Devin Harris was in the playoffs last year, which is hard to remember at this point (Getty Images)

Danny Ferry signed off on a trio of deals in 2005 that more or less defined his tenure as Cleveland Cavaliers GM. Those deals, since maligned, committed his team to following the fortunes of Zydrunas Ilgauskas (already in place), Donyell Marshall (sixth man, not a maker or break-er) and Larry Hughes (BINGO). If Hughes failed to put the team over the top, his trade value would fall, and he would have to be tossed around for matching contracts until his massive deal ran out.

That's exactly what happened, and Ferry was run out of Cleveland in 2010. After two years worth of musing and carving names into benches as part of the San Antonio Spurs' staff, Ferry is back as GM of the Atlanta Hawks. And in the course of an early evening, he just made damn sure the Atlanta Hawks we've had the displeasure to have known since 2005 are going to go far, far away. Joe Johnson is gone, off to Brooklyn for expiring contracts. And now Marvin Williams is off to the Utah Jazz, in a deal that helps both teams but really, truly favors what Danny Ferry is attempting to do with a Hawks team he probably disliked as much as we did.

[Adrian Wojnarowski: Hawks deal Joe Johnson to Nets for several players]

The Hawks, you'll recall, were in the same boat as Ferry's Cavs in the summer of 2005. After a season spent tanking, the Hawks utilized their significant cap space to needlessly send draft picks to the Phoenix Suns in a sign-and-trade for the right to pay Johnson a wee bit more than they could have paid him outright as a free agent acquisition -- and then they gave Johnson an even more outrageous contract in the summer of 2010. Williams, infamously, was taken ahead of Chris Paul and others in the 2005 draft, and the Hawks have been appropriately above-average since. Ferry, apparently, doesn't want to do above-average anymore.

Joe Johnson and his $89 million contract are headed to Brooklyn. (Getty Images)

The Brooklyn Nets have agreed in principle to a deal that will make them significantly better, and possibly vault them into the playoffs in 2012-13. They've ensured that their team will potentially have one of the better backcourts in the NBA, they're well on their way to re-signing one of the better offensive centers (they still have those?) in the league, and they've given up precious few assets along the way. Their owner doesn't appear to care about the luxury tax, or payroll frustrations, and they've signed off on not attempting to acquire a player in Dwight Howard that has managed to look like a petulant brat even by NBA standards.

The Atlanta Hawks just traded their All-Star scorer for expiring contracts, with no real assets to marvel as they step away from assuring themselves at best a 40-win mark in 2012-13.

So why are we so hopped on what Atlanta just did, and what the Brooklyn Nets just handed themselves? Call it pirate radar, because this Joe Johnson contract will just never make sense to us, almost completely irrespective of context or fit.

Ron Harper is the best. (Getty Images)

A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: SLAM. Russ Bengtson's interview with Ron Harper.
PF: Daily Thunder. It's going to be very complicated and costly to keep the Thunder together.
SF: Barking Carnival. A look at some winners and losers from Thursday's draft.
SG: Sports Reference. From the minds at Basketball-Reference, an Olympic database.
PG: Hoopsanalyst. Grading the 2012 NBA draft.

6th: Portland Roundball Society. The Neil Olshey Era begins with the Roy Hibbert contract offer.
7th: Hardwood Paroxysm. Amin Vafa, very entertainingly, takes to the NBA draft.
8th: SB Nation. Tom Ziller bangs his head against his laptop over Dwight Howard.
9th: BuzzFeed. Pointing out, nicely, that mock drafts are rather silly as predictive documents.
10th: The Point Forward. Rebuilding, Nets-style.

Got a link or tip for Ball Don't Lie?

Lavoy Allen is the undaunted one on the left (Getty Images)

Every summer the NBA reminds its fans that its owners and GMs are total nutters who like to sign people like Gerald Wallace to twice what the tail end of Gerald Wallace's prime is worth on the open market. Every summer, the NBA's owners remind you why they need protection from themselves, even if it takes a prolonged lockout and the loss of millions of dollars in wages for the thousands who work on the NBA's fringes.

And, once in a while, you get a pair of deals that sound about right. Like second-year forward Lavoy Allen heading back to Philadelphia, signing with the 76ers for two years and $6 million total. Or George Hill, local product, sticking with the Indiana Pacers for five years — terms unreported, so far, but likely to be in a middling range worth a pretty solid shooting guard's pretty solid talents.

