Well… good afternoon fellow NBA fans. I wish there was more news to report but unfortunately the NBA has been somewhat dry.

I don’t consider the rumors to be anything exciting because I’ve seen far too many of them that have resulted in nothing to know that they generally are just that, rumors. So lets get the day started with some stuff thats actually happening.

Drew Gooden announced via Twitter that he would be joining the Dallas Mavericks for one year. He will sign a one year contract worth nearly the entire mid level exception. With Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Jason Terry, Eric Dampier,  and new addition Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden should be quite helpful in at least getting Dallas back in the playoffs.

They are overloaded with talented forwards but Gooden can play the center position and will likely compete with Dampier for that job, even though the useless ogre Dampier is making over $12 million this season. Which brings me to my next point, whats with all these over paid center? This is absurd. These GMs just don’t realize that the league has evolved. It’s all about versatile small forwards. The Lebrons, the Carmelos. How many more Olowakandis, Kwames, and Odens are we going to see before Durant gets drafted first?

Which brings us to a wonderful list of the Top 10 Biggest NBA Draft Busts. I wouldn’t go as far to say that Oden is #2 quite yet, but I would have to agree that Durant would’ve been looking pretty good at small forward next Brandon Roy right about now.

Everything else going on, we’ve already heard about and already seen. You know, the Lamar Odom fiasco between Los Angeles and Dwyane Wade. What happened to good old negotiating? What’s with all these players publicly begging for other players to come to their team? Is this a business or is this a game? It’s like a texting war during 4th period between two playground all stars recruiting that one dude that gets all the rebounds. This ain’t high school Wade. Let the grown ups do their jobs.

And then we’ve got all this Carlos Boozer stuff circulting all day long. Is he going to Miami, Chicago, Dallas, New York? Does anyone know?

Now we’ve got that next big over paid player sporting the Knicks uniform, David Lee. He’s a great player but is he really worth more money than Shawn Marion? Is he as versatile as Hedo Turkoglu? Is he worth more than Lamar Odom? What’s his agent thinking? This isn’t 2005, it’s 2009, there’s no money out there to waste on these guys.

But it’s ok, because things just get more and more interesting. The Jazz are apparently exploring sign and trade deals of Carlos Boozer for David Lee. Bring him in to the Western Conference for too much money and kill another team’s salary cap for years to come so they can’t compete with the Lakers. Pull the trigger on the deal. Do it please!

I’m just wondering where Memphis has been through all this. Surely someone needs a superstar. Wait, they’ve already given them all away. Fresh off the press, Warrick is now available as well. Good move Heisley, I’m sure the fans would prefer to pay to see Iverson and the Globetrotters than the team actually win a few games. Sounds like a plan Memphis. Anyone else see them moving back to Vancouver in the near future?

Moments like these make me so proud to be a Lakers fan.

Look out for tomorrow’s Bruce Bowen thoughts. Boston? Lakers? Hmmmm…

For now, have a great weekend! I leave you all with a word of advice, stick to what you do best and get paid millions for… don’t venture into other’s territory. You can invest, but don’t do…

Ron Artest performs in his first stop on his “tour” in China!!