Offseason thread... MLE,Draft, and all the other stuff...

[Ballings7]

The Orlando Magic have reached a verbal agreement with shooting guard Mickael Pietrus and expect to sign him to a multi-year contract Wednesday, general manager Otis Smith confirmed to FLORIDA TODAY.

Pietrus, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound shooting guard, is expected to earn almost all of the Mid-Level Exception, starting at 5.2 million next season. Pietrus, a native of Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, France, played all five of his NBA seasons with the Golden State Warriors.

The signing of Pietrus ends the Magic’s chase of free-agent shooting guard Corey Maggette and could end their chances of retaining combo guard Keyon Dooling.

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... rentPage=0

[Blame Rasho]

Well Maggette isn't going back to the place where they traded his ass for cap space

[Blame Rasho]

The Orlando Magic have reached a verbal agreement with shooting guard Mickael Pietrus and expect to sign him to a multi-year contract Wednesday, general manager Otis Smith confirmed to FLORIDA TODAY.

Pietrus, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound shooting guard, is expected to earn almost all of the Mid-Level Exception, starting at 5.2 million next season. Pietrus, a native of Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, France, played all five of his NBA seasons with the Golden State Warriors.

The signing of Pietrus ends the Magic’s chase of free-agent shooting guard Corey Maggette and could end their chances of retaining combo guard Keyon Dooling.

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.d ... rentPage=0

Um what are going to do with the extra 400K. Just give him the full MLE.

[Ballings7]

I think that's because if you use it all, you don't get the MLE the following summer.

Kings did that with John Salmons , there was like $400-800K left.

[Ballings7]

Turiaf likely to Warriors now

http://www.pe.com/sports/basketball/lak ... b3657.html

Very surprised to see this... Lake Show aren't matching that (4 years, 17 million)

[Ballings7]

Nets vs. Spurs G2 of Finals 03 on today on NBATV... 4pm ET, 3pm CT

[Tiga]

I have been following the offseason without posting, but this is becoming a disaster... I really had my hope high the team would have gone through some changes.

[ss1986v2]

all year i pimped my holy trinity of jones, buike, and delfino. and i had switch my favorite around several times. i finally was able to run myself off of jones after our playoff performance. i thought we needed a more versatile offensive skill set than what jones brought (primarily a spot-up shooter). his bum wheel didnt help any either. so that leaves delfino and buike. and i still feel about the same way about the two as i did before:

delfino was always my secret favorite (the one i wished would work out). i love his build, and his skill set is intriguing (decent defender, decent rebounder for his position, decent from 3, some slashing ability, was the 3rd ball handler for toronto behind ford and jose). hes got some ego issues, and hes far too in love with his outside shot. but hes got so much potential (at least for those that we have a chance of acquiring) that if everything clicks (if pop doesnt destroy him, if manu and oberto make his transition smoothe, if he molds his game to the spurs system) he would be an ideal fit. now i dont know if any of that can happen (probably not), but i wish it would. so i will just keep right on wishing...

right now, i think buike might be the best fit. hes got a decent outside shot, very athletic, good rebounder, and seems like a really down to earth, intelligent kind of guy. i think personality wise, he would fit right into the locker room seamlessly. but i question his upside. i know hes 24, but i think what we see out of him may be the polished product (3yrs of college, one year in the dleague, plus now 1 and a half year in the league). as we saw from the time he filled in for s-jax, he can do a good job when given minutes, but that was playing nellie-ball, and it wasnt like he had a ton of expectation on him going into it, so i dont you can project that. in the end, i think hes probably a much better version of udoka (i think both are more of short sfs than power guards FWIW), with buike getting the edge offensively and in the foot speed category. if we are going to make a play for him, he probably comes at about the same price that delfino does (about 4 mil a year). so thats not going to be the determining factor.

i dont consider jr smith, because hes never really been on my radar. he popped up right after we got the boot from the playoffs, but i went back to my line of thinking during the season. hes a knucklehead, playing with other knuckleheads, and being coached by yet another knucklehead. so its not likes hes being influenced by the best people. i like his game (great outside shot, has the ability to be a game changer), but i dont think there is any chance we get him. i know the argument that denver is in tax hell, so maybe they wont match. ive heard it, i get it. i just dont buy it. even if they have to sell off contracts (smith included) at the deadline for .30 cents on the dollar, its better then letting him walk for nothing. you dont let that kind of young talent walk for nothing.

