Every year a soon to be free agent has meaningful impact in the post season and is rewarded by an oversized contract. Last year Jerome James cashed in on his performance against the Sacramento Kings by landing a monster contract with the New York Knicks. The playoffs have just begun, but here's a list of potential free agents who could cash in based on their playoff performances .. <u>Suns v. Lakers Series</u> Tim Thomas - He was the difference maker in the Suns Game 1 victory agains the Lakers 8/9 from the field, 22 points, & 15 rebounds. <u>Cavs v. Wizards Series</u> Jared Jeffries - Had a solid Game 1 for the Wizards, 5/7 from the field, 15 points, 5 rebounds. *Larry Brown has already acknowledged he'd like him in New York next year. Flip Murray - He had some momentum carry over from the regular season. Flip made some clutch game winners for the Cavs and helped them reach the 50 win mark. Flip picked up the scoring slack of Larry Hughes in Game 1 with 4/9 from the field, 10 points, and 5 rebounds. <u>Kings v. Spurs Series</u> Nazr Mohammed - Put up better numbers than Tim Duncan in Game 1, 6/6 from the field, 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks. The free agent class is relatively week this summer, and Nazr is the 2nd best center available after Ben Wallace. Chicago has money to spend, and the way Shaq has abused them in Game 1, Nazr will be on top of their wish list. Michael Finely - Hasn't lost his ability to score, and doesn't need time to heat up off the bench. 10 points in 20 minutes, to go along with 7 rebounds is solid production. His veteran experience is a commodity for a young team trying to get over the hump. Bonzi Wells - Decent first game against the Spurs, 4/9 from the field, 12 points, and 6 rebounds. Bonzi can really increase his market value by having a monster game with Ron Artest out. If he can lead the Kings to a Game 2 victory against the Spurs, his value could skyrocket. <u>Bulls v. Heat Series</u> Malik Allen - Plays a smart game, and has caught my attention with his effectiveness in the pick 'n roll. Kurt Thomas made a killing in free agency with his gritty defense and ability to make teams pay in the pick 'n roll. Malik Allen has a similar skillset, he just needs to stay out of foul trouble. James Posey - He's been the spark off the bench for the Heat. He has rediscovered his 3 point shot, and his defense has been outstanding when the Heat need a stop. He's shooting 50% from behind the arc and has filled in nicely for the role Eddie Jones had in Miami's playoff run last year. <u>Clippers v. Nuggets Series</u> Sam Cassell - He's been the difference all season for the Clippers. He has the team back in the playoffs and dominating the Nuggets. He gets the fans hyped up and also part time's as a cheerleader from the bench. 32 points and 18 assists in the first two games. Great numbers for the ageless wonder. Reggie Evans - He's averaging 1 rebound per minute (16 rebounds in 16 minutes) thus far in the playoffs. He has embraced the Dennis Rodman role with the Nuggets and someone should open the check book for his impact on the boards. <u>Pacers v. Nets Series</u> Fred Jones - He stepped up in place of the Pacers other free agent, Peja Stoyakovic in Game 1. Jones went 4/7 from the field, for 15 points, 4 assists, and 5 rebounds in just 26 minutes. If he continues to out play Peja in the post season, the bidding war for his services will heat up. <u>Grizzlies v. Mavs Series</u> Jason Terry - He came up big again for the Mavs with 20 points and 5 assists in their Game 1 victory. He outplayed Devin Harris, and could make the offseason decision to re-sign him or hand his job over to Harris very interesting. Lorenzen Wright - He's an ideal canidate for being this year's next Jerome James. The stage is set for Wright to step in and really make his mark in this series. When he's up to the challenge Lo Wright can outplay Dampier or Diop on the low block and put up a double double in a short span of time. If Gasol struggles again Lo Wright has to be ready. <u>Bucks v. Pistons Series</u> Ben Wallace - He's getting a max or near max deal no matter what. Jamaal Magloire - He's not a free agent, but a strong performance against the frontline of the Pistons will help him when he becomes a free agent in the near future. Just look at the contract the 76ers gave Sammy Dalembert after he had a breakout series against the Pistons. Sammy fooled the 76ers into giving him a monster contract, and now he's struggling to find minutes behind Steven Hunter.
