They all have monster cap space and limited amount of good players out there. Amare went to NYC but they still have room for 2 max. I think Boozer is still available, but really there is not much talent out there. How do you think these teams will shake out?
A) Boozer is not available. He's agreed to sign with the Bulls. B) the Nets will be fine. They have Travis Outlaw.
There's still some talent left out there that haven't signed who are UFAs: Nate Robinson Raymond Felton Luke Ridnour CJ Watson Jordan Farmar Derek Fisher Roger Mason Al Harrington Tracy McGrady Matt Barnes Kyle Korver Josh Howard Louis Amundson Brad Miller Shaq Z. Ilgauskas No big game-changers, but there are some decent players. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AoK_UaX.iD94dCsKQwlK1Bu8vLYF?slug=ys-nbafreeagenttracker2010
Sam Presti has shown the way. You trade your cap space for draft picks bit by bit. Free agency is almost always a sucker's bet. You're paying retail.
The only way for teams like Portland, OKC, San Antonio, etc.. to build a contender is via the draft. Free agents only go to teams that are either already contenders OR are in a very desireable location (Miami, LA, New York and the like). So yeah, if your team is in a small, unappealing market getting cap space in order to land a big free agent is a waste of time.
Sorry, but I don't think either of the last two posts are quite right. I think you sell small bits of your cap space to teams that are trying to "do something" in free agency - like how Minny got Beasley for nothing but a bit of cap space, or how OKC got draft picks for a bit of cap space. If you have cap space, once or twice a year, a team will throw great value at you (basketball talent-wise) for some. What you don't do is what Joe Dumars did and pay lots o $ for mediocre talents because they're the only ones available (Charlie V and Bull dude - can't remember his name lol).
I think the Knicks made out OK ... they look like a team that will score a ton of points, win about 45 games and flame out in the first round of the playoffs (for now). Chicago has a great nucleus and now a legit low post threat in Boozer and Taj Gibson can come off the bench and abuse an opponent's bench players. The Nets got Travis Outlaw and a 3rd overall draft pick who apparently won't be ready to make a big impact for a couple of years. The Nets are not having a very good off-season so far.
Apparently Outlaw is light year's better than whoever they had last year. If so, the signing improves them a lot.
I lean towards the two posts that you disagree with. What Minnesota got was a player that many teams did not want including his own team. We can debate Beasley at another time. The bottom line is you can't rely on finding a quality player by saving cap room. I think what Presti (And KP) did was the way you build your team in a market like ours. Draft picks. You can always trade draft picks as well. I also think KP's reasoning for drafting foreign players is because it is a way to expand your roster from 15 players (15 assets) to 20 players (Or 20 potential assets in which you can trade) Nothing is fool proof, but it is doubtful we will ever get a star free agent to come to Portland unless we are on the verge of a championship, and that FA sees himself as the missing link. Right now if Paul was a Free agent and we had cap space we would have a chance but the timing has to be perfect. And if we did trade for Paul, he is a free agent in two years. I would not want to cripple the team for just two years. (meaning trading Roy for Paul would be stupid even if Paul is better.)
I partially agree with you. I think paying retail for blue chip talent is worthwhile, because it's so hard to get that. You can go a generation without finding one in the draft, and they are very rarely traded. Paying "retail" for in-between players is a big mistake. I think it's smart to invest in the high and low ends of free agency...the truly elite talents and some bargain basement upside gambles. It's the purchases in between where teams often waste resources. Of course, if you just need one thing badly to contend seriously and you can get that on the free agent market, even if it's not an elite talent, it might still be worth it. No rule is hard and fast.
I up in Seattle working for the YES network and our producer also produced for the NETS. He's pissed that they didn't land anybody big. He's been asking about Trav. They had a shitty summer if you ask me.
They should collectively be robbing Miami of the best remaining free agents if they can't make any lop-sided trades.
