Kappono, Walton and Carter all agree to deals

[fordronken]

Kappono to Toronto for the midlevel, which takes them out of the Grant Hill running.

Carter re-signed for 4 years, 61.8 million.

Walton re-signed withe Lakers for 6 years, 30 million.

 

[fordronken]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2922561
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2922663
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2922597

 

[hafey]

I suppose that means Mo Pete will not be returning to Toronto. He is an underrated player. I wouldn't mind him as a back-up plan to hill. Mo Pete's three point shooting would make him very dangerous on the Suns. I imagine, however, he is looking for MLE money.

 

[sunsfn]

Walton to stay with Lakers after agreeing to 6-year, $30 million deal

By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com

Updated: July 1, 2007, 5:53 PM ET

Luke Walton reached agreement Sunday with the Los Angeles Lakers on a six-year, $30 million contract after general manager Mitch Kupchak placed a call one minute after midnight to express the team's interest in retaining its best unrestricted free agent.

Luke Walton

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Los Angeles Lakers
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"They called at the earliest possible moment, and we worked on it all day," agent Lon Babby said. "They wanted him back, and Luke wanted to be there. We wanted to make every effort to get an agreement before we went out and looked at any other teams."
Another of Babby's clients, Grant Hill, had one of his more lucrative options taken away when the Toronto Raptors decided to spend their mid-level exception on Miami Heat sharpshooter Jason Kapono.
Babby said Hill's list of possible teams now includes, in no particular order, Detroit, Miami, Phoenix, San Antonio and Orlando.
"The financial considerations are fairly low on his list of priorities. He wants the opportunity to play on a championship team, and if he has to make a financial sacrifice, he would do that," Babby said.
Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN

 

[Goldfield]

If Toronto is out of it for Hill thats good news.

 

[Mainstreet]

Didn't Finley want to play on a championship team? This all sounds too familiar.

 

[dodie53]

cmon hill..
go to the suns!

 

[cly2tw]

If Toronto is out of it for Hill thats good news.

Well, had they ever been in? I guess it's a neutral news regarding Hill.

 

[mr_sunshine]

Makes me sad to see people like Fluke making $5 mill a year.

 

[azirish]

It's early days, but I'm very encouraged that it looks like there will be a fair amount of movement if things continue. Every time a team like the Raptors signs a FA (this case being Kapono) means one more team that is out of the market and means the former team (the Heat) is forced to replace him by going into the market. They are reportedly chasing Blake.

All of this reduces the number of suitors for the same number of free agents.

 

[Errntknght]

All of this reduces the number of suitors for the same number of free agents.

What? Kapono is removed from the market, the Heat replace the Raptors in the market, according to you... looks like the same number of suitors for one less free agent to me.

Not that either way makes much of a difference in reality... teams usually have space for another player if they spot a great deal and the dregs of the FA group leave the NBA so its rarely a question of how many roster slots exist versus how many FA's there are.

 

[azirish]

What? Kapono is removed from the market, the Heat replace the Raptors in the market, according to you... looks like the same number of suitors for one less free agent to me.

When a team signs their own guy using their Bird rights, they retain their own MLE exemption. When a team has to use their MLE to replace someone, this is one less team with an MLE to use. Ideally, this creates a domino effect with a whole series of teams using their MLE's to replace mid level players. If they all had signed with their former team, all those teams would have retained their MLE space.

 

[Errntknght]

Now I see what you were getting at but its wrong to say, "fewer teams chasing the same number of FAs", because every time a team signs a FA there is one less FA.

I imagine what you were trying to say is that if you are interested in one FA then every time a team uses its MLE to sign a different FA then there is one less team that could chase the FA you are interested in.

 

[F-Dog]

That's a lot of scratch for Kaponovich.


I guess if I were a Toronto fan, I'd feel good about that. One thing about BC--when he was swimming against the current, you could be almost certain he knew what he was doing.

It's when he made the so-called obvious moves that things were more likely to fall apart afterward.