[Blame Rasho]

all year i pimped my holy trinity of jones, buike, and delfino. and i had switch my favorite around several times. i finally was able to run myself off of jones after our playoff performance. i thought we needed a more versatile offensive skill set than what jones brought (primarily a spot-up shooter). his bum wheel didnt help any either. so that leaves delfino and buike. and i still feel about the same way about the two as i did before:

delfino was always my secret favorite (the one i wished would work out). i love his build, and his skill set is intriguing (decent defender, decent rebounder for his position, decent from 3, some slashing ability, was the 3rd ball handler for toronto behind ford and jose). hes got some ego issues, and hes far too in love with his outside shot. but hes got so much potential (at least for those that we have a chance of acquiring) that if everything clicks (if pop doesnt destroy him, if manu and oberto make his transition smoothe, if he molds his game to the spurs system) he would be an ideal fit. now i dont know if any of that can happen (probably not), but i wish it would. so i will just keep right on wishing...

right now, i think buike might be the best fit. hes got a decent outside shot, very athletic, good rebounder, and seems like a really down to earth, intelligent kind of guy. i think personality wise, he would fit right into the locker room seamlessly. but i question his upside. i know hes 24, but i think what we see out of him may be the polished product (3yrs of college, one year in the dleague, plus now 1 and a half year in the league). as we saw from the time he filled in for s-jax, he can do a good job when given minutes, but that was playing nellie-ball, and it wasnt like he had a ton of expectation on him going into it, so i dont you can project that. in the end, i think hes probably a much better version of udoka (i think both are more of short sfs than power guards FWIW), with buike getting the edge offensively and in the foot speed category. if we are going to make a play for him, he probably comes at about the same price that delfino does (about 4 mil a year). so thats not going to be the determining factor.

i dont consider jr smith, because hes never really been on my radar. he popped up right after we got the boot from the playoffs, but i went back to my line of thinking during the season. hes a knucklehead, playing with other knuckleheads, and being coached by yet another knucklehead. so its not likes hes being influenced by the best people. i like his game (great outside shot, has the ability to be a game changer), but i dont think there is any chance we get him. i know the argument that denver is in tax hell, so maybe they wont match. ive heard it, i get it. i just dont buy it. even if they have to sell off contracts (smith included) at the deadline for .30 cents on the dollar, its better then letting him walk for nothing. you dont let that kind of young talent walk for nothing.

I loved your post...

I am just overall dissapointed with our offseason.

I was warming up to Delfino after a long and hard thought process and now we get a guy who has avg 5.5 ppg for his career. He is a poor mans Arron Mckie. We need to have some active players on the wings and Mason doesn't fit the bill. I wouldn't be surprised if his FT shooting goes down with us.

Honestly with 1.85 million left and the LLE... I don't know if we can get anyone who can crack the rotation.

The status quo isn't good enough at this point of time.

I think it is unwise to bank on the big offseason in 2010.

[ss1986v2]

I loved your post...

so did i. lol. was going to follow it up with another post about my other favorite options (mason included), but rc and pop beat me to it. im still reading everything right now (been away from the computer since my last post), but i do like mason, and i do still want to weigh in about him.

[Ballings7]

Ordinary, not satisfied feeling so far on the off-season...

What I'd like to see happen is sign another wing-man with the rest of the MLE (most of it) or LLE, and sign Barry to a vet. mininum contract.

But quite possibly the only additions to the team from last season, are going to be rookies and Mason. I'm not sure that is enough, leaning towards not. I feel like one more new piece with experience is needed.

I expect one more new addition...

Maybe Kirk Snyder will have to settle for a lower amount of money, because of how his career has gone so far. But actually he has diverse skill on both ends, has seemingly matured from early in his career, and just needs a fair oppurtunity. Which he hasn't really got since his hand injury in 06 w/ Houston, somewhat got going with the Wolves.

Same goes for Fred Jones, Antonie Wright, maybe Bonzi (in terms of going after him) on the money factor.

[ss1986v2]

ok, heres my spiel on mason and the other options (both before the signing and now):

for about a half a second (right after maggette jumped to gsw), i considered sasha as a viable option over delfino and azubuike. thankfully i talk myself down, and looked elsewhere. i still like sasha, but not so much at 5+ mil or for more than 3 years. i wanted to like ricky davis (he has positives in most all the stats i like to look at), but i cant. i really wanted to like ryan gomes, but im too infatuated with placing players in cookie-cutter roles, and i have no idea what the heck ryan gomes is/does on the court. hes not really big enough to play pf, doesnt have the foot speed of players with similar size (like artest) to cover the wings, and the fact that he was restricted was the final straw. and i simply dont like snyder (and i dont see what there is to like at this point from him).

