Ric Bucher-Songaila rumor (merged)

[kennadog]

Ric Bucher-ESPN chat today

Josh (Springfield VA): Is there still a chance of Wizards aquiring a legitimate power forward? Perhaps Songaila?

Ric Bucher: All indications are that Songaila is going to the Bulls. I don't know what your definition of a legit PF is, but there are about six of them in the league, so no, I don't see them landing one. I do like their offseason moves. They're a better team than last year.

derence,(jersey city,nj): You guys rarely or never take a kings question.How good are they this year as compared to last year adding Rahim and Bonzi with the trio still there(Skinner,KT and Corliss) that they got out of the C-Webb deal? You think they have the right pieces now to possibly win it all?

Ric Bucher: Win it all? Or win *at* all? The Kings are in cost-cutting mode. Teams in that mode don't win it all. My question is, how much longer will the Kings be in Sacramento? Stay tuned.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=9030

Songaila to the Bulls?

 

[bigbadred00]

Cost cutting? Didn't we add on salary this year? I guess the Webber trade was cost cutting and I guess not signing Mobley to an outrageous deal was cost cutting, but I think the team has spent more this year than last (7th in the league right now).

 

[kennadog]

The trend has been generally downward since 2002-03 season high point.

 

[bigbadred00]

Since when did spending and rings have anything to do with each other in the NBA? Highest spending teams in the league lately have struggled or not made the finals. I guess an upward trending team is better than a downward trending team but the Kings over-spent in the past, and are still up there when it comes to player costs, honestly how much more can the team spend and on who?

The smart spending teams IE the Pistons and the Spurs have seem to have an edge on the rest of the league. Phx spent a fraction of the Knicks payroll last year but will of course have much larger one once Amare signs (Brick didn't I tell you someone would give JJ a close to max deal a couple of monthes ago, and the team would be fractured....told you so ).

 

[Diabeticwonder]

Bucher has never been very kind to the Kings or to the city of Sacramento and you have to take his comments about being in Sac with a grain of salt. Notice, he didn't answer the question, rather he took a shot at the city being able to keep the Kings.

 

[SactoGreg]

Why should anyone be surprised?

Ric ******** has always been a Kings hater. Even during the 2002 season, he claimed the Kings were nothing more than the darlings of the NBA, and very rarely, if ever, gives them any respect.

Speaking of "rare", that describes how often I read his diatribe...

 

[captain bill]

oh my god. that is the stupidest thing i've read in a while. i don't care if he doesn't think we'll do great, but dismissing moves out of hand and then saying the kings are leaving sac is just stupid, and really at the bottom rung of commentators talking about sac. im suprised that guy could find his keyboard without drooling all over it. not even an intelligent dismissal of the kings, that i can take, especially because this team has a lot of flaws. but please. that's not even close to informative about anything. just look at how this session opened:
"Ric Bucher: All right, Chatters, I've got 25 quality minutes to offer before the limo arrives to take me to the studio. Let's get started. "
what an ***.

 

[nbrans]

Ric Bucher's an idiot. According to his logic the Knicks are winning the championship this year.

I can't believe that ESPN let someone like David Aldridge go, and they keep jokers like Ric Bucher around. Pathetic.

 

[kennadog]

Since when did spending and rings have anything to do with each other in the NBA? Highest spending teams in the league lately have struggled or not made the finals. I guess an upward trending team is better than a downward trending team but the Kings over-spent in the past, and are still up there when it comes to player costs, honestly how much more can the team spend and on who?

The smart spending teams IE the Pistons and the Spurs have seem to have an edge on the rest of the league. Phx spent a fraction of the Knicks payroll last year but will of course have much larger one once Amare signs (Brick didn't I tell you someone would give JJ a close to max deal a couple of monthes ago, and the team would be fractured....told you so ).

I totally agree with you on this. Bucher just taking a cheap shot. I was more interested in his comment about Songaila since I don't think I'd heard this rumor and can't confirm it elsewhere. Has anyone seen this rumor anywhere?

As to Kings salaries:

01-02 $54,763,038

02-03 $70,416,596

03-04 $69,567,889

04-05 $60,633,211

And median player salary for 04-05 lower than 01-02
(at least according to :http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/salaries/teamresults.aspx?team=24

 

[CruzDude]

Just go to show you the entertainment value of Ric Bucher. Not the value of his NBA knowledge or even knowing what he is talking about (see keenadog salary sum above). It's meant to get us fans riled and talking and using his name. And he is doing it.

 

[Jerryaki]

if songaila to the bulls is credible, then a sign and trade for curry?

