Thursday Insider

[Admin]

Sorry I couldnt post this earlier, but ESPN for some reason wouldnt let me log in.......anyways, better late than never.

In reply to:

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Following the Benjamins

by Chad Ford

Send an Email to Chad Ford

Also Below: More Free-Agent Fallout: Raptors giving up on Clark? | Will Jerome James ruin Rashard Lewis' party | Joe says "No" to Spree rumors | Summer League Update | Peep Show

Updated NBA Free Agent Watch

Updated NBA Depth Charts

The NBA lowering the salary cap by $2 million sent a ripple effect through general managers in Boston attending the Shaw Pro Summer League Wednesday.

The likely effect of the lowering of the salary cap for the first time in history is a subsequent lowering of the luxury-tax threshold. While no one was sure of the exact number, several league sources said the threshold will fall somewhere between $50.8 and $52.5 million.

While teams escaped paying the luxury tax this year, the fact that the threshold is going down will create an even greater chilling effect on teams spending habits.

Using the league's summer report for team committed salary for 2002-03, the following teams would trigger the luxury tax for next season: Dallas, L.A. Lakers, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix. Portland, Sacramento and Toronto.

Atlanta, Boston and Indiana are also extremely close to paying the tax. Free agents were already seeing the aftershocks Wednesday.

The Celtics have basically given up on re-signing Rodney Rogers after owner Paul Gaston gave GM Chris Wallace strict orders not to go over the tax. Once the Celtics sign a few players, like Bruno Sundov, to the minimum, they'll have only about $1 million to offer Rogers. That won't get it done.

The Hawks have also been telling free agents that they can't exceed the tax. Pacers president Donnie Walsh shot down rumors that he was about to sign free agent Rod Strickland. Walsh told Pacers.com that the team is taking a conservative financial approach this offseason. "We're in a luxury tax situation," said Walsh, "so there are many factors for us to consider." The Raptors are hurting so bad, they may not be able to re-sign their own guy, Keon Clark. Other teams such as the Sonics, Hornets, Cavs, and Spurs are telling free agents that, for the moment, they're only concerned with re-signing their own guys. The Bucks are also taking a wait-and-see approach (free agent Michael Redd is still trying to nail down his worth), but concede they'd give up the money for the right player.

To make things even worse, Charlotte, Golden State, Milwaukee and Orlando don't have their $1.4 million veteran exceptions available to them this year.

The signing of Chauncey Billups, and the coming signings of Devean George (expected to take place in L.A. at 1 p.m. EST), Scott Williams and Larry Hughes (three years, $15 million) took four teams (Pistons, Lakers, Suns and Wizards) willing to use their exception off the market.

So if you're a free agent looking for some dough this summer, exactly where do you go?

1. Knicks -- They don't care about the luxury tax, and have a great reputation of overpaying for marginal talent. Last year they gave their full mid-level to Clarence Weatherspoon and also worked out a sign-and-trade that paid Shandon Anderson a starting salary of $6 million. They're looking for a center and a point guard and have said they'd like to split their exception between two players.

2. Blazers -- Again, $4.5 million is chump change to Paul Allen. Like the Knicks, the team is looking for a center and a point guard. Last year, the Blazers blew their whole exception on Ruben Patterson. This year, Jerome James and Jeff McInnis seem to be the most likely targets.

3. Mavericks -- Mark Cuban is taking a more conservative approach than he has in the past, but he'll still likely use his full mid-level exception. The problem for Cuban is that he has to fork out $60 million to Raef LaFrentz, and, depending on what kind of interest the Mavs generate from other teams, up to $9 million a season on restricted free agents ZhiZhi Wang and Eduardo Najera. The team is already working on something for the Jazz's Bryon Russell, so don't expect there to be a lot of money left.

