<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">With a huge chunk of salary cap space invested in players already under contract, the Washington Wizards do not figure to be major players in the NBA free agency period. Instead, Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld has said his focus will be on retaining the team's two key free agents: shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson, who opted out of the final year of his contract over the weekend, and third-year forward Andray Blatche, who is a restricted free agent, meaning the Wizards can match any offer made to him. Teams were eligible to begin negotiating with free agents yesterday, but contracts won't become official until July 11 when the new salary cap is established. Last year's salary cap figure was around $53.1 million, an increase of about $4 million from the previous season. The Wizards have around $54.1 million in payroll committed for next season and are in the process of working on standard rookie contracts for this year's first-round pick, shooting guard Nick Young, and last year's first-round pick, forward Oleksiy Pecherov. But the Wizards will be able to utilize the full mid-level exception (a first-year contract of around $5.5 million) and the biannual exception (a first year salary of around $1.7 million). Prior to settling for a two-year contract with the Wizards last summer that included a first-year salary of just under $1 million, Stevenson turned down a three-year, $10 million offer from the Orlando Magic. While acknowledging that Grunfeld and Stevenson's agent, Mark Bartelstein, have talked about a new contract, multiple sources said a published report citing a Wizards offer of $9 million over three years was just a possible starting point in negotiations. A source close to Stevenson said the veteran guard is hoping to land a five-year deal closer to a team's full mid-level exception. After beating out Jarvis Hayes in training camp and the preseason, Stevenson started all 82 games and averaged 11.2 points on a career-best 46.1 percent shooting. "DeShawn wants to be here and [the Wizards] want to keep him so it's just a matter of agreeing on a number that will work for both sides," said a source familiar with the situation. Said another source: "I can promise you this: There is no way DeShawn is taking [three years, $9 million]. He'll go somewhere else again for $1 million before he does that."</div> Link
I'm just hoping the Wizards can get Blatche for a decent length contract so he becomes a bargain if he get's good, and I'm really just waiting to see the numbers in terms of Deshawn. If we aren't able to keep Deshawn, what other guys can we be looking at? Trade wise, I personally think Josh Childress seems like a guy that could work on the Wizards, but I don't know what could be traded for him outside of Haywood. I don't want to trade Haywood for a guard unless Etan is being traded for a C though.
Blatche should be able to be had for cheap right now, and if his potential does pan out, then he'll be a bargain. DeShawn is good and I could see him getting a contract similiar to Luke Walton and/or Jason Kapono's. Will the Wizards be willing to pay him that?
<div class="quote_poster">Mamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Blatche should be able to be had for cheap right now, and if his potential does pan out, then he'll be a bargain. DeShawn is good and I could see him getting a contract similiar to Luke Walton and/or Jason Kapono's. Will the Wizards be willing to pay him that?</div> I don't think Blatche is going to be going for a cheap bargain with teams like the Cavs and Nets gunning for him. I won't mind if he goes as much as 6-7 mill a year, but Ernie Grunfeld will match it nonetheless. I don't even know the salary cap info for the Wizards right now. I'm pretty sure they have the MLE that they don't want to use on Blatche right now and hopefully we'll have enough to convince Deshawn sign another contract with us.
I don't think I'd give Blatche 6-7 million a year, there've been a lot of players with lot's of potential who didn't fulfill it. I like him, but not that much without him giving consistent production for a good period of time. Why not just go after Darko is we want to give a big man that much money? Right now we see a lot of teams in the East overpaying players just to be competitive. Orlando just did it with Rashard, they're getting a little better, but they aren't building contenders. The Wizards need to steer away from doing that. No overpaying for Deshawn or any SG, no trading Haywood for rubbish, dumping Etan off, waiting for the right players, and allowing the young guys to develop with Arenas and Butler. I don't think Blathce's price will move up to 6-7 million, those two teams can only offer him the MLE, and I don't think either of them is planning on using their full MLE on him without him having proved that much on an NBA court. I haven't heard of any team with big money going after him.
Actually, it's been reported by John Mitchell of the Washington Times that the Wizards will offer Deshawn Stevenson a three year, $9 million deal. This was before Navarro agreed with Barcelona to leave for the NBA. The Nets will offer Andray Blatche a 4 or 5 year deal for $3.9 mill a year. It looks enough for the Wizards to match it.
Those are both great deals right there, that's what the Wizards need to be looking to do. With all the young talent we have along with Arenas and Butler, the team needs to be looking to build a contender and not overpay for anyone. The Wizards can't keep both Stevenson and Navarro though, both money wise, and because it would hurt Nick Young's minutes/development, so the team has to make the decision of who they want.
