We have interest in Mo Pete??

[Bricklayer]

This falls squarely into the WTH?? category:

NBA: Jazz target Toronto's Morris Peterson
By Ross Siler
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Launched: 07/02/2007 01:57:37 AM MDT

The Jazz reached out to Toronto's Morris Peterson in the opening minutes of the free-agent negotiating period Saturday night, and Peterson is said to have Utah first on his list of preferred destinations, a source said Sunday.

Peterson would fill the Jazz's needs for a three-point shooter and perimeter defender, though he also would add to the team's congestion of players at the shooting guard and small forward positions.

Peterson, who turns 30 on Aug. 26, played seven seasons with the Raptors and was a full-time starter until this season. He would come to the Jazz with the intention of starting at shooting guard, a job held by four different players this season.

In addition to the Jazz, Peterson received interest from Miami, New Orleans, Golden State, Sacramento and Cleveland at the start of the negotiating period.

The Jazz also called to express interest in New Jersey center Mikki Moore, who played for Utah in the 2003-04 season, as well as Dallas forward Devean George, Miami forward James Posey and Nets guard Eddie House, according to agent Mark Bartelstein.

Peterson, meanwhile, is said to "love" the prospect of playing for the Jazz, a team he considers to be "a piece away from being in the NBA Finals next year," the source said.

The Jazz are looking to add a veteran like Peterson to their young team that reached the Western

Conference finals, leading to a situation that the source, who is close to the player, called "a perfect fit."

The 6-foot-7, 220-pound Peterson is a shooter first and foremost, taking some 57 percent of his shots this season from the three-point arc. He averaged 8.9 points and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 35.9 percent from three-point range.

It was a season in which Peterson lost his starting job and saw the end of his league-leading consecutive games streak at 371. Peterson played in every game from February 2002 to November 2006 before an elbow injury sidelined him.

This season, Peterson watched as Anthony Parker, Fred Jones and Joey Graham all started ahead of him, though the Raptors did turn to Peterson for his defense against longtime teammate Vince Carter in the playoffs against New Jersey.

Peterson is only a year removed from the best season of his career, when he started 77 games, averaged 16.8 points and 4.6 rebounds, and shot 39.5 percent from three-point range. He is a career 37.1 percent three-point shooter.

The Jazz did not make a contract offer to Peterson when they made contact immediately after the negotiating period opened at 10:01 p.m. Saturday.

Peterson made $4.5 million last season and likely wants a deal for either all or part of the $5.5 million midlevel exception. Teams can begin signing free agents July 11.

Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's senior vice president of basketball operations, declined to comment on Peterson or any specific players.

"[Saturday] night and [Sunday], it was a feeling-out process,'' O'Connor said, adding, "We're kind of going along at our own pace and whatever the pace dictates."

The Jazz ranked 29th in three-point shooting (33.5 percent) this season and were scorched for 50-point games by the likes of Michael Redd, Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen and Gilbert Arenas. Peterson would bring the combination of both shooting and defense.

What the Jazz would do with six shooting guard-types on the roster, though, remains to be seen. They auditioned C.J. Miles, Ronnie Brewer, Gordan Giricek and Derek Fisher at the position and finished the season with Fisher starting. The Jazz drafted another shooting guard in Morris Almond and want the 20-year-old Miles, a restricted free agent, to return.

The Jazz like that Brewer and Almond have the size to play at small forward, which Peterson also could do at times. Fisher can play both point guard and shooting guard, and Giricek could be a trade candidate with his $4 million expiring contract.

* 6-foot-7, 220 pounds
* Guard-Forward
* Born: Aug. 26, 1977
* Played on 2000 NCAA championship team at Michigan State.
* NBA-leading consecutive games streak (371) ended this past season.
* A career 37.1 percent three-point shooter and 12.0 ppg scorer.
* Has hit seven three-pointers in game three times in career.

The Jazz are trying to woo veteran Morris Peterson, and the former Toronto guard reportedly shares their enthusiasm
The veteran guard, who has played the last seven seasons for the Toronto Raptors, reportedly wants to play in Utah

http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_6280028


Utah's interest is obvious -- along with their draft pick would plug up that big hole over at OG and they can come back stronger than ever. But why the heck would WE have an interest in a 30yr old swingman, and apparently almost instantly after the FA period started?

 

[perezident]

an artest trade seems to be in the works..then if we are gonna bring Mo in

what is up with Petrie and these wing players men???

