Looks like Sheed is off the table also..
Club expected to announce deals with forwards Wednesday
July 13, 2004
BY GEORGE SIPPLE and PERRY A. FARRELL
[font=helvetica,arial]FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITERS[/font]
Antonio McDyess once tried to give Larry Brown his Olympic gold medal. Maybe he'll give Brown a second NBA championship ring instead.
McDyess agreed Monday to a four-year, $23-million offer from the Pistons, the Free Press has learned. A fifth year would kick in if he played 60 games in the fourth year.
McDyess, once one of the top young power forwards in the NBA, cannot sign a contract until Wednesday, when the NBA lifts its two-week moratorium on free-agent signings and trades.
At that time, the Pistons also will announce the signing of free agent Rasheed Wallace, their starting power forward. A person close to the negotiations said Wallace would agree to a five- or six-year deal that pays $10 million the first year and had a 12.5 percent raise each season. The total value of the contract would be $48 million or $64 million.
With McDyess and Wallace on their roster, the Pistons will not match the six-year, $50-million offer sheet that Mehmet Okur received last week from Utah. Officially, the Pistons will have until July 29 to decide whether to match that offer, but because of salary cap rules and because of their present contracts, that would be impossible.
When McDyess helped the United States win a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, he appeared headed to NBA superstardom. He was an athletic big man who could shoot and rebound. But a series of knee injuries starting in 2001 jeopardized his career.
In Sydney, one of the U.S. assistant coaches was Brown, now the Pistons' coach. When McDyess found out that coaches did not receive medals, he draped his around Brown's neck.
Brown, who gave the medal back, recalled that moment when McDyess made his debut for the Knicks against the Pistons last Dec. 1.
"He said, 'Coach, you ought to have it,' " Brown recalled. "Just offering me that was enough."
McDyess hadn't played in nearly two years until that night at Madison Square Garden. Three times his left knee required surgery -- the last time in April 2003 for a bone graft.
He managed to play in 42 games last season (he was traded to Phoenix in the Stephon Marbury deal soon after Isiah Thomas became the Knicks' president). McDyess' knee seemed to improve as the season progressed, and he averaged 22 minutes, 6.9 points and 6.1 rebounds -- solid numbers for a backup but not a star.
The Pistons, though, aren't looking for McDyess to start. That's Wallace's job. They want McDyess, who turns 30 in September, to provide 15-17 minutes off the bench. Okur averaged 22.3 minutes, 9.6 points and 5.9 rebounds, but those numbers were significantly lower after the Pistons acquired Wallace in February.
Even though McDyess' history of knee problems would concern any team, the Pistons weren't the only ones willing to take a chance on the No. 2 pick in the 1995 draft. For instance, the Boston Herald reported Monday that McDyess met with the Boston Celtics on July 1, and Danny Ainge, director of basketball operations, was hopeful of a second meeting.
McDyess, 6-feet-9, 245 pounds, averaged 21.2 points and 10.7 rebounds with the Nuggets in 1998-99 and was an All-Star in 2000-01. For his career, McDyess has averaged 16.7 points and 8.5 rebounds.
Brown isn't the only Piston familiar with McDyess. Point guard Chauncey Billups played alongside McDyess in Denver and both are represented by agent Andy Miller. After that game last December, Billups said: "I'm pulling for him. ... And except for the times we play him, I hope he dominates."
The NBA champions probably don't need him to dominate -- just to stay healthy.
NBA NOTEBOOK: In the wake of a report that Michael Jordan is interested in buying the Miami Heat, team owner Micky Arison said Monday the franchise is not for sale. Arison was out of town but responded to the report through a Heat spokesman. ... The Atlanta Hawks said Monday they signed their two first-round draft picks -- forwards Josh Childress and Josh Smith. Childress, the sixth pick in the draft, was an All-America last season at Stanford as a junior. The 6-foot-8 Childress averaged 15.7 points and 7.5 rebounds. The 6-9 Smith, the No. 17 pick, played last season at Oak Hill Academy, a prep school in Virginia.
