Where’s the Money?

by Tommy Dee on June 30th, 2009 at 6:30 pm

Howard Beck has yet another strong article in today’s Times and does a great job of putting the market in perspective. There are some interesting things of note in how the market lays out for all 2009 free agents.

“…More than 100 players will become free agents at midnight Tuesday. Negotiations will commence soon after, although no deals can be consummated until July 8, after the annual moratorium.

Teams are already cutting back. Last week, the Milwaukee Bucks practically gave away Richard Jefferson, a high-scoring forward, in a trade with the San Antonio Spurs. The Bucks received a package of expiring contracts designed to reduce their payroll. Two days later, the Phoenix Suns traded O’Neal to Cleveland, and the Nets sent Vince Carter to Orlando, also for cap-friendly contracts.

The Bucks continued their payroll slashing on Monday when, in a surprise move, they declined to tender a qualifying offer to Charlie Villanueva, their promising young forward. The move made Villanueva an unrestricted free agent and probably ended his career in Milwaukee.

The Boston Celtics, who won the championship in 2008, have been offering their starting guards, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, in trade talks, in part because of financial considerations…

…The biggest buyer this summer will probably be the Detroit Pistons, who could have about $20 million in cap space after letting Rasheed Wallace and Allen Iverson leave. The Pistons have reportedly targeted Ben Gordon, the hot-shooting Chicago Bulls guard, and will also be shopping for a big man, possibly Boozer or his Jazz teammate Paul Millsap.

The other teams with significant cap space are Portland, Memphis and Oklahoma City, although it is not clear how much the Grizzlies and the Thunder are willing to spend. The Trail Blazers are reportedly interested in Turkoglu. They also need a point guard, and there are three top veterans available: Dallas’s Jason Kidd, Philadelphia’s Andre Miller and Atlanta’s Mike Bibby.

The lower-tier free agents will probably have to settle for re-signing with their teams or accepting a midlevel exception elsewhere. However, some team executives predict that only three or four teams will use their midlevel exceptions…”

Ironically, the Pistons are going to be shoppers, despite the fact that Mo-Town and the auto industry have been hit hardest during the downturn, but the idea is that once the buyers stake their claim, teams looking to mill over the second tier players may pass based on the economy.

So the question becomes where do executives place both Lee and Nate? I liked what Donnie Walsh said the other day in regards to Lee. He seemed to dare Lee’s camp to prove they can get a huge offer. What if Paul Milsap wises up and snags a modest offer from the Thunder? If he were smart he wouldn’t wait for Lee to set the market because he may give any leverage back to Utah.

Again,  Boozer will  decide go quickly, probably to Detroit, and as we reported a while back, the Blazers are hot for Hedo. You have to really wonder what offers come to Lee and Nate’s camp tonight because if they are not blow you out of the water huge, then those offers probably won’t come at all.

And Walsh will be justified for his play should he decide that the dynamic duo are really worth keeping at the right price. If it’s slow tonight, he may just get them under that number.

However, my thing with Nate has been the same stance since January. I like Nate and I don’t find him to be selfish off the court in terms of his asking price. He should want to get paid. He’s a good player and a great marketing mind.  On the court, I just don’t think that he’s a fit for what this group is building, but if Mike D’Antoni wants him back he could very well be back. The thing that I’ve learned in watching D’Antoni is that he REALLY wears his emotions on his sleeve. His enthusiasm for Nate was seriously curbed throughout the season when you consider how high he was on seeing Nate in his system when he first got here. Deal or no deal, it’s tough to imagine Nate being here, but will he even get an substantial offer is the ultimate question based on the current NBA situation. If the Knicks don’t land Kidd or Nash, expect them to let Nate walk and scoop up Ramon Sessions. To Beck’s point it would seem there won’t be a rush to judgment with Nate because the Knicks can offer the MLE to a guard and have the advantage with the most money over that second tier. They may get Sessions, a talented pass-first PG, by default.

It’s going to be intersting how teams rate the class. Those with high marks will be rewarded, but it seems more and more that the “B” students are going to get screwed. This is where the Knicks finacial strength can help them have a great off season.

