Hoops Rumors Polls News & Rumors

The Saturday night deal that sent James Harden to Houston continues to send shockwaves throughout the NBA, and will have a significant impact on both the Thunder and Rockets for the foreseeable future. Who made out the best?

It seems like Andray Blatche, with the Nets on a non-guaranteed deal, is a strong bet to make the team, since Tim Bontemps of the New York Post reported this week that "it's pretty clear" he'll be in coach Avery Johnson's rotation at the start of the season. Yet many other players on non-guaranteed contracts simply have their eyes on the last spot on the bench, much less significant playing time. As our list of non-guaranteed contracts shows, several former stars and wayward lottery picks are in training camps with teams this month, hoping they can revive their careers or at least draw another NBA paycheck.

Let us know which of the players listed below has the best shot to make his team's regular season roster. Feel free to refer to our roster counts for the Eastern and Western conferences if you want to get a better feel for their chances. If you think another marquee name on a make-good deal has a better shot than anyone listed here, click "none of the above" and let us know who you have in mind in the comments.

As we covered earlier this afternoon, the NBA announced today that it has adopted an anti-flopping rule for the 2012/13 season, designed to discourage players from embellishing contact. Given the increase in flopping we've seen in the Association in recent years, it's hard to argue that the NBA wasn't right to do something to try to discourage the practice.

But is the NBA's solution the best approach the league could have taken? "Flops" will be determined using video review after the games, with first-time offenders receiving a warning, and fines starting with the second violation. I would guess that only egregious flops will be considered, but there's still a level of subjectivity involved — as Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News points out, there can be a fine line between selling a call and "flopping" (all Twitter links).

McDonald rightly adds that there could also be a disparity between an in-game call and a post-game ruling. For instance, a player could sink a pair of game-winning free throw following a foul that is ruled later to be a flop (Twitter links). Among the other cons for the new rule: Players are now being fined significantly more for "flops" than for technical fouls, which max out at $5K.

No rule instituted to prevent flopping will be perfect, and it's a step in the right direction for the league to adopt a policy for the coming season. But are you happy with the NBA's solution, or would you rather see flopping combated in another way? Submit your vote below and feel free to weigh in under the comments section.

Earlier this week, Luke Adams detailed which fourth-year players are eligible to receive extensions.  As Luke notes, Blake Griffin and Serge Ibaka, both of whom fall into this category, have already signed long-term deals this summer.  Griffin signed a maximum-salary deal and Ibaka signed for 4-years, $49MM.  The rest of the guys on the list have until October 31 to sign new deals with their respective teams or they will become free agents next summer.

Teams also have until October 31 to pick up their fourth-year option on players entering the third year of their rookie contracts.  Luke posted a list of those guys as well, none of whom look like surefire NBA stars just yet.  That said, several of them will likely get paid big bucks next summer.  But which ones?  Out of all of these guys, who deserves the biggest extension next summer?  Feel free to justify your vote in the comments section.