Club expected to announce deals with forwards Wednesday
July 13, 2004
BY GEORGE SIPPLE and PERRY A. FARRELL
[font=helvetica,arial]FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITERS[/font]
Antonio McDyess once tried to give Larry Brown his Olympic gold medal. Maybe he'll give Brown a second NBA championship ring instead.
McDyess agreed Monday to a four-year, $23-million offer from the Pistons, the Free Press has learned. A fifth year would kick in if he played 60 games in the fourth year.
McDyess, once one of the top young power forwards in the NBA, cannot sign a contract until Wednesday, when the NBA lifts its two-week moratorium on free-agent signings and trades.
At that time, the Pistons also will announce the signing of free agent Rasheed Wallace, their starting power forward. A person close to the negotiations said Wallace would agree to a five- or six-year deal that pays $10 million the first year and had a 12.5 percent raise each season. The total value of the contract would be $48 million or $64 million.
With McDyess and Wallace on their roster, the Pistons will not match the six-year, $50-million offer sheet that Mehmet Okur received last week from Utah. Officially, the Pistons will have until July 29 to decide whether to match that offer, but because of salary cap rules and because of their present contracts, that would be impossible.
When McDyess helped the United States win a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, he appeared headed to NBA superstardom. He was an athletic big man who could shoot and rebound. But a series of knee injuries starting in 2001 jeopardized his career.
In Sydney, one of the U.S. assistant coaches was Brown, now the Pistons' coach. When McDyess found out that coaches did not receive medals, he draped his around Brown's neck.
Brown, who gave the medal back, recalled that moment when McDyess made his debut for the Knicks against the Pistons last Dec. 1.
"He said, 'Coach, you ought to have it,' " Brown recalled. "Just offering me that was enough."
McDyess hadn't played in nearly two years until that night at Madison Square Garden. Three times his left knee required surgery -- the last time in April 2003 for a bone graft.
He managed to play in 42 games last season (he was traded to Phoenix in the Stephon Marbury deal soon after Isiah Thomas became the Knicks' president). McDyess' knee seemed to improve as the season progressed, and he averaged 22 minutes, 6.9 points and 6.1 rebounds -- solid numbers for a backup but not a star.
The Pistons, though, aren't looking for McDyess to start. That's Wallace's job. They want McDyess, who turns 30 in September, to provide 15-17 minutes off the bench. Okur averaged 22.3 minutes, 9.6 points and 5.9 rebounds, but those numbers were significantly lower after the Pistons acquired Wallace in February.
Even though McDyess' history of knee problems would concern any team, the Pistons weren't the only ones willing to take a chance on the No. 2 pick in the 1995 draft. For instance, the Boston Herald reported Monday that McDyess met with the Boston Celtics on July 1, and Danny Ainge, director of basketball operations, was hopeful of a second meeting.
McDyess, 6-feet-9, 245 pounds, averaged 21.2 points and 10.7 rebounds with the Nuggets in 1998-99 and was an All-Star in 2000-01. For his career, McDyess has averaged 16.7 points and 8.5 rebounds.
Brown isn't the only Piston familiar with McDyess. Point guard Chauncey Billups played alongside McDyess in Denver and both are represented by agent Andy Miller. After that game last December, Billups said: "I'm pulling for him. ... And except for the times we play him, I hope he dominates."
The NBA champions probably don't need him to dominate -- just to stay healthy.
NBA NOTEBOOK: In the wake of a report that Michael Jordan is interested in buying the Miami Heat, team owner Micky Arison said Monday the franchise is not for sale. Arison was out of town but responded to the report through a Heat spokesman. ... The Atlanta Hawks said Monday they signed their two first-round draft picks -- forwards Josh Childress and Josh Smith. Childress, the sixth pick in the draft, was an All-America last season at Stanford as a junior. The 6-foot-8 Childress averaged 15.7 points and 7.5 rebounds. The 6-9 Smith, the No. 17 pick, played last season at Oak Hill Academy, a prep school in Virginia.
