Story: Dampier might be forced to accept a 3 year contract, from Atlanta

I hate to spend 10 mins to register for seeing something!

 

For those who don't want to register or don't use Mozilla FireFox with the BugMeNot extension:



Grizzlies looking for center

Deal for Dampier is now unlikely
ANALYSIS


By Ronald Tillery
Contact
July 21, 2004

Same search. Different summer.

And, thus far, the Grizzlies are experiencing deja vu in their never-ending quest to acquire a defensive-minded, rebounding center.


Remember last summer when Griz president Jerry West persistently pursued multiple sign-and-trade deals for a beefy big man only to fall short?

Welcome to another frustrating walk through the offseason.

West, who remains tight-lipped about his dealings, is in Los Angeles where the Grizzlies' summer league team is playing. But his mind has to be wandering all over the NBA map.

It's no secret that the Griz covet Erick Dampier, the only big-target center left in free agency. Decisions by Dampier's agent (Dan Fegan) and his former team (Golden State) made futile West's pursuit of the former Mississippi State big man.

Could recent developments compel West to again chase a Dampier sign-and-trade deal?

This much is clear: Dampier's options seem to dwindle by the day.

Dampier was figured to be one of the biggest targets this summer. He didn't draw interest from teams with money to spend under the salary cap. Dampier now must weigh a reported three-year offer from Atlanta, which has more than $11 million in cap space but refuses to overpay for players.

New York's bid to acquire Dampier in a sign-and-trade apparently died when Golden State sent Nick Van Exel to Portland for Dale Davis and Dan Dickau.

The Knicks had structured a sign-and-trade deal with the Warriors that would have Golden State sign Dampier to a six-year contract, starting at $9 million per season, and then trade him to New York for forwards Nazr Mohammed and Othella Harrington.

Dampier, 29, opted out of the last two years of his contract to become a free agent, leaving more than $17 million on the table.

Memphis and Indiana are the other teams that talked to Golden State about Dampier. But Indiana isn't willing to part with Jonathon Bender and Memphis wouldn't send Stromile Swift in a proposed multiple-player deal.

With the Warriors' asking price too high and Dampier's sudden lack of leverage, West may choose to resurrect negotiations or continue to move on.

The Grizzlies' past interest in Boston Celtics center Chris Mihm (restricted free agent) could lead to a sign-and-trade transaction.

To complete a sign-and-trade, a team could sign its own free agent up to the maximum salary allowed under the league's collective bargaining agreement. The team could then trade that player to another team in exchange for assets that come within 15 percent of the player dealt.

The catch is that all parties must agree. It takes the free-agent player, his former team and new team to accept trade terms on all fronts.

West's inability to consummate a deal last summer led to what he admittedly called his "eighth or ninth" deal. He ended up with a training-camp deal with Phoenix for center Jake Tsakalidis and forward Bo Outlaw.

That trade happened after Michael Olowokandi slipped from West's grasp and into a Minnesota Timberwolves uniform. During his first Grizzly offseason, West pursued Seattle 7-footer Jerome James, who eventually re-signed with the Sonics. West then settled on Polish project Cezary Trybanski.

The Griz have played the past three seasons primarily with Lorenzen Wright in the middle.

Wright and his backup, Swift, are undersized at that position despite their aggressiveness.

Poor rebounding and interior defense remains the team's Achilles' heel, and the root of West's desire for an upgrade at that position.

Memphis ranked 25th in defensive rebounding last season, and was 28th in that category during the 2002-03 campaign.

- Ronald Tillery:

 

Raven can you please explain how is this Rockets related?

 

Now here's a guy I'd be willing to trade Juwon Howard for. But how much would it cost us?

S&T Dampier plus McInnis for anybody but Yao and TMac.

 

I fthe Rockets were offering 4M+ for Ostertag, surely they would do it for Dampier. Rather than sign for 11M and netting himself a 6M loss, why wouldn't he sign a 1 year contract and try his luck again next year? Or the Rockets could sign him for 3 years at 12M and it would still be more than the 11M offer he has.

 

Dampier is a better player than Ostertag and I don't think he will want to be a backup for Yao.

 

Dampier won't accept MLE money, and no way would Mullin accept long term, big money contracts for him.

Dampier was a flipping moron for opting out. Fegan was delusion thinking he'd get more than $8 mill per.

Evan

 

Well, we could give him a contract starting at $6.9 million. Of course, if he hadn't opted out, he'd be making $8 million next season. I know he doesn't want to take the MLE, but honestly is he worth more than that, especially in a long deal?

 

Dampier would not accept a MLE contract greater than the one he is getting from Atlanta? Why not?

I think Houston should at least test the waters here -- a good big man is worth a lot...

And the MLE is useless after the season starts right?

 

I'd say try the MLE. Then we could just offer GS the TE for a sign and trade and tell them it could help them get Yao (but that's not what we think). THey would be oh cool yeah more capspace we'll do it!

 

I don't remember seeing any indication that Atlanta was offering the MLE. They have $11 million in cap space. They could offer Dampier a near-max contract.

 

As DarkWarrior said, apparently ATL has not offered him a lot of money...

Man it would be great to get Damp for MLE, even the full MLE. You don't think he would do it? Even with a good chance to win a championship?

 

Fox Sports News Dime Smack....That 3rd team??? Try this one on.

The Sixers traded Eric Snow to Cleveland for Kevin Ollie and Kedrick Brown. Yes, Snow's older, his skills are diminishing and he has a long-term contract, but Billy King couldn't get better than this? There are a lot of teams that could use a solid point guard (Houston?). We were thinking that because Philly now has some extra cash and way more contracts than their roster can hold, another, bigger move must be on the way right?

Then we heard that San Francisco sports radio was reporting that the Sixers and Warriors were going to pull off a sign-and-trade that would send Erick Dampier to Philly for Glenn Robinson and Kyle Korver. That would be a great move for Philly, and before you kill Mully for it, think about what Golden State would get out of the deal. Even though they lose a lot of height, they get a scorer in Big Dogg (when he feels like it) a shooter in Korver, and Dogg is in the last year of his contract. That's a better deal than the garbage package that Isiah is reportedly offering of Nazr Mohammaed and Othella Harrington. ...

-----------------
Glenn Robinson sucks... They should let Dampier walk before taking his salary and attitude (including lack of D).

also on another board I heard from a Philly fan that GM Billy King was on a sports talk radio show this morning in Philly and was asked about Dampier and he said he liked Dampier and was familiar with him from his days in Indy. Also at the Snow press conference yesterday King said he had just been offered a good deal and he was going to wait a few days before deciding whether or not to pull the trigger.

Philly might get Dampier, which would be a good get unless they offer more than 4 years.

 

link for the "dime smack":

http://msn.foxsports.com/id/2592190

 

Man, now I'm really confused. The snippet darkwarrior quoted said that Atlanta offered a 3-year deal. It doesn't say the amount, only that it has to something less than $11 million in the first year to fit under the cap. Probably a good deal less since they don't want to "overspend." But, it says nothing about MLE. Atlanta doesn't even have an MLE; they're under the cap.

 

Sorry Jaun, I should have said "MLE-equivalent contract".

 

Damn right he won't be a backup. He'll be starting PF!