Author: John Paulsen (Page 479 of 937)

      Lakers are playing hardball with Odom

      July 30, 2009 /

      Trevor Ariza tried to play hardball…and lost. Lamar Odom tried to play hardball…and the Lakers aren’t budging. If anything, they’re less interested in bringing Odom back.

      Odom’s choices, as of lunchtime Thursday, were the same choices he’s been mulling all week. Informed sources say the Lakers’ latest offer is in the area of $25 million over three years, down from the $27 million over three years that was taken off the table earlier this month by Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

      As ESPN.com reported Monday, should the 29-year-old decide to reunite with Dwyane Wade and Pat Riley after haggling with the Lakers for so long, Odom likely will be deciding between a five-year, $34 million deal that includes a provision to return to free agency after the fourth season or a four-year deal with an opt-out clause after three years.

      Keep in mind that with California’s state income tax (10% for $1 million-plus), the Lakers’ offer is essentially three years for $22.5 million, or $7.5 million per season. Florida has no state income tax, so Miami’s offer (~$6.8 million per season) looks to be the better offer since it has about $12 million more in guaranteed money. If these numbers are accurate, it makes sense why Odom is dragging this out. It seems like he wants to stay in L.A., but he doesn’t really want to take a reduced offer.

      NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Warriors trade Belinelli

      July 30, 2009 /

      In a small but somewhat strange move, the Golden State Warriors have traded Marco Belinelli for Devean George.

      Belinelli, 23, played sparingly as a rookie and at the start of last season, but other injuries forced the Warriors to play him consistently and he had a 13-game stretch where he averaged 16 points and shot better than 50 percent in eight of those games. He also made 46 of his last 113 3-point attempts (40.7 percent.).

      Other than maybe being in Don Nelson’s doghouse, I can’t think of a reason why the Warriors would make this trade. Devean George is 31 and has a career average of 5.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. His PER hasn’t been above 10 in the last three years and it has never been above 12 in his entire career. Why give up a prospect like Belinelli, who showed some promise in his rookie season? In 15 games in December, he averaged 14.1 points, 3.2 assists and 2.6 rebounds, and shot 38% from long range. His overall shooting percentage (44%) wasn’t bad for a rookie off guard.

      George’s contract is expiring this year, but the Warriors had a team option on Belinelli next summer that they didn’t have to exercise. Golden State is projected to be over the cap, so Belinelli’s 2010 salary ($2.4 million) would have cost the team almost $4.8 million with the luxury tax. I guess they just decided to cut bait.

      This is a head-scratcher.

      NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      2009 NBA Free Agency: Who’s left?

      July 29, 2009 /

      Aside from Lamar Odom and his ongoing saga with the Lakers and Heat, all of the big-name unrestricted free agents are off the market.

      Restricted free agency is a completely different animal. Since a team still holds a player’s rights for another season, there is no huge rush to get a deal done, especially if the team and the player’s camp are far apart in terms of the player’s value. The deeper into the summer negotiations go, the more likely it is that the player will play out the final year of his rookie deal for the qualifying offer and enter unrestricted free agency in 2010. Here’s an update on the top remaining names on the restricted free agency market.

      David Lee
      Lee and the Knicks are still at an impasse. The Knicks look to be willing to match any offer up to about $8 million per season, while Lee’s camp is looking for a deal averaging in the $10-$12 million range. There was some talk that the potential one-year deal for Nate Robinson might prompt the Knicks to get moving on a long-term contract for Lee, but even that Robinson deal is just a rumor. Like many restricted free agent negotiations, this looks like a case of the two sides being far apart on the player’s value and given the Knicks’ apparent unwillingness to work out a sign-and-trade, all signs point to Lee playing out the final year of his deal and entering unrestricted free agency next year. Lee is frustrated in no small part because his qualifying offer ($2.3 million) is well below his market value.

      Ramon Sessions
      The Knicks, Clippers and even the Sixers may be interested, but no one has signed Sessions to an offer sheet yet. The Bucks are likely to match most offers up to the mid-level, but there is still enough uncertainty about Sessions that teams seem unwilling to sign him to a full mid-level deal (five years, $34 million). Based on what I’ve read from Sessions’ agent, Jimmy “Chubby” Wells, he’s not sure what the Bucks are doing. It seems like a four-year deal in the $12-$15 million range would do the trick. That way, Sessions would get some long-term security and would be able to negotiate another contract when he’s 27. On the flip side, the Bucks would get a backup plan if Brandon Jennings doesn’t pan out. But what do I know? I’m just a blogger.

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      NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

      Delaware wants to legalize single-game betting…

      July 29, 2009 /

      …and, of course, the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and NCAA are fighting it.

      Delaware politicians are ready to battle their new multi-headed opponent on the issue of legalized sports gambling, but it appears a compromise could be made with the sports leagues if the state promises to stick with a parlay betting system.

      The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and NCAA filed a joint lawsuit last week in an attempt to prevent Delaware’s motion to legally open sports betting within the state.

      Delaware is one of four states that are exempt from aspects of this law. The state’s previous foray into sports betting was a disaster in the 1970s because of poor line setting.

      The leagues argue that when wagering is allowed, every blown call, missed shot, etc. is seen as something more nefarious. The problem with this argument is that single-game wagering is already legal in Nevada (and happens illegally all over the country and online), so keeping Delaware from allowing this kind of wagering isn’t going to do much to help the perception that the games could be fixed.

      Besides, doesn’t NBA commissioner David Stern remember Tim Donaghy? He can’t even keep his officials from gambling, yet he wants to police the entire country.

      Like alcohol or smoking, wagering on games is a vice. Some people have it under control and see it purely as entertainment, while others have a problem. Whether or not Delaware makes it legal will have very little bearing; people are already wagering on games, they’re just doing it illegally.

      MLB, NBA, News, NFL, NHL

      Bill Simmons’ “Almost Famous” tribute, Pt. 2

      July 28, 2009 /

      In Part 2 of Bill Simmons’ “Almost Famous”-is-the-greatest-movie-of-the-decade spiel, he continues to take quotes from the movie and apply them to the 2009 NBA offseason. Here’s one about the Pistons…

      47. Please don’t give him any more acid. Thank you.
      To Joe Dumars. In the span of 14 months, he hired the wrong coach (Michael Curry), overpaid the wrong bench guys (Kwame Brown and Amir Johnson), traded the wrong star too early (Billups, who would have netted more than just an expiring cap figure near the deadline), extended the wrong star too early (Rip Hamilton), overrated the wrong young guy (Rodney Stuckey, who might not even be a point guard), threw away the wrong season (2008-09, when the East was more wide open than we thought), then made it up to Pistons fans by saying, “I just spent $94 million on two guys who will never make an All-Star team!” Shouldn’t you be worried when your top five guys (Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Hamilton, Stuckey and Prince) are all perimeter guys who don’t rebound, play inside or make other guys better?

      I too think that the Pistons overpaid for Gordon and Villanueva, who are certainly good offensive players, but really seem to struggle on the other end of the court. Dumars had the rep for being one of the savviest general managers in the league, but with these signings all the Pistons’ cap space is gone and they don’t have an inside presence.

      The funny thing is that Dumars was pretty much bidding against himself for Gordon’s services (the Bulls didn’t even bother to make an offer) and the best Villanueva could have hoped for was a mid-level deal (from Cleveland?). This is one of the more interesting rebuilding projects going.

      Humor, NBA, News, Rumors & Gossip

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