Does salary matter when it comes to deciding who plays and who doesn't? Organizations will deny it and say that they are committed to putting the best players on the floor, but I only half believe that. How about for players who produce, but not at the expectation level given their salary? Would we be complaining *as much* about Mooch if he were only making $1 million? CD already looks bad for paying $3.6 million for a fringe player like Mooch. He would basically publicly admit that he made a mistake with that contract if he brought in someone directly to play ahead of Mooch, especially if that player was cheaper. Would he be willing to admit that? He's done it before with Matt Maloney, so it's possible that he would, but I'm not sure. By bringing in Ward he basically would be doing so. The solution? Give Mooch another shot as the backup PG, and get a combo guard like Jon Barry as insurance. He can bring Barry in publicly as the backup 2, knowing full well that Barry could comfortably handle backup PG duties as well if Moochie plays like he did last year. This would allow him to keep face and fill the backup PG spot at the same time.
I think Hottodie see's it much as I do. If we can't land one of the solid PFs (Brown, Howard) with the MCE (which is quite likely) I say just target a pure shooter for the vet min and don't even use the MCE at all--Barry, Piatowski and Peeler come to mind (or maybe use half the MCE for them and don't use the rest). Maybe L. Harris for the vet min too, but I much prefer any of the other 3. A back-up PG just is not much of a need for us unless we move Moochie. Moochie is overpayed, but not terrible as a back-up. Of the 2nd and 3rd tier guys I think Lue is the best--but he will probably get Moochie level if not MCE money. Ollie or Armstrong or Ward would be OK, and probably cheaper Lue (plus they can hit a 3 which Claxton can't) so if we do move Mooch in some deal and can't get Lue there are other options. Forget Dre and the big 4 RFA Clips. The Clips would love it if we agreed to a MCE deal with Dre. Then the Clips would just match at a bargain price and laugh at us and Dre. Utah will have to spend close to 7-8 mil for Dre or the Clips will match IMO. They will match any contract for Brand, probably in the same range as Dre for Odom (up to probably 7 mil), and I am sure they would match the MCE for Maggette. The only way you get any of these guys is if the offer is over market (which excludes Brand--because the max is not over market for him) or the Clips already have matched 2 or 3 of them. In short we are not in play for any of them at MCE level money, Piatowski who is cheaper and unrestricted is in play however.
I thought the listing within each category was a ranking, otherwise, wouldn't it have been alphabetical. I got it confused with the article hottoddie posted earlier I believe- that one listed Stephen Jackson ahead of Maggette and Jason Terry. It also had Walt Williams ahead of Kenny Thomas on the small forwards list, and Juwan Howard listed at small forward. Still, the Odom thing makes you wonder, especially since he's been a guy a lot of Rockets fan want on the team, and especially considering Mobley's "With me and Steve on the wings, and Lamar leadng the break, it's over" comments on national TV from last year. With the Les/CD quote that the lux tax won't deter them from improving the team, I wonder- would we offer 6 years, full MCE to a guy like Odom? It's a medium risk, in that he could run into off court issues and on court issues of injuries. IMO, the guy is seriously one of the most talented players in the league. PS- I'm still looking for the Badiane/Suns stuff; what I did find is that they brought him in for 2 workouts.
The Clippers have 4 Restricted FA. They won't match all of them. They will match Brand. They might match Odom. They might match Maggette. They probably won't match Miller. If any of these players get big contracts, Sterling may only match 1 or 2 contracts. We should try to lure whoever is left over. Malick Badiane, a native of Senegal, also supposedly shot up most draft boards after an individual workout in front of several NBA teams in Chicago, according to a recent ESPN.com article. However, some Suns’ insiders questioned whether the skinny 6-11 power forward is making the right decision to enter the draft at the age of 19. “At 19 years old, he’s not ready to play yet,” admitted Suns’ Senior Vice President of Player Personnel Dick Van Arsdale. “Tremendous reach and some athleticism for a big guy, but he’s a guy who, in my opinion, is not ready to make a transition to the NBA yet. But he has a lot of potential.” .... In his first season playing in Germany’s second division for Langen in 2002-03, Badiane was among the leading rebounders (8.9) despite playing only 23.4 minutes per game. The African also averaged 11.7 points a game, and although the league does not publish a total of blocked shots for the season, a review of most box scores suggests he averaged about two per game. “He’s an interesting player and I think that someone in the draft is going to take a shot with him, because he is extremely long,” Colangelo noted. “He can block some shots and he’s an interesting player that way. He’s going to be a factor defensively because of his length.” Van Arsdale scoffed at an ESPN.com report that quoted an unnamed NBA scout that said, “I hate comparisons, but how different is (Badiane) from (2002-03 NBA Rookie of the Year) Amaré Stoudemire in terms of strength and desire? I don’t think there’s a that big a gap.” “To me that shows what ESPN knows about evaluating players,” Van Arsdale responded. “There’s one guy last year that said Amaré’s a role player, so I don’t put much credence in that stuff. There isn’t any comparison to Amaré in my opinion. (Badiane) is a lot taller, but that’s really a stretch to compare those two guys, even in the long run.”
Medium risk for us, huge risk for Odom. 99% the Clips match and Odom is screwed. They could then keep him for a bargain 6 year price for a young guy with his talent or just in 3 months trade him for a future #1 pick/s. Just not feasible IMO.
I disagree somewhat. They might lose 1 or 2 of them--but they are not going to lose any of their prime RFAs for MCE-level money. They could simply match MCE level money on any of them (which is well below their market value and thus they become very hot commodities) and trade them midseason for a future #1 picks and ending contracts to keep the long term payroll down and some new cheap rookies coming in. I suspect they will probably lose Dre--but it is because Utah has offered around 8 million. Teams are not going to get these guys for lowball prices. That means MCE level money for Maggette, less than 6-7 for Dre or Odom, or less than MAX money for Brand.
The amount of money out there for all these free agents has been documented as piss poor. This will help, in particular, the very competitive teams because they can say "sign on and give yourself a shot at a ring." While the Rockets can't say that, they're on the rise, and they might surprise some of us. I'm not talking the big names, of course, but a couple of solid medium-impact names would not shock me by the end of the summer.
Don't forget that Piatkowski is a free agent, and he's actually a guy I'd suspect they'll keep. Didn't he sign the biggest contract in their history. Desert Scar- I don't think anyone can figure out what Sterling will do. Full, 6 year MCE is a good deal of money- I'd estimate probably 40 mill. Cat signed a full Early Qualifying Deal, which is roughly the same formula as MCE now, and that deal totalled 31 mill according to Patricia Bender (I recall it being higher?). With the risng salaries, it's most likely closer to 40 mill, bringing the contract to averaging 6-7 mill a year. The thing that makes Odom such a strange situation, is that it's a risk for Sterling by matching. Based on his history, if Odom signs this contract, then gets injured again or has more drug issues, he becomes near untradeable IMO. I think they only keep either Maggette or Odom. Richardson can play the other wing spot, and no way does Sterling pay the price for one of those guys to come off the bench. Further, if the Clippers match these offers for restricted free agents, the players are given no trade clauses. Despite Sterling's crappiness, being in LA still has it's perks (and probably some players like Brand, Q-Rich, Jaric, and recent lotto picks Wilcox, Ely, and Kaman). LA does luck out, in that they'd at least avoid the poison pill BYC because they're under the cap. I suspect their players will be signed in rapid fire succession- hope that forcing multiple decisions will allow the players to slip out.
