It is agent speak. Agents have a clear job. They use reporters to get the name of every team that’s shown any interest in their player in an attempt to incite a bidding war. With the reputable agents, you rarely see them just make up a team. They will over state it, for example, intense and mild interest is reported equally as “having talks.” But if the list is short, instead of upsetting a GM by alienating a fan base with false talks, most good agents will say “several teams including” A, B, and C, instead of just making up D and E.
I’m sure for the right price, they would add Chuck Hayes because he’s a good post defender. And thus, I’m not shocked they’ve contacted his agent. And because it’s the way business is done, Chuck’s agent put the Kings right out there.
For everybody holding out hope for Nene and Chandler, their agents are floating out the names of the teams that have contacted them and the Kings aren’t among them. I suppose it’s possible that the agent decided to list some of the names, and omitted the Kings, but that’s not consistent with how they typically do their job. I guess the Kings might try to jump in late, but with 10 days of free agency, that seems odd.
Instead, it appears the Kings are taking the approach of signing or matching an offer for Thornton and picking up some pieces. Hopefully, it’s more, but you would think they would at least bid on the top center free agents. Maybe they will clean up on the mid-tier guys with good value contracts. But right now, it doesn’t appear that we are bidding for Chandler or Nene.
PS – I read about some people trying to front load the first year of Gasol contract. That would work with a bonus, it hard to load up 2012 because the number is going to be cut by 20% - because there are 20% less games. It wouldn’t be a problem for Thornton, because you could just raise his offer by 20% to offset that. But with Gasol, Nene, or Chandler, you are going to bump up against the max.