Tag: 2010 NBA free agency (Page 28 of 57)

      Stoudemire headed for free agency?

      June 22, 2010 /

      Even with the Suns’ surprising post-All-Star run, it appears that Amare Stoudemire is headed for free agency.

      Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver and coach Alvin Gentry are planning to meet with Amar’e Stoudemire next week and offer him a contract extension, but a source called it “pretty bleak” that the Suns will be able to convince the All-Star forward to agree to a deal.

      The Suns are expected to visit Stoudemire in Chicago at his summer basketball camp, if not wait for him to return to his home in Phoenix, Yahoo! Sports has learned. After rejecting what’s expected to be another counteroffer below the maximum, Stoudemire will opt out of the final year of his contract and become a free agent July 1.

      This isn’t a big shock; the writing was on the wall when Steve Kerr left the organization. Stoudemire isn’t really a ‘max’ player, but he sure thinks he is, and that’s a bad combination. No offense to Amare, he’s a great player, but his injury history and inability (or unwillingness) to control the defensive glass keeps him out of ‘max’ territory, at least in my mind.

      But that doesn’t mean that he’s not going to get a maximum contract this summer. Like any market, free agency is about supply and demand, and with all the cap space floating around, there will be a big demand for his services.

      It’s funny — the ‘Bird rights’ are supposed to favor a player’s home team, but for near-max players it can work against the home team. The Suns are trying to be pragmatic and don’t want to overpay, but Amare takes any less-than-max offer as an insult even though he’ll eventually sign for less than the true maximum when he goes on to another team. (Other teams can only offer five-year deals with a lower annual raise.) But Stoudemire will see the other team offering as much as they can and he’ll take that as a compliment, even though the total contract may be less than what the Suns originally offered. (I hope this makes sense.)

      I have a feeling he’ll end up in Miami with Dwyane Wade or possibly Chicago, where he’d be a nice fit alongside Derrick Rose.

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      The Heat’s pitch to LeBron

      June 22, 2010 /

      Chad Ford has been outlining the ways that the different teams around the league can make their pitch to LeBron. As he tackles the Heat, he outlines Miami’s dream scenario:

      The Heat could engage in a sign-and-trade for LeBron or Bosh, most likely Bosh. Sign-and-trades are notoriously difficult to pull off. But they aren’t impossible.

      If Bosh and the Raptors would cooperate, for instance, the Heat could send Michael Beasley and Daequan Cook and return Toronto’s No. 1 pick (owned by Miami) to the Raptors and slide Bosh in under the cap at a starting salary of around $13.5 million.

      Of course, we know Bosh is unlikely to agree to a deal that starts at $13.5 million, especially if Wade and James are getting $16.5 million. But what if all three players — close friends from Team USA — decide to take a small pay cut to play together? If James and Wade both were to agree to a starting salary of $15.5 million, the Heat could offer Bosh $15.5 million as well.

      It’s a nice thought, and if winning was really the most important thing to these players then this is the type of situation they should look for.

      But as much as they like to say that winning is the most important thing — it’s not. While Wade is pragmatic enough to welcome LeBron and Bosh to Miami with open arms, I don’t think either free agent would want to join Wade’s team. Don’t get me wrong — they’d gladly play with Wade in New York or New Jersey or Chicago, but actually joining the franchise that already has a recent championship because of Wade? That is a tough pill to swallow, legacy-wise.

      Chris Bosh has said that he doesn’t want to be seen as an addition to a team and that he wants to be ‘the man.’ That doesn’t jibe with a Wade-LeBron-Bosh trio in Miami. For his part, LeBron is keeping his options open, but would he really want people thinking that he joined forces with Wade in Miami because he couldn’t win a ring on his own?

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      Chris Bosh wants to be ‘the man’

      June 21, 2010 /

      Last week, Bosh informed us that he wasn’t about to wait for LeBron James to make up his mind, and now he’s reiterating his wish to be ‘the man’ for whatever team he plays for next season.

