Summer movement 2009

Kinetic^

Loads of threads on different trades etc. This sort of thread works on the soccer forum so should be fine here.

Interesting article over on NBA.com about the top 10 free agents. There are some really decent unrestricted free agents available from wednesday.

Lamar Odom, Ron Artest, Trevor Ariza, Ben Gordon, Andre Miller.....

I'll be watching with interest to see what Varejao does now that Shaq is in. He messed up his contract before so will be interesting to see what happens this time around, if anything.

Sea Devils

The NBA’s free-agent negotiating period opened with a flurry at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, with teams positioning themselves for what figures to be a hectic and unpredictable summer unlike any other. The Portland Trail Blazers came out determined to pull off the first impact move, making a strong push to sign Hedo Turkoglu, the prized free agent of the summer, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

While Portland had been expected to prioritize an upgrade at point guard by making a run at Andre Miller, the league source said Portland came out of the gate at 12:01 a.m. trying to lure Turkoglu with a $50-million deal. After acquiring Vince Carter from the Nets to hedge against Turkoglu’s departure, the Magic are not expected to be a factor in a discussion that begins in the $10 million-per-year range.
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Not one to be discouraged by the damaged economy and lack of top-shelf talent, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban traveled to New York to be the first to meet with free agent Jason Kidd – pre-empting the Knicks’ plans to lure Kidd back to the New York area, where he could be close to his children and play for Mike D’Antoni, whose wide-open offensive style suits him.
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Team executives widely believed that Ben Gordon would quickly agree to terms with Detroit, a move that would almost certainly require other moves to create a spot for the Bulls’ shooting guard. The Pistons just endured a 39-win season and first-round playoff sweep, in large part due to the three-headed backcourt of Rodney Stuckey, Richard Hamilton, and Allen Iverson. The fallout led to coach Michael Curry’s sudden and unexpected firing Tuesday, with Doug Collins and former Mavs coach Avery Johnson emerging as the front-runners to replace him. A high-level coaching source told CBSSports.com that the job appeared to be Collins’ to lose.
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Rasheed Wallace’s camp was expecting calls early Wednesday from the Celtics, Cavaliers, and Spurs, among others. Kevin Garnett, a league source confirmed, was working behind the scenes to recruit ‘Sheed to Boston. Wallace’s attitude – which obviously can be both good and bad – and his ability to stretch the front court would be assets to the Cavs in their quest to fortify their pre-draft acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal. Wallace will have to factor in whether anyone comes forward with more than the mid-level exception. He also is said to be wary of the strong egos in the Boston locker room, not to mention the fact that the Rajon Rondo situation needs to be resolved. The Celtics cleared a spot for Wallace by not extending a qualifying offer to power forward Leon Powe, who is coming off major knee surgery and became an unrestricted free agent.
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The Nuggets also have long coveted Wallace, who nearly went to Denver before the team acquired Kenyon Martin in 2004. But according to a person familiar with the discussions, the Nuggets were meeting with Portland restricted free agent Channing Frye as the clock struck midnight ET. Nobody does more with less than the Nuggets, who would benefit from Frye’s pick-and-pop ability without breaking the bank.
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Charlie Villanueva, who became an unrestricted free agent after Milwaukee decided not to tender him a qualifying offer, looks like a fallback option for Cleveland. The Spurs also are considering Antonio McDyess.
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The defending champion Lakers intend to make every effort to re-sign unrestricted free agents Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza. They got welcome news from Finals MVP Kobe Bryant, who did not exercise his early termination option and will likely entertain an extension with the Lakers this summer, a high-ranking league source told CBSSports.com. That means that Bryant, who only last summer made noise about wanting out of L.A., would be giving up any leverage he had this summer or next – when he has a player option – to influence the direction of the team, including who succeeds Phil Jackson whenever he retires.
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The Rockets, stung by devastating news that Yao Ming could miss all of the 2009-10 season – or longer – with a broken foot, went to work immediately on their Yao-less contingency plan. GM Daryl Morey announced on his Twitter account that he was meeting with Orlando restricted free-agent center Marcin Gortat and urged Houston fans to send an email to rocketsfanslovegortat@gmail.com to help his recruiting efforts.
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Carlos Boozer’s decision not to opt out of his $12.7 million contract for next season gave more leverage to other free-agent power forwards, including his teammate, restricted free agent Paul Millsap. The Knicks’ David Lee was expecting calls from the three teams with the most cap space for a straight-up signing – Detroit, Oklahoma City, and Memphis – and figured to generate sign-and-trade talks among the likes of Chicago, Toronto, Golden State, Miami, and Dallas.

