It is official, point guard Allen Iverson is heading to Turkey. The eleven-time NBA all-star signed to a two-year deal worth $4 million with the Turkish pro basketball team, the Besiktas. Yahoo! Sports first reported this.

Iverson is expected to report to the team by next week or so.

The contract allows Iverson to opt out of his first year, but it didn't show anything about an escape-clause to the NBA, however.

Besiktas' board member, Seref Yalcin, may travel to the United States to discuss to Iverson what situation he is in and help with the deal that is in place with the team.

He will discuss a long range of details with Iverson. This also means about moving to Turkey along with his family. Yalcin said that he will also talk about schools for Iverson's children in Istanbul.

"I think this transfer will take place," Yalcin said.

It's sad to see that no NBA team had took interest in him. It actually completely surprises me, somewhat. But I wish him all the best with the Besiktas.

New Jersey Nets Help Out

The New Jersey Nets have donated an amount of $75,000 to the Eric LeGrand fund, according to the Associated Press. LeGrand was a Rutgers' lineman who got injured during a game, later pronounced paralyzed.

"We just wanted to find a way to show our support," point guard Devin Harris said. "The athletic community is a very tight-knit group, and what happened to Eric is something that affects all athletes at every level. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family."

Heat Trim Roster to 15

The Miami Heat have reportedly trimmed their roster down to the maximum limit of 15 players. They cut two players, which were Da'Sean Butler and Patrick Beverley.

Butler, who was estimated become a top-ten draft-pick before his injury, was a second round pick. He torn his ACL in a game with West Virginia. He averaged 6.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and three assists in six pre-season games with the Heat.

I really wouldn't be surprised at all if any of these two get called up by any of the NBA teams this season. I can see the San Antonio Spurs taking a shot at one of these players, due to that they have 14 players on the roster so far. They could add one more, possibly getting a steal.

Personally, I thought Butler would at least stay. I rather have Joel Anthony getting cut. Butler staying and Anthony getting cut would have been a lot better. As I heard from a bunch of other Heat fans, they wanted the same thing. Many aren't a fan of the big man.

NBA Rumors and Quick News

• According to the New York Post, Wilson Chandler could get an extension with the New York Knicks.
• Carlos Arroyo will start at point guard for the Miami Heat in the team's first regular season, which will be against the Boston Celtics.
• Stephen Curry will be available for the Golden State Warriors' season opener.
• Fran Vasquez, the Orlando Magic's 2005 draft pick, could finally sign with the team for the 2011-12 season.
• Chris Paul will wear a knee brace for the New Orleans Hornets' season opener.
• Keith Bogans could start over Ronnie Brewer with the Chicago Bulls.
• Tracy McGrady has been impressing lately with the Detroit Pistons, according to the Detroit Free Press.
• Antwan Jamison is to start for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
• The New York Knicks waived Patrick Ewing Jr., who is the son of the Knicks' legend. Sad to see that happen. Really wanted him to make it.

Michael Jordan has done a lot for the National Basketball Association. Sadly as a 13-year-old myself, I have never really got to see him play. The great Michael Jordan, I know. The only time I ever remember watching him live was when the guy was on the Washington Wizards. I never really got to see the true him. But I have seen over millions of highlights, games, and clips of the best player in the league history. Here are the Top Five moments in Michael Jordan's career.

Honorable Mention: Final Farewell

This would be the last we would ever see of Michael Jordan, ever, playing the game of basketball in the NBA. Jordan made his final farewell as he ended this game and his career with the Washington Wizards.

The only reason I wouldn't rank this part higher is due to the fact that many would like it better to not remember Jordan when he was with the Wizards. He never had enough to guide the Wiz to the playoffs.

They came close at times, but Jordan was always hit by injuries and had terrible knees. Adding t that, despite Washington had young talent, they counted too much on No. 23. The Wizards had to rely on a 40-year-old man. Yet, he still had it in him, still putting up at least 20 points a night along with a career-high of 50-plus points. When do you ever see a 40-year-old guy do that?

5. Drafted in 1984

Why not really start of the list when Jordan was finally introduced into the NBA. He was drafted third overall by the Chicago Bulls. Jordan was a pretty underrated, but very great, prospect coming out of North Carolina.

