Tag: Ron Artest (Page 10 of 12)

      Expiring contracts…who’s got ’em?

      January 22, 2009 /

      The NBA trade deadline is less than a month away, so it’s a good time to talk expiring contracts. These are players that are in the final year of their deals, which makes them trade fodder for teams looking to cut salary this summer. I’ll list each player by contract size, whether or not he can still play, and discuss the possibility that they’ll be traded by the trade deadline. I’ll also dig into the strategy that their current teams should and/or could be utilizing when considering a trade.

      All salary data is from HoopsHype, and I’ll assume – given the bad economy – that the cap will stay at about $59 million next season. (In fact, it might even be lowered.)

      Allen Iverson, Pistons
      Salary: $21.9 million
      Detroit is 20-15 since trading for AI, and considering the franchises successful run over the past few season, that’s disappointing. But the Pistons didn’t make this trade to acquire AI, they made the trade to rid themselves of Chauncey Billups’ contract, which runs through 2011. Was this wise? Probably not, at least in the short term. Billups is one of the top point guards in the league and is doing great things with his new team. But since the Pistons like what Rodney Stuckey can do (and justifiably so), Billups became expendable. GM Joe Dumars made the deal to give the team the financial flexibility to retool the roster over the next two summers, and with Iverson and Rasheed Wallace coming off the books, the Pistons will have about $26 million to spend this summer. They could opt to sign Carlos Boozer, but would likely have to pony up big bucks to do so. He would probably start at $14 million, so that would leave $12 million to re-sign the 34 year-old Wallace or another center. The team could conceivably sign Boozer, then wait a year, let Rip Hamilton’s contract expire, and then sign Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire in the summer of 2010, giving the team a core of Stuckey, Boozer, Tayshaun Prince and either Bosh or Stoudemire to build around. Not bad. Considering the main reason the Pistons traded for AI was to cut salary, the chances of them trading him (and taking on salary in return) aren’t good. (Though a Marion-for-Iverson swap might help both teams in the short term.)
      Chances of being traded: Low

      Jason Kidd, Mavs
      Salary: $21.3 million
      Ah the Mavs. Every time I see Kidd’s name I think of Devin Harris and the 22 points and six assists he’s averaging this season for the Nets. That was a horrible trade (even at the time) and the Mavs aren’t any better now than they were a season ago. Unless they buck the odds and make a run to the Finals, that trade will go down as one of the worst of recent memory. (Don’t forget that the Mavs threw in two first round picks as well.) Anyway, it seems unlikely that anyone would want Kidd’s giant salary at this point. He’s still an above average starting point guard, but that’s about it. He could help a team make a playoff run – Miami jumps to mind – but his value is limited after this season. A Marion/Kidd trade is unlikely because that would leave the Mavs without a dependable point guard for their own postseason run. My guess is that Dallas stands pat, the Mavs are ushered out of the first round of the playoffs, and he signs elsewhere next season (or maybe re-signs with the Mavs for much, much less).
      Chances of being traded: Low

      Stephon Marbury, Knicks
      Salary: $20.8 million
      What’s there to write about Starbury that hasn’t already been written? The Knicks don’t want him, but no one else does either, so the parties need to come to a buyout agreement to end the stalemate. If that happens, it looks like the Celtics are willing to roll the dice and give him an opportunity to resurrect his career. The Heat need a point guard and would seem like another possibility, but that’s pure conjecture.
      Chances of being traded: Slim

      Shawn Marion, Heat
      Salary: $17.2 million
      Of all the guys on this list, the Matrix has the most trade buzz surrounding him. His production is down and he just doesn’t seem like a good fit in Miami. The Heat need a center and a point guard, and are reportedly considering a deal that would send Marion to Toronto for Jermaine O’Neal. The Heat might opt to take on O’Neal’s contract (which runs through the 2010 season) because they no longer see Boozer as a good fit, since he plays the same position as Michael Beasley. The ultimate goal is to sign Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire in the summer of 2010, and acquiring O’Neal would give them an inside presence for the next two seasons, assuming he can stay healthy. Marion is a valuable trade commodity because he still has some good basketball in him and has the type of complementary game that fits well with others.
      Chances of being traded: High

      Mike Bibby, Hawks
      Salary: $15.2 million
      Bibby is staying put. The Hawks are in the thick of the playoff race in the East and Bibby’s resurgence is a big reason why. He could be playing well because he’s in a contract year, but he also has had a season to get comfortable in Atlanta. Either way, the Hawks aren’t going to move him before the deadline unless they’re offered a deal they can’t refuse.
      Chances of being traded: Slim

