NBA.com Top FA SFs

[Admin]

RASHARD LEWIS, Seattle Sonics

Key 2001-02 Stats: 16.8 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.46 spg, .468 FG%

Analysis: Arguably one of the hottest properties on the free-agent market this offseason. A tremendous shooter, is very agile for his size (6-10) and at just 22 still has plenty of time to develop. Less-than-stellar 2002 NBA Playoffs (12.7 ppg on .375 FG%) shows he still has room to grow, but scoring average has increased in each of first four seasons. In right setting he's threat to average 20 ppg next season.

DONYELL MARSHALL, Utah Jazz

Key 2001-02 Stats: 14.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg, .519 FG%, 1.16 bpg, 58 games played

Analysis: No question about talent; it's ability to stay on floor that may have teams worried. Has missed 18 or more games in four of eight seasons in league. When healthy, though, is very solid contributor. Can score inside and out, shoots the three, blocks shots and rebounds very well. Also learned art of defense under Jerry Sloan in Utah. Can swing between three and four on both offense and defense, a definite plus.

BONZI WELLS, Portland Trail Blazers

Key 2001-02 Stats: 17.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.53 spg, .384 3FG%

Analysis: Another coveted player on the rise. Like Lewis, has seen scoring average increase in each of first four seasons in league. Also has great range and is solid defender. Exciting finisher as well. Versatile offensive game allows him to flourish in halfcourt set and up-tempo offense. Age (25) also makes him attractive. A lot to like.

DEVEAN GEORGE, L.A. Lakers

Key 2001-02 Stats: 7.1 ppg, .371 3FG%, 3.7 rpg, 82 games played

Analysis: Numbers certainly aren't overwhelming, but being major contributor on three-time champion Lakers makes him attractive free agent. When given chance, showed decent shooting touch and ability to hit from downtown. Steady defender as well. Biggest selling point could be spending three seasons under Phil Jackson. Coachable youngster who can probably do more with increased playing time.

RICKY DAVIS, Cleveland Cavaliers

Key 2001-02 Stats: 11.7 ppg, 23.8 mpg, 82 games played, .481 FG%

Analysis: Numbers only tell half the story. Davis went on second-half scoring tear that caught many a GM's attention. Averaged 21.6 ppg over final 13 games of season. Wildly athletic swingman gets shot off at will, and finishes like few in league. Has decent range, but has yet to add three-pointer as part of full-time arsenal. Concerns are that he's one-dimensional scorer, but has potential to be major contributor in right setting.

OTHERS: Matt Harpring, Lee Nailon, Bryon Russell, Walt Williams

[capstone21]

Desparate teams are going to dole out money to undeserving players. Its a shame really. I hope the Hawks do not fall into this rut. Lewis is the only one worth giving a decent contract to but not a max like he wants. Something simular to what Hendu has is what he should get (Hendu does not deserve that much but Lewis does). I would not mind going after Hughes. He might be had for a lower price in a SNT.

[cyman3]

This years FA is kinda boring.

Lewis is not a max player. IMO- hes in the same tier with Jason Terry. The guy has skills and is coming up quite nicely. Look for him to get a Henderson-like contract.

With the LUXURY TAX, many teams are scared of giving the BIG MONEY.

[Diesel]

Lee Nailon could be an interesting situation.

Nailon has proved himself in Charlotte. Will N.O. give him the money??

If So, what about Mash?

I would love to see us make a run at Mash.

Something like Toni/Nazr/1st for Mash/Magloire.

Anyway, if N.O. Pulls out the long green for Nailon, it may mean that Mash is on the blocks.

[BlackHawkDown]

I agree although Lewis and Wells are interesting prospects. But I disagree JT is a max player.

[Admin]

Lewis and Wells should definitely command some very nice money this offseason, but neither should be MAX players and JT shouldnt be a MAX player himself. Too many people are getting the maximum allowed contract. Just because there is a MAX doesnt mean that everyone should get it.....it should only be for those very few superstars that generate a lot of revenue for their teams, like Shaq and Kobe and Duncan. I love JT and he is on the verge of becoming a perennial All-Star, but he isnt worth the maximum allowed by the league, but he is certainly worth a lot of money. Thats just the problem with the NBA in general though, they allow players to make too much money too without proving themselves.

[capstone21]

The worst thing about all these players getting the max is that they are really hurting their teams. The team has to give all of their cap money to these players ( a lot not deserving it) and as a result cannot sign anyone else. Thus they never get anywhere. 5 million a year over 7 years is more than they will ever spend and it will allow their teams to sign great FAs. Its to bad really. Players, agents have become so selfish.

