Originally Posted by acidicality
Skip Bayless was saying Gilbert might go back to Oakland too. But, I guess, he isn't very credible to begin with
Davis considers options after passing up $17.8M Warriors option
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: July 1, 2008, 2:49 PM ET
In his first public statement on his unexpected foray into free agency, Baron Davis acknowledged Tuesday that he is considering a free-agent move to his hometown Los Angeles Clippers but insisted that his preference remains staying with the Golden State Warriors.
Communicating with ESPN.com's J.A. Adande via e-mail, Davis wrote: "Clipps r possible. G State is where I wanna b."
Davis surprised the Warriors on Monday by forfeiting next season's $17.8 million salary for the right to become an unrestricted free agent, after numerous indications from the Davis camp that he was not likely to opt out.
Elton Brand likewise opted out of next season's $16.4 million salary with the Clippers on Monday to join Davis as an unrestricted free agent, creating a scenario in which L.A. could have in excess of $25 million for the 2008-09 campaign to split between the two of them, so long as the Clippers are willing to renounce their rights to unrestricted free agent Corey Maggette and able to convince Brand to take a slight pay cut.
Maggette also opted out of his contract Monday after averaging 22.1 points per game this past season.
But Davis' statement Tuesday suggests that he is hoping his decision to opt out will convince the Warriors to return to the negotiating table after making little progress with Golden State in pursuit of a contract extension before NBA free agency commenced at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
Davis, though, isn't the only point guard on the Clippers' wish list. Sources said Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy was in the New York area over the weekend and stayed over Monday to meet with Beno Udrih of the Sacramento Kings at the first allowable minute, with Udrih coming off a strong first season with the Kings and expected to cost roughly half what Davis would.
NBA teams are permitted to commence negotiations and strike verbal agreements with free agents, with actual signings and trades on hold until a leaguewide moratorium is lifted July 9.
Brand and agent David Falk insisted that their decision to forfeit next season's $16.4 million salary and allow Brand to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career was designed to give the Clippers more payroll flexibility to strengthen the team around the face of its franchise.
Falk told ESPN.com that a visit to Boston for Game 2 of the NBA Finals to see the Celtics' triumvirate of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen was Brand's spark.
"He watched what happened when a few stars get together and agree to have a communal effort," Falk said. "He said, 'That's what I'd like to accomplish in my career.' "
Signing Davis away from the Warriors would certainly supply the Clippers with elite anchors in the backcourt as well as the front line, provided that Davis continues to stay healthy after playing all 82 games this past season and if Brand continues to recover from an Achilles tear that limited him to just eight games in 2007-08.
Davis, 29, was the key figure on a Golden State team that halted a 12-season playoff drought in 2006-07 and produced a historic first-round upset of the 67-win Dallas Mavericks in the 2007 playoffs. He then averaged 21.8 points, 7.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds playing every game this past season, but the Warriors just missed out on a second consecutive playoff berth despite a win total (4exceeded by only three teams in the Eastern Conference.
Davis has repeatedly professed his desire to establish long-term roots in Oakland and responded angrily last Wednesday to suggestions that he wanted to be traded, telling ESPN.com: "I know what's in my heart and the people in the Bay Area know what's in my heart."
But it's believed that Davis is not only frustrated by his inability to reach a long-term agreement with the Warriors but also somewhat unsettled by the fact that Golden State still must re-sign young cornerstones Monta Ellis and Andris Biedrins and has coach Don Nelson under contract for only one more season.
"[Opting out] was a difficult decision, to say the least," Ramasar said. "The past couple years, he's had a lot of success with the Warriors, and I think they've had a lot of success with him.
"But he had gotten to the point that we were at a crossroads and it was something we had to address. ... With no extension or deal in place ... [opting out] was a bit unexpected but something that I advised Baron to do."