4. Grizzlies -- Jerry West is itching to shake up the Grizzlies. There aren't a lot of great prospects in the free-agent market, but West will likely use some, if not all of his exception anyway and then work out trades to fill the rest of his needs. He's already working on a deal that will bring Polish center Cezary Trybanski to the Grizzlies. However, Trybanski probably won't command more that $1 million of their exception, leaving another $3 million for another big man.

5. Sixers -- They're already close to a six-year deal with Greg Buckner that will basically take away half of their exception. The team has also shown major interest in Rodney Rogers and will try to see if it can convince him to play for the other half. Restricted free agent Matt Harpring has thrown out some pretty ridiculous contract demands, sources told Insider, and the Sixers have basically told him to come back to them when he's in closer touch with reality.

6. Bulls -- They're willing to use their exception and they also have a couple free agents, Charles Oakley and Travis Best, who they're willing to use in sign-and-trades. The Bulls are looking for veterans who can mentor their young players. Popeye Jones and Matt Harpring are two big targets for Chicago.

7. Nets -- They tried to throw their full mid-level Devean Geroge's way and now they'll turn their attention to a few smaller deals. Because of Kenyon Martin's versatility, the team is looking for either a dominant big man who commands the double team or a sweet-shooting small forward. The Nets plan to try Richard Jefferson at the two this year. They're shopping Keith Van Horn and Kerry Kittles. A few lesser-known prospects, including Rafer Alston and Jarron Collins, may take part of the exception.

8. Jazz -- Normally they aren't major players in the mid-level market, but that may change this year. The team was willing to break the bank for Devean George and may still be willing to give up the full exception if it could get its hands on Keon Clark or Michael Redd.

9. Magic -- The team is proceeding very cautiously. In a perfect world, the Magic would not use their exception so they could clear as much cap room as possible for a run at Tim Duncan. However, with Rashard Griffith already on his way back to Europe and Steven Hunter walking around in street clothes, the Magic have to do something to address their needs up front. Whether that means trading Mike Miller, and thus protecting their cap room, or signing a veteran big man like Popeye Jones or Charles Oakley remains to be seen.

10. Heat -- They're another maybe. Last year, Pat Riley's hands were tied and he was unable to exceed the luxury tax. This year, owner Mickey Arison has loosened the purse strings just a bit. The Heat still have major issues to work out at point guard. Rod Strickland is still a possibility, as is Travis Best or Jeff McInnis.

Luxury tax likely to slow activity

Sekou Smith / Indianapolis Star

Wizards To Sign Hughes

Steve Wyche / Washington Post

Billups will run Pistons' offense

Chris McCosky / Detroit News

Lakers Have Cash in Reserve

Tim Brown / LA Times

More Free-Agent Fallout: Raptors giving up on Clark?

The Raptors look like they are continuing to back away from re-signing Keon Clark. The Raptors, whose payroll sits just under $52 million, is trying to figure out a way to replace Clark without incurring the luxury tax.

Insider reported Wednesday that the Jazz and Raptors were talking about a trade that would send Donyell Marshall to the Raptors for Jerome Williams and Michael Bradley. Insider reported that the Raptors would be willing to give Marshall a six-year deal starting at around $7 million a season. The Jazz are offering Marshall a three-year contract. The Toronto Star is reporting the same deal in its Thursday edition.

The addition of Marshall would not affect the Raptors' bottom line, but signing Clark to a contract worth the mid-level exception or higher would cost them, essentially, double whatever they actually pay Clark.

Because Clark made a nominal salary last year, working out a sign-and-trade for Clark is also difficult. Clark would become a base-year player under that scenario, meaning the Raptors could only take back half his salary.

"I don't think Toronto's in a position to do much but wait it out," agent Jim Mourer told the Star. "I think Glen's hands are really tied."

Several teams, including the Knicks, Sixers, Jazz, Magic and Nets, have all shown major interest in Clark and would be willing to offer him their full mid-level exception if the Raptors indicate they won't match. . .

Raps looking at trade to replace Clark

Doug Smith / Toronto Star

Will Jerome James ruin Rashard Lewis' party

Another team running scared from the luxury tax, the Sonics, are still waiting to see whether restricted free agent Jerome James will sign that full mid-level offer sheet agent Marc Fleisher says is out there.

