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According to a league source, the Cavs have talked to Philadelphia 76ers guard Louis Williams, another restricted free agent. Williams, 21, is a 6-foot-2, 175-pounder who averaged 12 points for the Sixers last season.
He has reportedly turned down a contract starting at $3.9 million from the Sixers.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 1848&rfi=6

This is the first I'm hearing that he turned down an offer from the SIxers. Was this reported somewhere else?

Would anyone be willing to discuss S/T deals with the Cavs if we were getting Delonte in return?

The Sixer Fixer wrote:Would anyone be willing to discuss S/T deals with the Cavs if we were getting Delonte in return?

I would not put Lou and Delonte in the same sentence. One has potential to be an impact player. The other will be a career marginal player. They are somewhat close right now in terms of ability, but Lou is 4 years younger and has a ton more upside. I don't mean this as an attack on West, but he would would not be fair return for Lou.

I think this is just the routine rumor mill thats sparked during the free agency period every summer. Sf1976 already said Lou is definitely staying here. Have we ever had reason to question him before? He's been pretty much spot on with 90% of the information that he's provided.

I agree tk76, a Lou s/t for Delonte is definitely not fair value.

eyeatoma wrote:I think this is just the routine rumor mill thats sparked during the free agency period every summer. Sf1976 already said Lou is definitely staying here. Have we ever had reason to question him before? He's been pretty much spot on with 90% of the information that he's provided.

I agree tk76, a Lou s/t for Delonte is definitely not fair value.

Are you being serious? This is the guy who told us the night before the Brand to Philly rumor caught fire that "Brand is staying in LA, always has been". I don't take a single thing he has to say as being serious. He's been wrong about nearly everything this year. All he has given us are tidbits and none of them have been accurate. I really don't get why everyone still hangs on his every word.

I'm not worried about the Cavs. In fact, a part of me hopes someone makes Lou a 5 year offer for the full MLE and he signs it, and we match. I really do think highly of his ability and growth potential and think in 2 years, he would be a huge steal at those numbers.

Sixer Fixer:

I think people have rehashed this topic over and over again, questioning the reliability of SF1976. I can see why people think that he's just grabbing info from news bulletins/breaking news, but he's been right on numerous occasions.

He's been wrong about everything this year?

Name them please...I've noticed the complete opposite haha...

I hope he's right. I hope Cavs make an offer which we get to match and lock Lou up to a long term contract. Cavs can't offer a penny over the MLE and I'm fine with paying Lou the MLE so long as it's for 5 years and he has no opt outs.

The Sixer Fixer wrote:

eyeatoma wrote:I think this is just the routine rumor mill thats sparked during the free agency period every summer. Sf1976 already said Lou is definitely staying here. Have we ever had reason to question him before? He's been pretty much spot on with 90% of the information that he's provided.

I agree tk76, a Lou s/t for Delonte is definitely not fair value.

Are you being serious? This is the guy who told us the night before the Brand to Philly rumor caught fire that "Brand is staying in LA, always has been". I don't take a single thing he has to say as being serious. He's been wrong about nearly everything this year. All he has given us are tidbits and none of them have been accurate. I really don't get why everyone still hangs on his every word.

Yea you're right he's missed on a lot of stuff this off-season but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Just take whatever he says with a grain of salt.

Besides, sf1976 would have to be a pity person in order to make up those rumours. He would have no benefits in doing so except becoming one of the major users in cyberspace. I sincerely believe that he has a source from which he receives reliable information. His source might not be top-echelon one, who sits next to DiLeo or Ed, but who is still able to absorb some news. I would suggest that the Elton Brand saga stayed within the inner circle of the front office so the media could not become a malefactor in that signing. Therefore his source was pretty much off target.

eyeatoma wrote:Sixer Fixer:

I think people have rehashed this topic over and over again, questioning the reliability of SF1976. I can see why people think that he's just grabbing info from news bulletins/breaking news, but he's been right on numerous occasions.

He's been wrong about everything this year?

Name them please...I've noticed the complete opposite haha...

He's not actually "broken" any news we didn't already know, and the other stuff he's said haven't happened.
He said Ollie would re-sign 100%
He said we'd make an offer to Smith
No word on Rush, Ivey
No word on Minny trade
Lou will be signed on wednesday(2 weeks ago)
Us trading for Novak
Iggy s/t for T-Mac when the salaries would never match due to Iggy being BYC.

This may be due to different reasons(change of mind, Brand being available, negotiations breaking down etc) but he's not "broken" any news here this year that wasn't already either common knoweledge or on ESPN first. I still like his input on the boards though.

