A physically fit Raymond Felton provides the New York Knicks with a healthy backcourt. (GETTY IMAGES)

The NBA season is still a little early, but there are some very interesting developments.

What a difference a 7-1 start makes

The New York Knicks were mocked and made fun of when they decided to go with Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd as their new backcourt. Well, well, well. Nobody is laughing now.

Felton was clearly out of shape last season with the potential lockout having many NBA’ers playing at less than their usual level. He didn’t seem comfortable in Portland and the losing that was going on in the City of Roses, but he is playing lights out for NY (15.5 points per game and 6.5 assists per game).

Jason Kidd has played more of a marksman role next to Felton in a smaller backcourt. But, it has paid huge dividends for them. Kidd is shooting 54.3% and 52% on 3-pointers. He isn’t going to maintain that obviously, but he has come a long way from the days when he was called Ason Kidd because he didn’t have a J.

Ronnie Brewer has also been a solid player as the third guard/small forward with Melo playing power forward. He’s a very good defender and a hustle guy.

The Knicks were also mocked when they brought in Kurt Thomas, Marcus Camby and convinced Rasheed Wallace to come out of retirement. Wallace has slowly worked his way into playing shape and contributed some valuable minutes off the bench. Sheed has had three games where he scored at least 10 points and is shooting 46.5%.

A new contender out West

The Los Angeles Clippers went out and added a whole new bench. Last year, they had Randy Foye and this year their sixth man is Jamal Crawford. The difference is like night and day.

Foye averaged 9.8 points off the bench and so far Crawford is scoring 20.7 points (52.2% and 44%). But, that isn’t the only difference. Crawford brings some swag, also known as confidence down the stretch. Crawford will take the big shots someone else on the Clippers likes to take. “Mr Big Shot” himself, Chauncey Billups.

Crawford is a cold-blooded assassin who is not afraid to take big shots.

A healthy Eric Bledsoe also gives them a great 1-2 punch at point guard along with All-Star Chris Paul. Bledsoe has been playing extremely well (10.6 points and 2.8 assists) and has to strike fear in the opposing coaches’ gameplan.

Once Billups and Grant Hill get healthy, the Clippers will have a team that can go 10 deep.

Houston Rockets

There was some outrage over Jeremy Lin being given a poison-pill contract when he was offered a back-loaded deal that all but killed his chances of re-signing with the New York Knicks.

Many said it was crazy because he doesn’t have the traditional strengths of most point guards. Lin is off to a slow start offensively, averaging just under 11 points per game, but he hasn’t found his shot just yet this season. However, he is averaging 6.7 assists per game and 2.3 steals per game. More surprising is he has shown he can rebound better than he did last year in Gotham (he is averaging 4.7 rebounds). He should be able to bring up his 35.5% shooting percentage.

Omer Asik was a career backup with the Chicago Bulls and he was given a surprisingly rich contract for a player that hadn’t shown much. But, he has turned into a rebounding beast, averaging 13.2 boards. He’s also averaging 11 points and 1.2 blocks.

Both players are looking promising and James Harden has turned into a scoring machine.

Houston still has a max contract to offer next summer and could be a playoff team quicker than a lot of people thought after losing out on the major free agents last summer.

A team to watch out for

The Memphis Grizzlies are playing like they are a team that have something to prove. They seem to lack a superstar or a go-to player, but they are just winning games. As their 7-1 start and leading the Southwest division shows.

They have an excellent frontcourt with Rudy Gay (19.8 points), Zach Randolph (17.2 points and 13.9 rebounds) and Marc Gasol (15 points and 7.3 rebounds), but their backcourt is just average.

A good friend of mine says they lack a star in the backcourt, but Mike Conley (14 points, six assists and two steals per game) is a poor man’s Tony Parker. And their shooting guard is Tony Allen. He provides some intangibles that this team needs, a defender with championship experience. And they added Jerryd Bayless in the offseason to back up Conley and play some shooting guard.

The Grizzlies took the Clippers to seven games in playoffs last year and knocked off the Spurs in the first round a couple years ago. This is a squad no team wants to face in the postseason, and just one reason why the Western Conference is deeper than the East.

Andrei Kirilenko

AK47 spent his entire career in Utah until last season when he decided to return to Russia when the NBA was on the verge of a lockout.

Returning this season, he has been an excellent pickup for Minnesota who is without Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio. AK47 is averaging 14.1 points (59.7% on FGAs and 53.3% of his 3s), 8.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.4 steals.

