Free Agency: Movers and Shakers
Here’s the latest news and implications of the rumors concerning Free Agency, ranked in order of the explosiveness and impact of each potential move:
The Boston Celtics are reportedly preparing to offer Ray Allen a 2 year, $ 12 million contract.
Implications: After re-signing KG, the Celts had a important decision to make. With KG’s new contract, they’re committed to $ 48 million in salaries for next season, with Allen, Bass, Green, Pietrus, Dooling (basically their entire bench and a starter) all FAs. If the Celts offer Allen 6 mil, they’re essentially backing off their earlier interest in Grizzlies guard OJ Mayo (who does much the same things Allen is expected to do, and he’s younger) and committing to exceeding the luxury cap (which means they can only re-sign their players and offer a FA the 3 mil luxury tax mid-level exception as opposed to the normal $ 5 million MLE) after re-signing Bass, Green and filling out the roster. I can’t see Allen turning down the Celts’ offer considering the strength of his roots to the Celts and Boston region. This hurts both the Heat and the Grizzlies – both determined suitors of Allen – because he would have been an ideal fit for both teams in terms of perimeter spacing and veteran presence. RA to the Grizz could have vaulted them into Western Conference top-3 territory. I’m not a big fan of this signing for Boston because it essentially means they’re going to be competing with this team for the next 3 years, and this team just isn’t enough in my book. The youth and energy a guy like OJ Mayo (big fan) could have brought to the table, especially as a high energy, high offense sixth man for an often putrid Boston offense might have better helped them spar with the big guys (Heat, Bulls, maybe Pacers). Perhaps Doc could have tapped into Mayo’s potential (does anybody remember this guy averaging 30 ppg in a 10 game stretch during his rookie season?) but we’ll never know.
Dwight Howard has demanded a trade to the Brooklyn Nets, claiming that he was “blackmailed” into exercising his contract option to play out the last year of the contract as a Magic. In related news, the Magic have begun to seriously consider trade offers for Dwight.
Implications: This is a tricky one. There’s virtually no chance, in my book, that Dwight gets traded to Brooklyn. Who are the Nets going to send back in such a trade? The best they can do is Brook Lopez, Marshon Brooks and every uprotected pick they’re allowed to trade for the next 5 years (essentially three picks) which is nothing compared to what the Houston Rockets could possibly offer (Dragic, Lowry, Scola, Martin, Patterson, Chandler Parsons, any of their rookies, future picks – take your pick). And the Rockets are willing to tango without an assurance from Dwight that he stays past next year. This means that the Nets might have to give up their dream of pairing D-Will and Dwight. It appears that they are aggressively pursuing trades for guys like Joe Johnson and Luis Scola but let’s face it, none of those guys push the Nets over the top. The Nets will, at best, be a middling playoff team slated for a first round exit. D-Will and Dwight on different teams should elicit a collective sigh of relief from contenders around the league. That combination could have been scary.
The New York Knicks are going all-in in their pursuit of Nash, reportedly offering him the full mid-level.
Implications: This means Linsanity is over. Even with Nash, I don’t see the Knicks being a serious threat to the alpha teams out East, though I think Nash seriously improves their offense. Adding Nash doesn’t solve the Melo-Amare conundrum (hint: never ever, never ever, never ever offer a guy 100 mil guaranteed when not even insurance firms are ready to A-OK him). They can’t trade Amare because, well, nobody is going to take Amare with his eyeball-roll eliciting contract. Nash makes him and Chandler better – though at the cost of Melo. Nash signing with the Knicks means he isn’t signing with the Pacers…and that’s a relief for the Heat. The Pacers could be deadly dangerous with Nash – they’ve got a bunch of scorers - and are a top 10 defense away from posing serious problems for the Heat. And oh, did I mention that Linsanity would be over? Can we not have Linsanity end? Please?
The Brooklyn Nets agree to 4 year, $ 40 mil deal with Gerald Wallace.
Implications: Hahahaha…wait, what?