Kobe slowing down the process?
By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
General managers start your engines.
After spending the last month playing poker with cap space, teams finally got to put their cards on the table at 12:01 a.m. Thursday morning.
The free-agent wooing period is upon us. Teams can negotiate with, but not officially sign free agents, from now until July 15th. If this year holds true to form, most of the major deals will be complete before the player movement moratorium is up.
With precious few elite free agents on the open market, and with so many teams having cap room this year, teams -- and free agents -- won't have a lot of time to kick things around.
The prize is Kobe Bryant, but even he won't be afforded a long exploratory period.
Bryant has claimed that he'd like to take time deciding where to go in free agency. As talented as he is, no one's going to give it to him. Teams like the Suns, Spurs and Clippers are going to want to know within the next week or two what he's going to do.
Every team wooing Kobe will offer a max contract. Under league rules, no can offer more. The Lakers, too, are offering Kobe the max. Kobe and his agent have known this for months. Free-agent visits have become a staple of every star free-agency bid, but why? Kobe's been in the league long enough to know what the Spurs' and Suns' locker room looks like. He's spent time in each city. He knows the players on every roster.
So what's the holdup? If Kobe insists on waiting around, he may find that the Suns', Spurs' and Clippers' big offers will disappear.
The Suns want to make a major push in free agency this summer. If they can't land Kobe, look for them to make a big run at Steve Nash and Mehmet Okur. Both guys will get intense pressure to sign elsewhere, so the Suns can't put them on hold for too long.
The Spurs are in a different boat. They have a number of their own free agents whom they want to re-sign. Manu Ginobili, Hedo Turkoglu and Bruce Bowen will all get strong interest from a number of teams. If they don't hear the word from Kobe soon, they'll have no choice but to jump ship and lock up their own guys.
The Clippers have the most flexibility, but it isn't unlimited. Bryant appears to be the only major free agent the team has targeted. They do, however, have a pretty good restricted free agent, Quentin Richardson, whom they want to re-sign. Richardson is already being wooed hard by the Nuggets and will likely have an offer sheet in place by the 15th.
That gives the Clippers 15 days from the 15th to figure out the Kobe situation. If he'll sign with the Clips, Richardson has to be sacrificed to clear enough cap room to sign Kobe. If he doesn't sign, it sounds like the Clips don't want to lose him.
Once Kobe makes his decision, the rest of the free-agent market will come into sharper focus. As of late Wednesday night, here's where several top free agents were leaning . . .
Erick Dampier: Why is Dampier on the top of this list? His status depends on Kobe as much as anyone else in free agency. If Shaq is going to jump ship to the Mavs, Dampier would be involved somehow. The Mavs are trying to work out a three-way trade with the Warriors and Lakers that makes everyone happy and keeps them from giving up Dirk Nowitzki.
[size=-2][/size][size=-1]Erick Dampier[/size]
[size=-2]Center
Golden State Warriors[/size]
[/size][size=-2][/size]2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
[size=-2]GM[/size][size=-2]PPG[/size][size=-2]RPG[/size][size=-2]APG[/size][size=-2]FG%[/size][size=-2]FT%[/size][size=-2]74[/size][size=-2]12.3[/size][size=-2]12.0[/size][size=-2]0.8[/size][size=-2].535[/size][size=-2].654[/size]
Coming up with three-team scenarios that work under cap rules are tough. To get something done that the Lakers and Warriors would even remotely consider would probably have to look something like this:
The Lakers send Shaq to Dallas, and Gary Payton and Devean George to Golden State. The Mavericks send Antoine Walker, a re-signed Steve Nash and Josh Howard to the Lakers and Tony Delk to the Warriors. The Warriors send a re-signed Erick Dampier and Cliff Robinson to the Lakers.
That's a huge, unwieldily deal that I wouldn't touch if I were the Lakers. However, it does begin to give the Lakers some value and some cap flexibility in return for Shaq. Nash is an upgrade at the point. Dampier is as good of a replacement for Shaq as the Lakers are going to get. Howard is a very nice piece at small forward, and Robinson and Walker, who come off the books at the end of the season, would clear about $20 million in cap space.
However, who says that Dampier and the Warriors would agree to such a move? Dampier's made it known that his preference is to play in Memphis next year if the two sides can work out a sign-and-trade.