[Admin]

You would think its more than they will ever spend, but somehow they find a way to do that. I will tell you something I really love about football. About a year ago the Dolphins gave a new contract to Sam Madison, and the unique thing that they did (if I remember exactly right here) is that they gave him half of his signing bonus money as a deferred savings plan type of deal or something along those lines. Its been a while so I cant exactly remember what the deal was, but in the long run its going to be a very sound investment for him and will save him lots of money.

I will tell you whats really shame in my opinion, and being an ex Army Ranger this really hits home to me. I hate how all of these kid atheltes are bitching about not making 10 million a year or whatever, when you have thousands of soldiers around the world fighting for our freedom every year for pennies. The only reason I got out of the Army was because its just not financially intelligent to stay in for 20 years and draw a measley retirement check. Its just very sad that our society allows entertainers to make so much more money than the true heroes.

[BlackHawkDown]

Players are many things but not selfish . Every player has a litany of lawyers, accountants, publishist in their pocket, not to mention every relative they have and all their friends have their hands out. All you see as a fan is the money and women but truth is its a hard life. Dont get me wrong it has its perks, but life has a way of evening itself out.

Anyway I'm tired of hearing this crap . They worked hard and if they can reap the benefits. GOOD! The billionaire owners are making money. Nike, AOL, General Electric are making money off the league. Micheal Jordan has generated more money than he has ever seen. Same for most superstars. When something happens to a player we just sit back and talk trash, call them worthless. "But the fans..." Forget the fans if you dont like it dont watch it. AI isn't the president what he does doesn't affect me or you. You didn't care when AI went to jail for a crime he didn't commit. And I'm sure you didn't care that OJ spewnt a year in Jail for acrime he didn't commit.

Atheletes don't have any responsibiltiy to the "fans" they have a responsibility to their families and God. Magic has done more for the community with his business ventures over the past 8 years than the hawks have in the past 30.

Im glad to see the players winning one for the home team.

You could care less about any player, any athelete so what makes you think you have any right to make value judgements about them.

"Men shouldn't be jealous that is a female trait. What? Are you mad because you sell dimes and I push weight. Respect the game that should be it. What you eat don't make me s#!t." -Jay Z 2001

PS Do you complain about lotto winners. " oh they should let that nice corporation keep its money.

[Admin]

Who the hell are you to tell me what I care about and what I dont care about? I suggest that you keep your comments regarding what I do and do not care about to yourself. Regardless of what you think, you do not know me, nor will you ever know me. If you are tired of hearing any crap, get off of our board. We were fine before you got here and will be fine after you are gone. Frankly I have gotten too many private messages already asking that you be banned for personally attacking people. I have tried to defend you in the past, but when you start claiming what I care about and do not care about then you have crossed the line.

I will tell you right now that you should back off!

[BlackHawkDown]

I didn't mean it as a personall attack. don't take it that way. My point is why are people calling players gready.

PS I wasnt addressin you I was addressing CAPSTONE21's comment

[Admin]

If you werent addressing me then I apologize for thinking that you had. I will let Capstone defend himself on this issue then. I personally take offense to this issue because I have personally put my life on the line more than once for this country and yet I got paid peanuts compared to what these so called "hereos" get and there are thousands of men and women active in the military who are getting shafted also. I am not saying that all of these athletes are terrible or anything like that at all, but when some players whine about not making enough money when they already make more in a year than most real hereos (military, police, firemen, etc.) make in their lifetime I have a real problem with that.

Again, sorry that I responded angrily to your post, but I thought you were writing that in reply to me and I will defend myself and my beliefs without hesitation.

[BlackHawkDown]

I see where you are coming from, if you read it that way no offense taken. But what you where fightng for was a free market where basketball players get paid more than teachers. Its capitalism, its not ethical, those kid are fighting to get everything they can b/c we live in a country where thanks to MLK and civil rights workers, they can. I really wish people wouldn't berate them for it. But agian they can do so because this "meant to be" a free society.

PS you shouldn't look at the fact that you got paid "peanuts" for your service just remeber you were doing what you believed in. I'm sure the military service added a lot to your life that you wouldn't give up and will contribute greatly to your future.

[KB21]

....I'll leave this board. I'm not going to put up with what I had to deal with on the Dolphins board with those two dickheads Oliver and Oliver.

[Guest]

Sometimes you have got to do what you have got to do.I admit,

there is probably a few times I should have been banned.But it

should be done in rare cases.

[Admin]

I am not someone who would want to ban someone, but if people personally attack other posters on a regular basis and are continually warned and continue to do it, what do you think we should do? Its pretty damn obvious to me. It would ultimately be up to Chillz of course since this is his site, but if I had my way I would not allow posters to be personally attacked. I would be sorry to see you go, but if you couldnt understand the reasoning then thats a shame.

