Okafor Re-Ups and More

Charlotte Bobcats’ fans can breathe easy now that Emeka Okafor has agreed to a 6-year, $72 million deal that will keep him in Charlotte for the foreseeable future.  I have to admit that I was mildly surprised when I read that they had reached an agreement this morning as everything being printed in the media the past week or so implied that both sides were at an impasse and a deal was not imminent and that the ‘Cats were pondering whether or not they should explore a sign-and-trade deal for Okafor. 

After inexplicably passing on Brook Lopez in favor of point guard D. J. Augustin in the draft the Bobcats had to re-sign Okafor if they have any hopes of making the playoffs next season.  Okafor is the only real offensive threat on the low post for them and he is the team’s best rebounder and shot blocker to boot.  They had to realize that they were not going to be any kind of a threat if they were to rely on Sean May and Nazr Mohammed to hold down the middle for an entire 82 games.

With Okafor back on board next season could be the breakout year the Bobcats have been looking for.  They have enough talent to make a playoff run and there is no reason why they cannot compete with teams like Washington and Toronto for that 5th or 6th seed in the east.  They had the talent last year until Sean May and Adam Morrison went down due to injury.  Once they lost May and Morrison they lost their top two options off the bench and when Gerald Wallace missed an extended period of time due to injury they had nobody to fill his spot in the starting lineup.

Monta Gets Paid

As was expected all along the Golden State Warriors locked rising star Monta Ellis up to a long term deal Thursday.  Ellis and the Warriors came to terms on a $67 million deal that keeps him in Golden State jersey for the next six seasons.  I remember reading early on in the process that Ellis was looking for a deal that gave him $10 million per season and I never really thought he would get it given how much he earned last year I was expecting something in the neighborhood of seven to eight million per season.

But, after Baron Davis jumped ship to Los Angeles it was essential for General Manager Chris Mullin to lock Ellis up to a long term deal to keep the natives from getting restless in Oakland.  I have always been convinced that Mullin played the Baron Davis situation the way he did because the Warriors see Ellis as the future of the franchise and were not convinced Davis was worth giving the type of extension and money he was looking for.  Giving his litany of physical issues over the years Davis could very well may have already peaked. 

Ultimately, though, Mullin decided that if he was going to hand out a long term contract worth over $10 million per season it was going to be to the 22-year old budding star and not to the 29-year old who, prior to this past season, had put together a string of 5 seasons where he missed at least 15 games due to injury.  Mullin made the safe play by sticking with the young gun whose overall game, shot selection, and performance has improved each of his first three years in the league.

Childress Jumps to Greece, Jennings Goes to Italy: The Beginning of a Trend?

Restricted free agent Josh Childress is heading overseas to play in Greece for Olympiakos after agreeing to a 3-year deal worth $20 million.  Childress is heading to Europe to play despite the fact that Atlanta allegedly had a $36 million deal on the table that started at a base salary above $5.6 million.  This is a very intriguing move to me to say the least and coupled with Brandon Jennings deciding to play in Europe as opposed to going to college for year raises some interesting issues for the NBA.

Now Josh Childress is not the first NBA free agent to decide he is going overseas to play ball next year: Primoz Brezec, Carlos Delfino, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Bostjan Nachbar have signed with European teams as well for next season.  Nor is Childress the first American player to go overseas to play basketball scores of college kids who do not get drafted go overseas to play every year.  What Childress is, is he is the first American born free agent that NBA teams are interested in who has decided to spurn the NBA and go overseas to play basketball.

While Childress was a free agent and free to negotiate with any team of his choosing he was still a restricted free agent which means the Atlanta Hawks ultimately held his fate in their hands.  They had the right to match any offer made to him by another NBA team which means that as long as the Hawks still want him around and can afford to match the contract offered him he was destined to remain in Atlanta and apparently that was not an appealing option to Josh Childress.  It is going to be interesting to see if other players in Childress’ class of restricted free agents who have yet to sign with anyone are going to follow suit and there is some quality talent out there like Luol Deng and Monta Ellis.