One deal that could work for both sides? The Warriors send a re-signed Dampier to the Grizzlies for a re-signed Stromile Swift (he won't evoke the base-year problems if his contract starts at $5.5 million next year), Earl Watson and Ryan Humphrey. That's a lot for the Grizzlies to give up (they claim they want to re-sign and keep Swift), but they're desperate for a big man and could easily swing the Warriors their way with such a deal.
Kenyon Martin: It sounds like he's going to get a max offer from someone. The Hawks are the team most likely to make him the offer. The Nuggets like him a lot too, but are a little more cautious financially. They may balk at the asking price.
However, they'll likely have him in next week. The Spurs and Jazz might also get involved, but it sounds like Martin doesn't have much interest. The Nets? It sounds like they're resigned to sit back and wait to see the market price for K-Mart.
"Both he and his agent have stated publicly and privately they're looking for a max-out contract. That's what they're looking for and the market place will determine what it is," said Nets CEO Rod Thorn. "Then we'll go from there. Everything is speculation until you see what happens. I don't want to speculate about it. When we get it, if we get it, we'll go from there."
Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles: It should come as no surprise that these best friends have decided to visit a few cities together. The former Clipper teammates really want to play together.
[size=-2][/size][size=-1]Quentin Richardson[/size]
[size=-2]Shooting Guard
Los Angeles Clippers[/size]
[/size][size=-2][/size]2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
[size=-2]GM[/size][size=-2]PPG[/size][size=-2]RPG[/size][size=-2]APG[/size][size=-2]FG%[/size][size=-2]FT%[/size][size=-2]65[/size][size=-2]17.2[/size][size=-2]6.4[/size][size=-2]2.1[/size][size=-2].398[/size][size=-2].740[/size]
The Nuggets, who have enough money under the cap to woo both of them, seem like a great destination. Richardson and Miles will be in Denver on Thursday and will be followed by Ginobili on Friday.
All three are restricted free agents, however, meaning teams take a risk by signing them to offer sheets.
"Restricted free agents are tough," Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe said. "For the most part, as a general rule, I'd much rather go with an unrestricted free agent. Sometimes restricted free agency is really a dice role."
Stromile Swift: The Grizzlies are telling every team in the market that they'll match any offer for Swift, who is a restricted free agent. That's bad news for teams like the Bobcats, Hawks, Warriors and Jazz, who have targeted Swift in free agency. Most teams do not like to sign restricted free agents because they become locked into an offer sheet for 15 days while teams decide whether to match the offer. If teams are convinced the Grizzlies will match, Swift may struggle to actually get an offer anywhere else.
Mehmet Okur: Either way you cut it, it sounds like Okur isn't going to be back in Detroit next season despite saying recently that re-signing with Detroit is his first option.
[size=-2][/size][size=-1]Mehmet Okur[/size]
[size=-2]Forward-Center
Detroit Pistons[/size]
[/size][size=-2][/size]2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
[size=-2]GM[/size][size=-2]PPG[/size][size=-2]RPG[/size][size=-2]APG[/size][size=-2]FG%[/size][size=-2]FT%[/size][size=-2]71[/size][size=-2]9.6[/size][size=-2]5.9[/size][size=-2]1.0[/size][size=-2].463[/size][size=-2].775[/size]
"He's looking at it both ways -- the economics combined with the best opportunity for him to play and contribute to a club that wants to win, that is committed to winning and is headed in the right direction," his agent, Marc Fleisher, said.
"I don't think Memo is just about the money. It depends on what the team is and what the opportunity to play is. Detroit not only might be the team that can offer him the least (money), but also may be the team with the least playing time. We'll have to see what Joe and John tell him as to what their plans are and what Larry's plans are."
Fleisher's right. On Phoenix, Utah or Denver, Okur would be a starter. As long as Larry Brown stays in Detroit, the chances of that happening are slim unless Rasheed Wallace takes off unexpectedly.
Adonal Foyle: He's going to be one of the hotter names in free agency for a couple of reasons. One, he's big and he's a shot blocker. Two, he's one of the guys who will settle for a mid-level contract, making him available to everyone. He's high on about 20 teams' lists, including the Warriors. Look for the Magic to get involved in the bidding, offering either Cuttino Mobley or Drew Gooden as part of a sign-and-trade. Mobley can't be packaged in a deal for two months, but he can be moved individually.