This is where you pause to respect sanity. Before some team trades for Joe Johnson. Before Dwight Howard rings up the ACLU to complain that the Orlando Magic "forced" him to be something for Halloween last year that he didn't want to be. Dwight Howard is so sick of being "Shrek," guys. You didn't trade for Glen Davis just so Howard would have to be "Shrek," again.

Drew Hooper's Oklahoma City Thunder-themed Suzuki (Courtesy Craigslist)

Interested in dropping $3,000 on a 1996 Suzuki crossover with two doors, 125,000 miles on it, no working air conditioner and a manual transmission that is fed by a clutch that may or may not work? One with an amateur paint job? Probably not.

Interested in dropping three bills on a limited edition Suzuki X-90 with a sporty gearshift and a painting of Cole Aldrich on it? What if we told you there was a Frederick Douglass quote painted on the hood? What if we mentioned that nine other members of the Oklahoma City Thunder have their images emblazoned on the side of the car? What if we told you the owner, Oklahoma City Thunder fan Drew Hooper, seems like a really cool dude? Well, via BuzzFeed and through Craigslist, this beauty can soon be yours.

Scope out some other pictures, and a video discussing Hooper's mindset as he took to refurbishing his Suzuki, after the jump:

Andre Miller presents an autographed ball to a young boy oh wait that's Danilo Gallinari nevermind (Getty Images)

Andre Miller, in his 13th NBA season and second stint with the Denver Nuggets, actually fell off a wee bit production-wise during the 2011-12 run. And, admit it, you didn't really notice. All you saw, whenever you flipped over to a Portland game, was Andre Miller throwing lobs, loping slowly, making sour faces, and generally acting as effective as you've seen Andre Miller always act. You'll get that act for three more years, potentially, because the 36-year old has re-signed with the Nuggets for a term of that length. As first reported by Yahoo! Sports, payroll numbers and the amount of guaranteed years are not yet known.

This might come off as disappointing to some. This isn't a slight on the Nuggets, but a goodly chunk of NBA fans wanted to see Miller go elsewhere — not so much to their favorite team, but to a squad that Miller would presumably push over the top. To the Pacers, to find all those big men an easy look. To the Heat, to make those regular season swoons less nebulous.

Kevin Garnett gives the basket stanchion one to grow on (Getty Images)

NBA players that have no contracts for the 2012-13 season are set to become free agents just after midnight on Sunday, setting off a frenzy of agreements (but not signings, as the teams and players can't official put pen to paper until July 11) even in the early hours of Sunday. Boston Celtics center Kevin Garnett decided to bypass on the whole early morning thing altogether, agreeing on a three-year, $34 million contract on Saturday, one that more or less ensures Kevin Garnett will never be an active unrestricted free agent a single time in what could be a 20-year career.

Think about it. Garnett signed an extension during the summer of 1997 to avoid a free-agent recruitment in what turned out to be a truncated offseason in January 1999. He signed another extension with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2003 to avoid 2004's free agency, and a three-year extension in 2007 after being traded to the Boston Celtics to avoid 2010 free agency. This time around, K.G. snuck it in with just hours to spare. And in doing so, signed off on what will probably be the last three years of his storied career.

And, in concert, the Boston Celtics signed off on just about more of the same — the veteran-y same — along the way.

Joe Dumars and a 2003 Detroit Pistons draft class that would make Lou Dobbs very upset (Getty Images)

Working out of the top 10 of Thursday's NBA draft, the Detroit Pistons selected a promising teenaged center with a wingspan far greater than his 6-10 height, someone with some definite fundamental and possibly motivational issues, but a talent good enough to make All-Star teams and anchor his franchise defensively for years to come. So, Andre Drummond? Andre Drummond, 2012 Pistons pick? Please don't be Darko Milicic.

Detroit, their Pistons, Pistons players, Pistons coaches and Pistons front office personnel? They're hoping for just as much. Actually, the coaches and front office types, led by GM Joe Dumars, did more than hope. They worked, taking in five times the information (by their calculations) than the Dumars-led Pistons front office did back in 2003, when they rang the bell for Darko with the second overall pick. Just one back of LeBron James, and ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Ahead of Kirk Hinrich and Kyle Korver and Kendrick Perkins, even. Never again, Dumars said in his post-draft interviews, as thankfully picked up by MLive.com's Brendan Savage. Never again:

"I could give a dissertation on that," Dumars said shortly after selecting Drummond. "After I drafted Darko, from that point on, the amount of background we do on every single player that you see us draft is ridiculous. We do as much or more background than any other team in the NBA because of that.