George O'Brien
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It appears that the Cavs will announce signing Robert Traylor today, thus reducing the number of experienced available big men substantially. At this point, Joel Przybilla may be the best of a fairly sorry lot but I doubt anything will happen soon.
Przybilla was the #9 pick in the 2000 draft, but never lived up to his high draft ranking. His best year was 2001-02 when he started 62 of the 71 games he played in while averaging 15.9 minutes a game: 2.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 1.66 blocks per game (unfortunately his blocking skill came at the price of a lot of foul calls.) In 2002-03 he played in only 32 games and played only 17 games this past season as he recovered from knee surgery.
Even after recovering, JP saw almost no action until he was traded to the Hawks where he played 26.3 minutes a game and grabbed 8.4 rpg in 12 games. This was a hint that maybe he has recovered from his knee problem, but hardly proof. Considering his relatively weak performance before his injury, there is not a huge lineup of teams ready to sign him.
None the less, it is a huge drop from a #9 pick to signing a veteran minimum in a world where most teams still have their lower level minimum exemption (worth about $1.6 million). His agent is unlikely to settle for a minimum contract unless sure that no one else will give more. This could take all summer.
My guess is that the Suns are reviewing every summer league big man and Euro free agent in search of big bangers and shot blockers. At the same time, there are number of players whose contracts can expire in the middle of August if their team so chooses. One option is that the Suns might sign Scott Williams and then watch the waiver wire at the end of the preseason.
The list of possible players is endless, but their ability to actually help is hardly certain. The one attraction of the Suns to a guy like JP is that he would have a good chance of getting some minutes on a good team. It may be worth giving up a few hundred thousand on the chance of getting a much bigger contract in the future after proving himself. We'll see.
Przybilla was the #9 pick in the 2000 draft, but never lived up to his high draft ranking. His best year was 2001-02 when he started 62 of the 71 games he played in while averaging 15.9 minutes a game: 2.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 1.66 blocks per game (unfortunately his blocking skill came at the price of a lot of foul calls.) In 2002-03 he played in only 32 games and played only 17 games this past season as he recovered from knee surgery.
Even after recovering, JP saw almost no action until he was traded to the Hawks where he played 26.3 minutes a game and grabbed 8.4 rpg in 12 games. This was a hint that maybe he has recovered from his knee problem, but hardly proof. Considering his relatively weak performance before his injury, there is not a huge lineup of teams ready to sign him.
None the less, it is a huge drop from a #9 pick to signing a veteran minimum in a world where most teams still have their lower level minimum exemption (worth about $1.6 million). His agent is unlikely to settle for a minimum contract unless sure that no one else will give more. This could take all summer.
My guess is that the Suns are reviewing every summer league big man and Euro free agent in search of big bangers and shot blockers. At the same time, there are number of players whose contracts can expire in the middle of August if their team so chooses. One option is that the Suns might sign Scott Williams and then watch the waiver wire at the end of the preseason.
The list of possible players is endless, but their ability to actually help is hardly certain. The one attraction of the Suns to a guy like JP is that he would have a good chance of getting some minutes on a good team. It may be worth giving up a few hundred thousand on the chance of getting a much bigger contract in the future after proving himself. We'll see.
