2010 NBA Off-Season Thread - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

bluejays · 05-24-2010, 09:09 AM

I thought now would be a good time to start up an off-season thread for the biggest UFA market in the history of the league. Apparently Dirk is about to opt out too, so another name can be out there (definitely not a guy the Raps need). Other news so far today: Cleveland fires Mike Brown (deservedly IMO). Should be an interesting next couple months.

FanIn80 · 05-24-2010, 10:11 AM

Dirk to the Suns. I can see him signing a one-year deal to play with Nash again before Steve retires.

octothorp · 05-24-2010, 10:50 AM

Other than the James storyline, the PF position is the most interesting thing. There's about ten PFs who were starters with their old teams who are free agents this year. PG, by comparison, has an extremely poor crop. It'll be interesting to see how NY (lots of cap space and nothing to trade) can build through the free agency market. I think they and Miami will serve as a cautionary tale that giving yourself lots of cap space is meaningless if you don't keep some assets for a sign-and-trade.

burning_acid1 · 05-24-2010, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Dirk to the Suns. I can see him signing a one-year deal to play with Nash again before Steve retires.

I don't know if Cuban is willing to give him up too easily. He'll probably try to re-sign him for a lot of money

burning_acid1 · 05-24-2010, 01:20 PM

I can see LeBron + Wade going to the Knicks.

Hustle · 05-25-2010, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burning_acid1

I don't know if Cuban is willing to give him up too easily. He'll probably try to re-sign him for a lot of money

There was some speculation on ESPN that Dirk actually wants to stay in Dallas. This is just a ploy for him to get a long-term big money deal now from the Mavs before the next CBA comes up (as they expect max contract figures to decrease).

I wonder where Disco Dirk falls in terms of the potential UFA's out there (regardless of position). I'd still easily take LBJ and Wade before Dirk. Bosh has more upside (just due to age), but I think Dirk is a better player right now. I like Dirk more than Stoudamire.

However this plays out... should be a very interesitng summer.

Da_Chief · 05-25-2010, 12:54 AM

Raptors should trade mr.twitter for picks and sign Dirk if he reaches the UFA.

bluejays · 05-25-2010, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

Raptors should trade mr.twitter for picks and sign Dirk if he reaches the UFA.

Can't do a sign and trade just for picks - have to have relatively equal contracts going both ways. I don't know what to think of Dirk though. I like the guys attitude as he pretty much doesn't make an ass of himself (aside from his babymamma messing around) like almost every other star does at some point. He just plays hard. I like guys like him, but I'm honestly not sold at him being a first option on a team like tha Raps (I don't think he carry a team singlehandedly like the elite stars). If a team like Orlando were to get him I think they'd be Lakers East. At this stage of the game though, I think the Raps should stay far away from him.

octothorp · 05-26-2010, 04:16 PM

If the Lakers are unable to solve the Pheonix zone defense and end up losing this series, I wonder how much that will make them consider picking up more of a drive-and-dish point-guard. It's been mentioned at times that they might be interested in Calderon, and I can sort of see how he would be a good fit.
Maybe as an add-on to a Bosh trade, there could be a Calderon/Brown swap: a starting five of Calderon, Bryant, Odom, Bosh, and Gasol seems like it would be an upgrade to their current lineup (at least offensively, and they should keep Fisher as a situational defender), and coming back in addition to Bynum, Brown would bring added defense, athleticism, and be able to play off the ball when Turk is on the court.

Hustle · 05-27-2010, 04:30 PM

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that LBJ, Wade, Bosh and Joe Johnson will get together sometime in the next two weeks to talk about their UFA situations and hear each other out.

I could easily see two of the four going to the same team.. but 3 would be insane.

Man this is a stacked UFA class.. those 4 + Amare and Nowitzki? Jeez.

malcolmk14 · 05-27-2010, 05:35 PM

Don't forget Boozer and Ray Allen

Machiavelli · 05-27-2010, 07:20 PM

I'd love to get in on that meeting.

flames_1987 · 05-27-2010, 09:51 PM

Chris Bosh better be in on those meetings, because he knows the only chance he ever has of winning is having one of those super stars playing next to him.

Otto-matic · 05-28-2010, 10:17 PM

Big Turk wants out of TO

Quote:

"When the circumstances turned against me, I lost my enthusiasm for this city. My lawyers have talked to the front office recently. Honestly, I do not want to go back to Toronto," Turkoglu told his Turkish interviewers.

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=322972

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out Turkoglu.

bluejays · 05-28-2010, 10:20 PM

I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here by bumping my own thread, but TSN has an article up about a report that Turkoglu has asked Colangelo for a release from the Raptors! Forget about re-signing CB4, getting rid of Turk's horrendous contract would like getting a Top 5 pick. If I'm Colangelo, I'd pay him up to $10M for him to GTFO (from the sounds of it he's negotiating through his lawyers). Mind you he doesn't deserve a penny, but getting rid of him would help the franchise in so many ways for the future.

edit: beat me to it Otto-matic!

arloiginla · 05-28-2010, 11:36 PM

How do they do that in the NBA? Can they just void the contract and release him? Or do they have to trade him and take a big salary back?

Antithesis · 05-29-2010, 07:01 AM

After reading the article about the situation, it makes me wonder if buyouts in the NBA can be negotiated. I think they can ... I seem to remember that a sticking point with Stephon Marbury was that he wanted more in his buyout (like his whole contract) than the Knicks were willing to offer.

octothorp · 05-29-2010, 11:51 AM

Yeah, they can be negotiated, and the amount is distributed over the length of the contract against the cap. So if the Raptors bought him out for 10 million as fleury suggests, they would take a $2.5 million cap hit for each of the next four years, which is very manageable.

Also, there's something fishy about his explanation of the nightclub incident: specifically, that none of his teammates stepped forward to say, 'Yeah, we called him and invited him out.' Either that's not how it happened, or his teammates were willing to throw him under the bus, neither of which reflects well on him. I can't believe how horribly this year went for him; I could see the potential for him to not be a fit on the court, but for everything else to happen between him and the organization and the fans...

edit: Just thinking off the top of my head here, but if Hedo's willing to be bought out, I wonder if the Raptors could use it to the Bosh situation to their advantage to dodge paying the buyout: ie., trade him to Chicago along with Bosh for Deng, Gibson, this year's Chicago pick and next year's Charlotte pick, with an agreement that Chicago can buy him out for the amount he agreed to with the Raps. If Chicago is going over the luxury threshold anyway, another 2.5 million should be small change to them.

Antithesis · 05-29-2010, 11:56 AM

Yikes - maybe I should have read closer. Thanks to both. I'd love to see him take nothing and GTFO. That's more than that putz deserves.

ipuckedyourmom · 05-30-2010, 11:08 PM

I personally think for Lebron his best move would be to go to the Orlando Magic to play with Dwight Howard.

Does anyone know the Magic's salary structure and if this could at all be a realistic possibility especially if they were to get rid of Carter or Lewis and would they be able to get rid of those contracts???