Revisiting the Media Debate, with Some Free Agency Sprinkles

Happy New NBA Fiscal Year!

Believe it or not the new NBA season has begun. David Stern and his crew are currently working on establishing the new salary cap figure which will dictate the exact monetary terms of soon-to-be-signed contracts. July 8th is the date to watch as all of the free agent rumors will begin to take some form of reality.

First, let’s circle back quickly to add to the previous discussion about how local media measures up to the national guys. The main issue is that one is not necessarily better or worse all the time. The heavy hitters like ESPN and TNT sometimes miss the green in reporting on less successful teams because they simply don’t see them that much. On other side of the coin, while the smaller local reporters are in constant contact with hometown franchises, their information isn’t always accurate as it is sometimes influenced by over-speculation and tainted with misinformation from agents. It’s sort of like David vs. Goliath – except Goliath isn’t even paying attention and David is getting duped by other shady biblical figures.

The main point to take from the entire issue is that the burden falls on readers and fans to seek out complete and accurate information on the organizations they follow. Which can be very difficult seeing as the average fan is on the outside looking in.

In other NBA media news – maybe a little late on this – Stephen A. Smith is no longer with ESPN. It was noticeable at the NBA draft, where Smith was absent from his usual duties of interviewing the green-room draftees after they were selected. As of May 1, 2009 he was officially “let go,” with the LA Times reporting that “[ESPN] decided to move in different directions.”

And on to off-season news and notes. I know this is the only site you use for breaking NBA news so be sure to check back throughout the summer for the latest in NBA player movement.

-the big name right now in free agency is Hedo Turkoglu. Orlando acquired Vince Carter, essentially paying for Turk’s ticket out of town. Portland thought they had bagged him when he suddenly skipped town for what is supposedly a much bigger contract in Toronto.

-the Piston’s are looking to retool. Rasheed Wallace is pretty much out the door and Detroit has reached verbal agreements with Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva.

-the Lakers and Rockets have swapped forwards with Artest coming to terms with LA and Ariza on his way to Houston. Next up for the Lakers is to re-ink Lamar Odom.

-Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver hosed Utah’s salary cap by not opting out of their contracts. The Jazz still can match any offer to Paul Millsap, but now they have much less cash to work with.

-the Celtics have not made a qualifying offer to Leon Powe and are reportedly chasing Rasheed Wallace (who is also being courted by new Magic G/F Vince Carter).

-other free agency chatter from all over the web has David Lee looking at the Blazers, Grant Hill heading home to Orlando and Allen Iverson possibly ending up in Memphis. Other big names to watch are Anderson Varejao, Shawn Marion, Andre Miller, Jason Kidd and Mike Bibby.

***Gonna give some NBA trivia a try – with every article I will post a new question as well as the answer to the previous article’s question. Drop your answer in the comments section to prove how smart (or not-smart) you are. Here ya go…

In the 1998 draft the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors drafted 4th and 5th overall and after the selections immediately swapped the players. Who were those two players? (Hint: they were college teammates)

Dr. Murphy out