http://www.sacbee.com/kings/story/262214.html
NBA Beat: Numbers game takes its toll on free agency
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, July 8, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C8
Just like that, it was over before it seemingly had started, a free-agent derby all but finished a week into bidding in a yawning outcome. And then everyone had to find another way to kill time before the next Kevin Garnett trade rumor.
Seattle's Rashard Lewis, the only headliner given much of a chance to jump teams, agreed to terms with Orlando on Monday, after less than two days of negotiations. Vince Carter, an impact player but New Jersey's to lose all along, recommitted to the Nets hours after bidding opened. Chauncey Billups, as expected, didn't appear to have serious talks with anyone before Friday's announcement that he would stay with Detroit.
Proving just how much the bottom had dropped out, Gerald Wallace, Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao were the big names still in play after a week. Most every team, meanwhile, was capped out, leaving them to offer the midlevel exception and the few that had real spending power not appearing likely to use it for a significant new addition as much as to retain their own free agents.
It was close to the nuclear winter Dallas owner Mark Cuban predicted early last season, when he noted there would be a lot more players aiming for a big payday than teams with the resources to deliver one. It also was a contrast to the potential überclass of 2008, when Garnett, Tim Duncan, Gilbert Arenas, Allen Iverson, Elton Brand, Shawn Marion and other A-listers could flood the market together, although Duncan would be a mortal lock to stay in San Antonio and Arenas said he plans to re-sign in Washington.
Appearing every bit the prelims, the summer of 2007 provided few who rated more than the midlevel exception, projected to start close to $6 million. Jason Kapono did get four years and $24 million from Toronto and Matt Carroll six years and $27 million from Charlotte, so anything was still possible in a world still willing to overspend. It was, however, quickly evident that the best bets for the second-tier players were sign-and-trade deals or re-upping with their recent employers.
The heartfelt transaction
Utah owner Larry Miller is easy to miss in all this, because it's not his daughter with the rare form of cancer, and he wasn't the one who walked away with $20.6 million coming the next three seasons. It was Derek Fisher who made the call and the potential sacrifice, saying he needed to get out of his contract with the Jazz so his family could stay together and be close to a specialist for 1-year-old Tatum.
Miller was just the one who made it happen with class and compassion. With one option being to tell Fisher he could get out of the pact by retiring, Miller instead made Fisher a free agent and allowed him to join another team, even at the risk of coming back to haunt Utah.
A team that made the Western Conference finals and has realistic aspirations of going further in the seasons ahead let an integral piece go for nothing. Fisher was open from the start that he might sign elsewhere, depending on the location of the doctors, but also said about a month before turning 33 that retirement is an option if the basketball does not match up with the medical.
There is no shortage of interested teams. Cleveland, which needs help at point guard, has a renowned hospital. Memphis can make the same boast, although the Grizzlies just drafted Mike Conley Jr. A reunion with the Lakers is an obvious option, given his familiarity with the triangle offense, the positive feelings that still exist between the two sides and the number of health care options in Los Angeles. The Knicks can make the same pitch with New York.
Miller already was an owner like none other, known through the years to publicly joust with his stars in moments of frustration or join the Jazz huddle before the opening tip. When the wife of coach Jerry Sloan died, the team chartered a plane so staffers and friends in the area could attend the memorial service in Illinois. And the children of employees who are full time for at least two years at any Miller entity -- a network of car dealerships, as well as teams in the NBA, WNBA and Pacific Coast League baseball -- are offered college scholarships to cover in-state tuition plus $300 per semester for books or the equivalent if the school is outside Utah.
On the other hand ...
Redemption came to Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie in the strangest of ways, with the Warriors making an electric playoff run and coach Don Nelson turning into a genius again, then turning into Don Nelson again. So it was that the Kings were proven right in the end.
Their decision to not so much as give Nellie an interview a year ago, before Eric Musselman was hired to replace Rick Adelman, looks much better now that Nelson is threatening to retire 10 months into a three-season deal if he doesn't get a raise. He was closely involved with the Golden State draft and is scheduled to be in Las Vegas for summer league, so it might be nothing more than a hollow threat, but still.
If the Warriors don't need the nonsense in the immediate aftermath of the postseason as the generational highlight, imagine how the gamesmanship would have been particularly unwanted in a Kings organization desperately seeking sideline stability.
Nelson didn't get an interview in Sacramento. High-maintenance Larry Brown didn't get an interview in Sacramento, twice. There's a reason.
Sky high
Eastern Washington's Rodney Stuckey, who went No. 15 overall to the Pistons, is only the second player from the Big Sky Conference to be drafted in the first round, following Micheal Ray Richardson from Montana in 1978. Stuckey scored 31 points in 38 minutes during his conference visit to Sacramento State on Jan. 25, but he missed 9 of 13 shots in the Feb. 24 game against the Hornets in Cheney, Wash.
Standing Pat?
P.J. Carlesimo being hired in Seattle only means all the coaching jobs are sort of filled. Pat Riley remains noncommittal about his future in Miami.
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at showard-cooper@sacbee.com.