The Clippers appear to be the only realistic free-agent destination for Davis if his opt-out gamble doesn't lead to a new round of contract negotiations with the Warriors or if he can't convince Golden State to participate in a sign-and-trade. Memphis and Philadelphia are the only other teams with cap space to offer, and neither is expected to pursue Davis.
The Warriors, meanwhile, weren't commenting Monday night, so it was not immediately known whether they plan to return to the negotiating table or if they're willing to let Davis go -- despite Golden State's success since pairing Davis with the freewheeling Nelson -- and press ahead with their growing youth movement and the cap space that would be created by Davis' departure.
Golden State let a $9.9 million trade exception -- created by the 2007 draft-day deal that sent Jason Richardson to Charlotte -- expire Monday in part to ensure that it would retain the flexibility beneath the luxury-tax line to match any offers to restricted free agents Ellis and Biedrins. The Warriors also have stockpiled a promising group of youngsters behind those two 22-year-olds: Brandan Wright, Marco Belinelli and last week's first-round pick, Anthony Randolph of LSU.
I didn't read the whole thing but all I got to say is Mullin DO NOT offer him a huge deal. We aren't going to be going deep into theplayoffs with this team, so just rebuild.
[h2]A few Warriors options, after-Baron: Arenas or Maggette for the max, offer sheet to Josh Smith, trade for Billups or Marion[/h2]
Posted by Tim Kawakami on July 1st, 2008 at 8:31 am | Categorized as NBA, Warriors
It's all dramatic. Whatever happens from here-the morning after Baron Davis' stunning decision to opt-out of his Warriors contract and become an unrestricted free agent-is going to be dramatic. It's already dramatic.
Baron could have a free-agent promise from the Clippers or he could be bluffing the Warriors with the Clippers, while waiting to see if he really can land with the Clippers. Whatever happens there: Dramatic.
Baron could go back to the negotiating table with the Warriors to see if there's a way to pry loose some more long-term cash and I'd guess Chris Mullin would be very willing to do that, if just to see what Davis and his agent are thinking. My goodness, no matter what develops from any further negotiations, that would be dramatic.
Or most likely, there could be prolonged multiple-path talks, with both sides trying to correlate the money and value for a proper sign-and-trade, moving Baron to another team for a big deal and the Warriors receiving players and/or picks in return to accomodate it all.
If I'm the Warriors, I can't go into any of this without a fallback. I'm presuming Mullin had a fallback plan for a potential (if shocking) BD opt-out, and maybe it was fellow opt-out man Gilbert Arenas.
Ivan Carter of the Washington Post blogged that he is being told that Arenas received a "flurry of calls" from the Warriors after midnight last night and added that he hears the Warriors offered Arenas a five-year deal worth more than $100M.
A max offer to Arenas would surprise me-that seems very high for a scoring point guard with a bad knee. But several things would not surprise me:
* Arenas probably heard from the Warriors-maybe not Mullin, but from somebody.
Gilbert still has many friends in the Warriors' organization. As soon as the Warriors found out that Davis was opting out, it would be natural for many of those friends to reach out to Arenas, unofficially, to see where his head was at.
* Mullin probably reached out to Arenas in some form after getting Davis' opt-out papers.
This could've been Mullin's Plan B all along or maybe even Plan A-it's obvious the Warriors weren't too serious about locking up Baron for the long-term, and I totally agree with them on that.
If you're not going to lock into Baron for long-term, what's the next-best option for a lead guard? Might be Gilbert. Might not. I'm not sure I'd want Arenas (who is 26) with Monta Ellis for the future or else I'd better be prepared for them fighting over the ball each time down the court.
* Mullin could've immediately reached out to Arenas as a shock-mechanism: Hey, this franchise has just been blown away by its best player, why not just go get a younger player to replace Baron?
That's a pretty drastic shock-mechanism, since offering that much money to Arenas would mean at least theoretically renouncing Davis' rights, Pietrus' rights, O'Bryant's rights, Matt Barnes' rights… and turning the entire future of the organization, and it's salary-cap status, to a slightly flighty and now dinged up Arenas, who already left the Warriors once.