Carcharodon

Looks like Gordon and Villanueva are signing for the Pistons, surprised that the Bulls did not hold on to Gordon, it looked very at home with this Bulls team. Money makes these decisions i suppose.

Wallace might go to Celtics or Spurs, that would be a good signing for either team.

Kobe didn't opt out of contract, i know this might be bit harsh but I would of thought he should renegotiate contact so it would be easier for Lakers to re-sign Odum and Ariza. He could easily free up some cash there, its not like he is short of anything.

Lots of rumors out there at the moment.

Liam O

Absolutely gutted that Gordon is leaving the Bulls. However, he did turn into a bit of a ball hog during the playoffs so if they bring in the right SG and adapt the style a bit they may come back stronger.

Carcharodon

Artest gone to the Lakers and Ariza gone to Rockets :eek:, well fair enough about Ariza but I never thought Artest would go to Lakers, disappointing to say the least, I really like Artest and now he will make the Lakers even stronger, great move by the Lakers.

Sea Devils

A little dissapointed in Artest as he is one of my favourite NBA players but at the same time I'm seriously impressed with his decision. He took a paycut at his age (it would be different if he was 6/7 years older) just to have a chance at playing with a contender and winning a ring maybe even more.

Gortat looks like he's heading to Dallas

kmart6

Not liking the Artest deal! Could completely destroy the chemistry and harm the team!

Lafortezza

Yeah, and I was really starting to like Ariza, not a huge fan of the Lakers in general but Ariza seemed like a quiet guy who worked really hard.
He was an amazing defender who would usually guard the opposition team's best wing player which let Kobe rest a little on D. He's only young and his outside shooting, especially 2pt jumpers would improve quickly.

Artest is a great player and great character but he's older than Ariza and has the potential to cause trouble in LA if he doesn't click with the other players.

A starting lineup of Bryant/Artest, Odom/Gasol, Bynum is pretty sick though. If the Lakers added a veteran PG who has more gas in the tank compared to Fisher they could win it the next 3 years easily.

Carcharodon

kmart6 wrote: »

Not liking the Artest deal! Could completely destroy the chemistry and harm the team!

Not to sound patronizing or anything but what chemistry. I just put the Lakers down as a bunch of great players, mainly Kobe and Gasol, I hope your on about basketball chemistry cos they certainly don't have any more team spirit than any other teams. Even the basketball chemistry relies on on Kobe and Gasol, I think they were lucky enough to win NBA in a certain respect, Orlando could and should of pushed them more and messed up in two of the games big time.

Artest is mental but he is a basketballs player player, he works hard and does the right thing with his ability, I think he will add so much to the Lakers, he can guard anyone which takes the burden off Kobe, he can shoot the 3 pretty well which also suits the Lakers and Kobe.

Ariza had a good season and two very good playoff games but there might be a small bit too much hype about him. Ariza might be younger but Artest is still under 30 and in peak condition.

If they get Miller then forget about it !

Sea Devils

Reports suggest that Hedo Turkoglu has signed with the Toronto Raptors for five-year $53 million.

Seems to me as if the Raptors slightly overpaid for him but I guess they're in a win now mode because as any other scenario would mean Bosh would probably leave next year. However I think Hedo only has a couple of good seasons left in him and IMO is a poor mans Toni Kukoc.