The thing is that most of those guys actually can or have played well during the season. Jerome James was just not a very good player in the first place. If Tim Thomas didn't even play well, teams still know he's a 6'10 guy that can score, shoot and post up, and play SF/PF. A team like New Jersey would still easily give a guy like that MLE or a little more. Nazr, Malik Allen and Jarred Jeffries are the only ones that can really be compared. Reggie Evans is not doing anything he didn't do last year when he had a Top 10 all-time rebound rate. Malik was decent on Miami before Odom and all them came. Could knockdown the mid-range jumper, and was decent. He averaged 9.6 PPG that year. I don't think he's shown enough more than decent with his performance to have people going after him, and for JJ being a C was actually a big part of why people were after him. Jeffries has always been a guy with skills. If in the playoffs he starts getting people to belive he can hit shots, defend, and handle the ball at his size at SF/SG, he will get quite higher than he's worth. With guys like Bonzi, Terry, and Cassell, they really don't need to do that much to gurantee getting good contracts. You already mentioned Ben, so..Cassell and Terry will get good ones no matter what, probably staying with their current teams. Bonzi will get money similar to Mobley, he'd have to dominate, which likely won't happen for his value to increase. Something like 17 PPG won't change much because we already knew he could do that. Magloire is a C and average a double double during the season. He can suck through the playoffs, and will still get paid. Wright is one person who playing good will actually help him. He didn't do that great through the season, and needs something to bring him back up, but I think Jake Tsakalidis is actually the guy that will get the minutes, and if he was an FA it would be a nice year for him. Flip is a guy who a good performance from him would basically be what he did game 1. We already saw him do that through the season, so it won't really be something new to add to his resume outside of it being in the playoffs instead of regular season. He went out of the "spotlight" for a while since 03-04, but the trade brought him back in. For Posey, all I can say is that it would've been real nice for him if he was an FA after 03-04. Finley I don't know. People always knew he could shoot, he averaged 10.1 PPG for the season and had 10 last game, nothing spectacular. He's a guy that can give a team their last piece, or be a shooter/scorer off the bench for a similar team to SA. I think he was going to get decent money already.
The problem with a guy like James Posey is that no matter how much he steps up his game he's still one dimensional. Jason Terry is already established so I don't think that he can really be considered this year's JJ.
I said it before and I'll say it again: "Tim Thomas CAN put up monster numbers, he's just too lazy to do it. The guy is 6'10", 250 pounds, can shoot, post up, and can physically play all the frountcourt positions. Now that he's playing in his contract year alongside Steve Nash, of course he's going to play well. So far he's averaging 22 points, 15 rebounds, and shooting 80% from the field and downtown. While you can expect those numbers to go down (especially the field goal percentage), don't expect by too much. I remember certain instances when he wasn't producing on the Knicks and was being outplayed by Trevor Ariza. Herb Williams was about to take his starting spot and give it to Ariza, but then Tim followed it up with some very good production and when Herb assured him he was safe, he just stopped playing. Bottom line is Tim Thomas is very talented, (I believe someone told me he had greater expectations than Kobe!) but he just doesn't work. It's not surprising to me he's producing in the playoffs. I expect the Suns to throw him a lot of money this offseason, under the impression Steve Nash can make him useful even when he's not trying hard. At least I can rest easy that the Knicks don't have money to throw at him.
Im with you J, I supported Timmy while he was in NY and I also believe he can be an above-average player if he puts his mind to it. I would kill to have the size and potential he has right now, I would not let it go to waste at all
Yeah- The thing about Jerome James is he had NEVER DONE ANYTHING before those playoffs, he put up one monster game of like 24 ane 17 and then played decent the rest of the way, locking up a deal that only a complete and utter moron like Isiah Thomas would consider.
