Wizards close to acquiring Turiaf from Knicks

The Wizards appear to be on the verge of trading for veteran power forward/center Ronny Turiaf from the Knicks. The move, which is basically a salary dump, will give the Wizards an experienced big man on a team with several young front court players, such as Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee, Trevor Booker, Chris Singleton, and Kevin Seraphin.

The Wizards may also receive cash in the deal, and they probably won't be sending any players back to the Knicks (so who knows exactly what Washington is giving up).

Turiaf, who turns 29 in January, has averaged 5.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per game in six NBA seasons. He's also averaged 1.5 assists and 1.4 blocks per game. Turiaf is not much of a scorer; he's more of a hustle/high-energy guy who will rebound and play defense. So, he presents something off the bench that the Wizards haven't had much of for a while.

That doesn't mean he's a great player (he's not) or that he's going to see huge minutes (he shouldn't, especially if that means cutting into the minutes of Booker and Singleton). But since he'll defend and rebound, he may end up replacing McGee and Blatche more than a few times during this lockout-shortened season. And considering how compact this season will be, it's not a bad idea to have lots of depth.

Another positive: Turiaf will make a little over $4 million this season ($4.36 million according to ShamSports), but he's also in the last year of his deal. And since the Wizards still need to spend some money to reach the new salary cap floor, it's not a bad idea to acquire someone in the last year of his contract. If you subscribe to the sort of theory that a guy in the last year of his contract plays harder so that he sets himself up with a new deal afterwards, well, then that's another bonus of this trade. Regardless, it makes sense.

One more thing: Turiaf tends to get a little animated during games, so hopefully he provides a few of these moments for the Wizards:

FIU hires Thomas; one question: why?

For some strange reason, Florida International University decided that hiring Isiah Thomas to coach its basketball team would be a good idea.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, though, doesn't really agree with the decision -- at all:

He’s been hired as the basketball coach at Florida International University, and Thomas can make history here. This job gives Thomas the chance to obliterate programs in the NBA, CBA and now, NCAA.

Already, Thomas is talking about how he’s always wanted to coach college basketball, about how taking a job in the Sun Belt Conference was about a challenge, a choice. He isn’t going to FIU because he wants to, but because there’s nothing else for him. Beyond his professional failures, his behavior has made it impossible for a franchise to sell him politically in a public job.

"He feels like he’s toxic in the NBA right now," a longtime Thomas associate said. "He thinks this is the only way to get back in the basketball world."

Ouch. But is Wojnarowski wrong? In a word, no.

FIU certainly isn't the greatest basketball school of all time, but how does hiring Thomas send the message of trying to build a better program? First of all, Thomas isn't a good coach; his career record as a head coach in the NBA is 187-223, and as the coach of just the Knicks, Thomas was 56-108. He didn't develop any talent, and players started to tune him out as his tenure as coach went on.

Besides coaching poorly, Thomas was absolutely terrible at identifying talent. He made horrible trades, signed bad players to big money, and didn't do anything that made it seem like he should be in control of any basketball program on any level. And that's not even considering Thomas's embarrassing off-the-court distractions.

Sure, college basketball is much different than pro ball, but if Thomas can't coach or recruit well, what is he going to do? Apparently he'll work for free, that's what:

At his introductory news conference at FIU on Wednesday, Thomas said his salary the first year from the Golden Panthers will be donated back to the school's athletic department.

Thomas was fired by the New York Knicks last year. The team still owes him around $12 million for the final two years of his deal there.

So it's not much of a great gesture then, though it couldn't hurt his reputation at this point. If he lasts more than a season or two at FIU, I'll be shocked.