Clippers Free Agency: 4 invited to training camp (p. 31)

[Det the Threat]

I think it would be good having a thread about the Clips free agency this summer.

The first rumor comes from CBSSports Ken Berger, who reports that we'll make a pitch to Lebron, but that we're aware of our slim chances and already have another guy on our radar.

Having said that, Hawks free agent Joe Johnson is expecting a hard sell from the Knicks in the event LeBron opts to go elsewhere. Johnson has set up shop in Los Angeles with his agent, Arn Tellem, who has an excellent relationship with Walsh. As of early Monday, Johnson had yet to schedule any free-agent visits – in L.A. or elsewhere. One person with ties to Johnson suggested a possible reason why he is 1) in L.A., and 2) in no hurry to entertain visitors. Don’t be surprised if his strong connection to Clippers GM Neil Olshey explains why Johnson is conveniently ensconced in L.A. for the purposes of signing a max deal with the Clips. As a trainer for Tellem when Johnson was entering the draft, Olshey worked with Johnson and has maintained a strong relationship with him. The Clippers situation is ideal because Johnson wouldn’t have to shoulder the burden as the franchise cornerstone, a title and responsibility that will fall on Blake Griffin. The Clippers, with enough cap space for one max player, will make their run at LeBron, but the answer is expected to be a swift and polite, “No, thanks.” At which point you can expected them to move on to Johnson as their Plan B.

http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/22848009?source=rss_blogs_NBA

It looks like Joe Johnson could be the guy we're trying to lure to the Clips. with Olshey being a big reason for that.

[DangerCurtis]

Yeah sounds like it. I don't really feel as though Johnson is worth a max contract, but granted, if we do acquire him, he'll be a nice addition to the starting line up and with a fairly deep team. Nonetheless, it is a bit of contradiction being the highest paid player and not being the focal point of the franchise.

[TheNewEra]

Tayshaun Prince should be in the works think Clippers should sign a free agent to move out to Detriot

[ejftw]

If we are to give him the max, I'd do it for only three years (with year 4 being a team option), or give him a five year deal starting at around $10 mil.

[JJ LoDuca]

Like I've said since last summer, getting Joe Johnson would be a massive success. Crossing my fingers that a deal works itself out!

[SportsFan215]

Getting Joe Johnson might pay off in the next year or two, but he will become one of the worst contracts in the league after that. We should go in another direction.

[Sofia]

I'm hoping signing JJ doesn't turn into a "LOL BAD CONTRACT LOL" situation like what we already cop from other fans.



Out of interest, here's some details on our contracts.
http://www.shamsports.com/content/pages ... ippers.htm

Found this interesting, wasn't aware of it.

Chris Kaman: Drafted 6th overall in 2003. Signed to rookie salary scale contract for that year. Signed a 5 year extension worth $52 million in October 2006. Contract has performance bonuses listed as "unlikely", and a trade kicker for the lesser of 15% or $4,000,000.

[mkwest]

I had longstanding prejudices against some of these free-agents joining our team this offseason. I'd hate to see us overpay, even though everyone after the first 2 (maybe 3) players are going to be overpaid. Gay and Johnson are players that I didn't want because they would command much more than they are worth. If you add a player like LeBron, Wade, etc, then depth isn't much of a concern after the first season. With the others, you need depth. After the draft, I'm kind of softening my stance a wee bit.

I don't really like Gay's game, but he'll only be 24 this August and gives us a scoring threat. I wish he were a better shooter, because the other areas in his game are lacking. I think that he can help, but the price tag has to be favorable or incentive-laden.

Johnson is the better all around player. He can shoot from distance, make plays for others and play 3 different positions. The problem is that he'll be 29 before the season starts. Hey may not show up in the playoffs, but I'll be happy to be in the playoffs. Then I could only hope the other guys show up and overcompensate for him. I still hate the idea of giving him a max deal. Somebody will give it to him. If it happens to be us, I'll try to learn to accept it, but we'd probably start to regret it our 3rd year in.

[madmaxmedia]

I wouldn't want to give him 5 years, but I think for 3 of the years he can justify a max contract.

I think he will be just as much a focal point as any other player on the team, he just won't be 'the' guy like a Kobe or a Wade who can basically create offense no matter what the defense throws at him.

I mentioned this in the FA thread I made earlier, but with our draft I am actually okay with going young and playing these guys a lot, to accelerate their development and give us a better idea what we have in them. And then maybe next offseason going out and trying to address a key position. In the meantime, go out and sign a supplementary SF like Mike Miller to provide 3-pt shooting but not take a lot of minutes from Aminu.

What I don't want to do is sign some guy who is good but not really a difference maker for $8 or $10 million a year, and then feel forced to give him a lot of minutes at the expense of Aminu. I am also okay with giving the backup PG spot to Bledsoe (assuming he's not a disaster in summer league/ training camp or something like that.) Last time we really went young, we were able to set the foundation for a reasonable amount of future success (ultimately derailed a bit by Andre Miller flopping here, Lamar Odom's injuries and suspensions, etc.) We had higher draft picks back then, but considering Blake is a rookie still too, it's not too different.

In 2000, we had Odom, Miles, Corey, Keyon, and QRich, all under 21 and in first or second seasons. This time we have Blake, Aminu , EJ, Bledsoe, DeAndre, and hopefully Warren cracks the rotation too (EJ is 3rd year but still a pretty young guy.) Which is the more promising young bunch? I think if you go down the lineup, it's basically a toss up. That 2000 bunch was a lot of fun to watch, and I think this one could be too.

(of course I am excluding significant vets on both squads- everyone from Kaveman to Kandiman to BDiddy to Jeff McGinnis.)