Fleisher told Insider this morning that James could have an offer sheet in hand as early as today, but he was still working out details. While Fleisher expects James to get a full mid-level offer, it likely won't be for the full six years. A three- or four-year deal is more likely.

While Fleisher refused to identify the teams in the mix for James, the Grizzlies, Knicks, Blazers and Mavs are four teams that have shown major interest in James.

The multi-million dollar question is whether the Sonics will match. Coach Nate McMillan backed off statements he made earlier this week to Insider claiming that he'd been told the Sonics would match any offer sheet for James.

"What I said was, we would match an offer that another team gave him," McMillan told the Seattle Times. "Not any offer. There's a difference. If it doesn't make sense for us, then it doesn't make sense."

Neither does that statement. Several GM's around the league are convinced the Sonics won't match if he gets the full mid-level exception. If they do, that could be real bad news for Rashard Lewis.

If the Sonics give James a starting salary of $4.5 million, the most they could offer Lewis, without incurring the luxury tax, is a seven-year, $58 million contract, the Tacoma News Tribune reported. That's well below that max contract Lewis has been holding out for. However, with teams unable to offer Lewis anything other than the full mid-level exception, six years, $35 million, and the Sonics refusing to discuss a sign-and-trade, Lewis appears to be out of options.

Sonics battle history in decision on James

Percy Allen / Seattle Times

Luxury tax puts Sonics in a bind

Frank Hughes / Tacoma News Tribune

$4.5 million for James? Remember, it's the NBA

Blaine Newnham / Seattle Times

Joe says "No" to Spree rumors

Pistons president Joe Dumars laughed off a Wednesday New York Daily News report that the Pistons were talking with the Knicks and T-Wolves about a three-way trade that would've sent Jerry Stackhouse to Minnesota, Latrell Sprewell to Detroit and Wally Szczerbiak to the Knicks.

"That deal there, that three-way deal they are talking about, that's not going to happen," Dumars told the Detroit News. "It's not like Minnesota and New York called me and made that offer." Dumars said three teams expressed interest in trading for Stackhouse. Dumars turned down all three.

"It's like [bucks general manager] Ernie Grunfeld said the other day, if you have a guy like Stack or Sprewell, people are going to call on them and you may get to talking about them and then stuff gets out," Dumars said. "If I wanted to make a deal, I could make a deal. But I haven't. If there was a deal to be done, I would have done it already.

"I tell you, if Stackhouse thought any of these things were legitimate, he would have called me. And I haven't heard a word from him. I have had many more calls about Jon Barry and Ben Wallace, but their names never get out there. It's always Stack. And this won't be the end of it. It's just his name is so big."

Dumars says Stackhouse stays

Chris McCosky / Detroit News

Summer League Update

Bucks lottery pick Marcus Haislip kept turning heads Wednesday.

Haislip, a raw, 6-foot-10 power forward from Tennessee, got high marks for his athleticism, NBA body and a good work ethic. Rumors that he could bench press 400 pounds sent his stock soaring and some draft experts saw Haislip as the Bucks' answer to their problems at the four spot, albeit two or three years down the road. But what the Bucks have unearthed in the summer leagues is a very different player -- a slashing, small forward who plays great defense on the perimeter and sinks the NBA three-pointer effortlessly.

On Wednesday, Haislip rained down six three-pointers on the Hawks' DerMarr Johnson and showed surprising poise for a kid who wasn't supposed to be ready for prime time. He ended the game with 21 points, including one fabulous dunk. The thunderous dunks we expected, but the three-point shooting?

"The thing I like about him is he's very willing to do what's asked of him," Bucks general manager Ernie Grunfeld said. "We asked him to play small forward and work on his perimeter defense and his shooting, which are things he really didn't do in college. He's been improving every game."

