When Orlando Magic president Otis Smith said his team, “Needed a little bit more punch,” most people didn’t expect him to orchestrate two blockbuster deals that would shake up two NBA conferences. By the time Smith was done yesterday, the Magic parted ways with Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter and were welcoming Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas and Phoenix Suns players Jason Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu to Central Florida.

While Lewis went to the Wizards for Arenas, Carter headed west to Arizona as part of the Suns/Magic deal that saw several players swap time zones. In that deal, the Magic got  Richardson, Turkoglu and Earl Clark in exchange for Carter, Marcin Gorat, Mickael Pietrus, a 2011 first-round pick and cash considerations.

Turkoglu heads back to Orlando where he enjoyed his best seasons since coming to the NBA. In the midst of a huge contract, the Suns may have taken advantage of dumping a huge amount from their salary base that was going to a player who hasn’t quite lived up to expectations.  

When asked about Arenas’ past legal troubles that included pleading guilty to a felony gun charge, Smith told ESPN that he was confident that was behind the player:

“We have a tendency not to forgive people in this country,” Smith said. “We have a tendency to hold onto things a little bit longer, particularly if they play professional sports. And I always say that sometimes good people do stupid things, and that one’s right on the top of the list. But I feel comfortable with who he is, knowing him since he was 19 years old.”

Normally teams stockpiling superstars like the Magic are doing is not taken too kindly by fans throughout the league but after the Miami Heat bolstered their roster snagging three of the top free agents this past summer, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Lebron James, that tone may have changed.

Another motivation for this move by the Magic may have been the fact they had dropped five of their past six games sinking three spots from the top spot in the Eastern Conference into fourth. In the meantime, Miami and the Boston Celtics have been on season-best 11 and 12 game win streaks.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

BIG APPLE – The New York Knicks opened their checkbook real wide and agreed to a deal that will ink free agent Amare Stoudemire a five-year, $99.7 million contract. The deal cannot be officially signed until Thursday.

Knick coach Mike D’Antoni must be ecstatic to be reunited with a big man he is familiar with from his days in Phoenix coaching the Suns when Stoudemire averaged more than 20 points a game every season the two were together.

Speculation is rising that the Knicks wanted to land Stoudemire to bait the NBA’s biggest free agent fish, LeBron James. James pushed hard for the Cavs to pick up Stoudemire last year during the trade deadline.

“I feel great, really, about being a pioneer,” said Stoudemire. I think [LeBron] feels great about [me signing]. It’s a situation where no one wanted to make that first move, and I felt confident enough to take that first step, and hopefully now we can bring in a few guys to join us.”

“I’m not sure where [LeBron’s] leaning. If he’s leaning more toward New York, that would be a great start for us.”

James and, or, his agent have had talks with the Cavaliers, Bulls, Nets, Clippers and Heat.

Stoudemire flew into New York on Saturday, broke bread with D’Antoni and agreed on the deal on Monday.

Madison Square Garden already has billboards and signs throughout the arena picturing Stoudemire in a Knicks jersey.

This is the first big move by the Knicks who have spent the last few seasons dumping overhead and salary cap anticipating making a serious bid for James. The team however, has enough cap space to add another maximum contract player but the question remains, who will that be?

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose netted 27 points and Joakim Noah added 21 points and 13 boards as the Bulls took a win in Charlotte 98-89 to secure the final No.8 seed in the NBA Playoffs.

The victory comes at the heels of severe internal conflicts that included a physical confrontation between head coach Vinny Del Negro and GM John Paxton. Throughout this, the Bulls were able to stay focused and end the season with a three-game win streak.

Here are all the Eastern Conference and Western Conference match-ups for the NBA Playoffs.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

No.1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No.8 Chicago Bulls

No. 2 Orlando Magic vs. No. 7 Charlotte Bobcats

No. 3 Atlanta Hawks vs. No. 6 Milwaukee Bucks

No. 4 Boston Celtics vs. No. 5 Miami Heat

WESTERN CONFERENCE

No. 1 LA Lakers vs. No. 8 Oklahoma City

No. 2 Dallas Mavericks vs. No. 7 San Antonio Spurs

No. 3 Phoenix Suns vs. No. 6 Portland Trailblazers

No. 4 Denver Nuggets vs. No. 5 Utah Jazz

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

PHOENIX – Just in case you missed it, Shaquille O’Neal’s latest hobby besides dominating games and putting a few games in the win column for the Suns is Twitter.

Now being ‘followed’ by over 208,000 other Twitters, Big Daddy was having a ball with it recently when he sent a message to his ‘followers’ on the site.

The message read, “I’m at the fashion sq mall, any1 touches me gets 2 tickets, tag me and say yur twit u hv 20min.”

Can you imagine the economic impact that message had on that shopping mall? Now there’s a quick fix to the economy. Obama can send Shaq around to companies in the most dire need of pumping up their revenue.

Since there are impersonators on the site, if you want to hook up with the Phoenix Suns’ center on Twitter, know that the real Big Daddy refers to himself as ‘The real Shaq’, not to be mistaken for the impostors who call themselves ‘THE_GAY_SHAQ’, or ‘THE_REAL_SHAQ1′.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

ORLANO, FL. – Shaquille O’Neal’s latest hobby is Twitter.

Big Daddy was having a ball with it recently when he sent a message to his 165,000 ‘followers’ on the site.

The message read, “I’m at the fashion sq mall, any1 touches me gets 2 tickets, tag me and say yur twit u hv 20 min.”

Can you imagine the economic impact that message had on that shopping mall? Minutes after the Tweet, several fans stormed to the mall trying to get a peek at the NBA star. Now there’s a quick fix to the economy. Obama can send Shaq around to whatever restaurants and stores in dire need of pumping up their revenue.

Since there are impersonators on the site, if you want to hook up with the Phoenix Suns’ center on Twitter, know that the real Big Daddy refers to himself as ‘The real Shaq’, not to be mistaken for the imposters who call themselves ‘THE_GAY_SHAQ’, or ‘THE_REAL_SHAQ1′.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax