, it made perfect sense for the Blazers to do this deal. I’m sure it will take a few games for Camby to adjust, but once he gets in sync with the Portland offense, it will be fun to watch with Roy healthy and ready for that playoff run.

Special Mention: Kevin Martin to the Rockets, Carl Landry to the Kings, Josh Howard to the Wizards, Brendan Haywood to the Mavs, and John Salmons to the Bucks.

It’s always great to see a world champion laugh and kid like he’s just like everyone else. And while the news of his affair with Krista Ranillo are making more waves these days than his recent historical win against Miguel Cotto, here’s a hilarious look at the real Manny Pacquiao.

Here’s a candid interview he did with Matt Iseman of Sports Soup before his match against Cotto. I was shocked, honestly, at what he was saying, though it didn’t come out bad at all because he was acting like a crazy kid who had no care in the world and was having some good old “clean” fun. Asked by Iseman whether Manny drinks his urine just like Marquez did, Manny quipped “that’s why he wants a rematch because it was a mistake. He just drink his urine but he forgot to eat his.. his… ASS!”

Bwahahahaha! I’m sure if someone else did this, they’d be getting a ton of slack for it and it wouldn’t be anywhere near this funny. Video is from YouTube and the link is below. How can you not love this guy?!

YouTube Link:
Sports Soup: Manny Pacquiao on Miguel Cotto (HD)

I have never been a HUGE fan of Manny Pacquiao until I watched him get ready to walk down the ring to fight against a bigger Miguel Cotto and inevitably slay another Goliath for a 12th Round TKO to win an unprecedented 7th division title. His latest triumph catapulted him as one of the best boxers of all-time. Yes, of ALL-TIME, that’s how historic Pacquiao’s achievements are. Pretty good coming from a scrawny 106 pound Pinoy who started boxing at the age of 16, huh? (see the link below for a video by TIME on the Rise of Manny Pacquiao)

With a huge smile on his face, seemingly unfazed and distracted by the raucous full capacity crowd of 16,200 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Pacquiao walked down the ring confidently like nothing was riding on the bout that was about to commence. Miguel Cotto, on the other hand, looked like any other boxer out there with a face and demeanor that could kill. But just like all the other bigger, meaner-looking opponents of his, Manny still came out on top in the end, beating his foe with unbelievable quickness and devastating punching power.

Pacquiao bludgeoned Cotto to submission to the point that his opponent practically ran from him. And the reign of another champion ended in the 12th round via TKO as Manny raised a record 7th different division title. CompuBox actually came out with some stats that showed how lopsided the victory was. Take a look at the chart below:

And with that, Manny Pacquiao became legendary. Not because of the opponent he beat yet again, but because of holding 7 different titles in 7 different weight categories. That is unprecedented and will probably never be surpassed. And in case you’re curious where it all started, his trek began from flyweight (1), junior featherweight (2), featherweight (3), junior lightweight (4), lightweight (5), junior welterweight (6), and now welterweight (7). And Manny says this will be the last weight division for him to move up to.

It seems blasphemous to say he is as great as Ali, but when you look at his record and his unique accomplishments, he might just be. I was just a fan before this match, but now I’m glad to say that I’m part of his HUGE fan base not only because of his ability, but also because of his humility in victory and zest for life.

Related Links:
TIME: The Rise of Manny Pacquiao
Wikipedia: Manny Pacquiao

The rain-stricken end stage of the US Open ’09 Semifinals finally began today but came to an abrupt end with what was one of the most peculiar losses in the history of the final Grand Slam of the Year. In a very bizarre finish, Serena Williams was penalized for verbal abuse that cost her the entire match and pushed the come-backing Kim Clijsters to the Finals.

While serving 5-6, 15-30 on her second serve, down one set already to Clijsters, Serena was called for a foot fault by the lineswoman to bring Kim to double match-point. Serena seemed relatively calm at first but suddenly walked directly to the lineswoman and started hurling expletives and pointed her racket at the fearful judge.