ESPN are also reporting that David Lee is close to an agreement with Portland. If I'm the Blazers I'd start to think about the contracts that are due to the young players that they have whose rookie contracts are due to end.

kmart6

Carcharodon wrote: »

Not to sound patronizing or anything but what chemistry. I just put the Lakers down as a bunch of great players, mainly Kobe and Gasol, I hope your on about basketball chemistry cos they certainly don't have any more team spirit than any other teams.

Well now in fairness I'm hardly talking about their social chemistry! Don't care if they can go out for a drink together or not! Only care if they can play yogether on a basketball court!

Carcharodon

kmart6 wrote: »

Well now in fairness I'm hardly talking about their social chemistry! Don't care if they can go out for a drink together or not! Only care if they can play yogether on a basketball court!

Well sometimes a team can get a really good bond and team spirit, this in turn can lead a team to performing beyond their ability, not that common in basketball because of the nature of the players. It would seem near impossible with someone like Kobe though.

kmart6

It's Artest though! He'll need to keep his head about him!

Atleast he will take a lot of the defensive load off Kobe!

Sea Devils

Just when you thought this NBA off-season couldn't get any crazier, comes news the Boston Celtics have reached an agreement with free agent forward/center Rasheed Wallace(notes) on a two-year deal that starts at the midlevel exemption of about $5.8 million.

The Celtics offered Wallace the contract during a three-hour meeting in Detroit on Thursday. Celtics stars Kevin Garnett(notes), Ray Allen(notes) and "Snake Eyes" Paul Pierce joined general manager Danny Ainge and managing partner Wyc Grousbeck at the meeting.

eagle eye

I knew that was happening once Powe was released. It was rumoured for a while to be in the works, but once Leon bit the dust it was very likely.

Its a championship winning side now, very hard to stop them next season even with Shaq joining LeBron. I think we will be keeping Big Baby as well.

Sea Devils

Yeah it's a good move by the Celtics. I've also read somewhere that they are rumoured to be taking a look at Grant Hill and that Big Baby could sign an offer sheet with San Antonio.

Kinetic^

Some good moves by the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs. Are Cleveland rumoured to be looking at anyone else?

Liam O

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Some good moves by the Lakers, Celtics and Spurs. Are Cleveland rumoured to be looking at anyone else?

they were interested in Rasheed and they are in desperate need of a new PF especially since they are yet to resign Varejao.

kmart6

msnbc.com wrote:

Charlie Villanueva posted a message on his Twitter account, informing his followers he will sign with the Detroit Pistons.

“It’s a clear summer day in LA. I got my workout this morning,” Villanueva tweeted Monday. “Now I’m off to Motor City: the process continues... physicals, signing on Wed.”

He and Ben Gordon agreed to five-year contracts with the Pistons, a person with the knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press last week, for at least $35 million and $50-plus million, respectively.

“Well I’m a Piston,” Villanueva posted under his “CV31” screen name on July 2. “Long day yesterday, but got it done, God is good.

“Deeeeeeetrooooooiiiiittttttt basketballllllllllllll.”

The Pistons were allowed to begin negotiations with free agents on July 1, but the league prohibits its teams from announcing deals until the moratorium period ends Wednesday.

Villanueva played for the Milwaukee Bucks last season and Gordon was with the Chicago Bulls.

Both helped Connecticut with the national title in 2004.

“Last time I teamed up with BG we won a championship in 2004,” Villanueva tweeted last week.

Villanueva created a stir last season when he posted a message during halftime of a game with the Bucks on Twitter and got a stern lecture from Bucks coach Scott Skiles, who thought it gave the impression that Villanueva wasn’t focused.

Thanks to the publicity, the list of followers who subscribed to Villanueva’s Twitter feed quadrupled in just over 24 hours, going from about 1,600 subscribers to nearly 7,000. On Monday night, he had nearly 40,000 followers.