Derek Fisher: Sources claim that the Rockets are very high on Fisher and will target him with their mid-level exception as a replacement for Steve Francis. The Raptors will also be in the hunt for Fisher this summer.
Jamal Crawford: The Knicks are showing strong interest in Crawford, but it isn't clear why he'd want to play in New York. The Knicks' backcourt is loaded, and there's very little chance he gets starting minutes ahead of Stephon Marbury and Allan Houston. The team also has Penny Hardaway, Shandon Anderson, Moochie Norris and Frank Williams who play back there. Given that the Knicks can only offer him the mid-level exception, what the point for Crawford?
Trade fallout
Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady officially changed places on Wednesday. I said a little over a week ago that I believed this was a home run deal for the Rockets and a pretty bad one for the Magic. Nothing has happened in the past 10 days to make me change my mind.
Looking over the Magic roster, I think you can argue that the team has a shot at being worse than it was last year. Francis is a good player, but if the Rockets weren't convinced that he's a great fit in the backcourt with Mobley, why should the Magic be? The small forward position is still a big question mark. And when did Kelvin Cato become an all-star? We've read more propaganda about Cato, who averaged a whopping 6.1 ppg and 6.8 rpg last season -- and those were near career highs. When he's not playing next to Yao, does anyone think he's going to do better?
An undersized backcourt, two stiffs in the middle, two small forwards with history of injuries and two young power forwards don't make a contender. The Magic are preaching patience on this trade. They claim that other deals will follow. There's a chance that Mobley, Cato and Gooden could all be gone by the start of training camp.
"We've just finished the second act in a six-act play," Weisbrod said. "I'm very pleased with what's happened in the last 10 days. The deal and the draft all fit with what we're doing. But we're not done. We've got other things prepared to fall into place."
I'm willing to hold off a little longer. But if something doesn't get done soon, Magic fans are going to find the fact that John Weisbrod didn't get along with T-Mac a tough explanation for watching their team disintegrate in front of their eyes.
By Chad Ford
ESPN Insider
General managers start your engines.
After spending the last month playing poker with cap space, teams finally got to put their cards on the table at 12:01 a.m. Thursday morning.
The free-agent wooing period is upon us. Teams can negotiate with, but not officially sign free agents, from now until July 15th. If this year holds true to form, most of the major deals will be complete before the player movement moratorium is up.
With precious few elite free agents on the open market, and with so many teams having cap room this year, teams -- and free agents -- won't have a lot of time to kick things around.
The prize is Kobe Bryant, but even he won't be afforded a long exploratory period.
Bryant has claimed that he'd like to take time deciding where to go in free agency. As talented as he is, no one's going to give it to him. Teams like the Suns, Spurs and Clippers are going to want to know within the next week or two what he's going to do.
Every team wooing Kobe will offer a max contract. Under league rules, no can offer more. The Lakers, too, are offering Kobe the max. Kobe and his agent have known this for months. Free-agent visits have become a staple of every star free-agency bid, but why? Kobe's been in the league long enough to know what the Spurs' and Suns' locker room looks like. He's spent time in each city. He knows the players on every roster.
So what's the holdup? If Kobe insists on waiting around, he may find that the Suns', Spurs' and Clippers' big offers will disappear.
The Suns want to make a major push in free agency this summer. If they can't land Kobe, look for them to make a big run at Steve Nash and Mehmet Okur. Both guys will get intense pressure to sign elsewhere, so the Suns can't put them on hold for too long.
The Spurs are in a different boat. They have a number of their own free agents whom they want to re-sign. Manu Ginobili, Hedo Turkoglu and Bruce Bowen will all get strong interest from a number of teams. If they don't hear the word from Kobe soon, they'll have no choice but to jump ship and lock up their own guys.
The Clippers have the most flexibility, but it isn't unlimited. Bryant appears to be the only major free agent the team has targeted. They do, however, have a pretty good restricted free agent, Quentin Richardson, whom they want to re-sign. Richardson is already being wooed hard by the Nuggets and will likely have an offer sheet in place by the 15th.
That gives the Clippers 15 days from the 15th to figure out the Kobe situation. If he'll sign with the Clips, Richardson has to be sacrificed to clear enough cap room to sign Kobe. If he doesn't sign, it sounds like the Clips don't want to lose him.