* If the Warriors are talking big money for Gilbert, however, I'd expect him to listen. Players always have to listen.
If Arenas turns them down or the Warriors can't quite make that happen, what's next?
Mullin is a multi-tasker: I think he always has four or five things going at once, the problem with this situation is that he has to make up his mind about one thing while three or four other things are all in the air.
He has to talk to Davis, if Davis will talk.
He has to be prepared to renounce Davis, if a strong free agent is out there willing to take the Warriors' money.
He has to be prepared to let Davis walk, if that's what Davis is planning.
He has to be trying to set up advantageous sign-and-trades, if those become available.
All at once. Not one at a time.
Some of the options, if Davis isn't coming back and Arenas isn't gettable:
* Pursue Clippers F/A Corey Maggette. He also opted-out (didn't everybody?) and there's very little chance he's staying in LA. He'd cost a near-max deal, he's not a point guard, but he's a young, excellent scorer and I could see the Warriors pairing him with Ellis.
* Pursue restricted F/As Emeka Okafor (Bobcats), Josh Smith (Hawks), Andre Igoudala (76ers) or Jose Calderon (Raptors). All of these guys are interesting, but only Calderon is a lead guard and it sounds like he's staying in Toronto.
The Warriors could be massive players in the RFA market-they've got a potential $19M (if they renounce everybody except RFAs Ellis and Biedrins)-and they could load up a massive offer that another team would not want to match. (It's exactly the situation Warriors fans feared with Ellis and Biedrins when it looked like the Warriors were jammed. Not the case now.)
* Pursue sign-and-trade deals for Shawn Marion, Lamar Odom, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace or Fill In the Blank. Or a double-sign-and-trade deal for UFA Elton Brand.
This is the most likely situation, presuming that Davis wants the big money and the Clippers can't quite squeeze out enough for his liking to sign him outright. Memphis also is enough under to sign him outright, but the Grizzlies' roster doesn't seem to fit BD. If the Sixers renounce Igoudala, they could sign Davis, but they already have Andre Miller.
Most of the big names mentioned are purely short-term fixes. But Baron was already a short-timer with the Warriors before he opted-out: He had one year left. What's the problem with exchanging short-time Baron for short-time Marion, Odom, Billups or Rasheed (but not BOTH Billups and Rasheed because the money's not right and Detroit probably doesn't want to take Al Harrington in order to make the money right).
A quick breakdown of those options:
-Marion was very enticing… until the Warriors drafted Anthony Randolph, who already duplicates Brandan Wright. Marion is better than those two, but how many skinny fast forwards can one team take on?
Plus Marion wants monster money as badly as Baron and can complain as loud. I'm not sure the Warriors want that headache. Letting Baron walk for nothing (and having his money disappear) might have more draw than adding Marion for a year.
-Odom is intriguing… and he's a rebounder, which is the Warriors' No. 1 need… or was the Warriors' No. 1 need until the new gaping hole at point guard. But the Lakers would have to agree to pay Baron big money (possible) and the Warriors would have to be taking back Odom's expiring deal (at $14.5M). Possible. Tricky, but possible.
-Billups could help… But he has three years left, starting at $11M this year, and he's older than Baron.
-Rasheed Wallace has always been in the back of the Warriors' minds because he's a big man who'd fit perfectly into Don Nelson's style… and Wallace only has one year at $13.6M left… But he's a total short-timer. What does he have left?
There are about 150 other possibilities and just trying to think of them all is already making me dizzy. And it's not yet 9 a.m.
[h4]21 Responses to "A few Warriors options, after-Baron:[/h4]
Originally Posted by EBAY 23
He aint coming back get over it
your team aint going to be crap now
Originally Posted by EBAY 23
He aint coming back get over it
your team aint going to be crap now