Gotta love twitter lol!

Sea Devils

Bucher's furious tweeting:

Oh, and this: "Jazz can't afford to re-sign Millsap + keep Boozer, Okur + Kirilenko. Somebody is going. My $ is on Boozer and his 1 yr left.

On S&T between Suns/Raps w/Marion: source says there's 50-50 chance of it happening. Don't know for whom, but it won't be Dampier. (probably meant Mavs)

Prob nothing but: couple sources say Ariza is wavering on commitment to Rockets. Hou says it's not true. Ariza's agent not returning calls.

I would not expect Curry to be part of the deal. Phx, I suspect, will try to get a future pick as a substitute."

I know it's the Summer League and all that started yesterday but I still found this crazy. 76ers and Nets are sharing summer league teams because of the economy

Sea Devils

Salary Cap drops about $1M this year, may drop $5-$8M next year

:eek:

That would change EVERYTHING in terms of the 2010 Free Agent class. It Basically that means Lebron will stay in Cleveland and Wade will stay in Miami, which is what I wanted to happen

kmart6

Sea Devils wrote: »

Salary Cap drops about $1M this year, may drop $5-$8M next year

:eek:

That would change EVERYTHING in terms of the 2010 Free Agent class. It Basically that means Lebron will stay in Cleveland and Wade will stay in Miami, which is what I wanted to happen

Not sure that'll be the case! Wade won't be hanging around if there not in the mix for a championship.

kmart6

Birdman signs for 5 years with the Nuggets

kmart6

Bibby staying with Hawks

Sea Devils

kmart6 wrote: »

Not sure that'll be the case! Wade won't be hanging around if there not in the mix for a championship.

Yeah I only just saw that. Still I think it makes Wade's chances of leaving even less likely as not only will teams be limited in their funds but that $30 million more he will make just for staying in Miami seems larger when put next to a smaller contract.

There is a lot of pressure on Riley at the moment though. Heard he's going after Iverson

Sea Devils

Marion could soon be a Maverick

Updated: July 6, 2009, 9:33 PM ET
Sources: Mavs pursue Raps' MarionComment Email Print Share By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
Archive
The Dallas Mavericks, after striking verbal agreements over the past few days to retain Jason Kidd and sign restricted free agent Marcin Gortat to an offer sheet, have identified their latest target: Shawn Marion.

The Mavericks and Toronto Raptors, according to NBA front-office sources, are discussing a sign-and-trade deal that would bring Marion to Dallas.

Although no trade appeared imminent Monday night, Dallas has emerged as perhaps the best option for Marion. He appeared to be heading for a new deal with the Raptors when Toronto succeeded in wooing Hedo Turkoglu away from the Portland Trail Blazers with an 11th-hour bid on Friday after Turkoglu had committed to the Blazers.

If the Mavericks and Raptors can strike a deal -- with a third team potentially needed to help make the salary-cap math work -- sources say that former All-Star guard Jerry Stackhouse will almost certainly be headed to the Raptors in the exchange. Stackhouse is scheduled to earn $7 million next season at age 34, but only $2 million of his salary is guaranteed.

Without a sign-and-trade, Marion's options for landing a contract that starts above the projected mid-level exception of $5.8 million next season would appear to be exhausted, with neither Portland nor Oklahoma City -- teams that still have cap space to burn -- expected to make him an offer.

With Kidd staying in Dallas If Marion came to Dallas they would be looking at Kidd/Howard/Marion/Nowitzki/Gortat as the starters with Terry providing the offense off the bench. They are also still trying to keep Bass and I think that they are still going to have Dampier to back up Gortat.

That is pretty formidable.

kmart6

Sea Devils wrote: »

Yeah I only just saw that. Still I think it makes Wade's chances of leaving even less likely as not only will teams be limited in their funds but that $30 million more he will make just for staying in Miami seems larger when put next to a smaller contract.