      Rasheed Wallace, Pistons
      Salary: $13.7 million
      Wallace is 34 and his game seems to be fading. His PER (14.54) indicates that he’s just an average starting center at this point of his career. Still, he could be useful to another team for a playoff run, though he’s just as useful to the Pistons, so it is unlikely that they’ll move him.
      Chances of being traded: Low

      Wally Szczerbiak, Cavs
      Salary: $13.0 million
      Wally is becoming one of those players that are more famous for their contracts than they are for their ability. Sure, he’ll make a few shots and post the occasional nice game, but his PER (11.35) proves that he is a shell of the player he once was. The Cavs seem reluctant to fix something that’s not broken, but maybe the 17-point lambasting they took at the hands of the Lakers will convince them that they should continue to try to make the team better. Since he’s clearly on the decline, whatever team that’s interested in trading for Szczerbiak would want to do one thing – cut salary. That means whomever the Cavs would be getting in return would probably be a bit overpaid and in a long term contract. This could affect the Cavs’ ability to potentially sign a player like Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire in the summer of 2010. Cleveland is in a tough position, however. They (probably) need to make a run to the Finals in the next two seasons to keep LeBron, but they don’t want to do anything drastic that would limit their options in 2010 when they could potentially pair their superstar with the likes of Bosh or Stoudemire. Ideally, the Cavs would move Wally to add a good player who has a contract that expires in 2010 or earlier. That’s going to be tough to do since there won’t be much incentive for the trade partner to strike a deal.
      Chances of being traded: Moderate

      Raef LaFrentz, Blazers
      Salary: $12.7 million
      Portland needs a point guard and they could use LaFrentz’s expiring salary to acquire one. But their trade partner would need to be a non-playoff team looking to cut salary, and there aren’t too many of those out there. The Blazers might be content to let LaFrentz’s salary expire and put themselves in position to make a splash this summer or next.
      Chances of being traded: Low

      Steve Nash, Suns
      Salary: $12.3 million
      The Suns are a playoff team and Nash is still a key cog in that machine. He is not going anywhere this season, but the team holds his option for another year, so if the Suns flame out in the playoffs again, it might be time to blow this thing up.
      Chances of being traded: Slim

      Carlos Boozer, Jazz
      Salary: $11.6 million
      Boozer has a player option for another year, but he has already stated that he plans to opt out after the season. He has missed much of this season with injury, and just had arthroscopic surgery on his knee. He hopes to be back by the All-Star break, which is right before the trade deadline. Utah wants him back, but there’s a reasonable possibility that he’ll sign elsewhere. Miami no longer seems to think he’s a good fit (since they view Michael Beasley as a power forward), so Boozer’s biggest suitor has probably been crossed off the list. The Jazz are in a tough spot because they think they can re-sign him – and they may be able to. But that means they probably won’t get too involved in any trade discussions. With the Heat (likely) bowing out, the chances that the Jazz can re-sign him have increased, which means they are likely to wait until the end of the season to deal with him. At 27, he’s right in the middle of his prime and is one of those players that are likely to command a max contract, but with his injury history, he probably isn’t worth one. The Jazz may have to pony up max dollars out of fear that he’ll sign elsewhere.
      Chances of being traded: Slim

      Lamar Odom, Lakers
      Salary: $11.4 million
      The Lakers seem content to stand pat as this current rotation has resulted in one of the league’s best records. But Odom is coming off the bench and is having the worst statistical season of his career. Since he can’t shoot, they can’t play Odom alongside Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, so one of the three have to sit in crunch time. Lately, it’s been Odom getting those minutes (and Bynum on the bench), so the team clearly trusts him down the stretch. If they elect not to trade him and they don’t ultimately win a title, then they would have missed an opportunity to add someone like Ron Artest (last season) or Shawn Marion (this season?), who may have put them over the hump. In that event, Odom would be likely to sign elsewhere because the Lakers aren’t going to pay a reserve what he’ll be asking.
      Chances of being traded: Low

      Andre Miller, Sixers
      Salary: $10.0 million
      When Philly got off to a slow start, there was some talk that the Sixers might move Miller since he’s in the last year of his contract. But since Brand went down with an injury, the team is 9-7 and during a recent seven-game win streak, Miller averaged 17.0 points, 6.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game. The addition of Brand hasn’t gone as smoothly as hoped, but the Sixers are currently in the playoff hunt and the franchise will want to see how this group finishes the season. Good point guards are hard to find, so there’s no real reason to move Miller at this point.
      Chances of being traded: Low