[SportsFan215]

It looks like both ATL and NYK will be offering JJ max contracts, so I would definitely stay away from giving him a max contract.

[LA clips 4 life]

I really like Joe Johnson, he would be a great outside scoring threat to go on the wing with Gordon and he can play multiple positions giving us different line-up options. He isn't the best rebounder though, but with Aminu & Blake joining us I'm not as worried. 5 years max is a lot but he'll get it somewhere and while it worries me I can deal with it because finally we'd be going all in to win now, today. Will it be a championship winning squad, no, at least not in the next year or two but it could compete with the top teams in the West who are on the decline like San Antonio and Dallas and Phoenix if they lose Amare in 2 or 3 years assuming Blake pans out the way we hope he will. It would be exciting and fun and I think having a veteran like Joe Johnson can be helpful for our younger guys besides just Baron & Kaman in there. It's not quite the OKC route mixing old with young, but it would be great fun to watch.

Rudy Gay is also a fun option but he is no outside threat, doesn't spread the floor and just drives to the hoop and clogs up the lane and is a bit of a ball hog and not the best defender. That being said, if we did make this an uptempo team like the Suns then it would be fun to watch and at a cheaper option, but again we'd have to rely too heavily on Eric Gordon being our only outside threat.

[mj_shoefanatic]

Joe or Pierce should be our plan b & c if 'bron signs with Miami or re-signs with Clev.

[PlinkingPanda]

Yes please. Pierce has opted out of his contract. I would love to get him if we lose out on the LeBron sweepstakes(which I expect us to). He's a local guy apparently so perhaps he would take a glance at the team.

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/ne ... id=5341636

[mkwest]

Yes please. Pierce has opted out of his contract. I would love to get him if we lose out on the LeBron sweepstakes(which I expect us to). He's a local guy apparently so perhaps he would take a glance at the team.

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/ne ... id=5341636

He needs to come back home. His shooting percentages are at their highest. He had 18 points on 12 shots last season. He can play some D and provide much needed veteran leadership. He can still be effective even at his age with his style of play. I do wonder what his price would be, but I will say that I'd much rather have him to most of these other free-agents outside of the obvious max players (LBJ, Wade, Bosh & Dirk).

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I know I mentioned this some where but how about John Salmons if he opts out. I'm sure $8-$9 million per year would work for him. I also wouldn't be opposed to Pierce for 3 years if he would accept that.

[Det the Threat]

You really want to pay John Salmons $8 - 9 mil a year?
I surely wouldn't especially with him being more of a sg then a sf.

I also don't want us to be the team that pays $15 - 20 mil to a 36 year old Paul Pierce, no matter how nice it would be for the reputition of the franchise to bring in a local guy.

If we don't get Lebron, i'd rather us taking a look at other teams rosters and trying to fill our needs while taking off some contracts of their books while maybe even adding something(draft picks or young players) else as well.


BTW: How about we go and see if the Warriors are really looking to dump salary.
We could offer them part of our salary cap for Rony Turiaf and Kelenna Azubuike, to strengthen our bench.
After that we could look to add a starting caliber sf that doesn't makes the max and isn't under contract for all too long. Maybe someone like Marvin Williams could be available for another part of our cap space and a future pick, if the Hawks can't re-sign Joe Johnson. Or maybe even the Rockets are trying to save some money(to spend it in this years free agency) and are alright with sending us Shane Battier for a similar package.

Our team then would look something like this:

Davis/Bledsoe/vet min guy
Gordon/Azubuike/Warren
Williams or Battier/Aminu
Griffin/Turiaf/Aminu
Kaman/Jordan/Turiaf

That team could compete for a playoff spot and it would be in better financial shape then us overspending on some guy in free agency.

[madmaxmedia]

Pierce opted out of 1 year left at $21.5 million. So I am doubting 3 years for $30 million is going to do the trick. Of course this depends on what other teams are willing to offer him.

I don't think he is expecting $20 mil per on a multi-year deal. But I imagine he wants more than $10 mil per.

[PlinkingPanda]

Bring back Mobley!

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baske ... nba_a.html

[madmaxmedia]

From wiretap story-

The Knicks could hold 2.06 max contracts.
The Nets could hold 2.00 max contracts.
The Bulls could hold 1.76 max contracts.
The Heat could hold 1.67 max contracts, even after the team signs its own free agent, Dwyane Wade, to a max contract.
The Clippers could hold 1.02 max contracts.

There is going to be a massive vacuum if LBJ and Bosh sign with DWade in Miami. We all antipated LBJ and Bosh pairing, but then DWade is off the table as well. Knicks, Nets, and Bulls are all going to try to fill their slots with a wing/big combo from the best of what's left- Joe Johnson + Stoudamire, stuff like that, and hope for the best. Some other team is going to end up thinking Gay + Boozer, etc.

I think at least 1 team is going to eat it and not really sign anyone because they are willing to overpay, but not massively overpay to fill their slots. Think about it- there are almost 9 max slots available. Name 9 players worth a max (but take DWade off the list since his salary is already accounted for.) No way no how.

The end result is I don't think the Clippers are really going to sign any high-profile FA's due to prices being driven up. I think they should just go out on July 1 and try to nab a complementary player right off the bat, get something done early. I pick Mike Miller, he complements what Aminu doesn't do.

[LA clips 4 life]

The Heat will not get Wade, Lebron & Bosh. They don't have the money to offer 3 max contracts and even Bosh himself says it's highly unlikely. The good news is that all the teams with all of this max space, aside from your Los Angeles Clippers, are in the East. Let's hope all these players stay in the East, except if to the Clippers, and Amare & Boozer head out East too.

I want Joe Johnson if all Lebron fails.