But did you know he could shoot the lights out? Grunfeld grudgingly admits that even the Bucks are surprised by how well he's thrived on the perimeter. "We didn't know he could shoot this well ... he's really got surprising range," Grunfeld said.

Haislip's teammate, Dan Gadzuric, added 19 points and seven rebounds but the Bucks still lost to the Hawks, 91-78. Dion Glover led all scorers with 24 points on 8 of 12 shooting. First-round pick Dan Dickau scored eight points and handed out eight assists.

The T-Wolves defeated the Nets 93-88 in the first game Wednesday. Quincy Lewis (17 points), Loren Woods (16 points, 6 boards) and Khalid El-Amin (16 points, 8 assists) all had big games for the Wolves. The Nets' Richard Jefferson continued to show he's the best player here in Boston. He scored 23 points, grabbed seven boards and handed out eight assists. At times, the Nets had Jefferson playing point guard.

In Game 3, the Wizards destroyed the Magic, 88-63. Bobby Simmons led all scorers with 21 points and added seven rebounds. First-round pick Ryan Humphrey paced the Magic with 10 points and four boards.

The final game of the night saw the Spurs defeat the Sixers 79-55. Anthony Goldwire led the Spurs with 15 points. Damone Brown had 14 points in the losing effort for the Sixers.

Out in L.A., Malik Allen had another big night as the Heat defeated the Warriors, 98-91. Allen had 21 points and six rebounds. First-round pick Caron Butler fared a little better Wednesday, scoring nine points and grabbing four boards. Rookies Mike Dunleavy and Jiri Welsch both had 18 points for the Warriors.

In the other game of the evening, the Suns defeated the Clippers, 96-93. Rookie Amare Stoudemire led all scorers with a 22 points on 10 of 12 shooting. Alton Ford chipped in 21 points and five boards for the Suns.

Check out Insider's Pro Summer League , Shaw's Pro Summer League and Orlando Summer Pro League pages for rosters, leaders and box scores.

Interest in Cook cools off

Peter May / Boston Globe

Slay ride is smooth so far

Ohm Youngmisuk / New York Daily News

Khalid Shows His Face

Ken Davis / Hartford Courant

Peep Show

Celtics, Sonics: The Boston Globe is reporting a possible Kenny Anderson-and-Vitaly Potapenko-for-Vin Baker swap. (There might have to be others, such as Shammond Williams and Joseph Forte, to make the deal work cap-wise.) Baker has long expressed a desire to play in Boston and the Sonics would love to get out from under his contract, which has four years and $50-plus million remaining.

Lakers: The team agreed Thursday to a two-year deal with 6-foot-10 forward Stanislav Medvedenko, Insider has learned. Marc Fleisher, Medvedenko's agent, confirmed his client had reached an agreement with the Lakers Wednesday night. Medvedenko, who is currently in Ukraine, must still take a physical before the deal becomes official. "He's quite pleased to be returning to the Lakers," Fleisher said. "He's looking forward to playing a more extensive role next season with the club."

Sixers, Mavs: Mavs guard Greg Buckner has agreed to sign a six-year, $18 million contract with the 76ers, the Fort Worth Star Telegram reported. However, the Mavericks and Sixers are trying to work out a deal that could sweeten the pot for both teams. "If [the Sixers] were to sign him, they would have to eat into their $4.5 million exception," said Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks' president of basketball operations. "They want to maintain flexibility, and in order to do that they have to come to us and we have to agree to a sign-and-trade."

Pacers, Heat: Pacers president Donnie Walsh said Wednesday the team is not close to signing free-agent point guard Rod Strickland to a contract, contrary to a Wednesday Miami Herald report.

Jazz, Knicks: It looks like the Jazz will have some competition in re-signing restricted free agent Jarron Collins. The N.Y. Post is reporting that the Knicks have contacted Collins. "I know the Knicks have definitely called to express interest," Jason Collins [Jarron's brother] told the Post Wednesday at the Pro Summer League. "It would be a lot of fun," Collins added. "Twins right across the Hudson from each other. It definitely would be a lot of fun. We have to wait and see what happens." . . .The Knicks announced last night that first-round pick Frank Williams will need surgery today to repair a non-displaced fracture of the scaphoid in his left wrist on his non-shooting hand. The Knicks believe Williams will miss anywhere from nine weeks to four months, depending on how successful the surgery goes.

