<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Seattle SuperSonics today exercised their right of first refusal on restricted free agent Damien Wilkins, Sonics General Manager Rick Sund announced. Wilkins, a guard/forward entering his second season, had received an Offer Sheet from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed. ?Due to his outstanding work ethic in his rookie season, Damien earned the respect of our players, coaches and fans,? said Sund. ?He improved as much in one season as any player we can remember and we expect that trend to continue. We believe Damien will be a part of our young, talented core for years to come.? In his rookie season, Wilkins appeared in 29 games, averaging 6.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 17.9 minutes. The 6-6, 225-pound swingman started seven games and scored in double figures on eight occasions, including two 20-plus point performances. Wilkins recorded a career-high 21 points at Portland on March 24, 2005. During the 2005 NBA Playoffs, Wilkins played in seven games, averaging 5.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.43 steals in 19.4 minutes. Wilkins, who was not drafted by an NBA franchise, originally signed with Seattle as a free agent on Oct. 4, 2004. </div> http://www.nba.com/sonics/news/wilkins050824.html Had a feeling this would happen. You would think this puts a little more pressure on Vlad to take whats on the table with a viable option waiting in the wings to take some minutes. I don't think he deserves this much, but I don't necessarily think it was so horrible to match either. I do think he can be moved in a year or two no problem if he ends up odd man out.
I guess I feel good about it, just for some sense of continuity Not sure where he's gonna play and how many minutes...I guess backup 3 and a bit of 2. Good point about Vlad. If he passes up 6/42, he's an idiot
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Roland Hood:</div><div class="quote_post">Good point about Vlad. If he passes up 6/42, he's an idiot </div> He is an idiot anyway. Ever see his Broadway Joe outfit? Ever hear what he said about playing for his national team (the one he got kicked off of)? Trust me, he is an idiot.
I'm surprised that we were willing to eat half of our mid-level exception to keep Damien. That kind of hurts our efforts to bring in someone else who wasn't on the roster last year. I wouldn't have been upset either way if we matched or we didn't. If we would have let him go we would have saved some money and probably gotten a back up wing who was capable of having a similar impact of Damien (Ron Dupree) but at the same time we don't want to lose young talent to our rivals in our division. 3 million a year isn't outrageous and like M_Cage said earlier, he could always be used as trade bait. Damien is a good player whose best days are ahead of him. Interesting to see that management is willing to match deals that were thought to be above the player market value. This may make teams even more reluctant to tenure offer sheets to the rest of our restricted free agents.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Shiek:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm surprised that we were willing to eat half of our mid-level exception to keep Damien. That kind of hurts our efforts to bring in someone else who wasn't on the roster last year.</div> In a sense maybe, but is there anyone left out there worth spending the full MLE on that is going to come? We can still bring in some insurance like Booth, Johnson, Jabari Smith or Mikki Moore very cheaply. I personally wouldn't have matched Damien, but it isn't a crippling deal by any stretch and he did show a fair bit. Maybe there's a sign and trade in the works for Vlad? Probably not, but food for thought.
I think that the general consensus is that Damien is overpriced now but that at the end of the 5 years it will be considered a steal. The quotes in the press this morning indicate that it was the vast improvement Wilkens made between Summer League and round 2 of the playoffs that earned him the Sonic's contract (and the Wolves offer as well since Casey saw the same improvement). The quotes were along the lines of... <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> ?He improved as much in one season as any player we can remember and we expect that trend to continue. We believe Damien will be a part of our young, talented core for years to come.?</div> Rick Sund from Tacoma News Tribune The article goes on to further praise his focus on defense which McMillian stressed after his offensive performance in summer league. It says he came into training camp having made huge strides after spending the summer getting tutored on NBA defense by his father. I don't think they see him as a starter in this league, but more of a stellar 6th man who could start for some teams. The key, though, is that they have him locked up during his best years at a reasonable rate. If he had been drafted he might have commanded a much larger contract after his first two years in the league. What remains to be seen is if Damien is the type of player who puts as much work into improving his game now that he has a long term contract, or if he gets the Jerome James, Candy-man, Dampier type contract year boost only.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting psheehy:</div><div class="quote_post"> I don't think they see him as a starter in this league, but more of a stellar 6th man who could start for some teams.</div> I think, as the Suns proved, championships aren't won with your starting five, they are won with a solid rotation. While you need a quality starting five, you also have to make sure you have enough on the bench to ensure injuries and fatigue can be covered. We're not paying him starter money, we're paying him to contribute in the second unit and fill holes where needed. I have thought about this for a while and the signing has grown on me. If he continues to improve, we have a steal. If he doesn't, we're not paying him a lot at all. He was a top ranked HS player too in his senior year, so it's not like the natural talent isn't there.
Detroit signed Mo Evans to a 3/4.5 deal. Averages: 6.4/3.1 in 19mins. Like I mentioned before I was really impressed with him in that last game against Sac - he was all over Ray, knocked down some big 3's and finished well around the hoop. Seems more in line than what DW got but maybe he's got an attitude problem or something.