as for mason, i like him, not as much as i liked delfino or azubuike, but he was certainly in my 2nd tier. he can shoot, is a decent defender covering the 1/2/3 spots (but probably best suited coving the 2, which is convenient), a solid ball handler (but not a great distributor), and is a great character guy. add that to the fact that the spurs targeted him last year (before he broke out this season), and i feel at least content with this move. i put it at about signing james jones, especially considering the cost difference. and id probably have like pietrus about as much, if not for his contract demands.

so given the options, im happy with mason. i would still have liked to work out a deal for buike or delfino, but given the apparent restrictions the spurs were putting on the contract numbers (no more than 2yrs), mason is probably still good value all things considered. now for the record, i dont buy into the 2010 plan (last cap clearing plan landed us rasho...), but it looks like the spurs are serious about standing pat more or less these next two years, and reloading during that offseason. we will see...

as for the rest of the offseason, i just want barry and KT back at this point. give me that, and i will be content. this is just a hunch now, but i dont think we spend the BAE this offseason. it would push us right against the tax line this season, and i dont see who we could add with it that would make an impact this next year (would rather give the rookies a shot in austin next year). may be better to save if for next year, or maybe for a mid-season pick-up this next year.

[sheepwarrior]

Mason is a pretty good signing but it's depressing if you think about what could have been...

Batum and even possibly Hill... and Maggette and Splitter... but no...

[Ballings7]

To add to Antonie Wright/Fred Jones/Snyder for likely other cheaper wing options, I'd love to get Devin Brown back, I've continued to follow him enough, and I have really liked how he's gone after Utah... he'd of course give us an active, tough wing-man on both ends that can shoot the three and drive.

Off of missing out on Maggette and for some reason no Azubuike, I'd be happy with Mason + one of Devin/Wright/Jones/Snyder added to the wings. Agility and offensive diversity upgraded significantly on the wings, outside of Manu/Parker. I'll throw Hill in there to the former, too.

[sabonis]

I would love it if we could get dorell wright... he can't shoot the 3ball but he has improved his 18 footer very much...

[Ballings7]

Yeah I like how Wright has done within the last two seasons... I definitely wouldn't mind getting him as a big-time athlete on both ends, that can shoot reliably from mid-range, and maybe improves from three after the summer. I forgot about him recently because of the higher-up wing FAs.

According to a league source, the Lakers already have contacted the Kings regarding Artest and are believed to be offering forward Lamar Odom. As of Tuesday evening, the Kings had not returned the call. They are expected to insist on forward Kenny Thomas and his $18 million of remaining salary (over two seasons) being included in that potential trade. Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie declined comment on whether the Lakers had called.

"Right now, (Artest is) just a terrific player to have on your roster," Petrie said. "I don't really have any speculation one way or another (about his future). We'll see what other things – not specific to Ron – but if there's some other way we can improve the team or change the team, we'll take a look at it."

http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/1072665.html

Not cool right there, even with what is printed there. It was/is expected the Lakers would quite possibly call for Artest, but it just sucks to see the legitimate mention and maybe initation of talks soon.

Not only as a fan of this team, but Kings fan also, and to a lesser extent as a Ron Artest fan because I'd have to root against Ron quite a bit.

But, I do have my doubts about the Lakers taking Kenny or SAR's contracts (despite being expirings after next season).

I don't think the Kings should do that trade, because while they get Odom which is quality value for Ron, Odom is going to walk after next season, too. Also, while only there for a year, Odom would just not help out their young big men development situation (as well as probably see some time at SF).

Then you have the whole Lakers/Kings past, and how that relates to the future, in helping them out big-time with Artest. The past of which, the Kings franchise will likely never be over from.

[the southern dandy]

I think someone like Roger Mason Jr would fit the bill if he could come cheap. From what I've read he's become a mature, nice contributor for the Wizards.

I was the first person to suggest the signing of Roger Mason jr. This is the first time ever that I've even come close to being correct about a Spurs offseason.

Shame I wasn't right about him coming cheap.

[lukeridenour]

I think someone like Roger Mason Jr would fit the bill if he could come cheap. From what I've read he's become a mature, nice contributor for the Wizards.

I was the first person to suggest the signing of Roger Mason jr. This is the first time ever that I've even come close to being correct about a Spurs offseason.

Shame I wasn't right about him coming cheap.

[Donald Kaufman]

ok, let's get this straight - we miss out on Pietrus, Maggette, even Duhon...and we're likely letting Bones walk away?

What next? Horry re-signs with us?

Big Fat "F" to the Spurs FO on this one.

[Ballings7]

Duhon wasn't an option for us anymore with Hill + the focus on Maggette. Same goes for Pietrus minus Hill (who got most of the MLE for 5 years).