Kirilenko’s versatility is his best asset, He does a little bit of everything, and he is having an effect on the Wolves. They are allowing just 90 points (second best in the NBA), opponents are shooting just 42.4% (fourth best) from the field and 33.3% on 3s (tied for 10th).

AK47 is my early candidate for comeback player of the year.

Darren Jacks is a regular contributor to OneManFastBreak.net. Send him an email to: djroxalot@hotmailcom.

Olympiakos players celebrate a championship after beating CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague Final Four at the Sinan Erdem Arena in Istanbul. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

It wasn’t suppose to end this way for CSKA Moscow, a team that boasts NBA starters Andrei Kirilenko and Nenad Krstic and European star Milos Teodosic and could compete in the NBA.

CSKA led for most of Sunday’s Euroleague Final in Istanbul, Turkey. But one dramatic comeback by Olympiakos Piraeus foiled CSKA’s championship aspirations. Trailing CSKA 53-34 midway through the third quarter, Olympiakos dug deep and completed a stunning comeback after Gergios Printezis scored late in the fourth to give the Greek club a 62-61 win to capture its second Euro title.

Having had their budget cut by the economic crisis in Greece, Olympiakos first defied the odds to reach the playoffs and the arrived to the Final Four as the least heralded team to win the showpiece event in Istanbul.

Led by their Serbian coach Dusan Ivkovic, a trophy-laden tactical maestro in his second spell in charge of Olympiakos, the Greek outfit upset 2010 winners Barcelona in the semis before overpowering six-time winners CSKA.

“I have to thank my players, the staff and our incredible fans who stuck with us through the thick and thin, this victory is a result of tremendous will-power and a monumental effort to achieve the impossible,” Ivkovic told reporters.

Cutting an incredibly calm figure after the most dramatic of wins, the 68-year-old coach added: “CSKA were the obvious favorites not just today but throughout the season and it was our iron-clad defense that turned the match.

“Of course it helped that I coach CSKA’s fellow Serbs Milos Teodosic and Nenad Krstic in the national team, the former got off to a great start and was their best player but we staged a hardly explicable fourth quarter fightback.”

CSKA romped to a 25-13 lead thanks to its defense and three-pointers by Teodosic, who was a second-team All-Euroleague selection in 2012. His teammates Kirilenko and Krstic were first-team selections, and Kirilenko — who played for the Utah Jazz for a decade — was named the regular season MVP. The team looked in complete control against a club it had defeated handily during the regular season, winning one game by a whopping 32-point margin in Moscow.

But the CSKA offense came to a screeching halt at crunch time while Vassilis Spanoulis, named the tournament’s most valuable player, started hitting jump-shots and dishing out assists to his teammates that led to easy baskets. For those who may recall, Spanoulis was on Greece’s men’s national team that scored a stunning upset over a United States team led by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony in the 2006 FIBA World Championships, so the Greek guard is no stranger to slaying basketball giants.

After forward Ramunas Siskauskas missed two foul shots with 10 seconds left, Spanoulis notched his final assist in the game’s most important moment when he found an unmarked Printezis on the baseline to beat the buzzer and throw 5,000 ecstatic Olympiakos fans into a frenzy.

“Spanoulis was our driving force throughout the Final Four but it was our team spirit and die-hard attitude that turned the match on its head,” Olympiakos center Pero Antic told Reuters.

“We never stopped believing in ourselves even when we were 19 points down, we knew we could get back into the game if we carried on playing strong defense and we got our reward.”

For Ivkovic, it was a gratifying finale as he won the second Euroleague title with Olympiakos after guiding them to their first success in Europe’s elite competition in 1997. “Now we will party, have a few days’ rest and prepare for the Greek league’s final series against Panathinaikos, it will be like another Final Four,” said Antic.

“With a bit of luck, we will repeat the trick and give Ivkovic the same kind of joy he tasted 15 years ago.”

Reuters contributed to this report.

New York Knicks guard Baron Davis left Game 4 in the third quarter after injuring his kneecap. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Baron Davis is an old basketball warrior, and sometimes they don’t know when to quit. Well, on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks guard may have played his last game in the NBA but it’s probably not the way Boom Dizzle wanted to go out.

With 5:15 left in the third quarter of Game 4 between the Knicks and Miami Heat, Davis drove in for a layup on a fastbreak, something he’s done a thousand times. When Davis planted his right foot he slipped and went down in obvious pain, holding his knee.

As fans chanted his name — “Baron Davis, Baron Davis” — Davis acknowledged the crowd with his fist in the air.