 

[PFFFT!!]

going to the Bulls? Aren't they the same Bulls that are trying to keep their young nucleus together by resigning Chandler and Curry who are going to command a good chunk of money? If I were the Bulls I would try and ink those two guys first, then see whats left for Song, which might not be much.

 

[kennadog]

Well he is right that the Kings have been in a salary cutting mode. I just don't agree that team salary has a correlation to winning championships. The Spurs and Pistons are both evidence of that.

And I was wondering about possible S & T, if the rumor has credence. (as Jerryaki is wondering.)

 

[PFFFT!!]

if songaila to the bulls is credible, then a sign and trade for curry?

If it indeed is, it wont be a straight across trade. Might be KT, song, and 1st round pick for Curry or Chandler, but I believe Curry to be a starter, so hell have to be a high-paid-riding-the-pine sub here, which is a Petrie and Curry no-no and Chicago wont part ways with him either. Chadler might be a slight possibility, but still, why break the young nucleus there. Pipe dream yo.

By getting Song, the Bulls are getting a pretty solid PF off the bench that can score. They wont give up a starter for him though. Just hard to swallow that.

 

[nbrans]

I totally agree with you on this. Bucher just taking a cheap shot. I was more interested in his comment about Songaila since I don't think I'd heard this rumor and can't confirm it elsewhere. Has anyone seen this rumor anywhere?

As to Kings salaries:

01-02 $54,763,038

02-03 $70,416,596

03-04 $69,567,889

04-05 $60,633,211

And median player salary for 04-05 lower than 01-02
(at least according to :http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/salaries/teamresults.aspx?team=24

I took a look at this too, and it's clear that the Kings have a lower salary than 2002-2003, but a lot of that 2002-2003 salary was dead weight. Funderburke and Price made a total of $7.3 million and they hardly played. When you subtract that cash the current Kings are pretty much where they were in 2002-2003.

And the fact remains that even if the Kings WANTED to boost their total salary up to $70 million they couldn't because of salary cap rules. It's not like the Kings are having a fire sale, depending on what happens with Songaila the Maloofs have basically spent every dollar they could in this offseason, and I think they deserve a ton of credit for it.

 

[gman23]

Man I would love for the KINGS to kick dirt in everyone's face the season

 

[kennadog]

I took a look at this too, and it's clear that the Kings have a lower salary than 2002-2003, but a lot of that 2002-2003 salary was dead weight. Funderburke and Price made a total of $7.3 million and they hardly played. When you subtract that cash the current Kings are pretty much where they were in 2002-2003.

And the fact remains that even if the Kings WANTED to boost their total salary up to $70 million they couldn't because of salary cap rules. It's not like the Kings are having a fire sale, depending on what happens with Songaila the Maloofs have basically spent every dollar they could in this offseason, and I think they deserve a ton of credit for it.

Exactly why you can't equate salary with quality. But how do teams end up with a team salary like $87,400,000 like the Mavs last season? That was waaaayyyy over the salary cap. Is it due to increasing contracts in later years or....?

 

[VF21]

Exactly why you can't equate salary with quality. But how do teams end up with a team salary like $87,400,000 like the Mavs last season? That was waaaayyyy over the salary cap. Is it due to increasing contracts in later years or....?

Dallas Mavericks owner = Mark Cuban = way too much money and not nearly enough basketball acumen about how to spend it wisely. His attitude was get the player, regardless of the luxury tax hit...

 

[Kings113]

How about:

Songaila for Nocioni or Songaila for Adrian Griffin.

 

[nbrans]

Exactly why you can't equate salary with quality. But how do teams end up with a team salary like $87,400,000 like the Mavs last season? That was waaaayyyy over the salary cap. Is it due to increasing contracts in later years or....?

Partly it was because the Mavs, Portland and the Knicks went into the current salary cap structure already way over the salary cap. So they've been able to maintain an extremely high cap level through trades and acquisitions that keep their total salary well above the cap level. Portland cut salary and are down near the cap, and they probably won't be able to duplicate that feat again.

Basically, my understanding is that the only way teams can go far over the cap is through signing free agents for whom they have Bird rights, and even then there are limits since the max deals are autmatically tied to the salary cap.

 

[quick dog]

I think the Maloofs are indeed trying to reduce their salary obligations. I am certain that they are trying to make Maloof Sports, Inc. an efficient, money-making, corporation. I also think that is the sum total of it. In my opinion, everything else said about their intentions and motivations are strictly speculative.