But he showed himself up and had a great rookie season. Nobody knew, however, that this 6'6" shooting guard would become the best player in the game.

4. Career-High game

Against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Michael Jordan brought in a career-high 69 points, 18 rebounds, and six assists. He played just awesome. Many usually debate his performance against Los Angeles Lakers' shooting guard Kobe Bryant, who had 81 points. However, Jordan had way more rebounds and assists, which makes want to give the edge to Jordan. A great game played by a great player.

3. The Shot

Michael Jordan did something that the Cavaliers fans will never forget. Down by a point to Cleveland, Jordan made a quick shot over Craig Ehlo to deliver the game-winner as the Chicago Bulls beat the Cavs! Obviously, this has to be an amazing accomplishment. This shot would start telling people that Jordan was the absolute real deal.

2. First Finals' Win

It was finally time that Michael Jordan would bring the Bulls to their first NBA Finals' appearance. But it was going to be tough, considering the fact that it would be against Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers. However, Jordan proved the naysayers and critics wrong, giving the Bulls their first NBA title along with burying the Lakers in six games.

1. Michael Jordan vs. Utah Jazz

This is my favorite moment of Michael Jordan. He showed true greatness here. He helped get two Finals' wins over the Utah Jazz, tallying up his total to six rings! There were many great stories coming from the games where Jordan met the Jazz in the Finals. One came when Jordan had the "Last Shot," delivering a game-winner of Russell. Fans knew this was much like the Cleveland game. When you look at the expression on their faces, it seems like they know what is coming to them. Then came the "Flu Game," where Jordan played with a terrible flu. Many were surprised that he actually was playing. Jordan play fantastic, but was exhausted completely after as you can see in the picture above.

Well, Jordan had a great career. What do you guys think? What were your favorite moments of Michael Jordan? Share your thoughts below in the comments!

The Indiana Pacers played a miserable game versus the Chicago Bulls in their final pre-season game, getting trampled with a 102-74 loss. And with the loss, along with a regular season game coming against the San Antonio Spurs in about a week, is there a cause for concern with the Pacers? I am concerned with them.

They have brought all this talent, and all they lost was Troy Murphy and Earl Watson, which won't make much of an impact when you see the new acquisitions brought in. However, seeing that game, I just keep thinking Indy is in for another bad year. How is it possible. The worst Indiana can do is get the ninth or tenth seed to me.

There can't be any excuses for this season. None. With a healthy Danny Granger, a more revolutionized Roy Hibbert, the new acquisitions like Darren Collison and Paul George, and the new set of power forwards; how can Indy fail? The Central Division has gotten a lot weaker. Basically, the only teams I see passing Indiana in the division are the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks. There is no excuse for the Detroit Pistons and the Cleveland Cavaliers getting past.

I have Indy finishing second in the division. With a game coming up against the Spurs, I wouldn't be surprised with a win or loss. This could easily go both ways. With the squad Indiana had last year, they came within one point of beating the Spurs. Who knows what they can do season?

Many have been criticizing Indiana due to that they think the power forward spot is weak. I don't see any weaknesses. People just think Tyler Hansbrough will fail this season due to what happened last year. Come on, the guy has a running motor and has one of the best mentalities in the game. He is easily the most dedicated player on the roster. And remember, if you think, you stink!

I really do not want to see the Pacers ending up like last season. 42 wins is my guess for Indiana. They just have to make the playoffs this season. If they do make it and actually try really hard, I see it. It's possible. Definitely possible. Along with that, this is Jim O'Brien's last chance to prove himself. If he doesn't lead Indiana to the playoffs this year, he's fired. He's done.

So you better bet the Pacers are going to go all-out every game. I see a good season for Indiana. So the Bulls game doesn't give me a huge concern now, anymore. Pre-season is pre-season. Now it's time for the real deal.

I'm pretty sure the Pacers can give the Spurs the real deal.

According to the Associated Press, the Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to trade point guard Jerryd Bayless to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for a conditional future first-round draft pick. The Blazers did this to create extra room and salary cap space on the roster.