Also, why do you continue to post on the DD board then? They have banned people themselves, doesnt that seem a bit hypocritical? Sure does to me. I think that everyone just needs to check their egos at the door around Dolphin land, but this situation here is quite different. I am not saying anyone is close to being banned or anything like that, but I am just saying that I have had several requests to have certain people banned.

[KB21]

As far as I know, the only people banned on the DD board are the Oliver queers. And that doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I wouldn't piss on either of them if they were on fire. But that is a different story.

I fail to see what some are considering personal attacks. I just haven't seen them from BlackHawkDown. I don't know if people think his trashing Euro players or his obvious bias towards players of color are being considered personal attacks, but I know that I've seen nothing towards me nor anyone else that I would deem a personal attack.

In fact, the only thing close to personal attacks that I've seen ever on this board is Walter's and Diesel's daily squabbles.

[cyman3]

and this is coming from a guy who REALLY HATES BLACKHAWKDOWN'S opinions. I mean, with the whole EURO player, i really do not like his comments.

Yet i did not see it offensive to me. If i was of a EURO descent, im not sure what the case would be. But the reality is that im not, and all we did was ARGUE and try to support our opinion. By no means did he attack me or my background (korean). I hate the guys view, but he does have an opinion.

I say give the guy a couple warnings when it comes REAL TOUGH, but banning a hawks fan is imo- the last thing we should do. (worse case scenario).

Well my take on this issue is this. If i had to take a side between Dolfan and BlackHawkDown, i would go with my side CYMAN3. Dolfan- i know exactly what ur talking about.

The heros including police officers, teachers, firemen, army, navy- do not get much $$$. Its no secret. Yet they do it because its what they like to do. Teachers like to make a mark on a childs life so the child may reach his full learning potential. Firemen want to help save lives cuz they care. The money is a PLUS. Saving a persons life is the real glory.

I know that athletes make a lot of cash. But think about this Dolfan. Suppose this is a communist country. All the players are making $2 million a year. Then guess whos getting rich?

Fans are paying $50-100 for 1 seat. With all that money, if the players arent getting it- who gets the profit?

The players is the MAJOR reason the fans go watch and support the NBA. They could care less about the coach, staff, etc. They want to see basketball played by professionals. And the truth is, MILLIONS are willing to pay big bucks to see this game. If the players arent getting it, the money is going to go somewhere. I say let the players have the big money.

Its sad that more people are willing to support the NBA than the army. Life just isint fair when 1 person gets to play 82 games of basketball and make millions and the other has to teach kids from fall to beginning of summer and get a decent living.

If the world was perfect, the NBA players would be willing to (on their part) help out the neighborhood. Give back to the community. Dont get me wrong, many of them are. Yet some arent with the program.

I can understand both sides of the argument. By no means am i on one particular side. Im just facing reality. If the NAVY wants more salary, then the TAXES will have to be increased.

MAIN POINT- life isint fair. For some reason good people suffer and the "bad people" tend to get away. Thats how life is!

[BlackHawkDown]

Hey thanks for the support everyone. I have never in my opinion personally attacked someone unless calling them Pete Babcock or Lon Kruger is offensive. I dont know why I get so much static. If some of you out there have been truely offended . Please dont take it personally I dont result to volgarities and I dont know any of you to actually have a real insult . Just joust. Send a message if I hurt you feelings or insulted your honor. I am a reasonable man if something hurts you let me know I wont do it. I love the hawks and basketball and love this site it is the only place on the net where there is a good debate on the hawks.

Dolfan23 if you've recieved complaints please let me know about them I'm really not sure what it is I have said that is a personal attack. Please send me a message.

PS I dont perfer players based on race, it is coniecedence that the majority of the players and coaches in the league I find to be the best are African American. But truth be know 75% of the players are African American it would follow that the at least 75% of the best players are African American.

[Admin]

BlackHawkDown, I personally do not have a problem with you. I thought I was going to earlier, but you quickly clarified that you werent responding to me and I apologized. I am not going to ban you, nor is anyone else. However, there have been a few complaints, which I have dealt with and hopefully this situation ends here. I had to get on you once with Hotlanta about the arguments you were having, but only because I want you to take it emai or private message and not just post messages on here abou it. He got much more insulting personally in those threads and I wrote him about it and he apologized. There is plenty of room for everyone to have an opinion, and no matter how strongly we disagree with one another as long as we keep it civil there wont be any problems.

I hope this whole things ends right now and we can get on to better things. Deal?