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4 yrs $15 million to be Jameer Nelsons back up. Sounds like $3.3 million 1st yr with a small raise each year.

A couple days ago the Lakers signed Blake to 4yrs $16 million.

Would we have offered this to them? Who will be the next to fall and how much will they get.

I'd rank Felton as a step higher than these guys.

Foye is still out there, with Blake signing Farmar is surely not coming back to the Lakers.

Who else is still a Free Agent and what would you offer them to get them in a Pacer Uniform?

Would you do a sign and trade for any of them?

I would be surprised if the Pacers can pull off another 1 year deal with a journey man point guard like they did with Earl Watson last year. I'm not sure I understand why but guys seem to be avoiding free agency in the summer of 2011 if they can.

For either Farmar or Foye I could see something in the range of 6-8 mil over two years. I can't see us getting either of them on a one year deal. But I could see where a shorter contract would be appealing in the event either would bust out.

I suppose Felton is worth more but I don't see the potential for a remarkable improvement from him. He's been getting minutes from day one.

Blake and Duhon are proven reliable backups, worth their weight in gold to a title contender.

Foye, Livingston, Farmar etc... haven't proven to be as reliable imo, even though each one has more upside. Clearly we will give them a one year audition to potentially hit the mother load, or they can sign elsewhere. If we could I'd pay Foye or Livingston up to but not exceeding 3 mill for one season. I'd have a hard time giving Farmar anything approaching 2 mill because at that point I'd just resign Watson and roll with Lance.

8305 wrote:I'm not sure I understand why but guys seem to be avoiding free agency in the summer of 2011 if they can.

Because the current CBA expires at the end of the 2010-2011 season and most people seem the think the owners are going to take a hardline stance on contract size and length. This will probably have trickle down effect to even the 'lower tier' players having to take less money in the future...

I also believe there is a strong opinion that there could be a lockout. I am not sure if player under contract get compensated during a lockout but I am sure players who are not under contract will not get paid!

If there is a lock out I don't think anyone is being paid contract or not.

Good point, there will be less money available post agreement. Although the owners aren't doing themselves any favors by throwing max money at non-max players (see Amare and Johnson). It will be interesting to see if this behavior damages the owners' negotiating power next year.

Nobody wins in a lock out!

Well a guy like Farmar should make less than either of these 2 guys. Obviously Blake is worth more than Farmar, and Duhon kind of approximates Farmar, but with more experience.

I think we end up with Farmar, 2 years 6 million.

Maybe 3/10 with a team option.

A player will not get paid during a lockout unless they have their pay checks budgeted out to get paid while they are not playing. It is basically the same as a teacher getting paid during the summer if they take that option. The other option is to just get paid during the season.

In order of cost:

I always liked Felton, there's a good chance that he could thrive in O'Brien's offense with his ability to penetrate and dish/finish. he always seemed like a smart kid that didn't have a lot of true PG skills. His instincts need sharpening, but I like him. I think that he's worth the MLE, but I don't think that the Pacers want to pay that unless they can shift some payroll off the books.

Foye hasn't gotten any better since his rookie season. He's still making the same mistakes, I think he's dumb. Dumb guys can't be good point guards.

Farmar's attitude rubs me the wrong way, but the kid has some viable skills.

most player contracts are guaranteed which means that while the money may be held back during the work stoppage, they'll get it eventually ... if they are under contract. if they are a free agent and half the season isn't played, everything changes.

Hell, I'm for whomever signs a one year deal, or a 2 year deal with the 2nd non-guaranteed. That's who would get the spot. Identify 4-5 younger PG's (somewhere between 23-29) and offer all of them the same 1 yr/$2.5 million or 2 yr/$5-6 million with 2nd year non-guaranteed deal. 1st one to bite gets to sign and most likely start at PG for a year and get around 25-32 minutes a night to try and earn their worth.

Guys like Livingston, Foye, Farmar, Watson, Carlos Arroyo, Sergio Rodriguez, Jason Williams, and Acie Law IV would all be in that market. Hell, Anthony Johnson and Chris Quinn are even who I'm looking at.

Don't ruin a clean open cap next year just because you think Ridnour is going to be slightly better than Shaun Livingston or Will Bynum is going to be younger/possibly better than Carlos Arroyo.

Play it smart and safe. We're more likely to find a 1 year answer at PG via trade. Think Foster for Andre Miller. We can then move Ford to GS for Dan Gadzuric and let Gadzuric, Solo and Magnum duke it out for the last 2 spots on the roster, while having something like Andre Miller and a Shaun Livingston to man the PG spot, with Lance getting 3rd PG minutes until AJ Price comes back around January or February.

Scoot McGroot wrote:Hell, I'm for whomever signs a one year deal, or a 2 year deal with the 2nd non-guaranteed. That's who would get the spot. Identify 4-5 younger PG's (somewhere between 23-29) and offer all of them the same 1 yr/$2.5 million or 2 yr/$5-6 million with 2nd year non-guaranteed deal. 1st one to bite gets to sign and most likely start at PG for a year and get around 25-32 minutes a night to try and earn their worth.

Guys like Livingston, Foye, Farmar, Watson, Carlos Arroyo, Sergio Rodriguez, Jason Williams, and Acie Law IV would all be in that market. Hell, Anthony Johnson and Chris Quinn are even who I'm looking at.

Don't ruin a clean open cap next year just because you think Ridnour is going to be slightly better than Shaun Livingston or Will Bynum is going to be younger/possibly better than Carlos Arroyo.

Play it smart and safe. We're more likely to find a 1 year answer at PG via trade. Think Foster for Andre Miller. We can then move Ford to GS for Dan Gadzuric and let Gadzuric, Solo and Magnum duke it out for the last 2 spots on the roster, while having something like Andre Miller and a Shaun Livingston to man the PG spot, with Lance getting 3rd PG minutes until AJ Price comes back around January or February.

Once again I find myself in agreement with you Scooter! If we could pull off those two trades I'd be damn happy. Foster for Miller and Gadz for Ford is perfect. Then we get a Foye or Watson to sign a 2yr deal like 2yr 6 million, $2.9, and $3.1 ungranteed 2nd yr or partly garanteed based on play in 2010. That non garanteed deal would be very a valuable trade piece in the summer next yr.

I have no idea how we would pull of something like Miller for Foster, though. Seriously, who would Portland be playing at PG?

The only way s.th. like that happens is if Portland gets a better PG from somewhere else, and we're involved in a 3 way because they would want to move Miller. We'd have to be incredibly lucky for anything like that to happen.