 

[nbrans]

I think the Maloofs are indeed trying to reduce their salary obligations. I am certain that they are trying to make Maloof Sports, Inc. an efficient, money-making, corporation. I also think that is the sum total of it. In my opinion, everything else said about their intentions and motivations are strictly speculative.

I don't have access to the Maloofs' accounting records, but I kind of doubt that their margin with the Kings is so small that spending $60 million vs. $50 million is going to put a serious dent in their profits. NBA owners always want you to think they're going broke to justify all kinds of public subsidies for new arenas and things like that, but I find it hard to believe that anyone who is a smart enough businessman to amass $100 million+ to buy a team would then get all sentimental about their operations when it comes to player salaries. Of course they don't want to throw good money away and sure, some owners are more willing to spend than others, but in the case of the Kings, a good product on the floor is simply a smart investment because it guarantees lucrative playoff money.

Even if hypothetically the Kings were losing money from year to year, the value of the franchise increases almost exponentially every year, so in the big picture it's almost impossible to lose money. As far as I can tell the Forbes franchise value has gone from $178 million in 2000 to $275 million in 2004, so unless the Kings lost $25 million every single year then they've done pretty well for themselves, at least on paper.

The Maloofs may want to keep the payroll from skyrocketing, but I doubt they'd compromise playoff aspirations to do it. In part because I genuinely believe they're sentimenal (at the airport my sister ran into the Maloof mom absolutely sobbing after the Kings lost to the Lakers in Game 7 in 2002), in part because it makes good business sense.

 

[Diabeticwonder]

How about:

Songaila for Nocioni or Songaila for Adrian Griffin.

Songaila for Adrian Griffin and then move Corliss IMO would be nice. Griffin is a great on the ball defender and he provides a bunch of toughness. Downside is that he is 30 and has relatively no offensive game to speak of. Nevertheless, I'd take him in a heartbeat since I think that we lack a solid role player like him.

 

[Kings113]

Yeah, agreed. Then Corliss or corliss/another piece for a big man.

Griffin wasn't bad in the playoffs last year, stat-wise:

G1: DNP

G2: 6 points, 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 22 min.

G3: Not too much, 14 minutes.

G4: 13 points (6-8 FG), 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 22 min.

G5: Not much at all, 9 minutes

G6: 9 points, 6 boards, 1 assists, 19 min.

 

[kennadog]

Partly it was because the Mavs, Portland and the Knicks went into the current salary cap structure already way over the salary cap. So they've been able to maintain an extremely high cap level through trades and acquisitions that keep their total salary well above the cap level.

Thanks, I figured it must be something like that, but I wasn't sure.

VF21: No, I would never think to reference Mark Cuban as an example of astute spending decisions in NBA basketball.

 

[kennadog]

Even if hypothetically the Kings were losing money from year to year, the value of the franchise increases almost exponentially every year, so in the big picture it's almost impossible to lose money. As far as I can tell the Forbes franchise value has gone from $178 million in 2000 to $275 million in 2004, so unless the Kings lost $25 million every single year then they've done pretty well for themselves, at least on paper.

The Maloofs may want to keep the payroll from skyrocketing, but I doubt they'd compromise playoff aspirations to do it. In part because I genuinely believe they're sentimenal, in part because it makes good business sense.

Yeah, I said this in the Maloof interview thread. The owner may never make much money (or may even lose some) operating a pro team. The really big payoff comes when they sell the team. I do believe the Maloofs are basketball fans, tho, and want to win.

 

[Folsom Al]

Ric Bucher: All indications are that Songaila is going to the Bulls.


I'm just curious .... what are the indications ???

Once again .... I haven't seen/read/heard anything

 

[PixelPusher]

Ric Bucher: All indications are that Songaila is going to the Bulls.


I'm just curious .... what are the indications ???

Once again .... I haven't seen/read/heard anything

He was probably helping Chad Ford clean out his desk during his last day at ESPN, Chad was angrily muttering under his breath and Ric caught certain words and phrases like "...how dare he..." and "...bull..." and somehow surmised "Darius to the Bulls".

 

[Diabeticwonder]

Darius to the Bulls makes sense. They have talked all off season about getting a deeper front line and Darius would be a good fit there. Whether it happens or not is yet to be seen, but I'm not sure if they are going to keep Adrian Griffin since he is unrestricted and I'm not sure he wants to return.

 

[VF21]

He was probably helping Chad Ford clean out his desk during his last day at ESPN, Chad was angrily muttering under his breath and Ric caught certain words and phrases like "...how dare he..." and "...bull..." and somehow surmised "Darius to the Bulls".

LSHISMDOMN

PixelPusher wins the thread...