Deron Williams is now officially a member of the Besiktas basketball club, tweeting that he signed his contract and is headed to Turkey. This will continue to be one funny summer; We won’t believe any of this until we actually see it, until someone like Williams actually puts on another jersey and suits up. We’re skeptical … While that’s some pretty significant news, there’s perhaps an even bigger splash making the rumor rounds. DraftExpress is reporting that the same club was nearing a deal with Kobe Bryant for $450,000 a month, a 250K increase over D-Will’s deal, before a soccer match-fixing problem froze their accounts. For now they can’t sign anymore players and reportedly had a few of the team’s executives jailed over the accusations. Fishy. Josh Childress‘ recent advice is now rearing it’s ugly head: NBA players need to do their research before jumping at an offer. No word yet on what happens with Williams, but at least he knows now this isn’t the NBA. It’s dirtier, and teams are much more willing to tightrope the boundaries if it means they can get ahead of the game or land a couple of superstars. Will Kobe still sign there? Doesn’t look like it’s happening, at least not for a while. But imagine if he did? Number one, that team would be a juggernaut. Number two, it would instantly make Besiktas a huge attraction worldwide. Bryant, even though he probably isn’t the best player in the world anymore, is probably the biggest international star, someone whose face is known everywhere, from China to Spain to Turkey to Russia. The motivation is obvious … If you’re Mike Miller, you buy all new clothes, turn in the old rides, get a new place, change the sheets, pots and pans, everything. This year couldn’t have been any worse for Miller. He’s cursed. The Miami forward underwent another surgery, this time to repair his left shoulder, after he spent much of the postseason crumpled up like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Heat fans will surely get riled up, saying once Miller gets back healthy, it’ll change everything. The only issue with that is Miller wasn’t good last year, but wasn’t any good the few years before either … While Dr. Bal Raj helped break down what exactly plantar fasciitis is last week, Tyreke Evans is saying he’s 100 percent healed. If he does revert back to his rookie year form, if DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t act like a baby, if Jimmer transitions to the pros nicely and if John Salmons gets his groove back, that team could be really exciting. Still, that’s a lot of ifs … There’s been a lot of talk about Lorenzo Brown going beastmode this offseason, and people at N.C. State are excited and expecting big things out of the sophomore this winter. Just as long as they aren’t playing Duke. He might be scared of Austin Rivers now, and we can’t blame him. Rivers put a move on Brown that was so nasty, our man nearly fell right through the floor. We can’t even really explain what Brown was doing; he was basically running the wrong way. Rivers wetted the three too … We’re out like Brown’s equilibrium.
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