Loading ...Ross Siler and Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune: “If you add up the numbers, the Jazz are projecting to have a $74.5 million payroll for 2009-10. That includes exercising the options for Almond and Fesenko. That’s also without re-signing Millsap. It assumes that Boozer, Okur and Korver won’t opt out, but the payroll would grow even more if they did and the Jazz wanted to keep all three. Keep in mind the NBA’s luxury-tax threshold is set at $71.15 million this season and the Jazz would have to pay not only a dollar-for-dollar penalty for exceeding it, but they also would lose a share of the tax revenue split among teams. That amounted to $3 million this season. As much as I agree with O’Connor in saying that too much focus is on the future rather than the present, I can’t help but wonder if matching the offer to Miles means that Jazz fans are going to be asking themselves next summer why the team isn’t re-signing Paul Millsap . . . or Ronnie Price . . . or Kyle Korver . . . or somebody else.”
Blazer’s Edge: Blogs and [Media] Credentials: Part 2
Mike Baldwin of The Oklahoman: Baldwin breaks down the formula that determes an NBA team’s 82-game schedule
Ryan McNeill of Hoops Addict: Interview with blogger to Online Editor of Slam Magazine Ryne Nelson
K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune: “The closest thing that Europe has to the NBA is the Euroleague because it consists of all the top teams in Europe. These teams have the biggest budgets and therefore have the ability to secure the best players. Olympiacos plays in both the Euroleague competition and the Greek League. The Greek League is one of the better leagues in Europe but there is a considerable drop off in parity from the top four to five teams and the rest of the league. This situation is very similar to most domestic leagues in Europe. Think of the domestic leagues in Europe like college basketball in the States (some conferences stronger than others) and the Euroleague as your NBA.” - Olympiacos assistant Manos Manouselis on the Josh Childress situation
Matt Watson of Detroit Bad Boys: “This is a move that should make Pistons fans happy. Yes, Brown was a bust when taken first overall, and, sure, he may have been overpaid the last three years. But $8 million over two years? For a legitimate center with underrated defensive skills? Yeah, I’ll take that any day of the week, especially considering if Brown proves to be worth half a damn he’ll almost certainly opt-out after this season in search of a better deal.”
Jason Quick and Bruce Ely of The Oregonian: A 10-part blog series centered around Brandon Roy
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “The Bobcats significantly raised their offer – both in dollars and contract length – to make this happen. A source familiar with the situation said last week the Bobcats were offering closer to $10 million this summer than the $12 million average that ultimately got the job done. That lower offer ticked off the Okafor camp and caused some hurt feelings. Higgins told the Observer Friday that he wasn’t interested in any sign-and-trade of Okafor, but acknowledged it was also not in the team’s best interest for Okafor to sign a one-year, $7 million qualifying offer. As other big men signed (Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut and Golden State’s Andris Biedrins) it became apparent that a long-team deal, in the $12 million-average range, was a fair number.”
Sekou K Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “So let me get this straight, Emeka Okafor gets $72 million, Monta Ellis $66 million and Andris Biedrins $62 million and folks are still willing to stand on this argument about the market value of restricted free agents? I think the market has spoken. And the going rate for a real player (and in some cases what might be a real player) is in upwards of $60 million.”
ClipperSteve of Clips Nation: “Does Ricky Davis have issues? Well, sure. But what do you want for $2.3M? The Clippers needed a swing man, capable first and foremost of backing up the small forward position, but also capable of playing some guard. Check and check. They needed someone who could shoot with range. Check. Someone capable of scoring off the bench. Check. And they only had $2.3M to spend, so Luol Deng was not really an option. The contract is a thing of beauty. The first year salary was dictated by the amount of money the Clippers had to spend. But the fact that he has a player option for the second season means that he has lots of incentive to play well, hoping to get more money next year. (Although I don’t expect him to opt out, as he played pretty well last year in Miami, and this is all he got offered, so it’s unlikely he’s going to increase his stock a lot playing behind Thornton. But the incentive is there nonetheless.) And it’s only two years total, bringing to four (Ricky, Cat, Thomas and Camby) the number of Clippers whose contracts expire in summer 2010.”
