I don't see this as a particularly negative piece of news, all things considered.
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I don't see this as a particularly negative piece of news, all things considered.
It does not look good for Spurs signing him. He is just going to wait. He can make more money and still sign with a good team. He is in a good position. Free agents suck this year. We are talking about Maggette for crying out loud.
Really all it takes is one phone call from Tim Duncan to seal this deal. If Tim recruits Corey, we can snag him. For all we know, he's already done it....
Honestly, I don't fault Maggette for waiting out G.S. and Philly. If G.S. loses Brand (which is probably going to happen), they can certainly throw some of that $$$ his way. Philly is more complicated, since they would have to wait for the Hawks to match their offer to J. Smith, which could take up to 7 days....but if he thinks he's winning a championship in one of those places before winning one in S.A., then good luck!
That's the thing has never made much sense to me in this story. If you're Golden State or Philadelphia, are you really going to pay huge money to Corey Maggette if you could take the chance on offering a big deal to much younger players like Josh Smith, Emeka Okafor, or Luol Deng? That strikes me as true even if those guys might be longer shots to ultimately sign. I'm not trying to suggest that any will leave their current teams -- it makes more sense for all to stay put -- but if I'm a GM and trying to build a team, I'm more inclined to go above the MLE to get those sorts of guys than I am to get Maggette, who can be pretty fairly lumped in with a group of above average wings and who is among the older players in that group.
I think the calculus is very different for teams like the Spurs and Celtics, for whom the window is closing. Maggette is a very different player for a team looking to extend its opportunity to compete than he would be for a team that is looking to rebuild or reach another level in the middle of the pack.
Certainly, logical basketball fits are not going to be Maggette's primary concern here and I can understand that he's wise to think hard about waiting out the market to see what happens with the RFA's. But looking at this from the perspective of the teams making the offers, does it really make a lot of sense to spend excessively on a guy like Maggette if you're the Sixers or Warriors? Will he really make that much of a difference to those teams? I'd dispute it -- and it sounds like those front offices might be thinking the same way.
Brand hasn't made his choice for the moment. If Brand decides to leave Clippers, it changes a lot of things for Maggette with re-signing with Clippers or a S&T becoming possibilities.
Once Brand make his choice and if it's re-signing with Clippers, I expect things to go quite fast with Maggette.
I respect your opinion, but I disagree, as I'm sure pretty much everyone else will, too.
Just because the Spurs will have a swingman as good as CM doesn't mean they will just tell Manu "Hey Manu, we don't really care if you play in Beijing anymore, go ahead and risk injuring yourself more, we really don't care."
Manu is still one of the best players on the team, and there's no way you can let one of your stars(who is injured) play any more basketball until he is fully healed.
The Spurs FO will be very cautious. Maggette on the Spurs won't change that one bit.
They don't know for a fact and probably won't know for days/weeks. I highly doubt a Maggette signing would influence the spurs one way or another on letting Manu play in the olympics anyways. If he's healthy enough, he'll play, if he's not, then he won't. It's that simple. Signing Maggette won't magically make the spurs agree to let an unhealthy Manu play in the olympics.
I'm not as knowledgable as a lot of people on this site so I rely on you guys for a lot of info, so Thanks in adavance.
My question is about the MLE as it pertains to the duration of a contract. So if the MLE is ~5.8 this year is that the highest annual figure that could be in a long term contract, say a 5 year deal? Or can the contract be that for the first year and then escalate to higher salaries in the later years?
I guess if the answer is no, perhaps the sticking point for Maggette is not whether or not to come to SA but it is for how long to sign for and be at the MLE?
Yet another reason I dislike the offseason. I hate this waiting game bullshit. It sounds like there's hope for the Spurs but until he signs on the dotted line I'm going not going to get my hopes up that we won't get another Splitter style boot to the nuts.
Exactly. I bet the Spurs gave Maggette some kind of timeframe based on when Brand makes his decision. I'm not sure Maggette will wait to see how things play out with the Warriors and Sixers with their RFA offers. At some point the MLE destinations he deems to be desirable will go in another direction. Before I forget, there's too much of a focus in the media and in this forum on the fact that a team can offer Maggette the MLE. That's not what he's looking for. He's looking for a team which will have enough cap room in the near future (2 years) to give him a big payday or to sign and trade him to a team that will. I think he will want to become a free agent in the Great LeBron Summer of 2010 when half of the NBA will have max cap flexibility. That scratches Boston, LA, Phoenix, and Detroit off the list. In addition, he will want to join a team that will give him a starting opportunity, minutes, and an opportunity to make an impact. That narrows down the list to the Spurs and the Magic. If Maggette goes to a team that's capped out for the foreseeable future then he's pretty much resigned to playing for the MLE for the rest of his career.
In simple sales terms, one would think that being somewhere that will give him an opportunity to make a big impact deep in the playoffs would be even more desireable. More than a few guys have made a killing in the free agent market by having big-time success on teams that make deep playoff runs. When it comes to that category, there's no better show in the league than the one playing in San Antonio these days. For Maggette to be the guy who has a chance to put that group over the top again would (one would think) send his value on the free market soaring.
As a Spurs fan, I'm hopeful that Maggette's representation has been thinking about his situation in the sorts of pure economic terms that Marcus and Bruno have been expounding upon for the last week or so. And I'm hopeful that even if Maggette's not approaching this from a pure-basketball fit standpoint, that those who are making decisions in NBA front offices are taking that tack, particularly as what promises to be the NBA's Summer of Love looms a couple of years down the road.
Though a bit dated, the Spurs can point to DA as a prime example that they will follow through on helping a talented free agent who signs with them at a below market rate get paid. Plus the Spurs have shown that they will pay guys who join the team on smaller deals (ie Ginobili).
If Maggette joined a team without the cap flexibility in 2010 to give him a long-term above MLE deal, then he'd have to stay with them for 3 years until they gained his full Bird Rights (2011). Even then, he'd be dealing with the likelihood that the team is not only capped out but perhaps facing the luxury tax. Plus the number of other teams in the league with cap room may look more like this summer than the summer of 2010. In any event, would that team want to commit to an above average deal with a 32 year old shooting guard? Plus, if they are unwilling due to financial concerns, are they really going to help facilitate a sign and trade?
If Lakers get their hand on Magette...then we better sign Sasha...but Lakers will become scarier than Fuckin Celtics
Im getting sick of CM, Im afraid our FO dont even try to contact him at all.....we got no official news but well, u know...
God, will you just get fucking banned already? Shit.
you are a rookie you know shit
That's a curious take, given that the Spurs have been reported to be actively courting Maggette and that Maggette is truly considering joining the Spurs. Add to that the fact that nothing can happen for another couple of days and I'm not really sure what some want. There is no official news.
Is it realistic to think that Maggette will advise the world of his intentions when the market hasn't yet been established? I wouldn't think so.
C'mon Corey, take the money and go to a team with cap space. None of this piggybacking a ring bullshit.
If he goes to either San Anton or Boston for the MLE, then that team wins the title.