<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">By Mike Tulumello, Tribune Ray Allen has a choice. The Sonics sharpshooter can sign the deal Seattle is offering him: $68 million over five years, with a starting salary of $11 million. That?s $3.5 million less than he?s making this year, but still would make him the team?s highest paid player. Allen doesn?t appear willing to agree right now, and the Sonics don?t seem willing to change their offer much, either. Both sides indicate the trade deadline next month isn?t a drop-dead date, but that?s how it could play out. Allen seems to think the Sonics? incredibly surprising season should play in his favor. And yet the Sonics could have even more leverage because any new collective bargaining agreement could limit players to four-year contracts. Allen has said he would consider playing for the Cavaliers if it came down to it when he becomes a free agent at the end of the season. There?s one major reason why he would play in Cleveland despite the brutal snow and cold. "LeBron James has taken his game to another level," Allen said. "And a lot of those guys have fed off of him. Anytime he plays hard and puts that passion into the team it makes them better." East Valley Tribune </div> Okay, the first thing I thought was "Oh no not Ray", but then I realized something. If Ray signs with the Cavs, it may give us the inside track to signing Michael Redd. Especially if we can keep up the winning ways this season. He can't create like Ray (as far as I know, I haven't seen him much), but if Luke continues to develop, he won't need to. Of course, Redd won't solve all of our problems, and he'll probably need a near-max deal to sign, but it's a start.
It's crunch time. If the Sonics feel as though they can't meet the demands of Ray Allen is time to start considering trade options. If we stand pat and lose out on Ray for nothing this franchise will not recover for a while. When you have a potential 80+ million dollar asset on your team you better use it wisely. If you aren't budging on your original contract proposal, you better see what else is available. At this point in time there are a number of teams that would love to rent the services of Allen in hopes that they could resign him this summer. We have enough behind Ray to be able to whether the storm (and I'm sure that we get enough in the deal that we'd be even more formiddable in 2005-2006).
^ True, but at the same time do you give up the chance to win a division crown? We're in a good position to make history as the inaugral winners of the Northwest. Unless we got an offer that we couldn't refuse, I'd rather hang onto Ray for the season and give this division (and top three playoff seeding) a real shake. If he leaves, he leaves, you deal with it. But we're in a position to make history. In regards to Redd, I get the impression that he is Cleveland's first choice. If they go for Ray, my guess is it's because Redd is staying in Milwaukee. But, you never know.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post">^ True, but at the same time do you give up the chance to win a division crown? We're in a good position to make history as the inaugral winners of the Northwest. Unless we got an offer that we couldn't refuse, I'd rather hang onto Ray for the season and give this division (and top three playoff seeding) a real shake. If he leaves, he leaves, you deal with it. But we're in a position to make history. </div> I don't think that it would be in our best interest to trade Ray Allen right now, but I would rather trade him now and deal w/ the fall out then watch him leave Seattle for nothing. Many teams have banked on their franchise player resigning w/ their team and have lost. It often takes a franchise years to recover from that type of a loss. Besides, our other free agents, can't be signed if we break the bank for Allen. Who is more important, Allen or Vlad+Daniels+Evans+Jerome+Pot+Flip. Best believe if Allen stays, your boy Vlad is on his way out of the door. Ray is the face of this franchise but he is not irreplaceable. We learned that last year in November. If we could put ourselves in a position where we could benefit from his absence in the long run (aquiring good young talent who are under contract for some time) we got to explore the possibility. Yeah we could win the division this year, but the next two to three we could be looking at the lottery. As it stands right now we are going to the playoffs regardless. Personally I would rather go knowing that we have pieces set in place next year to challenge for a conference title. Flip can more than hold his own as Ray's replacement. Plus it won't cost Howard 70 million to keep him.
