Ridiculous Transactions: 9/21-9/27

There have been many more training camp invitation/signings over the last few days, but I'm going to save most of those for tomorrow.  I'll also warn you in advance that I may not cover all of them, just the notable ones.  But that's not what this post is about.

September 23: Houston Rockets traded James White to the Denver Nuggets for the rights to Axel Hervelle

I wrote about this (at some length) at the time, but I wanted to add that ensuing events have increased White's odds to make Denver's roster somewhat.  First is the fact that Flip Murray signed with Charlotte, then the Nuggets signed Joey Graham.  The combination of those moves means that Denver will definitely need bench scoring, which is something that White can provide.  His contract is still unguaranteed, as far as I know, but here's hoping it works out.

September 24: San Antonio Spurs waived Jack McClinton

San Antonio's signing of Keith Bogans made McClinton expendable, if he wasn't already with Malik Hairston around.  I don't know if this is officially official yet, but McClinton is reportedly about to sign with the Timberwolves, which is a good move for that team.  The joke is that they've been stockpiling guards this offseason the way they used to with power forwards, but the team just waived Antonio Daniels (sorry, "came to a mutual agreement that he wouldn't play for them anymore") and Chucky Atkins, and Ricky Rubio isn't going to be in Minnesota for at least a few more years, so they're more shorthanded in the backcourt than you'd think.  With the team's guards consisting of Ramon Sessions, Sasha Pavlovic, Wayne Ellington, Jonny Flynn and now McClinton, this has to be one of the youngest groups ever, right?

I'd say McClinton has a decent shot at making the roster from a pure numbers standpoint.  I believe he's either the 13th or 14th guy they have (excluding Daniels and Mark Blount).  He also was a very efficient scorer in college, which is always nice, and while he's not great at finishing around the rim he has a nice jumper, something that might complement Al Jefferson's game nicely.  A lot of observers hailed San Antonio's pick of McClinton because he's ready to play in the NBA now, and I don't see any reason that changes because he moved to Minnesota.

September 26: New York Knicks - signed Ron Howard and Marcus Landry; Washington Wizards - signed Paul Davis and Vincent Grier.

Landy was on Sacramento's Summer League team, where he made almost 42 percent of his three-pointers and provided some occasional rebounding, and he didn't turn the ball over much, either.  Howard was a very good defender in the D-League last season, though he didn't provide much consistency in the way of scoring or rebounding.  He was on New York's Summer League team though he didn't always play much, so this is a nice little surprise of a signing.

September 27: Ime Udoka - signed with Portland Trail Blazers

A homecoming of sorts, as Portland was the site of Udoka's first real NBA success three years ago after he'd been hanging around the D-League and Europe since 2002.  His scoring output in pretty much every category has steadily declined since then, which makes some sense since he's now 32 years old.  He miiiiiiight be able to make the roster since the Blazers' other recent signing of Juwan Howard shows that they're looking to veteran it up and make a title run, but the team also already has anywhere from three to six guys who play Udoka's position.

As for the Wizards signings, Davis is eh.  They could've brought better players in, but at this point the Wizards' commitment to finding young, cheap talent may be worse than Philadelphia's, and Davis is unlikely to make the team anyway.  Grier has played in Europe the past few seasons, and there as in college he's been an efficient - and prolific - scorer.  I'd say he'd be an intriguing bench option for them, but he also has almost no chance of making the roster.