      Ron Artest, Rockets
      Salary: $8.4 million
      Artest isn’t going anywhere. The Rockets are in the thick of the playoff hunt and they’ll need his toughness in the postseason.
      Chances of being traded: Slim

      Other players with expiring contracts: Rasho Nesterovic (Pacers, $8.4 million); Malik Rose (Knicks, $7.6 million); Drew Gooden (Bulls, $7.1 million); Marquis Daniels (Pacers, $6.9 million); Chris Wilcox (Thunder, $6.8 million); Bobby Jackson (Kings, $6.1 million); Stromile Swift (Nets, $6.2 million); Desmond Mason (Thunder, $5.3 million); Joe Smith (Thunder, $4.8 million); Anthony Parker (Raptors, $4.6 million); Damon Jones (Bucks, $4.5 million)

      NBA, Rumors & Gossip

      Yao says that things are fine with McGrady

      January 16, 2009 /

      Yesterday, we posted a rumor (from “a source close to the situation”) that Yao Ming was tired of Tracy McGrady’s injury issues.

      Yao said, however, that a report of locker-room discord to the point that he and Tracy McGrady do not speak and that he wants McGrady off the team are not true.

      Responding to an NBA.com story that he and McGrady are not on speaking terms and that he wants McGrady out, Yao said the report is not accurate.

      “I’m upset,” he said, “(that) this news is fake.”

      That McGrady and Yao still talk, even beyond the conversations necessary as teammates, is not news. They can often be seen conversing on the practice court, in the locker room and on the road.

      Well, I’m glad that’s settled.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, Rumors & Gossip

      Yao getting frustrated with T-Mac?

      January 15, 2009 /

      On Tuesday, we discovered that the Rockets organization was getting tired of T-Mac’s act, and now there’s a rumor that Yao Ming is growing weary of it as well.

      According to a source close to the situation, Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are no longer speaking with each other off the court. Ming is apparently so fed up with McGrady’s chronic injuries that he told the officials in Houston to get him out of the organization.

      Another source also revealed that Yao’s frustration is real. And Yao is not the only person that is grown tired of McGrady’s self-diagnosis, his up-to-the-last-minute decisions on whether he will play or not.

      If true, this could deal a serious blow to the Rockets’ 2009 title hopes. If a team doesn’t have chemistry between its stars, it’s unlikely that it will survive the gauntlet that is the NBA postseason. It’s a little funny that Yao is frustrated with T-Mac’s injuries when the big man has been injured several times himself. However, Yao’s injuries have typically been fractures and of the season-ending variety, not this nebulous, self-diagnosis stuff that McGrady has been experiencing with his knee.

      Unless they have some serious success in the playoffs, the Rocket will face a crossroads this offseason. They’re currently building around two injury-prone players. T-Mac has another year left on his contract, so he may be tradeable as his deal expires before the now-infamous summer of 2010. Still, his giant salary ($23.2 million) is a doozy, and it’s possible that the Rockets would rather let his deal expire than to take on all that salary in return. Yao is 28 (assuming his Chinese birth certificate is legit) and he has two more years left on his deal. The team’s third best player — Ron Artest — will be a free agent after the season.

      If the Rockets don’t make a run, we could see a very different lineup at the start of the 2009-10 season.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA, NBA Finals, Rumors & Gossip

      Is the NBA ’09 free agent class better than ’10?

      January 9, 2009 /

      When I saw the headline — “’09 free agents may be better than ’10 class” — I was ready to jump all over David Aldridge for saying that any free agent class could be better than the one that will likely feature LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire. But as I read the full article, he made some sense. I still don’t agree with him, but I see his point.

      Here’s a look at the possible free agents in ’09:

      Those with asterisks either have options for ’09 or can terminate existing contracts for ’09, and many are expected to do one or the other, for one reason or another:

      Kobe Bryant*, Carlos Boozer, Shawn Marion, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Hedo Turkoglu*, Mehmet Okur*, Andre Miller, Mike Bibby, Jason Kidd, Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, Kyle Korver*, Anderson Varejao*, Drew Gooden, Stephon Marbury, Grant Hill, Brandon Bass, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, Zaza Pachulia and Anthony Parker. Jermaine O’Neal could join the group if he walks away from $23 million next season. (Don’t hold your breath. There’s no asterisk by Boozer because he’s already said he’s opting out next summer.)

      Aldridge has four major arguments:

      1. 2010 is fool’s gold.

      It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that unless seismic changes take place, James is either going to stay in Cleveland in 2010 or go to New York. Maybe Los Angeles. Wade will almost certainly choose between Miami, New York, L.A. and Chicago. Bosh will choose between the preceding cities and, perhaps, Detroit. And that’s it.

