Rafter Alston Facing Suspension After Slap...or Is He?

The World Famous LayupDrill Rumor Mill
5/7/09

In the midst of the Celtics 112-94 beat down of the Orlando Magic in Game 2 of their series was an incident that occurred late in the second half. If you haven’t seen it, Eddie House, who had the best game of his post season career, had just hit another shot from long distance, when Magic starting point guard Rafer Alston smacks House in the back of the head.

The Magic took Alston out of the game at that point, but he was not ejected. Many feel Stu Jackson in the league office will suspend Alston for one game, mirroring Dwight Howard's punishment after he threw an elbow against the Sixers first round. Stay tuned…

In other news, OregonLive.com reports today that, as the Blazers begin to assess their plans to improve next season, one player that doesn’t seem to fit those plans is Travis Outlaw. Though Outlaw had a solid 2008-09 regular season, he was nowhere to be found during Portland’s first round series with Houston.

Another team bounced from the first round that has trade rumors surrounding their roster is the Utah Jazz. The Salt Lake Tribune writes today about some possible scenarios that Utah could face this summer, with their potential trade bait being Andrei Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer.

One possible trade, according to the paper, would send AK-47, Boozer, and a second round pick to Chicago for Loul Deng, Tryus Thomas, Tim Thomas, and Jerome James. Another option had Boozer and Ronnie Brewer heading to Chicago for Ben Gordon.

The Jazz have seemingly decided that they are ready to make some changes, and may have found a trade partner in Chicago to start dealing with.