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

What. The. ****.

 

[Gary]

If ther eis a prospect of losing Artest (which there is a possibility) than I would welcome a chance to bring in a 3pt threat off the bench to play behind Garcia. We lacked 3pt shooting last year, and the possibility to get a wing player coming off the bench is something I would jump at.

If we lose Artest look for the Kings to start Garcia, and look for Garcia to have that breakout year

Posted this in another thread, but this is close to the #s we can expect from Garcia starting w/ about 37.5 min per game.

Garcia (if he were to start this year) will have stats something like this;
37.5mpg - 18.2ppg - 6.3rpg - 4.1apg - 1.4bpg - 1.3spg -1.7t/opg 6.6 of 13.6 @ 48.5% fg - 1.3 of 3.8 @ 34%3pt - 3.2 of 4.5 @ 71%ft

Of course the points will probally be about 16 or so, and the fg% will be a bit lower. I used his last 14 games as a tool. I did the same with K-Mart and was pretty dang close.

 

[Dime Dropper]

Please - no more vets. I'd rather spend the whole MLE on Blatche or Amir Johnson, and they've proved next to nothing. At this stage - Young talent >>> proven veterans.

 

[SDKing]

If ther eis a prospect of losing Artest (which there is a possibility) than I would welcome a chance to bring in a 3pt threat off the bench to play behind Garcia. We lacked 3pt shooting last year, and the possibility to get a wing player coming off the bench is something I would jump at.

If we lose Artest look for the Kings to start Garcia, and look for Garcia to have that breakout year

Posted this in another thread, but this is close to the #s we can expect from Garcia starting w/ about 37.5 min per game.

Garcia (if he were to start this year) will have stats something like this;
37.5mpg - 18.2ppg - 6.3rpg - 4.1apg - 1.4bpg - 1.3spg -1.7t/opg 6.6 of 13.6 @ 48.5% fg - 1.3 of 3.8 @ 34%3pt - 3.2 of 4.5 @ 71%ft

Of course the points will probally be about 16 or so, and the fg% will be a bit lower. I used his last 14 games as a tool. I did the same with K-Mart and was pretty dang close.

Other than steals, those look pretty close to Artest's numbers last year. I'd be okay with Garcia starting, but I don't think that his last 14 games can dictate an entire season. I wouldn't be surprised to see 14 and 7-8 rebounds though. And with 30+ minutes of all the hustle and intangible things he does, I'd be stoked

 

[Dime Dropper]

If we lose Artest look for the Kings to start Garcia, and look for Garcia to have that breakout year

Posted this in another thread, but this is close to the #s we can expect from Garcia starting w/ about 37.5 min per game.

Garcia (if he were to start this year) will have stats something like this;
37.5mpg - 18.2ppg - 6.3rpg - 4.1apg - 1.4bpg - 1.3spg -1.7t/opg 6.6 of 13.6 @ 48.5% fg - 1.3 of 3.8 @ 34%3pt - 3.2 of 4.5 @ 71%ft

Of course the points will probally be about 16 or so, and the fg% will be a bit lower. I used his last 14 games as a tool. I did the same with K-Mart and was pretty dang close.

I think if Garcia does start, those numbers won't be too accurate. Garcia is not a scorer, he will never average 17ppg, IMO anyway. Maybe the rebounds are OK, but I don't think he'll average 4apg (maybe if he got anough minutes). The numbers as a whole just don't look too realistic, and while you did the same thing with Martin and it worked, Martin looked much more promising the year before his breakout season than Garcia did this year. You could predict Martin would be a huge threat, I just don't see that kind of production from Garcia. Although he can still be a good player I just see him as more of a spark off the bench type player. And I don't think Garcia (who is 26, by the way, not exactly young) will ever average 37 mins.

EDIT: As someone pointed out, those are the same numbers as Artest, I doubt Garcia will ever be the player Artest is.

 

[nbrans]

I seriously hope this is an agent just trying to make his client sound wanted.

Because signing Mo Pete would be incredibly stupid.

 

[Gary]

EDIT: As someone pointed out, those are the same numbers as Artest, I doubt Garcia will ever be the player Artest is.

