Guess what today is, NBA fans? It's July 1, the beginning of the annual NBA free agent bonanza, extravaganzapoloza! Today is actually the last day of November but it might as well be the middle of summer. It is the day when NBA teams can break their lockout imposed hibernation and start talking to people and even sports agents too.
Today is the start of the 2011 NBA Free Agency period and we have a list of all the available free agents ranked in order of their awesomeness and guess where Grant Hill falls on that list (hint: still awesome).
Officially, nothing can be agreed to and supposedly teams and agents aren't even supposed to come to verbal, let alone handshake deals on the many free agents out there looking for jobs. Yeah, right. What's really going to happen (probably) is that GMs and agents are going to talk, nod, wink, argue, nod again, and then leak their alleged deals to Twitter.
This won't be like last summer with the LeBron and Amare fiasco. This time there's going to be teams like Denver and New Orleans who have a lot of money to spend and a lot of jobs to fill with a list of guys looking for jobs. It's like dating but with (mostly) old white guys and (mostly) young athletic guys. The fine folks at the Syracuse basketball program know all about how this works (Yes, I went there. Get over it).
There is a twist this year because of the new CBA that's going make for a lot of interesting trade activity at the top of the food chain. Guys like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard aren't going to wait around until 2012 to become free agents. They are likely going to be traded before January.
This hurts the Suns who have cap space in 2012. I'll be writing more about that later in the day after I take a shower and wash off the stink of that horrible Syracuse joke.
In the mean time, here's a VERY comprehensive list of the available free agents, including Mr. Grant Hill who ranks 15th.
Top NBA Free Agents Of 2011: A Delectable Class Of Players Awaits - SBNation.com
15. GRANT HILL Small forward, 39 years old, 6'8 Unrestricted free agent 2011 stats: 13.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 30 minutes per game; 14.7 PER Grant Hill will play 30 minutes of tough defense, efficienct offense and cuddy smiles through the age of 56, whether you like it or not.
Check it out and strap yourself in (or on) for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.