The always awesome Uniwatch Blog has some great stuff on how the new four-panel NBA ball might or might not affect NBA logo and uniform designs.

They also have some stuff on these new Washington Wizards’ third/alt jerseys…. I hate that shoulder piping as it screams WNBA to me. I’m going to hold out judgment as to whether the new adidas era of the NBA will pan out.

The new color scheme actually looks like it should be the uniform for either Vanderbilt or Army, down to even the stars.

In another strange chapter in Celtics’ guard Sebastian Telfair’s NBA journey, the Boston Herald reports that he spent the second half of the Celtics’ Tuesday night exhibition game studying police lineups after he was robbed at gunpoint of jewelry on Monday (the incident occured around 10pm as he was leaving dinner).

What’s notable is that Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers actually covered for Telfair stating that he was out with a stomach ailment.   I’m not bothered by that frankly, as it’s really not Rivers’ spot to reveal something like that without knowing Telfair’s feelings about it.

The whole thing is a non-issue to me at least in regards to Telfair’s role.   He was a victim of crime, plain and simple and trying to make anything more out of it is just heaping on.  If the incident had happened later in the evening (such as rapper Fabolous getting shot later that evening at 2 AM)  there might be a story.

Talk amongst yourselves…..

Last season was supposed to be a breakout one for Sixers’ center Samuel Dalembert. Coming off an ‘04-’05 season where he averaged 8.2 pts & 7.5 rbds, Dalembert failed to grow on those stats (actually dipping in scoring to 7.3 ppg) and was an overall dissapointment. He would seemingly dissapear for stretches and was largely ineffective.

Whatever the motivation, his performance during the Sixers’ preseason tour of Europe thus far has been a total revitalization of the promise he showed two seasons ago. I’m watching Philly play CSKA Moscow as I write (on tape delay) and the energy shown by Dalembert, particularly on the glass and blocking shots, has that type of spark I usually see out of players poised for a big year. Granted it’s the preseason, but the tone for the year is usually set now, and I like what I see out of Dalembert. If you’ve got a fantasy squad looking for a good alternative at the very soft center position, Dalembert should be a very strong consideration.

(Update: Dalembert finished the game with 15 points, 18 rebounds and 5 blocked shots in a 85-71 Sixers victory of CSKA Moscow, a team that actually beat the Clippers 94-75 a week ago)

Competition in the NBA’s Southwest Division was already tight but just got a little tighter with news that Bonzi Wells signed a two-year, $5 million free agent deal with the Houston Rockets.

I’d been up and down on the Rockets’ offseason moves for most of the summer. Although I appreciate the things Shane Battier can add to a team, I thought having to trade away a scorer like Rudy Gay (who fell into the Rockets’ lap at the draft) was too high a cost, particularly with Tracy McGrady’s bad back.

Picking up a player like Bonzi Wells however, makes the Battier trade look a lot better and ensures that the Rockets will be in the mix this season. Wells gives Houston a proven scorer who can do a little both inside and outside, as well as gives McGrady another outlet scoring option besides Yao. With Battier’s proven shooting touch also added to the mix, opposing teams won’t be able to double and triple up on McGrady quite the same way. Additionally, Yao is a tremendous passer out of the post and they could run some interesting things through him.

With the Wells signing, I think the Rockets will move ahead of the Grizzlies this year (particularly with Pau Gasol’s foot injury) and contend with the Hornets for the third spot in the Southwest. Dallas and San Antonio are still the class of the Division and will battle for the 1 & 2 spots.

Wells history of team chemistry problems is well-known, but I think that the relative lack of interest he saw in this year’s free agent market will give him a little hunger to prove himself for his next contract.

The Knicks Keep Spending

After deciding not to match the Spurs’ offer sheet for Jackie Butler, the Knicks’ have gone after Wizards’ bigman Jared Jeffries with a huge mid-level offer of five years for $30 million. While it’s common for bigmen (Jeffries is 6′11″) to be overpaid, Jeffries has been very average offensively in his four seasons in the NBA, averaging only 6.4 points and 4.9 rebounds last season. Jeffries can run the floor a little and is a fairly stout defender however.  Isiah Thomas might be envisioning a Boris Diaw-type role for Jeffries in the new uptempo offense he plans to run in New York although the difference here is Jeffries has already shown what his ceiling is and it’s lower than Diaw’s. If the Wizards decide not to match the Knicks’ offer (which is up in the air at this point), Jeffries will join Jerome James on the list of bad Knicks free agent signings.