NBA Beat: Numbers game takes its toll on free agency
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, July 8, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C8
Just like that, it was over before it seemingly had started, a free-agent derby all but finished a week into bidding in a yawning outcome. And then everyone had to find another way to kill time before the next Kevin Garnett trade rumor.
Seattle's Rashard Lewis, the only headliner given much of a chance to jump teams, agreed to terms with Orlando on Monday, after less than two days of negotiations. Vince Carter, an impact player but New Jersey's to lose all along, recommitted to the Nets hours after bidding opened. Chauncey Billups, as expected, didn't appear to have serious talks with anyone before Friday's announcement that he would stay with Detroit.
Proving just how much the bottom had dropped out, Gerald Wallace, Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao were the big names still in play after a week. Most every team, meanwhile, was capped out, leaving them to offer the midlevel exception and the few that had real spending power not appearing likely to use it for a significant new addition as much as to retain their own free agents.
It was close to the nuclear winter Dallas owner Mark Cuban predicted early last season, when he noted there would be a lot more players aiming for a big payday than teams with the resources to deliver one. It also was a contrast to the potential überclass of 2008, when Garnett, Tim Duncan, Gilbert Arenas, Allen Iverson, Elton Brand, Shawn Marion and other A-listers could flood the market together, although Duncan would be a mortal lock to stay in San Antonio and Arenas said he plans to re-sign in Washington.
Appearing every bit the prelims, the summer of 2007 provided few who rated more than the midlevel exception, projected to start close to $6 million. Jason Kapono did get four years and $24 million from Toronto and Matt Carroll six years and $27 million from Charlotte, so anything was still possible in a world still willing to overspend. It was, however, quickly evident that the best bets for the second-tier players were sign-and-trade deals or re-upping with their recent employers.
The heartfelt transaction
Utah owner Larry Miller is easy to miss in all this, because it's not his daughter with the rare form of cancer, and he wasn't the one who walked away with $20.6 million coming the next three seasons. It was Derek Fisher who made the call and the potential sacrifice, saying he needed to get out of his contract with the Jazz so his family could stay together and be close to a specialist for 1-year-old Tatum.
Miller was just the one who made it happen with class and compassion. With one option being to tell Fisher he could get out of the pact by retiring, Miller instead made Fisher a free agent and allowed him to join another team, even at the risk of coming back to haunt Utah.
A team that made the Western Conference finals and has realistic aspirations of going further in the seasons ahead let an integral piece go for nothing. Fisher was open from the start that he might sign elsewhere, depending on the location of the doctors, but also said about a month before turning 33 that retirement is an option if the basketball does not match up with the medical.
There is no shortage of interested teams. Cleveland, which needs help at point guard, has a renowned hospital. Memphis can make the same boast, although the Grizzlies just drafted Mike Conley Jr. A reunion with the Lakers is an obvious option, given his familiarity with the triangle offense, the positive feelings that still exist between the two sides and the number of health care options in Los Angeles. The Knicks can make the same pitch with New York.
Miller already was an owner like none other, known through the years to publicly joust with his stars in moments of frustration or join the Jazz huddle before the opening tip. When the wife of coach Jerry Sloan died, the team chartered a plane so staffers and friends in the area could attend the memorial service in Illinois. And the children of employees who are full time for at least two years at any Miller entity -- a network of car dealerships, as well as teams in the NBA, WNBA and Pacific Coast League baseball -- are offered college scholarships to cover in-state tuition plus $300 per semester for books or the equivalent if the school is outside Utah.
On the other hand ...
Redemption came to Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie in the strangest of ways, with the Warriors making an electric playoff run and coach Don Nelson turning into a genius again, then turning into Don Nelson again. So it was that the Kings were proven right in the end.
Their decision to not so much as give Nellie an interview a year ago, before Eric Musselman was hired to replace Rick Adelman, looks much better now that Nelson is threatening to retire 10 months into a three-season deal if he doesn't get a raise. He was closely involved with the Golden State draft and is scheduled to be in Las Vegas for summer league, so it might be nothing more than a hollow threat, but still.
If the Warriors don't need the nonsense in the immediate aftermath of the postseason as the generational highlight, imagine how the gamesmanship would have been particularly unwanted in a Kings organization desperately seeking sideline stability.
Nelson didn't get an interview in Sacramento. High-maintenance Larry Brown didn't get an interview in Sacramento, twice. There's a reason.
Sky high
Eastern Washington's Rodney Stuckey, who went No. 15 overall to the Pistons, is only the second player from the Big Sky Conference to be drafted in the first round, following Micheal Ray Richardson from Montana in 1978. Stuckey scored 31 points in 38 minutes during his conference visit to Sacramento State on Jan. 25, but he missed 9 of 13 shots in the Feb. 24 game against the Hornets in Cheney, Wash.
Standing Pat?
P.J. Carlesimo being hired in Seattle only means all the coaching jobs are sort of filled. Pat Riley remains noncommittal about his future in Miami.
About the writer: The Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper can be reached at showard-cooper@sacbee.com.
