- Everyone knows about Dwyane Wade by now.  Everyone knows he?s a great player.  I think he is clearly one of the top-10 players in the entire league and my favorite to watch, but the hype that Shaquille O?Neal provides for his little buddy has reached a certain saturation point, where people will begin to dislike Wade if O?Neal continues.  Wade's spectacular play the other night was called 'Jordanique' by Eddie Jones and one of the top-5 of all-time by Shaq.  A nice play, granted, but it wasn't even one of Wade's top-5 plays of this season.

Wade is a long-jumper, making him capable of things that few players of his height are capable of.  He is really beginning to look like a cross between Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant.  A.I. didn't have the body and height or Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe never really had the heart of O'Neal, like Wade does now.  O'Neal's praise of Wade is simply an expression of belief in his young guard and his desire to atone for any mistakes that he may have made in handling Kobe and Penny.

- The SuperSonics lived by the three-pointer on Monday night, making 9 of 20 from downtown, beating the Heat, ending their 14-game win streak.  On any night they shoot better than 40% from downtown, they will win the game, plain and simple.  On any night when they don't, against the league's better teams, they will lose, plain and simple.  No other team in recent history has the ability to blow out and be blown out themselves from night to night as the Sonics.

- The other 2nd year star with the soul of a 10-year vet, Lebron James, made the decision to play on Monday night showed great veteran leadership.  Against the Bobcats, James could have taken a night off, with the chance that without him in the line-up, the Cavs would have found a way to defeat the expansion club.

- The countdown to Jim Paxson?s displacement in Cleveland has now begun with the new ownership.  Expect Bill Laimbeer to be hired for a high level position, sometime in the next few weeks.  Expect him to make player personnel decisions as soon as the Cavs season is over, if not sooner.

- Houston has climbed their way back above .500, probably in the nick of time to save Jeff Van Gundy.  The Nuggets didn?t let Jeff Bzdelik get that chance, promptly firing him after a close defeat at Golden State.  Kiki Vandeweghe would have been remiss to have Bzdelik continue to coach the young club any longer.  If Michael Cooper doesn?t become this season?s Lawrence Frank, look for Phil Jackson, P.J. Carlesimo or Nate McMillan (if the SuperSonics don?t extend his contract soon) to be the next head coach of the Nuggets.  This is a team with a lot of young upside, and a team that is merely one player or the proper coach away from being a top tier team.

- After scoring 27 points in 30 minutes on Monday night, it is becoming increasingly clear that Ben Gordon is a player.  The Bulls will, however, have the same problem with Gordon overlapping with Kirk Hinrich, as they did with Hinrich and Jamal Crawford, as well as Crawford and Jay Williams.  At least they?ll have yet another young talented player they could use in a trade, but they have been doing the same routine since the Ron Artest, Brad Miller and Ron Mercer trade.  

Fortunately the Warriors couldn?t find a third-partner for the three-way trade which would have sent Eddy Curry to the Bulls and Mike Dunleavy, Jr. wherever.   Good for the Bulls and bad for the Warriors, as Dunleavy?s future with Golden State appears more and more impermanent.  Curry would have been a great complement to JRich and Troy Murphy, and it is unlikely that they would ever do better than the former Thornwood HS product.

- As the Jazz fall further and further below .500, 10 games after Monday night?s loss to Memphis, any coach besides Jerry Sloan would be firmly glued to the hot seat, particularly after they had such a promising start, but Sloan is the closest thing to a tenured coach in the NBA.

The columnist may be reached at Christopher.Reina@RealGM.com.