The Knicks later announced the injury as a dislocated right patella. Tests will be done Monday.

If this was the last time we’ll see B.Diddy in a NBA game, it will be a career that included more than 13,000 points and some fantastic seasons when he was a Hornet and Warrior.

His best season came in 2003-04 as a member of the New Orleans Hornets. That season, Davis averaged a career-best 22.9 points per game. His most memorable moment came in the 2007 playoffs when he led the eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors to a monumental upset in the first round over the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks. He punctuated his incredible playoff run when he threw down a monster dunk over Andrei Kirilenko of the Utah Jazz in the conference semifinals.

Hopefully, Davis will be able to return from this devastating injury. If not, he left us with some great basketball memories.

Tyson Chandler wants to return to the world champion Dallas Mavericks but the new CBA deal may complicate his plans. (USPRESSWIRE)

Now that the NBA and its players have finally reached an agreement on a new collective bargaining contract after five months of posturing and bickering, teams can start working on their free agency plans. The free agency period is set to begin on Dec. 9, which is the same time training camps open.

Although the 2011 free agency class is not as potent as the 2010 class there are still plenty of good names on the list that could tilt the balance of power in each conference. Defending champion Dallas has six players whose contracts expired on July 1 and all are unrestricted (Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojakovic, J.J. Barea, Caron Butler, Brian Cardinal, DeShawn Stevenson), which means they can sign with any team. The Denver Nuggets could lose Nene Hilario and J.R. Smith, while the Portland Trail Blazers need to decide if they want to keep 2007 No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden, who has been hampered by two devastating knee injuries the past two seasons.

Kris Humphries is an unrestricted free agent, but it is not known if ex-wife Kim Kardashian is going to use her midlevel exception on him. OneManFastBreak.net examines the 10 best free agents available when training camp starts on Dec. 9:

10) TAYSHAUN PRINCE (UNRESTRICTED)
The 6-foot-9 forward has been stuck in gloomy Detroit since his rookie season in 2002. The Pistons are going nowhere and now is the best time to bail. Prince is only 31 years old and could be persuaded to play for a contending team. Prince is a capable role player who plays solid defense and has championship experience.

9) J.J. BAREA (UNRESTRICTED)
The Puerto Rican sensation had been mired in obscrurity for much of his NBA career, but he burst onto the national spotlight during the 2011 playoffs when he lit up the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals. Barea, who played behind Jason Kidd, could command interest from teams desperate for a point guard.

Point guard J.J. Barea backs up Jason Kidd in Dallas. (GETTY IMAGES)

8) GLEN DAVIS (UNRESTRICTED)
The Celtics’ window of opportunity to win another NBA title is closing. They have seven unrestricted free agents and one restricted (Jeff Green). One of the unrestricted free agents is Glen “Big Baby” Davis. Davis is a backup forward who can play starter minutes if given an opportunity. Davis, who is only 25, will be seeking a long-term deal, but Boston will definitely try hard to keep him. The Nuggets, Magic and Pistons have already inquired about Davis.

7) AARON BROOKS (RESTRICTED
Still unsure why the Rockets gave up so quickly on Brooks, who can change the game with his speed and 3-point shooting. The Suns acquired Brooks in a trade with the Rockets as insurance policy for All-Star point guard Steve Nash, who will be a free agent in the summer of 2012. We’ll find out soon if Brooks is in the Suns’ long-term plans if he’s offered a $50-million deal by another team.

6) DAVID WEST (UNRESTRICTED)
The Hornets are in a delicate position. If they don’t re-sign David West they could potentially lose their franchise player Chris Paul even before the season starts because management is basically telling CP3 that they are not committed to winning. West is coming off knee surgery so teams need to be conscious of the fact that he may not be the same player before the injury.

5) ANDREI KIRILENKO (UNRESTRICTED)
Hard to imagine seeing AK47 in a different uniform because he has been a fixture with the Jazz for a decade. But also hard to imagine the Jazz signing the forward to an $86-million deal six years ago. Talk about overpaying for guy who is not even a third-team All-NBA performer. Kirilenko, 30, may not be a franchise player, but he can be signed for half that amount for a contending team.

4) TYSON CHANDLER (UNRESTRICTED)
It would be a shame should the Mavericks lose Chandler because his presence on the defensive end was crucial to the Mavericks’ championship run last June. The 7-1, center has said he would like to return to Dallas, but the new collective bargaining rules may make it hard for him to re-sign with the Mavs.