Once Kobe makes his decision, the rest of the free-agent market will come into sharper focus. As of late Wednesday night, here's where several top free agents were leaning . . .
Erick Dampier: Why is Dampier on the top of this list? His status depends on Kobe as much as anyone else in free agency. If Shaq is going to jump ship to the Mavs, Dampier would be involved somehow. The Mavs are trying to work out a three-way trade with the Warriors and Lakers that makes everyone happy and keeps them from giving up Dirk Nowitzki.
[size=-2][/size][size=-1]Erick Dampier[/size]
[size=-2]Center
Golden State Warriors[/size]
You must be registered for see images attach
[size=-2]Profile[/size][size=-2][/size]2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
[size=-2]GM[/size][size=-2]PPG[/size][size=-2]RPG[/size][size=-2]APG[/size][size=-2]FG%[/size][size=-2]FT%[/size][size=-2]74[/size][size=-2]12.3[/size][size=-2]12.0[/size][size=-2]0.8[/size][size=-2].535[/size][size=-2].654[/size]
Coming up with three-team scenarios that work under cap rules are tough. To get something done that the Lakers and Warriors would even remotely consider would probably have to look something like this:
The Lakers send Shaq to Dallas, and Gary Payton and Devean George to Golden State. The Mavericks send Antoine Walker, a re-signed Steve Nash and Josh Howard to the Lakers and Tony Delk to the Warriors. The Warriors send a re-signed Erick Dampier and Cliff Robinson to the Lakers.
That's a huge, unwieldily deal that I wouldn't touch if I were the Lakers. However, it does begin to give the Lakers some value and some cap flexibility in return for Shaq. Nash is an upgrade at the point. Dampier is as good of a replacement for Shaq as the Lakers are going to get. Howard is a very nice piece at small forward, and Robinson and Walker, who come off the books at the end of the season, would clear about $20 million in cap space.
However, who says that Dampier and the Warriors would agree to such a move? Dampier's made it known that his preference is to play in Memphis next year if the two sides can work out a sign-and-trade.
One deal that could work for both sides? The Warriors send a re-signed Dampier to the Grizzlies for a re-signed Stromile Swift (he won't evoke the base-year problems if his contract starts at $5.5 million next year), Earl Watson and Ryan Humphrey. That's a lot for the Grizzlies to give up (they claim they want to re-sign and keep Swift), but they're desperate for a big man and could easily swing the Warriors their way with such a deal.
Kenyon Martin: It sounds like he's going to get a max offer from someone. The Hawks are the team most likely to make him the offer. The Nuggets like him a lot too, but are a little more cautious financially. They may balk at the asking price.
However, they'll likely have him in next week. The Spurs and Jazz might also get involved, but it sounds like Martin doesn't have much interest. The Nets? It sounds like they're resigned to sit back and wait to see the market price for K-Mart.
"Both he and his agent have stated publicly and privately they're looking for a max-out contract. That's what they're looking for and the market place will determine what it is," said Nets CEO Rod Thorn. "Then we'll go from there. Everything is speculation until you see what happens. I don't want to speculate about it. When we get it, if we get it, we'll go from there."
Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles: It should come as no surprise that these best friends have decided to visit a few cities together. The former Clipper teammates really want to play together.
[size=-2][/size][size=-1]Quentin Richardson[/size]
[size=-2]Shooting Guard
Los Angeles Clippers[/size]
You must be registered for see images attach
[size=-2]Profile[/size][size=-2][/size]2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
[size=-2]GM[/size][size=-2]PPG[/size][size=-2]RPG[/size][size=-2]APG[/size][size=-2]FG%[/size][size=-2]FT%[/size][size=-2]65[/size][size=-2]17.2[/size][size=-2]6.4[/size][size=-2]2.1[/size][size=-2].398[/size][size=-2].740[/size]
The Nuggets, who have enough money under the cap to woo both of them, seem like a great destination. Richardson and Miles will be in Denver on Thursday and will be followed by Ginobili on Friday.
All three are restricted free agents, however, meaning teams take a risk by signing them to offer sheets.
"Restricted free agents are tough," Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe said. "For the most part, as a general rule, I'd much rather go with an unrestricted free agent. Sometimes restricted free agency is really a dice role."