But, when I asked Walsh the other day if he was confident he could make the right improvements, he told me, “I’m not confident until we do it.”
  • knicksfan1

    Tommy I’ve been hearing rumors that the Rockets are willing to trade Tracy McGrady for some help at the Center position now that the news about Yao Ming seems to be very negative. Reports have indicated that the Knicks are a possible suitor for McGrady and are offering Eddy Curry as that help the Rockets are looking for. Do you think Donnie would like to pull this move to get rid of Curry’s 11.3 million that is on the books for 2010/2011? I saw that this upcoming season is McGrady’s last year under contract and is scheduled to earn 23.2 million. I was looking into the Knicks roster and saw that they could pair up Curry’s contract with the expiring contract of Cuttino Mobley (who is scheduled to make 9.5 million this year) to make the deal work. I’d really like to see a Curry and Mobley for McGrady deal. Let me know what you think and if it is a real possibility.

  • BiggieSmalls

    T mac’s contract is partially insured for any time he misses so its not a big deal for Houston financially

    Dothey just blowup what they have left and try to grab some assets?

    Doesnt sound like they will offer Artest a contract. They have so few players under contract it is hard to make a match with them on any trades.

    I think they’d be more likely to pair up with the Clips with a trade for Kaman.

  • italian stallion

    Honestly, I think Id prefer getting Sessions over Kidd or Nash. Kidd and Nash are obviously still better players, but they are in their last few years. We need our PG of the future, not a filler for the next 2-3 years. The only way Kidd/Nash would make a lot of sense is if we drafted Rubio/Curry or someone else that was not ready to take over the starting assignment right away. Then those guys could mentor him and fill the role at a high level until the alternate was ready. I am not that familiar with Sessions’s game. He looks OK statistically – probably a better version of Duhon because he has more offensive skills. He’s also young and will probably look even better in our system. The only negative I saw was it didn’t seem like he has much of a 3 point shot, but maybe it was just the small sample size. I could see taking a shot on him developing into our PG of the future

  • Knicks4lyfe8

    Can someone explain how tonight (midnight) aka free agency works and when we hear about negotiatians between teams and is it worth staying up till 3 or 4 am waiting for updates because i havnt really paid attention to free agency in the past few years.

    ps. Ramon sessions is a very solid player, him and duhon splitting minutes and having duhon shed his experience on ramon would be a good way to develop him into a solid pg for the future.
    –a trio of sessions, duhon, and douglas is definatly respectable for this season.

  • Chris Alvino

    Go to sleep. Wake up early. Staying up until 4 am is not worth it. Haha. Do it if you want.

  • BiggieSmalls

    Its not really worth staying up til all hours.

    Teams can start negotiating with RFAs and UFAs tonite at midnight but they CAN NOT offer them a contract until July 9th.

    There is a seven day (business day) moritorium on signing free agents until the league sets the offical salary cap for 2009/10 on July 9th.

    Tonight is useful in that you can gauge (or hear rumors) about who is courting who and who are the players and posers.

    PS.
    Ive got some Rubio news from the grapevine and im sitting on it til there is a relevant thread.

  • Knicks4lyfe8

    oh ok, thanks
    BRING ON THE REDBULL

    Is tkb gunna be covering this through the beggining of freeagency early tommorow morning?

  • Jeff Cykiert

    Biggie: You’re killin me… C’mon, just spit it out.

  • Chris Alvino

    Big- Should I start a new thread?

  • gordons18

    wouldn’t signing Sessions damage the 2010 plan? i don’t see him signing for the MLE, he’ll probably be asking for at least $7M or so. Not worth it to me.

    I’m hoping the Knicks can get Kidd at the MLE, even for multiple years. NY is not going to be an attractive place for LeBron if he has to come here and be the babysitter of a young group. Having another veteran leader to play with will make NY much more appealing to James.

    Basketball wise, Kidd has alot left because he is still very good defensively against SGs, and is still a great floor general. I think he could really help the progression of our young players.

  • Knicks4lyfe8

    yeaaaa. spit it out brooo
    lol

  • BiggieSmalls

    Its nothing real major..

    ill put it here..

    Ive got a friend who knows D’Antoni and Coach D said the knicks are going after Rubio hard.

    He had a gleam in his eye when my friend asked him “are you going to try to get Rubio”

    Coach D responded. “we’re doing all we can”

  • joeyballz

    Chris start the thread kid…Bigg comon stop teasing

  • BiggieSmalls

    i dropped it as a response to Alvino..

    The impression that was given to my grapevine was Coach D was hot hot hot for Ricky and the knicks were in hot pursuit. “Doing all they can” to get him.

  • joeyballz

    Coach D loves him…thats why he never publicly made any comments stating how enamored he is with this kid….D’Antoni was playing the game along…I would bet anything he had Rubio on top of his list from the beginning

  • BiggieSmalls

    the impression my friend got directly from D’Antoni was that getting Ricky from Minny was a top priority.