Bayless has showed some shining moments with the Blazers in his past two seasons, but has been struggling as of late. The third-year point guard will now be entering New Orleans, playing with fellow point guard Chris Paul. With Darren Collison gone, the Hornets could use a nice, valuable back-up at the point guard position, and general manager Dell Demps helped make that happen.

The Hornets brought in Willie Green via trade to help out Marcus Thornton and Paul. However, New Orleans have been highly interested in Bayless. Bringing in the young, hopefully-soon-to-breakout star will also help bring up attendance with Hornets. Since Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets have struggled to bring in high attendances for each of the 41 home games each season. Bringing in Bayless will help spark that up, considering that the NBA may start contraction with teams.

The Blazers now have 16 players left on the roster and need to get rid of one in order to get by the Monday deadline.

The Blazers recently signed Fabricio Oberto, who will help out with the center position. With injuries suffering to Greg Oden and Joel Pryzbilla lately, the Blazers need to use Oberto, as well as LaMarcus Aldridge and Dante Cunningham at center. Currently, aging-veteran Marcus Camby is the only fully-healthy center available for the Blazers.

Paul is recovering from an injury. He has a lot of high hopes for this season. When Paul needs a break during the games, Bayless will be the huge spark coming off the bench. He could be the potential sixth man New Orleans need.

Meanwhile for the Blazers, they may waive Pendergraph if they can't trade him by Monday. According to Oregonian, Patrick Mills will make the roster over Pendergraph.

Both teams have pretty much helped from this acquisition. Best of luck to both for the season.

To solve some of the financial problems happening in the National Basketball Association, the NBA looks to go to contraction.

"It's a sensitive subject for me because I've spent 27 years in this job working very hard not only to maintain all of our teams, but along the way add a few," Stern said during his preseason conference call.

"But I think that's a subject that will be on the table with the players as we look to see what's the optimum way to present our game, and are there cities and teams that cannot make it in the current economic environment. I'm not spending a lot of time on it."

"The league would continue to be open to contraction," CBSsports.com wrote. CBS also wrote that Stern wants player costs reduced by $700-800 million.

Many small-market teams have been struggling and have had financial problems. Many people say the Memphis Grizzlies are a choice for contraction. Stern rejected.

"No, it shouldn't be. It's a good word to use, especially in collective bargaining."

The players do not like the idea of contraction, saying many would lose jobs in that case.

"That would be more for them in their decision-making process than ours," union president Derek Fisher, point guard of the Los Angeles Lakers said. "We have a responsibility to protect as many jobs as we possibly can, so that would be more for the commissioner and the league and the owners to make a decision on contraction and numbers of teams and those things."

Stern is very interested in small-market teams. Stern really wants the small-market teams to get more competitive, rather than just taking them away.

"I would say that we're committed to small-market teams," Stern said. "We are going to have a new CBA eventually and we're going to have a more robust revenue sharing."

The labor deal is set to expire on June 30. The labor deal is between the league and the players. Stern says he wants league salary costs slashed off by one-third. With all of this, the league could go into a lockout for the 2011-12 season, executive director Billy Hunter said.

"I don't believe that Billy wrote that, because he wouldn't threaten me with a lockout," Stern said. "And all I can say is that's what negotiations are for and we're looking forward to our next negotiating session."

Fisher says the union and the NBA are trying to work an agreement and try to keep these CBA conversations away from the media and the press.

"I heard about his comments and the other comments that were made regarding certain elements of the collective bargaining agreement, and some comments won't pull a comment in return," Fisher said. "Some things aren't comment-worthy."

Fisher said contraction is a fair option. Along with that, he says contracting would bring a dramatic change to league.

"Details of where things stand and what exactly respective sides were looking for, we were going to keep in the room and behind closed doors," Fisher said. "We don't plan to negotiate through media, through public forums. We'll continue to negotiate behind closed doors and continue to focus on resolution. There's really no need at any point to just throw out something that is not based in [the question], 'Is this something that is going to help us get a deal done?' "

Chris Kaman and Rajon Rondo, along with many other NBA players, are trying to save money for their teams. Fisher told Kaman and Rondo that they should prepare for a potential lockout.