Stromile Swift: The Grizzlies are telling every team in the market that they'll match any offer for Swift, who is a restricted free agent. That's bad news for teams like the Bobcats, Hawks, Warriors and Jazz, who have targeted Swift in free agency. Most teams do not like to sign restricted free agents because they become locked into an offer sheet for 15 days while teams decide whether to match the offer. If teams are convinced the Grizzlies will match, Swift may struggle to actually get an offer anywhere else.
Mehmet Okur: Either way you cut it, it sounds like Okur isn't going to be back in Detroit next season despite saying recently that re-signing with Detroit is his first option.
[size=-2][/size][size=-1]Mehmet Okur[/size]
[size=-2]Forward-Center
Detroit Pistons[/size]
You must be registered for see images attach
[size=-2]Profile[/size][size=-2][/size]2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
[size=-2]GM[/size][size=-2]PPG[/size][size=-2]RPG[/size][size=-2]APG[/size][size=-2]FG%[/size][size=-2]FT%[/size][size=-2]71[/size][size=-2]9.6[/size][size=-2]5.9[/size][size=-2]1.0[/size][size=-2].463[/size][size=-2].775[/size]
"He's looking at it both ways -- the economics combined with the best opportunity for him to play and contribute to a club that wants to win, that is committed to winning and is headed in the right direction," his agent, Marc Fleisher, said.
"I don't think Memo is just about the money. It depends on what the team is and what the opportunity to play is. Detroit not only might be the team that can offer him the least (money), but also may be the team with the least playing time. We'll have to see what Joe and John tell him as to what their plans are and what Larry's plans are."
Fleisher's right. On Phoenix, Utah or Denver, Okur would be a starter. As long as Larry Brown stays in Detroit, the chances of that happening are slim unless Rasheed Wallace takes off unexpectedly.
Adonal Foyle: He's going to be one of the hotter names in free agency for a couple of reasons. One, he's big and he's a shot blocker. Two, he's one of the guys who will settle for a mid-level contract, making him available to everyone. He's high on about 20 teams' lists, including the Warriors. Look for the Magic to get involved in the bidding, offering either Cuttino Mobley or Drew Gooden as part of a sign-and-trade. Mobley can't be packaged in a deal for two months, but he can be moved individually.
Derek Fisher: Sources claim that the Rockets are very high on Fisher and will target him with their mid-level exception as a replacement for Steve Francis. The Raptors will also be in the hunt for Fisher this summer.
Jamal Crawford: The Knicks are showing strong interest in Crawford, but it isn't clear why he'd want to play in New York. The Knicks' backcourt is loaded, and there's very little chance he gets starting minutes ahead of Stephon Marbury and Allan Houston. The team also has Penny Hardaway, Shandon Anderson, Moochie Norris and Frank Williams who play back there. Given that the Knicks can only offer him the mid-level exception, what the point for Crawford?
Trade fallout
Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady officially changed places on Wednesday. I said a little over a week ago that I believed this was a home run deal for the Rockets and a pretty bad one for the Magic. Nothing has happened in the past 10 days to make me change my mind.
Looking over the Magic roster, I think you can argue that the team has a shot at being worse than it was last year. Francis is a good player, but if the Rockets weren't convinced that he's a great fit in the backcourt with Mobley, why should the Magic be? The small forward position is still a big question mark. And when did Kelvin Cato become an all-star? We've read more propaganda about Cato, who averaged a whopping 6.1 ppg and 6.8 rpg last season -- and those were near career highs. When he's not playing next to Yao, does anyone think he's going to do better?
An undersized backcourt, two stiffs in the middle, two small forwards with history of injuries and two young power forwards don't make a contender. The Magic are preaching patience on this trade. They claim that other deals will follow. There's a chance that Mobley, Cato and Gooden could all be gone by the start of training camp.
"We've just finished the second act in a six-act play," Weisbrod said. "I'm very pleased with what's happened in the last 10 days. The deal and the draft all fit with what we're doing. But we're not done. We've got other things prepared to fall into place."
I'm willing to hold off a little longer. But if something doesn't get done soon, Magic fans are going to find the fact that John Weisbrod didn't get along with T-Mac a tough explanation for watching their team disintegrate in front of their eyes.