It's ok.. People said the same thing when I posed those stats last year (forget which thread I did it in though...) but I had used all of K-Mart's starts (about 15 games) and worked them out the same way I did with Garcia's... It should be pretty accurate. Garcia is an excellent passer so I think the assists will be above 4 per game, but the points might be a bit high... As for comparing Garcia to Artest, I think Garcia can be a better team player than Artest, but Artest will always be the better indivudual player imo..

But as for Mo, I would love to get him if Garcia is starting.

 

[VF21]

I seriously hope this is an agent just trying to make his client sound wanted.

Because signing Mo Pete would be incredibly stupid.

I believe we've seen puffery like this from Bartelstein before. I'm betting your hunch is exactly right. It always looks better if you can parade a few other teams out as possible contenders for your client's services.

 

[nbrans]

I believe we've seen puffery like this from Bartelstein before. I'm betting your hunch is exactly right. It always looks better if you can parade a few other teams out as possible contenders for your client's services.

Ahhh.. Bartelstein. Yeah, he's the worst about this. Last year he was telling everyone we were interested in Darius Songaila and Devean George when obviously there was no way they made any sense.

 

[Ryle]

Ahhh.. Bartelstein. Yeah, he's the worst about this. Last year he was telling everyone we were interested in Darius Songaila and Devean George when obviously there was no way they made any sense.

It's Petrie's M/O to contact every agent to assess the Market Value for the players. In turn agents(Bartlestein in particular) will float out that teams name indicating they are interested to drive up the price.

 

[Wuster]

No mo' Mo.

 

[Fresno King]

This free agent class sucks. The only guys I'd want are Wallace, Darko, Pietrus and Blake, and we're most likely not going to get any of those guys. I'm all for passing up on the buffet, thanks. Let's try to improve via trades and acquiring draft picks.

 

[allrightythen]

I don't believe it. I'm sure its just the agent talking up interest for his client. If I was going to add a veteran to this team, I don't think it'd be Mo-Pete.

 

[fnordius]

Agent: Hello?
Geoff: Hi, this is Geoff Petrie. Are you Mo's agent?
Agent: Yes, I am Mr. Peterson's agent. Are you interested in pursuing his services?
Geoff: Oh, Mo Peterson? Uhhh... there's been some sort of mixup, we were thinking about Mo Williams, someone must have given me the wrong telephone number. Sorry for the confusion. *click*

 

[nbrans]

I also think there's a whole lot of quid pro quo that goes on between agents and GMs. Mark Bartelstein represents both Mo Williams and Morris Peterson. Petrie calls Mark, says, "Hey, what do you have in mind for Mo Williams? You know we need a young point guard." Mark says, "Well, we'll see, but in the meantime, I'm going to tell the Bee you're interested in Mo Peterson to help drive up his value, why don't you tell the Bee you're interested as well. If you do that we'll remember the favor in case the negotiations don't work with Milwaukee." It doesn't hurt a thing since we're basically just driving up his price for another team.

This is all speculatoin on my part, but it's what I would do if I were an agent. I really can't imagine that we're interested in Mo Pete.

 

[fnordius]

Mark Bartelstein represents both Mo Williams and Morris Peterson.

Wow, I didn't know/remember that. Suddenly my "two Mo" theory sounds somewhat plausible. And I hope that you're right, nbrans. If we can't get a SF along the lines of Thornton or Gerald Wallace to fill a vacancy left by Artest, then I really don't want to sign someone that could be mistaken for a 30 year old John Salmons.

 

[piksi]

Mo Pete as the "go to guy" would be benifitial for the 2008 drat and for 2009 and 2010 and so on

 

[Kings113]

I don't think this means much... it's just "interest", from whatever degree from us, and the agent exaggerating it possibly. I doubt Peterson would turn down Miami or Utah, to come to a rebuilding, little chance at best of playoffs Kings team.

Utah or Miami would be ideal fits for Peterson and have his name written all over their needs.

Don't see us getting him.

 

[fnordius]

Well, that nightmare's over, finally.

MoPete Finds a Home
Free-agent swingman Morris Peterson has agreed to terms on a four-year, $23-million contract with the New Orleans Hornets. After meeting with the Jazz and fielding interest from as many as five other teams, Peterson chose to join a Hornets squad that desperately needed a starting shooting guard to allow Peja Stojakovic to play his more natural small forward position. The Hornets have wanted Peterson's services before, signing him to an offer sheet in 2004 when he was a restricted free-agent of the Toronto Raptors; the Raptors matched the deal and kept Peterson until letting him leave as an unrestricted free agent this summer.