If you don't care for his news then ignore him... is it that difficult? He says he "knows a guy." He isn't claiming to be Ed Stephanski's right hand man or something... you people are thinking way too much into this.

He broke the Iverson trade

He said that the Novak trades developed into an Iggy for McGrady type talk. The salaries wouldn't have matched even if Iggy wasn't BYC. Iggy's 11-12 mill projected salary would have been 8-9 mill less. Evans and Green would've likely said bye bye in the package.

They did make an verbal offer. But once Brand became available. It was Brand #1, Smith #2.

The Lou Will signings tell us that the Rockets talk died down. The proof of that is the Novak movement hasn't happened yet. They are going to sign or S/T Iguodala before they do anything else beyond the miniumn wage.

jmon wrote:is it that difficult? He says he "knows a guy."

He definitely knows or knew somebody. I documented things he said last year months in advance, and his information was spot-on. And it wasn't even information that people on this board were speculating.

I am not going to rehash all of the information I documented, because I really don't care who believes him or not. However, it is apparent that his source is not getting the same quality of information he did last year. It could have to do with the fact that Billy King is gone and people Billy openly discussed things with may not be people Ed openly discusses things with.

Nevertheless, nothing he says should be considered fact, but I agree with him that Lou Williams will get signed. As to when, that is up to Lou and his agent. It doesn't take a collective bargaining agreement expert to figure-out that he is restricted and will not receive offers that we aren't willing to match.

If the Cavs have their full midlevel, the Sixers would probably be fine with matching a max midlevel deal, so I don't think they are really worried.

tk76 wrote:

The Sixer Fixer wrote:Would anyone be willing to discuss S/T deals with the Cavs if we were getting Delonte in return?

I would not put Lou and Delonte in the same sentence. One has potential to be an impact player. The other will be a career marginal player. They are somewhat close right now in terms of ability, but Lou is 4 years younger and has a ton more upside. I don't mean this as an attack on West, but he would would not be fair return for Lou.

Lou Williiams will be a 76er. I like him a lot better than Delonte West. It should take close to 5 million to sign Williams. Make it 15 million for 3 years.

geiger wrote:I hope he's right. I hope Cavs make an offer which we get to match and lock Lou up to a long term contract. Cavs can't offer a penny over the MLE and I'm fine with paying Lou the MLE so long as it's for 5 years and he has no opt outs.

I hope he can be signed for less than the MLE, but I agree that a long term deal would be a good idea- hopefully 6 years if he willl take it.

I am worried that a 3 year deal will put the Sixers in a tough spot when Lou is a 24 year old UFA the same year they have to resign Thad. They will have some cash freed then as Sam and WG and Evans will also be expiring, but I would rather see that go to getting a new center than paying L:ou a big deal that could be avoided by locking him up now while he is a RFA.

The Sixers likely will get lots of exposure these next few years, and it will drive up Lou's market value if he gets a chance to be a UFA in 3 years.

they will match lou will no matter what...dont be worried about him escaping to cleveland

Due to Lou's youth, a 5 or 6 year deal is indeed optimal. Give Lou a 4.5/6 yr offer and I'm sure he bites.

jmon wrote:If you don't care for his news then ignore him... is it that difficult? He says he "knows a guy." He isn't claiming to be Ed Stephanski's right hand man or something... you people are thinking way too much into this.

I never questioned the fact hat he has a source. I just said the "source" isn't always right which may be due to different reasons. Repeat, I do like Sf's input on the boards.

Philly_King wrote:I never questioned the fact hat he has a source. I just said the "source" isn't always right which may be due to different reasons. Repeat, I do like Sf's input on the boards.

Even if E. Stefanski was providing daily updates to this MB, I think you would find that most of his conversations do not amount to anything. GM's talk every day and bounce ideas around, but trades and signings do not happen nearly as much as conversations. SF was correct about enough stuff and writes updates that are entertaining to read, so I will continue to look out for his posts. If you really think that everything will come true however, and that the league is not constantly fluid in terms of other teams jumping in and out of the mix, you are probably going to be disappointed.

Take the Brand example. I think everyone and their brother thought that Brand going back to the Clips was a mortal lock and Stefanski probably did as well, but he kept the window open a crack just in case he got lucky. In the end, the Clips probably dropped the ball (as per usual) and Philly got that break, so something that was inconceivable just a day or so before became reality. I bet even Stefanski didn't see that coming and the plan was more likely to pursue Josh Smith.