There is a lot of pressure on Riley at the moment though. Heard he's going after Iverson

Couldn't see that as a good choice,Wade and him just wouldn't work...2 players who want the ball that much to do all the scoring....could it work?!

Sea Devils

Shawn Marion, Kris Humpries, Greg Bucker to Dallas

Devean George, Antoine Wright, Hedo Turkoglu to Toronto

Jerry Stackhouse, Quincy Douby, $3 million cash to Memphis

Trade exception to Orlando

Everybody wins. Dallas gets Marion, Toronto keeps the MLE, Orlando gets a trade exception they can use to get a good player, Memphis saves money

Carcharodon

Possible multi trade of Boozer to Bulls, Heinrich to Portland and Thomas to Utah.
Its one of many options being discussed but looks good for me for all parties involved.
I really like Heinrich but Boozer is the type of player the Bulls lack, I am sure Sloan would do a good job with Thomas.

Seems Stoudemire doesn't want to leave Phoenix now, and if he is traded he doesn't want to leave for a mediocre team either, (that still doesn't rule out the Warriors whom are a bad team). Seems like The Suns wanted to trade him but are not getting good enough offers maybe.

Sea Devils

I'm not too bothered about Amare. There was always a very small chance the Warriors would actually have gotten him anyway . I don't know why he'd come to a team that has a proven track record of blunders left and right in FA, the draft, and letting their very best players walk. Why would a perennial all-star uproot his comfortable surroundings, pack up his bags, leave home and be a part of what really is mediocre?

I hope to hell those Ellisson rumours about buying the Warriors are true.

Sea Devils

Carcharodon wrote: »

Possible multi trade of Boozer to Bulls, Heinrich to Portland and Thomas to Utah.
Its one of many options being discussed but looks good for me for all parties involved.
I really like Heinrich but Boozer is the type of player the Bulls lack, I am sure Sloan would do a good job with Thomas.

Now Chicago is trying to demand Jeryd Bayless be included in the Boozer deal.

Um, Chicago, you're already getting the best player in this deal. I don't think you have much room to demand anything

Sea Devils

Anyone see Varejao (Sideshow Bob) and the new contract he got?. A mind boggling 6 year 50 million deal. Talk about overpaying for an average PF.

Kinetic^

Must have a very good agent! No way he's worth that tbh.

kmart6

Sea Devils wrote: »

Anyone see Varejao (Sideshow Bob) and the new contract he got?. A mind boggling 6 year 50 million deal. Talk about overpaying for an average PF.

But just think of all the extra flopping there after buying!!!

Sea Devils

Clippers in "serious talks" with Allen Iverson per ESPN.

The Clippers need to be building around Eric Gordon. They would be crazy to sign Iverson. Plus they got rid of Zach Randolph to make room for Griffin. Now they're going to turn around and add Iverson? With Gordon coming off a great rookie season?

Kinetic^

Iverson would be a poor signing tbh. Clippers are a terrible franchise and will always be the 2nd best team in LA.

kmart6

If only they had got Kobe a couple of years ago....how things could be different:rolleyes:

eagle eye

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Iverson would be a poor signing tbh. Clippers are a terrible franchise and will always be the 2nd best team in LA.

Why do you think Iverson would be such a bad signing?
I think he would fit in perfectly there, along with Griffin, Gordon, Thornton and Camby its a pretty powerful and dangerous looking starting 5.

Sea Devils

eagle eye wrote: »

Why do you think Iverson would be such a bad signing?
I think he would fit in perfectly there, along with Griffin, Gordon, Thornton and Camby its a pretty powerful and dangerous looking starting 5.

Gordon is coming off a great rookie season though. Doubt he'd be happy with coming off the bench which would be his most likely spot unless they're planning on trading Baron.

Carcharodon

Sea Devils wrote: »

Anyone see Varejao (Sideshow Bob) and the new contract he got?. A mind boggling 6 year 50 million deal. Talk about overpaying for an average PF.

