With the official kickoff to NBA signing day, the 76ers steel the best player available and land Elton Brand. Brand is the perfect PF to fit with that team and make them instant contenders in the East.
The question is what the teams that lost out on Brand are going to do. Corey Maggette saw the writing on the wall before Brand even announced his intentions and took a deal from the Warriors to play there at 5 years for 50 Mil. WHAT?! 50 Mil for 5 years for Maggette. Really?!
Maggette is a good player but not anywhere near that level. On top of that, who were the Warriors kidding offering him that much money? The only teams that had any cap room this off-season were the Clippers, Warriors, 76ers and Grizzlies. Maggette didn’t want to go back to the Clippers because he and the coach didn’t get along. The 76ers got Brand and the Grizzlies look they aren’t going to spend any of their money (which really isn’t that bad of an idea). The Warriors could have offered him a contract between 7.5-8 mil a year and it would have been the best thing he would have been offered all off-season. Instead the Warriors are paying him around 2-2.5 mil a year more than they should.
On top of that the Warriors use more of their remaining cap room to go after restricted free agent Ronnie Turiaf. WHAT?! Who is running the Warriors right now? They could have offered a minimum contract to a handful of big men and gotten what they will out of Turiaf. The contract is 4 million a year for 4 years. That is insane. It appears the reason they offered such a big deal is so that the Lakers don’t match the deal and who could blame them. That is way too much money for a backup PF/C that won’t give you anything but hustle off the bench that almost any big man in the NBDL could give them with a minimum contract.
Bad moves there Warriors, you’ll be regretting those when you could have landed Josh Smith or Emeka Okafor.
Basically after Brand, Baron Davis, Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas there isn’t one player that should receive more than 10 mil in free agency this year.
Emeka Okafor and Josh Smith would be the closest to 10 mil but are both restricted and would almost need to get 10 mil a year for their previous teams not to match and keep them.
So after the Warriors and 76ers have spent most of their money already, leaving the Clippers and Grizzlies with anything more than the midlevel exception to spend on free agents.
The Clippers are now being linked to both Smith and Okafor with Smith having the best chance of being picked up. The Clippers could technically pick up both of them if they structure their contracts correctly. But that would be a bit redundant. Smith is more of a PF/SF and Okafor is more of a PF/C. They overlap a bit, so it is doubtful that they will go for both.
The bad part is the player that doesn’t get picked is missing out on the big dollars and might not get it from their current team even. This would be a hard situation to be in and so both players should be willing to work with the Clippers to get signed.
The Grizzlies appear to be sitting around waiting to see what happens and will just continue to work on developing their own players and waiting till next season to spend some cash.
It is truly amazing to see how teams that have money are willing to throw it away just because they have the money available. Can you imagine if NBA GMs were buyers on eBay and how much money sellers would profit off of them. Even if something is only decent, NBA GMs will overpay for it.
A smart GM would make offers when they should be made, like the 76ers with Elton Brand. Bad GMs make offers higher than market value for players that aren’t necessarily going to move your team into playoff contention.
Sometimes it’s better to sit it out and wait for a superstar instead of paying a good players superstar type money.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Warriors give into Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins and give them both 10 million a year.
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In the most underrated move of the off-season, the Magic have gotten Mickael Pietrus to sign with the team. Pietrus is a great wing defender and 3 point shooter. He is also freakishly athletic and will be a great upgrade for the Magic at the 2 spot. Finally giving the team a wing defender and another 3 point threat. Look for the Magic to pick up another free agent big man and PG this summer.
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The Heat have made an offer at 4 million a year to James Jones. This is a deal that Jones should not pass up. That’s the best offer that Jones is going to get and he will be able to go to the Heat and come off the bench and not have to be the man. That’s a role that he excels at.
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With Brand signing with the 76ers, look for Andre Iguodala to sign a long term contract with the team shortly. The 76ers will have a good nuclease for some time with Iguodala and Brand at the forward spots.
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The hot talk around Utah is that Carlos Boozer is going to opt out of his contract next season and bolt for the Heat. While that’s a disaster for the Jazz, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true. With the Heat just drafting Michael Beasley and Udonis Haslem still on the roster, the Heat currently has 2 starting PF quality players on the roster. For Boozer to go to the Heat, it would set Beasley back and the team would have to get rid of Haslem. Unless Beasley is an utter bust, (which he isn’t and an article will be posted on this issue soon) there is no reason for Boozer to be heading to South Beach. Boozer will most likely opt out of his contract next season but should be re-signing with the Jazz on a new long term deal.
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Kurt Thomas is expected to resign with the Spurs though he is open to seeing what else is available for him.
Brent Barry is being pursued by the Suns but also could return to the Spurs. Look for him to receive the veteran minimum wherever he goes.
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Eduardo Najera is rumored to be returning to the Nuggets but word is that the freshly moved Oklahoma (insert team nickname here) will be making a move for him.
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With all the bigger name free agents having agreed to sign with teams look for many restricted free agents to become targets and for a player like James Posey to now find his spot. Every team that was pursing Maggette will now turn their attention towards Posey. He is clearly the next best unrestricted player on the market. The thing that scares off some teams is his age. He should be able to secure a 3 year contract from most teams but any team that is willing to pay him years 4 or 5 are really pushing it, though that is probably what he is looking for in a deal.
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Look for many of the second tier unrestricted players to start finding homes over the next few weeks. With James Jones and Mickael Pietrus already settling in, James Posey, Ricky Davis, Brent Barry, Kurt Thomas, Jannero Pargo, Kwame Brown, Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Keyon Dooling all should find homes quickly as the big dominos have already dropped.
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