A nice little break down of teams with space this summer and how there will be some bargains available with the MLE: http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=12059 "Narrowing down the field, it looks like there will be four teams with spending power (Grizzlies, Pistons, Thunder and Blazers). The same executive suggests that Boozer is a natural fit in Detroit, likely to use up a big chunk of their cap space. That leaves perhaps two significant salary slots in Memphis, one in Oklahoma City and one in Portland."
Boozer to Detroit woul dopen up Maxiel being dealt hopefully. I would love to have him as an 18-20 minute a night player.
If Boozer opts out that eats up a significant amount of cap space teams have: Memphis Grizzlies - $20 million Detroit Pistons $16-17.7 million Atlanta Hawks - $13-14.6 Oklahoma City Thunder - $10 million Portland Trail Blazers - $9.1-16.7 million - the latter if they cut Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake before the end of June. Utah Jazz - slightly less than $9.0 million - if Boozer, Okur and Korver all opt out. Sacramento Kings - $7.2 million Toronto Raptors - $7 million Leaving some of these players to be had for a descent deal: Mike Bibby, Ben Gordon, Jason Kidd, Allen Iverson, Antonio McDyess, Rasheed Wallace, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Andre Miller, Drew Gooden, Shawn Marion and Anthony Parker
Not to mention the Restricted FA's available also: David Lee, Nate Robinson, Paul Millsap, Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Linas Kleiza, Jarrett Jack, Hakim Warrick, Glen Davis, Leon Powe, Jamario Moon, Ramon Sessions, Charlie Villanueva, Marcin Gortat and Channing Frye
thanks for the link EWT So Memphis has 20M in space & the #2 pick which looks to be Rubio by BPA. I've been gone over the holiday weekend so I haven't kept up with the latest... has he recanted the doesn't want to play in Memphis stuff? Thabeet would be a decent consolation prize for them, but I like how RR projects with Mayo and Gay on his wings. Is there some reason they wouldn't go after Boozer??? PF seems by far their biggest need. If I'm Carlos and the money is more or less the same, the Griz roster looks at least as ready to win then the one in Detroit... The only other team (besides PDX) I could see possibly making a FA run at the two best PGs available (Miller, Sessions) is Olk. City. Westbrook can match up defensively at either guard spot but isn't a classic PG or SG on the other end. Because of Milwaukee's inability to match, Sessions seems especially available if KP wants to go that way. STOMP
I was watching courtside last week and Tom Penn was a guest; he threw out the 9 million estimate as well ... if anybody would know or least have a good educated guess, you would think it would be Tom Penn.
I would trust his answer more than anyone's at this point. I think most NBA teams are assuming the cap will stay right where it is this year with hopes of a better 09-10. If that doesn't happen the cap will probably go down after this next season.
My guess is that the number won't be "$9M" on June 30. For whatever reason...KP makes too many draft moves to be stagnant going into this draft/offseason. That said, if we DO have b/w 9 and 16M, what are the priorities? If you attempt to sign an RFA, you're hostage for the 7 days that the other team has the right to match, right? So let's say we signed Sessions to an offer sheet for, say, 5yr, 45M (tying up almost all of our 9M in cap space) on July 1. We can't go after any other free agents until either a) MIL declines and he signs with us--in which case we're done with FA or b) Milwaukee matches. That can take 7 days. So if MIL waits the 7 days and then decides that they want to match, then we've lost 8 days of being able to sign FAs and potentially alienated our second and third choices. Does KP and TP then say that they're going to negotiate with the UFA's first? Or just assume you can get away with signing an RFA offer sheet, b/c it'll get done in the end?
What top tier level player is going to agree to sign and play for Memphis? Seriously.....I'd love to hear it....b\c the only way I see such a player agreeing to go to that wasteland is if they are seriously overpaid....
At the same time, I think the NBA players market this year will force some guys to go where they don't necessarily want to be in order to get paid. There are less teams willing to shell out the cash (look at how many free agents remained on the market last year, deep into the year) and unlike a lot of folks on this board, I believe the salary cap will go down this year. Possibly by about 6 million dollars. That being said, I don't think the Blazers will have jack to spend on a free agent.
Don't forget the Memphis can also trade for a player making a lot of money. They are in the same situation that Portland is in IMO. There just aren't a lot of players flocking to those cities to play. There are a lot of financially struggling teams that might love to unload some salary for a #2 draft pick or some cheap young talent.
In what sense? The Blazers have much more national and international exposure, while the Grizz don't, and the Blazers have an owner who has historically overpaid to keep his players, while the Grizz have Heisley, who has been very judicious with his money. Portland is also a much more vibrant city than Memphis and has a much superior fan base for basketball. I don't see anyway free agents would sign in Memphis rather than Portland.
That article makes some assumptions: I remember talking about Sessions a while back and I came to the conclusion that if he didn't stay in Milwaukee, he was likely to end up either in Portland or Atlanta. I wouldn't be so sure about they retaining a declining Bibby in lieu of going after a PG who is on the rise.
Name the last high profile FA Portland has signed that they didn't overpay for? Sorry, but if the money is the same players prefer larger media markets and better weather
