<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The first contract extension of Ray Allen's NBA career was a matter of a few conversations and a handshake with the owner. It was 1999. A new collective-bargaining agreement had just taken effect, and it made Allen's extension with the Milwaukee Bucks a fill-in-the-blanks arrangement so straightforward (six years, $70.9 million) that the first thing he did before negotiating was fire his agent. It won't be so simple this time. That was true even before Allen hired Lon Babby as his agent earlier this summer. The Sonics had already told Allen things had changed in the league since his last contract. Translation: The team won't be handing over a blank check to write out a maximum-contract offer, which in Allen's case would be five years, $100 million. What's left is the gray area of negotiations, which are under way following a season in which Allen averaged a career-high 23 points. "It's a top priority because he's an All-Star-caliber player," Sonics general manager Rick Sund said of Allen's extension. "We'd love to have him signed, and be part of helping us move forward to the future." But how much money will it take to convince Allen not to test free agency next summer? How much are the Sonics willing to spend to keep Allen, knowing they could have more than $20 million in salary-cap space next summer if he leaves?</div> <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Sonics won't be pointing to Marbury, Iverson or anyone else from the '96 draft as a starting point for negotiations with Allen. It's going to be Rasheed Wallace's five-year, $57 million deal with Detroit this summer. The starting salary is about $9.1 million, a hefty pay cut from the $17 million he made last season and went from Portland to Atlanta to Detroit, where he won a championship. Of course, Wallace hasn't been an All-Star in three years and he was only the team's third-leading scorer in the playoffs. But this is the NBA, where taller players clear taller checks, and Wallace isn't alone in taking a pay cut.</div> <font size="1">Full Story courtesy of Danny O'Neil and the Seattle PI.</font> Looks like there is a lot of work to be done here. A contract in the vicinity of Sheed's probably won't get the job done, as he could wait until the end of next season and get at least that from a lot of other teams. I on the other hand don't really want to go past that figure of his first contract extension, both in money and years. Ideally a contract around five years in the vicinity of 65 million would be a fair deal, and a fair move for Ray. Whether we A) Would pay that and He'd agree to it is a different matter altogether. We have another potential All-Star guard sitting on the bench making the league minimum.
The longer this deal takes the harder it is going to be for us to resign Allen. This franchise can not afford to let Ray Allen walk for nothing. We have to seriously examine trade possibilities. The best that I can think of remains Tinsley, Bender, Fred Jones, 2005 first round pick for Allen, Radmanovic, and Daniels. We have to do something fast b/c Flip is also in his last year of his minimum deal. There is a possibility that we can be w/o both of our best players next season. Resign Flip, ship out Allen, deal w/ the fall out, and officially start rebuilding (like Phoenix last season). With the amount of young talent that we have the rebuilding process will not be that long or painful.
I'm with Iron Shiek. The Sonics should just treat Allen like McGrady and Shaq were treated. Find out where he wants to go and trade him there.