      Chris Bosh isn’t waiting for some summit to determine his landing spot next season. The soon-to-be Toronto Raptors free agent is determined to chart his own course and forge his own identity apart from the star-studded field of peers also entering the open market.

      “I don’t want to be mentioned as an addition to a team,” Bosh said prior to the season . “I want to be mentioned as the guy that people want to center their team around.”

      “I’m not an addition. I’m a centerpiece,” he said. “I have to have that confidence in myself, and I want people to know that, because I’m not somebody that helps out. I’m the guy you get like, ‘Yo, we’re going to win a championship, you’re gonna take us there.’

      “I want to hold onto that because I think every kid when they dream about playing basketball, they don’t dream about being a role player. They dream about being the man. I have that position in Toronto and to give that up and go somewhere else to be an addition would kinda defeat the purpose of my dreams.”

      That’s still pretty nebulous, but we can read the tea leaves a little bit.

      The fact that he doesn’t want to be mentioned as an addition to a team leads me to believe that he won’t join Dwyane Wade in Miami or LeBron in Cleveland. If he does end up playing with one of those two, it would probably be in New York or New Jersey, where the franchises are basically starting over and can build around him (and LeBron/Wade).

      It would also seem to eliminate the Thunder and Lakers from contention, since he’d be seen as an “addition” to teams that already had established stars (Kevin Durant, Kobe). We could also potentially cross off the Bulls, since they already have a budding star in Derrick Rose (though Bosh would be an ideal fit there).

      Perhaps the Knicks or Nets could persuade both Joe Johnson and Bosh to sign, since Bosh wants to be ‘the man,’ while Johnson doesn’t seem to crave that title.

      Is it July 1 yet?


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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      Bosh: “I can’t just sit around and wait [for LeBron].”

      June 18, 2010 /

      When free agency starts, Chris Bosh said he isn’t going to wait on LeBron to make a decision.

      (Transcript from ESPN Rumors, interview by SNY.tv.)

      “Anytime you have the opportunity to play with certain guys, you have to take that into consideration. When it all goes down, he’s gonna be one of the all-time greats,” Bosh told SNY.tv on Thursday. “At the same time, I can’t just sit around and wait. I have to be proactive with my choices and what’s gonna make me happy. I have to make sure I take my time and make the right decision.”

      Bosh considers the Knicks to be an option for him.

      “There are a lot of teams out there I’m considering including my home team, the Raptors,” Bosh said. “It’s gonna be crazy and confusing and I’m looking forward to it.”

      What about the Nets?

      “I think each team has its own advantages over the other,” Bosh said. “New Jersey has a young core, so does New York. The coaching styles are a bit different. A lot of people are excited about the new (Nets) owner. It’s interesting. Everybody is pretty much excited about the makeup of the team and the direction the Nets are headed. It might work out; it might not. You always have to consider a lot.”

      While it appears that LeBron is going to milk this for all it’s worth, I doubt Bosh would have to wait too long to get a decision from LeBron’s camp if the two want to play with each other. However, if LeBron drags his feet, we could see the Heat sign Bosh quickly; the idea of playing in South Florida with Dwyane Wade has to be appealing and there are enough other quality big men out there that the Heat can use as leverage.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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      Wesley on LeBron: “I haven’t even conversated with him…”

      June 16, 2010 /

      William “Worldwide Wes” Wesley gave a rare interview recently and had this to say bout LeBron’s free agency decision:

      “He’s going through the process that was afforded to him. He’s going to touch each base of the process of free agency, I believe. I haven’t sat down and talked to him. I don’t wanna sit down with him and talk to him about it unless, you know, if he brings something to me or asks a question or something along those lines I’ll address it. But this is his decision for him and his family to make.”

      Moments later he was asked if LeBron wants to be part of picking the coach that he plays for.

      “No. I just shared with you I haven’t even conversated with him about this process because this is his family and that’s their process. So, you know, I haven’t talked to him about that.”

      Conversated? Really?

      I guess the news here is that Worldwide Wes, a supposed confidant of LeBron, hasn’t spoken with him about his pending free agency.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

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