A watershed day for agent/player – team negotiations passed on the day that the Bucks finally signed PF Yi Jianlian...why you ask? Well it turns out that deal was sealed by Bucks owner Herb Kohl guaranteeing that Yi would average 20-25 minutes a game as a rookie…how many other agents are going to point to this deal in the future and say, my guy has to play or he’s not coming? There is some though that Kohl may have done this without the blessing of current head coach Larry Krystkowiak, which will be really awkward in January when Yi is stinking it up, but still being subbed into games for more productive players because of the guarantee…considering how little Raptors rookie Andrea Bargnani played at the start of the year, and Bargniani is way more talented than Yi folks, this might get ugly…So Yi guaranteed minutes don’t materialize? Apparently the deal is such that Yi can head straight to Kohl and demand to be traded…ugly…

Way to go Tommy and all the sales guys at the Raptors…The Raptors, coming off a 47-35 season in which they returned to the playoffs for the first time in four years and won the first division title in franchise history, have had about a 98 per cent renewal rate on season tickets.

Bucks free agent PG Charlie Bell, who averaged 13.5 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.0 APG and 1.2 SPG in 34.7 MPG last year is still negotiating with Milwaukee and apparently things are not going well...hard to imagine with so many teams needing PG help, especially a 6’3” 200 lb PG who plays defence and come into the league the hard way…

Great story about the next big thing, from Luke Winn of Si.com:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/luke_winn/08/30/sidney/index.html

Chris Sheridan of ESPN.com has lost his mind:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&id=3002943

Terrific idea here by Henry Abbott of Truehoop, asking Michael Ray Richardson about Eddie Griffin:

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-27-88/Micheal-Ray-Richardson-on-Eddie-Griffin-and-Addiction.html

Sean Deveaney of Thesportingnews.com with his list of the “Big Country” list:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20593136/