3) JAMAL CRAWFORD (UNRESTRICTED)
The Atlanta Hawks were quick to give big contracts to Joe Johnson and Al Horford, but the team has been hesitant to give Crawford an extension. Free agency is nothing new to Crawford, who bounced around three teams (Chicago, New York, Golden State) before landing in Atlanta in 2009. Crawford could bounce again if the Hawks don’t show him some love.

Jamal Crawford's days with the Atlanta Hawks may be numbered. (USPRESSWIRE)

2) NENE HILARIO (UNRESTRICTED)
Could it be deja vu for the Nuggets? They lost Carmelo Anthony last year to the New York Knicks and now they could potentially lose Nene without compensation. Nene, 29, is still in the prime of his career and any team can certainly use a 6-10 power forward – who can occasionally play center – that shoots almost 60% from the field.

1) MARC GASOL (RESTRICTED)
Pau Gasol’s younger brother is the gem of this year’s free agent class. The 7-1, 270-pound center is only 26 years old and a true low-post player who can affect the game on both ends. Marc Gasol is a restricted free agent, which means the Grizzlies can match any offer. But true centers are hard to find in the NBA so the big Spaniard should draw a lot of suitors and force the Grizzlies to match the offer.

Utah Jazz forward and Russian national team standout Andrei Kirilenko (right) is making a huge impact in the Euroleague for CSKA Moscow. (REUTERS)

If not for the NBA lockout, Andrei Kirilenko would be in the United States preparing for his 11th season with the Utah Jazz. But with the NBA calendar wiped out through the month of November and labor negotiations continue to drag on, Kirilenko and other pros have made the trek to Europe to regain their fame and grab a little fortune as well.

The biggest beneficiary of Kirilenko’s European arrival has been CSKA Moscow. The top team in Russia currently is undefeated in the Euroleague standings and as long as the lockout persists, meaning Kirilenko will stay on the team, CSKA could have the most talented team in Europe.

With Kirilenko (nicknamed AK47) back in the CSKA starting lineup where his pro career began to blossom, CSKA is extremely long and athletic. The club also boasts Boston Celtics center Nenad Krstic, former Euroleague MVP Milos Teodosic, former Chicago Bulls forward Viktor Khryapa, and highly touted guard Alexey Shved.

Kirilenko and Khryapa are 6-foot-9 forwards, while Krstic is listed at 7 feet. In the backcourt, CSKA features Shved and Teodosic, who captured Euroleague’s top honor in 2010 and that same year was named to the FIBA World Championship all-tournament team while playing for Serbia. Teodosic can play point or shooting guard, while Shved is a 6-6, 22-year-old phenom who has been compared to Penny Hardaway. Watch his alley-oop dunk in EuroBasket 2011 against Finland off a feed from Khryapa.

Want more length? How about a couple of 6-11 centers in Darjus Lavrinovic and Sasha Kaun and 6-9 Andrey Vorontsevich. Kaun won a national championship at Kansas in 2008 and is only 26, while Lavrinovic, 31, was signed by CSKA in the summer after spending one season with Fenerbahce Ulker in the Turkish League. Vorontsevich is a member of the Russian national team who had 13 points in a 94-74 win over Brose Baskets.

Former Mississippi State standout Jamont Gordon, who signed with CSKA last year after a stint with Cibona Zagreb, gives CSKA another capable scorer in the backcourt. Forward Ramunas Siskauskas is a talented 6-6 forward who is averaging 11 points per game in three VTB United League games.

The terms of Kirilenko’s contract with CSKA is a three-year deal with an option to return to the NBA as soon as the lockout is over. So, as long as the NBA season is on hold, Kirilenko will remain in Moscow and that’s bad news for the rest of the clubs in the Euroleague.

During a game between the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets, the nightcap of TNT’s doubleheader, Andrei Kirilenko had the ballgame in his hands but he let it slipped through his soft hands. Here’s a recap of what happened:

Devin Harris buried a 3-point shot with 1.2 seconds left to cut the Nuggets’ lead to two at 103-101. On the in-bounds play, Denver’s Kenyon Martin got cute with the ball and he flubbed it right into the fingertips of Kirilenko. All AK47 needed to do was gather Martin’s misplayed ball and score a layup to send the game into overtime. But somehow Kirilenko bobbled the ball and couldn’t even get a decent shot attempt. It looked like he never got a clean hold of the ball and – for lack of a better term – simply choked. Watch and judge for yourself:

The last time Kirilenko suffered this kind of embarrassment was in 2007 when Baron Davis, back when he can still jump, dropped a nasty dunk in AK47’s face during a playoff game in Oakland.