NBA Free Agency Update: Monta Ellis Sweepstakes is Heating up

The Heat and Cavs are interested in Monta Ellis while he claims to have an interest in playing for the Knicks. Unfortunately for those teams Ellis wants $10 million per year and none of those teams have any cap space to be able to sign him outright.  They would have to do some kind of a sign-and-trade deal and it is debatable whether any of those teams have anything Don Nelson would be interested in that would be available.  The Knicks have some tradeable assets though I don’t know the Warriors have any interest in them.  Stephon Marbury and Malik Rose’s expiring contracts are available and David Lee is available for the right deal.  The thing of it is is you do not trade a young up-and-coming talent like Ellis away for expiring contracts and David Lee does not really fit into Nelson’s style of play.  Cleveland really has nothing of interest to offer either other than expiring contracts of mediocre players.  With Baron Davis having jumped ship to Los Angeles Golden State ultimately cannot deal Ellis without getting a starting point guard in return.

Switching gears to Corey Maggette.  He is rumored to be considering the Celtics after a conversation with Doc Rivers.  I still don’t see how Maggette fits into the equation in Boston with Pierce and Allen still in the mix.  Meanwhile Maggette talks as though he is done with the Clippers and with some extra cash to spend now that Baron has jumped ship the Warriors are expected to show interest in Maggette’s services along with the Sixers who are likely hedging their bets in the event they cannot come to terms with Andre Iguodala.  The Warriors interest is probably stronger than the Sixers at this point.  If they retain Ellis and move him over to the point as is expected to happen they will then have an opening at shooting guard and Maggette could fit right in there.  The Sixers are likely using Maggette as a bargaining chip with Iguodala.  Otherwise if they re-sign Igoudala then they have no real use for a guy like Maggette with Thaddeus Young already in place as the small forward of the future.

Sizing up the NBA Free Agency Market

Free agency started today with the Sixers, Grizzlies, and Warriors having the most money to spend. Here is a list of available free agents:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/s…2008FreeAgents

There is not a whole lot to be excited about with this year’s group.  Elton Brand, Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas, and Corey Maggette are about the only real difference makers available on the un-restricted list.

Davis and Maggette are as good as gone.  Davis opted out because he is probably still upset over being benched for the entire second half in a late season game against the Suns.  Besides, the Warriors really see restricted free agent Monta Ellis as the future anyway and they would rather match any offer he gets in lieu of placating Davis and giving him the money that he wants.  Davis is supposedly lobbying for a sign-and-trade that would send him to the Knicks though I don’t know what the Knicks could offer aside from potential picks and Marbury’s contract which expires after the upcoming season.

Maggette has supposedly butted heads with Dunleavy since day one and I doubt he whas any interest in staying with the Clippers.  It is being rumored that Orlando is his top choice as of right now but the Magic would have to agree to do a sign-and-trade in order to fit him under the cap and I don’t really see who they would be willing to part with at this point to get him.

Brand supposedly is intent on staying in LA but the Sixers are supposedly going to make a competitive offer to see if they cannot lure him ot Philly.  Although if you are content to stay with the Clippers then why opt out?  Why not make an attempt to negotiate a contract extension if that is where you truly want to be.  If both parties are truly committed to each other then this should not be an issue, right?

Arenas supposedly wants a max deal and it was being reported on SportsCenter last night that the Wizards are willing to give him $100 mil over 6 years.  Arenas is a bit of a dicey proposition though.  When healthy he is as good of a scorer as there is in the league, unfortunately he was only healthy enough to appear in 13 games last year.  Do you take the risk of signing him to a big deal hoping his knee gets back to where he can give you 38 to 40 minutes a night or do you try to sign him to shorter contract? 

One name of interest to keep an eye on from the unrestricted list is Gerald Green.  He is only 22 and looked poised to have a breakout year after averaging 10 points in 22 minutes a game coming off the bench for the Celtics in the ‘06/’07 season.  He got buried on the bench in Minnesota and never got the chance to show what he could do out there. He could easily be a 15-20 ppg scorer on the right team next year and he could end up being a steal of a signing for someone since he is going to command relatively low salary.