East Valley Tribune: Suns to learn Thursday if Q's their man

[Griffin]

By Mike Tulumello, Tribune

The Suns will find out today whether they've landed Quentin Richardson on the free-agent market.
Two weeks ago, the Suns made the high-scoring off guard an offer somewhere in the range of $45 million over six years.
The Los Angeles Clippers, Richardson's team the past four years, have the right to match the offer.

Speculation around the league is that the Clippers will match and retain Richardson. Though the Clippers aren't saying, and the Suns say they have no way of knowing what will happen, the words used by club president Bryan Colangelo indicate the Suns are preparing for the Clippers to match.

"If we're not adding Quentin Richardson, it's not something altogether bad," he said, pointing out the Suns will have plenty of options.

At the same time, the Clippers have been exploring their own options and might continue to do so for much of today. One possibility going around the NBA grapevine — they might want to acquire Kerry Kittles, the New Jersey guard who is entering the final year of his contract. That would allow them to drop Richardson, who averaged 17.2 points on 40 percent shooting last season.

The Suns are believed to have front-loaded the offer to discourage the Clippers from matching. They can put 25 percent of the entire contract in a signing bonus. And they can pay him 70 percent of the first year's salary on the day they sign him.

In response, the Clippers have taken their time deciding whether to match. That has tied up the Suns' ability to maneuver.

While they've waited for an answer from the Clippers, such free agent big men as Mehmet Okur (Jazz), Greg Ostertag (Kings) and Vlade Divac (Lakers) have signed with other teams.

If they can't get Richardson, they're expected to try to use some of the money they would have spent on him on a big man. They could make a trade before the season starts, or they could wait until the season begins and look for deals then.

Or they could leverage a trade for draft picks by using their salary-cap space. That's what Utah did when it picked up two first-round picks from the Suns, who were eager to get rid of Tom Gugliotta's contract in mid-season.

The Jazz were able to do so because they were under the salary cap.

"Having cap space is a great commodity," Colangelo said.

As for Richardson, he said, "We felt he was the best player available."

Colangelo indicated the Suns didn't want to get in a bidding war for big men with so-so resumés. Those bidding wars resulted in huge contracts for a number of those players.


http://www.aztrib.com/index.php?sty=25494

 

[Gaddabout]

None of that surprises me. After a conversation I had last night with someone who does business with the Suns, I'm convinced of three things:

- The Suns have been fairly certain this week Q will be matched
- The Suns have never had -- nor will they have -- an interest in Dampier
- They've had a backup plan and it's not something we have neccesarily speculated.

 

[coloradosun]

Who was that guy that was posting that Magloire will be a Sun.

Maybe that is not out of the question now that Magloire was in trade rumors for Vince. The only the way I can see that happening is if Dampier is destined to become a Hornet.

 

[scoutmasterdave]

Man, if I were the Hornets' GM, there's no way I'd do a deal that gets me Dampier if it meant I had to give up Magliore. Magliore is much younger, much healthier, and is just as productive (if not more so).

 

[The Commish]

You guys forget though that we would have to give up Marion in the process, something I am STRONGLY against. If we traded Marion for Magloire, I think it would be a big mistake. I would much rather sign Dampier outright, and keep the team as it is.

 

[Joe Mama]

You guys forget though that we would have to give up Marion in the process, something I am STRONGLY against. If we traded Marion for Magloire, I think it would be a big mistake. I would much rather sign Dampier outright, and keep the team as it is.

well, Shawn Marion makes about twice as much as Magloire, so the Hornets or somebody else would have to trade another player to Phoenix. Depending on who that player is that could be a fantastic deal for Phoenix.

Of course this doesn't mean that I really believe there is any chance in hell that the Hornets will do this. They are not going to trade Magloire.

Joe Mama

 

[SweetD]

Lets do a sign and trade with GS for Casey or Voskul and Milos or Howard and Milso for Damp.

 

[George O'Brien]

Lets do a sign and trade with GS for Casey or Voskul and Milos or Howard and Milso for Damp.

The Voskuhl and Vujanic deal might actually work. There is no way that GS takes Eisley (for a huge number of reasons) and I doubt that Casey would be interesting to them (GS has Jason Richardson and Mickael Pietrus). But GS likes to have a lot of depth on the inside.