"Planning for the worst is kind of a part of our DNA," Fisher said. "At the same time, when there are potentially rare, abnormal circumstances, I think we increase the number of messages and the way we get those messages out.

"We're trying with every avenue we have to make sure players understand, actually lockout or not, to take your financial future seriously. Regardless of what next year looks like, next year isn't guaranteed for any of us. The decisions you are making now should always be based in that fact. Next year is in some ways irrelevant if you do the right things you need to do right now."

Stern says that the league could go towards the hard salary cap, however contraction could save a bunch of money for many teams and they could be able to re-sign their players. It would give several teams a financial edge, too.

Stern brought up the idea of a "franchise player." Basically, it's like what the National Football League does with the franchise tagging. Teams could really use this to help them financially and help keep themselves and not contract. After seeing players leave their teams like LeBron James and Chris Bosh, Cleveland and Toronto could be in a hole and may be considered for contraction. If the NBA had franchise tagging, Bosh and James could have stayed and kept Cleveland and Toronto well in the financial state.

Many economic changes are happening to NBA, as the league could lose almost as much as $350 million this year!

"I would say the league is viable as long as you have owners who want to continue funding losses. But it's not on the long term a sustainable business model that we're happy to be supporting," Stern said. "It needs to be reset."

Stern hopes that the teams in the California-area could be fixed. The Golden State Warriors hoped to be sold by next week, and it's very possible that the team could re-locate. Another team that could re-locate are the Sacramento Kings. Stern says that the idea of Sacramento having a new arena has faded completely!

"We know we're going to get an agreement done, and we think that the enthusiasm of the season and the prospective growth that it will ultimately represent will enable us to sit down with the players and negotiate in good faith, and we both seem intent on doing all that we can to reach a deal," he said.

I hope things really get fixed with the NBA.

All I gotta say is...

ENJOY THE PLAYOFFS!

Looking for a nice, lengthy post next week. Lakers, Suns look to have their places locked for the Conference Finals. So do Magic. Not so sure on the Cavs, though.

For your entertainment, here's Shimmy:

Some tidbits for today, folks. Probably the first time I didn't put the logo for this feature at the Baseline. Oh well. You can tell this is Ballin' In the Barn from the title. Unless if you weren't paying attention, though. But anyways, let's get to the point here, shall we?

1. Bobcats got sweeped by Magic, 4-0. Their last two games came close, but it wasn't enough. Oh well, it was their first time ever in the playoffs. I can understand. With Jordan as owner and Larry Brown hopefully still at coach, anything's possible for next year.
2. Cavs shut out the Bulls 4-1. No surprise there. I expected a sweep and a 4-2 series win for Orlando. Oh well, close. LeBron did great, however.
3. Milwaukee is doing strong against the Hawks. Series lookin' good. Although I originally liked the Hawks in this one, I'm voting for the Bucks here now!
4. POR can still get Phoenix. But I see the Suns winning.
5. How about them Thunder? Lakers look to close the series out tonight but I hope the Thunder win and stretch this out to a seven-game series.
6. I really wish all the best for Denver and I hope they can get back in this series and extend it to seven games.
7. Wish the same for the Mavs. Okay, no I don't! KILL EM SPURS!
8. Can't wait for Celts-Cavs
9. Go Pacers

The fine folk of TWolves Blog, blissfully ignoring the fact that the NBA Playoffs are proceeding without the presence of the Minnesota Timberwolves, have some great fun in store for us. TWB has a couple of Draft Lottery Mascot Challenges running, in order to select some mascots to bring the TWolves luck in the all important NBA Draft Lottery. The brackets work in an elimination, tournament style.

Firstly, we have the Celebrity Region, featuring the likes of Chuck Norris vs Mr T and Kanye West vs Taylor Swift. This is going to be the best bracket of all time. Of ALL TIME, you hear me Kanye?

Secondly, we have the Athlete Region of the bracket, where Joe Mauer takes on Robert Swift and Starbury battles Employee #8, amongst many others.

Get on over to TWB and vote on your favorites across both regions as the bracket of 64 gets whittled down. You can find both of them here:

• TWB NBA Draft Lottery Mascot Challenge: Celebrity Region
• TWB NBA Draft Lottery Mascot Challenge: Athlete Region