Hawks out of running for Damp?

[OGRat]

Room For Erick?

'Cats Could Help Mavs Get Dampier

By David Lord -- DallasBasketball.com

A sign-and-trade for Erick Dampier could happen any day now, and there is circumstantial evidence that the Mavs could be in the mix.

On Monday, Charlotte dealt center Pedrag Drobnjak to Atlanta for a draft pick, opening up cap room for the Bobcats and reducing cap room for Atlanta. Charlotte now has about $7.5M remaining cap room, out of the $29.25M they are allotted, and that amount could make them a major factor as the 3rd team in a 3-way sign-and-trade involving Dampier.

By acquiring Drobnjak, Atlanta seemed to signal that they are out of the running for Dampier, since their cap room for 2004-05 is now around $6.75M. That would be less than the $7.5M or more apparently needed for the reported $40-50M offer that they had been offering the Golden State center.

Rumors that Dallas was at the center of 3-way trade talks for center Erick Dampier from Golden State, with Charlotte the other team involved, first surfaced late last week in an interview on Mike Fisher's radio show.

These rumors fit what we have been saying all along: Golden State is only interested in sign-and-trades that essentially leave their cap room and payroll intact, while sending them something of value like cash or a draft pick or a young unproven player with a cheap short contract (like Stefansson).

Dampier is expected to command a contract starting in the $7-8M a year range. For a team like the Mavs who are over the cap, to accomplish such a feat under the NBA's trade rules, they would have to send away salary that matches Dampier's within 15%, in order to acquire him via trade. Since GS does not want any salary, the solution is to find a way to send away some salary elsewhere in a 3-way transaction, by using a 3rd team with enough cap room and a willingness to take the players Dallas is required to send away.

We first wondered if Golden State might be interested in moving Evan Eschmeyer as part of such a sign-and-trade deal, and then accept even more salary back. Eschmeyer is injured, and is mediocre when healthy. But taking Eschmeyer, who still has 3 more years on his contract, seems to be too high a price for anyone.

By trading Drobnjak, Charlotte is now far enough under the cap that they could completely absorb enough contracts from Dallas to make the deal happen. In addition, Charlotte has a whole roster full of cheap unproven players and may be willing to send one or more to GS in such a transaction, as part of the compensation to GS for making the deal.

There is an interesting “however’’ here: While the move for Drobnjak appears to close the door on Atlanta's pursuit of Dampier, it does leave them enough room to compete with Charlotte to provide 3rd-team cap room in a Dampier sign-and-trade, if they so desired. (While Dampier has expressed apprehension at joining a rebuilding team like Atlanta, prospective teammate Antoine Walker is promising to try to recruit him to the Hawks. And Dampier, a native of Mississippi, already has a home in Atlanta).

Also note that since both of those teams have the needed cap room in its entirety to be that 3rd team, other teams such as Memphis, New York, and Indianapolis now can attempt to utilize the same method with one of those two teams and get Dampier.

Dallas could offer players such as Christian Laettner, who is in the final year of his contract and who was a star at Duke, and Jerry Stackhouse, who starred at North Carolina and has been an all-star in the past. Both might be desirable for a Charlotte team that could use a proven NBA talent and regional star to draw fans, or for a Hawks team needing a short-term infusion of talent. Charlotte may have passed up both of those players in the expansion draft before knowing what cap room they may have left, and Dallas may offer other compensation to make those players even more desirable.

Other players who might also fit for Charlotte could be Shawn Bradley or Calvin Booth, centers who likely would become expendable with Dallas' acquisition of Dampier.

The Mavs continue to refuse to offer any comment on questions related to Dampier. We note that because while up until recently Dallas said unfavorable things about Dampier, team officials now saying nothing marks a change that may be significant.

It should be noted that August 23rd in on the horizon, and after that date Laettner and/or Stackhouse can be traded in a multi-player deal. It has long been speculated that one or both of those players might be destined for a trade at such a date, since neither player has yet to come to Dallas or to be introduced here in a press conference since their acquisition on June 24 during the NBA draft. NBA rules require the Mavs to keep each player for 60 days before trading them elsewhere if they are traded away with other players.

[Buzzard]

I think Damp is starting to wear thin on BK's patience. Here is a BK quote from the AJC today.

Quote:

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The Hawks are still waiting to learn whether Golden State free-agent center Erick Dampier will accept the team's $55 million offer.

Knight said he has "no idea" what Dampier will decide or when.

"There's no way of knowing," he said. "We'll just see how it all plays out. Getting Peja helps us, and getting Dampier would help us, too."

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I honestly think we are about to see plan B in a big way. What is plan B, do not know. But remember we still have two unsigned draft picks in Donta Smith and Royal Ivey to go along with Crawfords expiring contract (all three are tradeable). . . and this is exactly what Golden State is looking for.

Something is amuck and we may have to wait until that August 23rd date when Stack and Laettner are tradeable to find out.

[TnDawg]

"But remember we still have two unsigned draft picks in Donta Smith and Royal Ivey to go along with Crawfords expiring contract (all three are tradeable). . . and this is exactly what Golden State is looking for."

I hope we don't throw these guys away for Damp, especially in a sign and trade that would require us spending more money.

[Buzzard]

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I hope we don't throw these guys away for Damp, especially in a sign and trade that would require us spending more money.

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I am not so sure anymore we will be the team that ends up with Damp. Billy will definetely stick to his guns as far as "our" offer goes. He has already proved that as far as I am concerned.

If it involves anymore money for Damp than what we offered, I am thinking a three way or maybe even a four way trade involving Charlotte.

I am with you on this, we do not give up a player like Donta for a player we could have outright. Do not think BK is going there either.

[capstone21]

I will not be crying if we do not get Damp.

Use the money on Swift. He makes more sense now.

Either that or a pg and sg.

[Buzzard]

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Either that or a pg and sg.

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What scares me most out of all this trade talk is we could end up with Stack. I know he is a great scorer but he also dogged it in DC when he came off the IR last year.

My opinion on Stack is he could be either of the following:

A:super pickup or

B:a total bust and detractor in the locker room.

[mrhonline]

Golden State would not want to send Dampier to a team in the West as long as they think that they can make the playoffs...

I think one of the following will happen:

A.)Indy gives up Bender in a S&T (which likely won't happen)

B.)New York signs him for the MLE

C.)Atlanta signs him for the remainder of its capspace

It pretty much comes down to whether Dampier would play for a slightly better team in NY for less money than he would get in Atlanta.

[Derek]

I say use the rest of the money we have to acquire Swift and another SG and PG. I'm tired of Dampier myself.

[Buzzard]

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It pretty much comes down to whether Dampier would play for a slightly better team in NY for less money than he would get in Atlanta.

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Definetely speculation on my part and the Dallas source quoted at the start of this post. Just an opinion that Damp has more options they are working on, which is why he has not signed with anyone yet.

If Damp does not sign in next couple of days, I do not think we will get him. And there is no reason other than being able to trade him, we have not signed Donta yet.

BK stated he was going to draft the best player available, he never said he would keep them all.

[capstone21]

He is in a contract year so he would play hard.

He would be a nice pickup. He really changed his game when he was with the Pistons.

[Employee8]

Quote:

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(While Dampier has expressed apprehension at joining a rebuilding team like Atlanta, prospective teammate Antoine Walker is promising to try to recruit him to the Hawks. And Dampier, a native of Mississippi, already has a home in Atlanta).

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Walker is STILL Promising to recruit him? What is he waiting for?

Can't he do anything now or will that be considered Tampering??