  • joeyballz

    Thanks for the scoop

    Mann I hope it happens…

  • joeyballz

    Damn…The only reason I am getting excited about free agency is because we might have chance to get this kid in a sign and trade…otherwise every morning I wake with the hope that something went down the night before….RUBIO IN NEW YORK WOULD BE CRAZY

  • Ftingue

    44 point wow? I didn’t know he dropped 40.

  • IDunnoMyName

    I think Sessions is getting moved in a S&T. The Bucks are in full cost-cutting mode, just drafted his replacement in Brandon Jennings and are looking to fill as many holes as possible on the cheap. My guess is that they look to move Sessions for an expiring contract (Harrington?) to man one of their weak spots at the 3 and 4. What do you guys think?

    Poor Michael Redd.

  • KBT1615

    Yea I kinda do To I wanted Toney D to be our PG for the future but now I realize he is a Jason Terry a REALLY good combo who could change a team.
    I hope our Backup Plans are…
    Lee & Nate for Rudy Gay
    Lee & Nate for RIP Hamilton

  • Chris Alvino

    There are some free agents that will go on the cheap that will be complete and utter steals.

    Allen Iverson
    Ron Artest
    Shawn Marion

    Too bad Artest doesn’t have a spot on this team. I would do anything to watch him on a nightly basis. He would light up the Garden.

  • Chris Alvino

    Add Kidd and Bibby to that potential list.

  • Bruno

    Unfortunately, they dumped Jefferson and CVill most likely to afford Sessions.

  • Knicks4lyfe8

    The New York Knicks kept themselves in a PG hole which seemed to have been inevitable since last season. But with the currently pending point guard line-up, Ramon sessions seems to be the fix for the present and future. Sessions has had an impressive season since jumping from the D-League. He had 44 points in a single game but still is seen as a past first mentality point guard. Duhon, Sessions and the 29th pick in the draft Toney Douglas gives the Knickerbockers a balanced trio in the PG position. Duhon is known for his high IQ coming from a great program at Duke and does nothing more than rack up assists. Douglas is the best defensive and offensive option out of the three PG’s. While sessions can do a little of everything. The one problem with this plan is that it doesn’t define a clear starter out of the three. however, head coach Mike D’Antoni had said in the beginning of last year that all teams pick starting lineups based on competition in practice and preseason and the best players play. With this said, free agency is fastly approaching and should Donnie Walsh and the Knicks take Sessions, this is the situation the fans and the coaching staff is looking at.

  • renenyg1

    Ok I finally warmed up to the Kid idea but let’s acumulate talent and future ones,I propose keeping N8 and Lee,surely these two will only get better we are judging them on what we have seen so far but surely them can improve and they both have more talent the the retreads we can get for them.I want Rubio and Kidd now .I know we have to give up some thing to get him that’s why it’s a good idea to accumulate talent.TMAc for Curry,Jefferies and Mobley works let’s do it.

  • IDunnoMyName

    Possibly, but I think those moves signal they are not going to be players going into next year and are in full-out dump mode. I still don’t know why they signed Bogut through 2013 last year, but the Jefferson trade clearly indicates they are looking to save money first and foremost.

  • gordons18

    keeping Nate and Lee would be great moves especially if Robinson signs for the qualifying offer and Lee signs to a reasonable deal. I think $6M or 7M for him gets it done.

    add Kidd to what we already added with Jordan Hill, Darko, and the guard from fl. state, that would be nice. Lee avg’d 16 and almost 12 boards last season, add Kidd and watch out, Lee might really start killing people.

    Nate’s game would flourish with Kidd too. He could easily avg 19 points and 2 stls a game, while playing very efficiently if you have Kidd be your point. I love Nate’s game, they need to make sure they bring him back. Some people are too quick to dismiss how great he’s played for us already. There were many many games this season when nate robinson took over the knicks, simplly because he had to since nobody else could, and carried the team to victory. that guy needs to stay, especially if he doesn’t sign a huge deal.

  • bob go knicks

    IN OTHER REVELANT NEWS,RICKY RUBIO THE POINT GUARD OF SPANISH EXTRACTIONWAS ASKED BY BIGGIE SMALLS OF knicks blog fame ASKED RICKY if he thinks hell play for the KNICKERBOCKERS this year and rubio replied_______________________________________X