Declining Market For Centers Case Study

     It was not until the year 2002 that the NBA was able to find someone to

Robin Lopez (center) just recently signed with the New York Knicks, leaving the team without its top interior defender. Robin Lopez is the most replaceable out of the group, however, he was a great contributor to this team. He rebounded well for them last season and played great defense, but the Blazers can still find a replacement.

Surprisingly, it was the Mavericks that met the injured players monetary demands and agreed to a four year, $70 million contract in July. This is a risky move for a player that just suffered such a serious injury, but the Maverick's feel that Matthew's upside and history of toughness makes the deal worth the risk.

We’re deep into the dog days of summer, and the NBA offseason is officially cooling down. The NBA Draft has come and gone, big free agents have drawn their battle lines and people are almost done having a heart attack about Timofey Mozgov getting $16 million per season from the Los Angeles Lakers. With nothing but the always-exhilarating Summer League games ahead of us, here are the biggest winners and losers of the NBA offseason.

For the Los Angeles Lakers, this off-season may have been a bit underwhelming, but they still brought in quality free agents. After "missing out," on LeMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love and DeAndre Jordan, the Lakers were forced to look into the second tier talents. According to some reports, the meetings the Lakers executives held with the big name free agents focused little on basketball, and instead focusing more on the "Hollywood Lifestyle."

According to CBSSports, the Los Angeles Lakers could throw in a package of guard Jordan Clarkson, guard Lou Williams and forward Luol Deng as trade offers to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony. This is not bad for a return for the Knicks acquiring one young and two veteran players that are solid contributors.

I preferred the Sixers come out of the draft with a guard with the potential of D'Angelo Russell or even Mario Hezonja

However, Isaiah is suffering from and a non-fixed hip Injury. Therefore, if Boston wanted Kyrie that bad they had to come off more assets in the deal. Also, former Cavs Star Kyrie Irving requested a trade earlier in the year and was said that he basically did not want to play the shadow of former teammate LeBron James and that he wants to go somewhere else where he can be the number one man on the team. Everyone was shocked to hear about the news considering the fact that LeBron James led them to go to 3 straight finals since he has been back in Cleveland. Other stars in the NBA had words about the request saying that it was “crazy” and that anyone would be lucky to be guaranteed a shot in the finals every year. Why would Irving want to leave a situation where he could play with the league's best player LeBron James? On the other hand, stars Isaiah Tomas and Jae Crowder are more than happy to join King James and the Cavaliers at another chance at a ring. This next season will continue to get more exciting to closer it gets. The Pre-season starts in October and everyone can’t wait to get a sneak peek and see the new teams in action for the first

Once Kevin Durant’s contract ended the entire NBA opened up to him wanting his name on their roster. To start with the option that so many OKC Thunder fans were hoping to see hold Kevin Durant’s career. A long term contract

In recent news the Lakers have picked up Timofey Mozgov and Loul Deng out of free agency and Brandon Ingram and Ivica Zubac out of the

Marbury, who left his playing career in the United States and a $20 million dollar NBA contract in 2010 to play pro basketball in China has guided the Beijing Ducks to three CBA titles and was voted as CBA finals MVP.

The moment that definitely hasn’t slipped my mind has been Al Horford’s decision to sign with the Boston Celtics. The 6’10” power forward signed a four-year, $113 million deal after playing all nine years of his career with the Atlanta Hawks.

The upcoming NBA season is what the teams are looking forward to specially the Cleveland Cavaliers who took home the championship title and probably planning to aim for a back-to-back championship. In relation to this matter, Cleveland Cavaliers is on their run in improving their lineup which will possibly push them in “trading” players assumed to be involving Memphis Grizzlies’ Vince Carter.

O’Neal dropped out of college to play for the NBA starting a rookie for the Orlando Magic and was nicknamed Shaq. Shaq was a horrible free throw shooting but Shaq focused on his team and how to make more points and more power slams. A lot of centers knew to foul Shaq and not give a shot because he would most likely make then the free throws. In 1996, Shaq signed the largest contract for 120 million dollars for 7 years with the LA Lakers. Shaq was a three time member of the All-NBA Third team in 1994, 1996, and 1997. Shaq signed again with the LA Lakers an 88.5 million dollar extension Shaq helped receive three consecutive championships with former team mate Kobe Bryant. Shaq was later traded to the Miami Heat averaging 22.9 points per game and 10.4 rebounds scoring 25,000 points the traded again to the Phoenix Suns .609 FG percentage being named the NBA- All Star Games co’MVP in 2009. Shaq was then traded once more to the Cavaliers and signed with the Boston Celtics finishing with an injury. On June 1, 2011 Shaq announced his retirement saying how he loved basketball and his tem and family. This information was supported by

Without a doubt, the biggest free agency decision was Kevin Durant’s. He’s a top three player in the league, and would instantly make any team he joined a contender for a championship. As Durant met with teams in the Hamptons over the July 4 weekend, it became clear that the landscape of the league was going to be shaped in large part by his decision. Durant was an