When she finished her tirade, the lineswoman informed the chair umpire of what the disgusted Serena had said to her and it was deemed to fall under verbal abuse. And as the rules state, you are penalized for it. And as such, Serena Williams not only foot-faulted her way to a 15-40 match point deficit, she also automatically lost the set and the match because of the verbal abuse penalty she was given. It was the second warning that cost her a point after she broke her racket earlier in the match. The final score, Clijsters over Williams in 2 sets, 6-4, 7-5, in what was just a terrible way to end a very good match-up between two of the finest players in the world.

Thus, the former US Open Champion Kim Clijsters, coming off a long layoff due to giving birth to a child, is now one step away from successfully coming back with a vengeance by moving on to the Finals facing the Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who just beat her compatriot Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium. She was also able to trump the two Williams’ sisters en route to the Finals. This should put her right back on the map in women’s tennis and I’m predicting she’s going to be the Number 1 women’s player in 2010, mark my words!

Stamping his class on yet another epic Wimbledon final, Roger Federer needed a record 77 games to oust what was probably Andy Roddick’s best performance to date, but still was not good enough to beat the 5-time champ. The Swiss won 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 16-14 in 4 hours and 16 minutes to win his 6th Wimby and became the all-time men’s leader in Grand Slams won with 15 passing Pete Sampras.

The match was a pure joy to watch with both players having won every game on serve until Federer finally broke Roddick’s serve in the final game that sealed the match. But from the start, it seemed to be a very different and confident Roddick this time around, who amidst his terrible 2-18 record against Roger, stood toe-to-toe with him in every game and in every set. But in the end, Federer still managed to pull through and he even beat Roddick at his own game serving 50 aces against Andy’s 27!

The scary thing about all this is that Federer is only 27 and still has a long way to go before he even thinks of retiring. There ARE studs out there like Nadal who has conquered Roger majority of the time, but the other young guns like Murray, Roddick, Djokovic, and Del Potro, aren’t quite there in that league yet. So let’s see if they can ever develop to the skill set to overthrow the top two players in the world.

So the debate on whether Roger Federer is the best men’s player of all-time seems rather moot. Though some old-timers may still disagree, and some critics still don’t believe he can be the best if he doesn’t beat Nadal a few more times. But no one can discredit how at the feathery age of 27, a player in Fed’s caliber who still has a ton of years ahead of him has already broken the record for most grand slams wins ever. And that fact is undisputable.

All the talk and hype about a Lebron-Kobe showdown is OVER and my darkhorse pick to get to the Finals detroyed Lebron’s Cavs this morning in very convincing fashion. Superman scored 40 points and went 12-16 from the line to trounce the Cavs and Lebron had his worst game this post-season. The “Magic upset” paved way to a very intriguing Finals match-up against the highly-touted Lakers in Staples next Thursday.

The Cavs were so favored in the Conference Finals series, they actually had majority of the NBA analysts saying they’d sweep the Magic. Give me a break. If you’re a Magic fan like I am, you know that it would be impossible for them to have done so. The world now knows how good this Magic team is and how much better this match-up is between them and the Lakers is compared to the Cavs.

(2) Los Angeles Lakers vs (4) Orlando Magic

Let’s break this Final series down. In the regular season, the Magic beat the Lakers 2-0, 1 at home and 1 on the road. Does that record matter in the Finals? Unlike the Cavs series where the Magic had a better head-to-head record that also mattered this post-season, this one against the Lakers does not. In both games, Jameer Nelson scored a total of 55 points and burned the Lakers. He’s gone now and Rafer Alston isn’t going to be even close. Next, Trevor Ariza was an afterthought back then but now he’s a certified starter and is the X-factor for the Lakers winning the series altogether.

And with those two changes, it made the regular season record irrelevant. The Lakers became a much better team. They got stronger in defense with Ariza starting and he has also shown a ton of potential on the offensive end. Goodbye Vladimir Radmanovic. The Magic, on the other hand, lost a lot of scoring in the point but had Courtney Lee grow up right before our eyes and more importantly have Pietrus emerge as their X-factor in both ends also. So who DOES have the better team? Let’s break it down.

Next: Lakers vs Magic Player Match-ups