      Without the Big Three on the market for most NBA cities, the ’10 class loses a good bit of its luster. That’s going to leave a lot of teams with max money to spend on mostly not-max players.

      2. Given the recession, owners will not want to spend.

      Only seven or eight teams are going to be over the luxury tax threshold this season. That number isn’t going up any time soon. Fewer teams contributing luxury taxes to their fellow competitors will further erode many teams’ bottom lines.

      “People have spent (in recent years) not to be a tax payer,” says a CEO of a major market team. “Indiana really can’t afford to spend up to the tax based on their local economy. But they do, because everyone else is doing it … now, I think you’re going to see teams having to make a lot of tough decisions on spending.”

      3. Since fewer teams have cap space this summer, ’09 will have more opportunity.

      The point is, there will be far fewer ’09 suitors than ’10 teams. And while Bryant is equally not likely to leave L.A. for smaller-revenue teams this summer, those teams are nonetheless in a buyer’s market similar to that of Major League Baseball. There will be solid, veteran players available who may well have to settle for cents on the dollar instead of bigger paydays. A wise team will likely get a whole lot more bang for its reduced buck in ’09.

      Says one extremely high-ranking team executive: “This is going to be a nuclear winter for free agents. I would not want to be one this summer. So, if the point is that this summer will be great because there will be bargains galore, you are on the money.”

      4. ’10 is loaded with wings, while ’09 has better point guards and bigs.

      The ’10 group is lousy with wings — big wings, small wings, fast wings, shooting wings. But so is the whole NBA. The worst teams in the league — Oklahoma City, Washington, Minnesota, Memphis — all have perfectly fine wing players. It’s the point guards and centers that most of them lack, and so does the 2010 class.

      Point guards available in two years: Nash. He’s it. And he’ll be 35 on opening night, 2010.

      Point guards available next year: Kidd (who, granted, will be 36 on opening night, 2009), Miller and Bibby.

      Quality bigs under 35 in two years: Bosh, Nowitzki and Chandler.

      Quality bigs under 35 next summer: Boozer, Okur, Varejao, Wallace. Not-great-but good ones include Dallas’ Bass, Chicago’s Gooden and Atlanta’s Pachulia.

      I don’t disagree with any of his individual points, but I don’t believe that they combine to make the ’09 class better than the ’10 class. To say that one class is better than another is to say that the collection of talent in one is greater than the other. That’s simply not the case here. It doesn’t matter if only a few cities have a shot at LeBron, D-Wade, Bosh and Amare — those four players hold more value than the entire ’09 class. (All right, maybe they don’t, but you get my point.) Just because the Grizzlies won’t have a shot at LeBron, it doesn’t make the ’09 class better. It might make it better for the Grizzlies, or for any other team with cap space in ’09 and no shot at LeBron, but it doesn’t make ’09 a better class on the whole.

      And just because there may more bargains in ’09 than ’10 doesn’t make the former better, it just means that there may be better value available.

      Aldridge’s points are all valid, it’s just his conclusion that I don’t agree with. When comparing two free agent classes, the one with more talent is the one that’s better. The other class may have a few traits that will make it appealing to certain teams, but that only makes it better to those individual teams.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Even without T-Mac, Rockets still able to upend Celtics

      January 8, 2009 /

      As a quick follow up to yesterday’s “What’s wrong with the Celtics?” post, the Rockets went into Boston without their most dynamic player (Tracy McGrady) and beat the defending champs, 89-85. Von Wafer — yes, the same Von Wafer that has been with five teams in four seasons — hit a huge three late in the 4th to give the Rockets the win.

      Yao Ming (26 points) and Ron Artest (17 points) led the way for Houston, but Aaron Brooks chipped in with 19 points in a big game off the bench.

      But this is more about the Celtics’ struggles — they have now lost six of their last eight games. Looking at the box score, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett did their usual damage, but Ray Allen was 4-13 from the field (13 points) and no one other than Glen Davis (12 points) scored in double figures.

      The other thing that really jumps out at me is Houston’s ability to shoot 48.6% from the field (and 47.4% from long range) in Boston. Opponents shot just 41.9% against Boston last season. (On the season, the Celtics are yielding 42.2%, so last night’s game looks more like an aberration than a trend.)

      There was already a lot on the line for Friday’s game against the Cavaliers, but now the Celtics are going to head back out on the road (where they have lost five of the last six) and try to break a three-game losing streak. This one should be a beauty.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

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