My jaw dropped when I saw that too, it just shows you there is a serious lack of really good big men in the NBA.

On AI going to the Clippers, it might not be the long term solution but hell, its AI, one of the best players to ever play in the NBA.
It will probably be a short term deal but he has made it clear after Detroit that he doesn't want to be coming off the bench, I could easily see them trading Baron but at the end of the day it is not the long term solution to the franchise.

eagle eye

Sea Devils wrote: »

Gordon is coming off a great rookie season though. Doubt he'd be happy with coming off the bench which would be his most likely spot unless they're planning on trading Baron.

Why would he be coming off the bench? He would be a starter along with Iverson, theres nothing wrong with two guards when you have talented huge men inside like Camby and Griffin.

Sea Devils

eagle eye wrote: »

Why would he be coming off the bench? He would be a starter along with Iverson, theres nothing wrong with two guards when you have talented huge men inside like Camby and Griffin.

What about Baron Davis though?Where would he fit into the Clippers plans if they got A.I?

eagle eye

Sea Devils wrote: »

What about Baron Davis though?Where would he fit into the Clippers plans if they got A.I?

Well they might trade him off, but AI is definietely an upgrade and I really think that their starting five is savage if they get him. That leaves Davis either being traded or taking a back seat to Iverson. If they managed to keep him as well then they have a very serious bench too.

Sea Devils

Lakers took their 9 mil a year offer off the table so it looks like they will explore S & T options with Lamar Odom

Sea Devils

eagle eye wrote: »

Well they might trade him off, but AI is definietely an upgrade and I really think that their starting five is savage if they get him. That leaves Davis either being traded or taking a back seat to Iverson. If they managed to keep him as well then they have a very serious bench too.

I was just thinking about this earlier. Would there be many takers for Baron.? If you consider the size of his contract and the reputation that has sided with him throughout his career e.g plays little to no Defense, takes nights off, has only played one full season etc then it looks as if the negatives outweigh the positives.

Having said that Dumbleavy and Baron defintely don't see eye to eye so it's not impossible.

Carcharodon

I bet the Warriors would of taken him back if Nelson was not here, still a crowd favorite and to be honest I thought he gave a lot to the team but attitude and contract would always be a problem. Thats all old news though.

I think the main reason for AI going to the Clippers is to boost ticket sales as there has been a big drop in people renewing season tickets and such even with Blake Griffin. Still early days though.

Odum seems to be shooting himself in the foot over this new offer, all over wanting a longer deal, he is getting more money than other teams can offer and he will remain on the best team in the league. Lakers can't really afford to lose him either in my opinion.

Looks like the Australian PG Mills won't see NBA action anytime soon, broke his right foot.

Sea Devils

I've seen reports about Odom possibly heading to the Mavs but I imagine the Lakers would want a sign and trade and possibly get Josh Howard rather then let him just walk and get nothing.

The Lakers offered him two deals, three years for 30 millions and four years for 36 million. Personally I think thats overpaying for Odom but then again when you see what the likes of Maggette and Varejao are earning then I suppose it's hard to blame Odom and his agent for hardballing during the negotiations.

For a guy who pissed away most of his career and failed to live up to his extraordinarily high potential, Odom has developed nicely with the Lakers. I still have a hard time imagining Odom and LA not coming to terms.

kmart6

Lakers really can't afford to lose Odom...unles they are able to get someone significant in his place!

kmart6

Lakers have retracted the offer now!

Kinetic^

kmart6 wrote: »

Lakers have retracted the offer now!

He's an idiot. He came into the league with a lot of high expectations but failed to deliver as the go to guy on a team. He fits in well as the 2nd or 3rd go to guy on a team so whoever is negotiating for him needs a smack of reality.

On the flip side, he should hire Verajao's agent.

kmart6

Lol,wouldn't be signing with the Lakers if he does that!