BasketballDifferent players, same team?

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Hedo Turkoglu (left) and Rashard Lewis (right) were part of a three team trade that sent Turkoglu back to Orlando and Lewis to Washington. (Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)

The big three-team weekend deal between the Magic, Wizards and Suns sort of reminds me of when Kramer traded a radar detector to Newman in exchange for a helmet in an episode of Seinfeld.

But the reality is you can say that about a lot of NBA trades these days, where each team gets rid of something around the house they no longer want in exchange for something that was more valuable five years ago.

Sometimes the radar detectors are faulty, and other times the helmet saves your life from a kick to the head.



In terms of the only contender in the mix, it's debatable whether Orlando is any better off. While you can't yet completely rule out Gilbert Arenas' ability to score 20 a game, adding gunners like himself and Jason Richardson doesn't necessarily surround Dwight Howard with any more of the tools needed to beat Boston or Miami than they had before.

Like Al Horford said after the Hawks beat the Magic Monday in their new-look debut, "They're the same team but with different players."

Rashard Lewis is basically a stocking stuffer given that Washington had been trying for months to lose Arenas in order to truly make the Wizards' John Wall's team.

It's somewhat vexing that Phoenix got rid of an expiring contract in J-Rich for one with an extra year in Vince Carter, but there's a caveat in Vince's contract that could make him a free agent next summer with his team taking a $4 million hit if he's waived. Of course, the other key for the Suns was getting rid of Hedo Turkoglu.

They also added a young big in Marcin Gortat, and there's no reason to think that Phoenix is done dealing (Steve Nash or not). Until then, fitting Arizona's image as a destination for old people, the Suns will start a lineup including Nash (37 in February), Carter (34 in February), and Grant Hill (38).

On Sunday night in Oklahoma City, Hill recorded his first 30-point, 10-rebound game since Bill Clinton was in the White House.

To remind the young kids, there was a time in the mid-90s when people were wearing fluorescent teal clothing and drinking Labatt Ice that Hill was the first "next Jordan" guy. That label (and all similar comparisons since) was moronic, but along with Ken Griffey Jr., it's hard to think of two other branded stars that had their careers sidetracked as badly because of injuries.

Portrait of an Artest

Say what you want about Ron Artest. One thing for certain is that there's nobody like him in the pro sports universe. The Internet is not big enough to recap Artest's career, which is probably why Steve Manale and group of fellow artists decided to do an exhibit about notable events in the Laker forward's life at a Toronto gallery last week.

The art show, "Lovable Badass," traced Artest's turmoil-filled NBA career from applying for a part-time job at Circuit City in order to get an employee discount on electronics to drinking cognac in locker rooms at halftime, to the infamous 2004 Pacers-Pistons brawl.

True to form, Artest showed up at the exhibit on Saturday night in Toronto, although he was initially nervous about he might be portrayed.

"I didn't know what to think about it at first ... it was overwhelming," Artest said after the Lakers beat the Raptors the next day. "I only wanted to stay five minutes because of [Saturday night's] Bernard Hopkins fight."

But he did stay longer than five, and did seem impressed. "Some things I forgot about. I almost forgot about my little puppies ... one of my puppies I was holding (fashioned from an old photo in a plasticine sculpture in the exhibit) was one my puppies that got hit (by a car) ... I was kind of devastated about that."

Artest, who memorably thanked his psychiatrist on live TV after helping the Lakers win the NBA title last June, has also taken it upon himself the past few months to raise awareness and funds for mental health issues -- and from experience, he says, it starts with young people.

"Whether it's abuse situations, parent situations, environment situations or lack of confidence situations ... we need our kids to be mentally strong."

Artest is genuine about shining a light on an illness that doesn't get the press that others do. He'll raffle off his championship ring on Christmas Day when the Lakers play the Heat, with funds from ticket sales going to mental health charities.

And -- if there is an NBA season next year -- he says he will donate an undetermined portion of his salary to the cause. "I get about three [million] after taxes. So if I can't live off one [million]... If you can't live off 500,000, you might as well not even live."

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