There’s plenty to rant about this week in the sports world. Not only were the Olympics hot and heavy, but the NBA’s trade deadline has come and gone as well. There’s also just a few weeks left until Selection Sunday. Here at Bankroll Sports, we’re ready to take out the trash and call out the stiffs that wrecked the sports world for the week that was.

Rap Sheet Picture of the Week
Phoenix Suns’ F Amare Stoudemire, who has to be wondering why he’s still stuck in the desert for the duration of the season.

Hey, Canadian Ice Hockey Team… What gives? You’re the host nation, you’re playing on your own ice in front of tens of thousands of your fans, and you’ve clearly got one of the best sets of 23 guys ever assembled on the same ice. Why the heck do you need a shootout to get past Switzerland and then do you lose to your arch rivals, the United States Hockey Team? That’s awfully unacceptable, eh? Now, as the #6 seed in the tournament, you’ve got to take out Germany just to earn the right to get into the quarterfinals of this draw, while the US and three other teams that played better than you did during the group stages are resting and watching.

We’ve already done some ranting when we talked about out NBA Trade Deadline Report Card last week, but there’s no way that we can’t continue to rant on the Phoenix Suns for the way that they handled the Amare Stoudemire situation. Phoenix clearly doesn’t want Stoudemire’s contract hanging around any long, and in spite of the fact that he leads the team in scoring, they talked for three weeks about getting rid of him. That angered the big man and took away some effective games from him. And when all was said and done, Phoenix traded him to… oh that’s right. The Suns never did move him. Now, Phoenix has a few more months of Stoudemire’s contract and, assuming that he doesn’t exercise his $17M option for next year, will be left with nothing but some extra cap space for 2011.

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What’s up with the Houston Rockets anyway? Wasn’t this team supposed to get a heck of a lot better by getting rid of Tracy McGrady and bringing in a bunch of pieces to the puzzle that were supposed to make this a playoff team? Don’t blame Kevin Martin and Jared Jeffries. Martin’s put up 27 combined points in his two games as a Rocket, and Jeffries was one rebound shy of a double-double on Sunday, but all that was accomplished this week was a dud loss in the Bayou and a smack down at the hands of the Pacers at home. That won’t get Houston to the playoffs. The only thing that that will do is move HC Rick Adelman a lot closer to the unemployment lines.

Just two weeks ago, a lot of college basketball pundits thought that the Villanova Wildcats had a gripe to be the overall #1 seed of the upcoming NCAA Tournament (click here for our latest look at the March Madness odds). Now, losses to Pitt on the road and at home against UConn have them spiraling out of control heading towards the Big East Tournament. It’s bad enough that the Cats would probably be on the #2 line if March Madness started today, but coming up is a roadie at the Carrier Dome. Yikes! Things could get a lot worse before they get better for Villanova.

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Even though the 2010 NBA trade deadline wasn’t as active as some might’ve thought, there is still plenty of room for discussion. Here at Bankroll Sports, we’re issuing our grades for how teams did under the pressure of Thursday’s deadline.

New York Knicks: A+: There weren’t any teams that did a better job at the deadline than the Knicks. New York knew that it wasn’t competing for a championship this year, but it did successfully dump the salaries of Jordan Hill, Jordan Jeffries, Larry Hughes, Nate Robinson, and Darko Milicic in exchange for a couple first rounders and having to deal with Tracy McGrady’s garbage for the next couple months. Add G Sergio Rodriguez to the mix from Sacramento, and New York knows that these prudent deals can set it up nicely for a run at both LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in the offseason.

Houston Rockets: A: The Rockets really answered the trade by the Mavericks by adding a host of talent from the Knicks and Kings in that three-way deal. Plus, they’re rid of Tracy McGrady now as well and will pick up a couple of picks from New York in the future. The biggest question for HC Rick Adelman is whether he’ll be able to find roles for all of his new starts.

Dallas Mavericks: B+: Any time you can pick up an All-Star, you tend to pull out the stops, but did the Mavs give up a little too much by dealing Josh Howard and Drew Gooden to DC? Caron Butler had better push Dallas into the playoffs an give F Dirk Nowitzki a good counterpart, or Mark Cuban may be regretting this move. All in all though, the Mavericks are probably a better team now than they were before the All-Star Break.

Cleveland Cavaliers: B: The question here isn’t whether GM Danny Ferry would’ve preferred Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire coming to town or not. The question is whether LeBron James would’ve rather have Stoudemire over Antawn Jamison. Still, as we suggested in our article a couple days ago, Cleveland needed to do something to make sure that The King stayed happy, and this move only made things a heck of a lot harder for the rest of the teams in the Eastern Conference. If the Cavs don’t win the East now, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Utah Jazz: B-: The Jazz get a decent grade for not making a move that they might’ve regretted. Utah is probably going to make the playoffs, and had it dealt Carlos Boozer, that might not have ultimately been the case.

Miami Heat: C: Kudos to the Heat for not giving up too much to get either Amare Stoudemire, Antawn Jamison, or Carlos Boozer. Miami just needs to convince Dwyane Wade that it is really in it to win him another championship, and it might take a big free agent signing to do just that.

Sacramento Kings: D: Who knows what the Kings were thinking by trading away Kevin Martin and Sergio Rodriguez. There wasn’t a heck of a lot that came back Sacramento’s way. It’s pretty clear that the Kings came out as the butt of that three-team deal with the Rockets and Knicks.

Washington Wizards: D-: If you’re a Washington fan, what reasons do you have to show up to the games anymore? No more Gilbert Arenas, no more Antawn Jamison, and no more Caron Butler. The only good news is that this team couldn’t get much worse than it already was, so it may as well try to start over again.

Phoenix Suns: F: No one deserves a worse grade than the Suns at the trade deadline. How on earth can you sit there and shop Amare Stoudemire for weeks and weeks and ultimately do nothing? Take a box of basketballs for him for crying out loud! Now, their leading scorer is disgruntled and probably will be for the rest of the year. Phoenix may not make the postseason, and if that’s the case, heads should role in the desert.