Grizzlies: Sharp-shooting guard Gordan Giricek agreed to a contract with the Griz, adding depth to last season's fragile shooting-guard position. Giricek signed a two-year deal for the Grizzlies' $1.4 veterans exception. Cezary Trybanski, a 7-foot-1, 254-pound Polish center, is the player Griz president Jerry West recently alluded to having interest in signing. West is working toward acquiring Trybanski, using part of the mid-level exception, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. "We've seen him, as have a number of teams. He's intriguing because he's big," West said.

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[jaywalker72]

Musselman said that he told Slim NOT to go out to blanket Haislip and that the 3's were "in the gameplan". He wanted DerMarr to lay back and not give up a drive to the hoop.

The idea was not to allow any dribble penetration that could lead to the Bucks using their size to get easy baskets.

Instead, the Hawks let the Bucks fire away, and when the Bucks started to score, it was with Dion, Dan, DerMarr, and Udonis on the bench.

Just wanted to pass along Musselman's response to the "raining 3's on DerMarr" comment and the people who have taken up beating up on DerMarr.

[Admin]

I honestly didnt see Haislip raining 3's on anyone because there was usually nobody within 50 feet of him it seemed when he was firing them up. When they made that run in the 3rd I just was thinking are they ever going to try and stop this? Then we had that timeout and from that point on the game was ours by a large margin. Haislip impressed me big time though yesterday with his range and athleticism. He is going to be a very good player. In fact, I would probably try and trade Big Dog now for a PF or C because Haislip could definitely fill the role behind Tim Thomas. Both he and Gadzuric were awesome yesterday. Other than that though their team sucked. At least we had several players looking good yesterday, mainly Dion and Dickau and then DJ in the 2nd half. I was very disappointed though in DJs ability to take his man off the dribble too. It appeared that he hasnt gotten any better at this than when he came into the league. He couldnt even take Gadzuric baseline yesterday. This being his third year now and still seeing his lack of aggressiveness is really disturbing to me. I love how he can shoot so well from outside and how much hops he has, but man this kid has got to try and dominate games this year to make the defense honest. The announcers were dead on yesterday when they were talking about DJ not being ready for the ball when it came to him.

Hey Jay, what do you think of Haslem and Bennetts chances of making the squad are? I think that both could turn out to be gems, with Haslem being a little more NBA ready and Mario seemingly having a higher ceiling.

[Hawksfreak]

DJ needs to start to drive to the basket thats gonna be one of his jobs cause of adding 15 pounds.

[jaywalker72]

I asked EMuss, point blank, which free agents he thought could make a team....and he said that only Haslem could...

[Admin]

Hmm.....I wonder why? Was I the only one impressed by him yesterday? I am not saying he is NBA ready right now, but you can clearly see the potential. So he doesnt think Carr will make it either huh? Not Simon either?

[Traceman]

If we sign Haslem and Ira without making any trades, that's 13 players (not including Leon who would make 14).

[Admin]

Hmm.....well what are we going to do? We need more size on the court thats for sure. Here is our 13 with Haslem

JT/DD/Email

DJ/Ira

DG/Toni/CC

SAR/Hendu/Haslem

Theo/Nazr

Maybe we buy out Emails contract? Wont cost us much and we can surely use his roster spot with a more valuable player. Then we really gotta hope that we have a 3-2 or 2-1 deal coming very soon. We desperately need more size on our team. I bet that we may be the smallest team in the league. We are a major team of tweeners, which is fine, but we have got to add some muscle and some rebounding to our squad.

[Hawksfreak]

Mario needs to fo develope in the NBDL then he will be better.