Jeebus. I leave D.C. for the first time in ages and as soon as I do, all hell breaks loose on the D.C. United front. First Coach Nowak leaves and now they trade Esky? I'm in agreeance with the Bog, I'm gutted. Trade Adu? Fine, I can live with that. But not Esky! United better be bringing in Ole Solskjær or someone like that in his place. For serious.

Billy King is an idiot. He got fleeced on this deal. To wit:

1) They get no young players from Denver. Not even a knucklehead like JR Smith. Yes they got Andre Miller, but it's not like he's going to resign there in 2 years when his deal is up.

2) The two picks they got, belonging to Dallas and Denver, will likely both be in the 20's. This draft is top heavy and they're not going to be able to package these picks together in order to move up.

3) The Sixers are over the cap but under the luxury tax limit, so getting Joe Smith's expiring deal is worthless. They'll still be over the cap when his contract expires, so they won't be able to sign anyone in his place. They'd have been better off getting a max salary that expires next year in return and then waiting for that contract and CWebb's deal to expire in 2008.

By now, you've probably seen the fight between the Knicks and Nuggets last night. If not, peep the "remix" above. Apparently the Knicks took exception that four of the Nuggets starters were still in the game with 90 seconds left when they were up 19. Quoth Nate Robinson, the most hated man in the NBA:

"From what they did, keeping their guys on the court, I knew a foul was going to come. It was a good, clean, hard foul, and after that things went down from there," Robinson said. "I've never seen a team up 20 keep their starters in. They wanted to embarrass us, and it was a slap in the face to us as a team and a franchise."

Yes, this is the same Nat Robinson that earlier this month attempted a dunk during the game by passing it to himself by bouncing the ball off the court, a la his 347 unsuccessful attempts in last year's Slam Dunk Championship.

What did Robinson have to say about the attempt, where he was correctly called for travelling?

When asked what he was thinking, he replied, "I was trying to dunk it. What did it look like? It was a dunk," to New York reporters. He added he wouldn't try it again — unless maybe his team was up 20 points.

Emphasis mine, obvs. What a punk ass little bitch.

That's what good friend* Bob Ryan said to me last night when I bumped into him in the press room at the Verizon Center. The question? "Mr. Ryan, do you think the Celtics are going to land Allen Iverson?"

Officially we are out of the running and Denver is now the lead team, but I honestly think the longer this thing is drawn out, the greater the chance The Answer is playing in Beantown very soon. We should know tomorrow, that's the first day that players drafted or signed over the summer are eligible to be traded.

The Wiz v. Nuggs game last night was a bit of a snoozer, but damn, 'Melo is pretty much unstoppable when his step back jumper is falling. And it was in the first half. He had 30 points midway through the 3rd quarter. And then, for some reason, they stopped passing it to him. I guess everyone wanted to go for theirs since they were down 18 by then. More photos here.

*I wish.

I expected AI to be in a new uniform when I woke up, not Freddy Adu! D.C. United traded the precocious youngster to Real Salt Lake today along with backup goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

Speaking of AI, is Orlando the front runner?

**Update** - More than a few (unreliable) internet sources are saying Iverson and Kevin Ollie are headed to Sacramento for Mike Bibby, Scoreless Williamson, Francisco Garcia and a #1 pick.