Yawn at Least so Far in Trades and Free Agency
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By Peter Rumm, MD,
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Jul 17, 2005, 09:12
Yawn!
So far the movement of free agencies and/or big trades this summer has not approached anything like last years dual seismic moves of Shaquille O’Neal to the Eastern Conference to team up with Dwyane Wade on the Heat coupled with Tracy McGrady to the Western Conference to team with Yao Ming.
This year Larry Hughes has changed his mind about staying with the talented "Golden State revisted" Arenas and Jamison duo on the Wizards to go join Lebron James on the Cavaliers. I cannot blame him for sort of breaking his word in some fans eyes "to grow with the Wizards" - nothing against Antwan Jamison or Gilbert Arenas, but they are not Lebron James (a true superstar) or Zydrunas Ilgauskas (a top tier center, a rare commidity in the NBA).
Meanwhile, the Suns may or may not be a little better as they picked up Kurt Thomas and have an offer on the table to Raja Bell but traded away Quentin Richardson.
Oh I forgot the one seismic shift this year, at least probably “in his own mind”. Jerome James, who after one decent series versus the depleted Sacramento Kings led to his self references of a “new Wilt Chamberlain”, had a horrible series versus Spurs and Tim Duncan. Yet somehow this enigmatic giant got a large contract to go and start for the New York Knicks. With all respect to you Mr. James, I saw Wilt Chamberlain play and you are not going to be Wilt Chamberlain and probably will prove to be another of Isiah Thomas’s questionable actions in his role of President of Operations for a once proud franchise.
Most likely none of these shifts will make a major difference. The Suns and the Cavaliers got some very good players. In particular, I have always liked the all around game of Thomas, but the fact remains that at a generously listed 6’9”, Mr. Thomas is seemingly under-sized to go against multiple Western “giants” such as Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, and others at the forward positions in the West. The only way this move helps the Suns is if it allows Shawn Marion to play more at his natural position of small forward.
Larry Hughes is an excellent player especially on defense although he is a good interior scorer and a tough cover. That being said he is not the shooter the Cavaliers really wanted in this off season in either Michael Redd or Ray Allen.
Maybe it is the new collective bargaining agreement that cuts a year off the maximum contract extension to 6 years or the fact that in most cases a player tends to stay in place due to the higher salary he can get from his own team and in some cases, the chance to stay and compete for a le.
Three players that stayed in place are actually most likely going to continue to help their teams:
The first of these is the indomitable Robert Horry, who almost single handily put the Spurs over the hump in the waning moments of game five to continue his history of clutch play. Mr. Horry is not a superstar but he sure knows how to win and by staying with the Spurs versus a team like the Heat, he may have helped ensure the Spurs of another le in the near future.
A second great “save” was that of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, in this case by the new GM of the Cavaliers, Mr. Danny Ferry. Mr. Ilgauskas perhaps out of loyalty to the team that stuck with him through multiple foot surgeries and the chance to continue to play with the supreme talents of Lebron James is to me a greatly under-rated player. At 7’3” he possesses rare size among the top centers of the game today and can shoot both inside and outside. When healthy his is a top 3-5 center and averaged 16.9 PPG and 8.6 rebounds per game last year. Certainly he is a piece that the Cavaliers could not lose if they wanted to move into the top echelon of the Eastern teams. With him they can begin to stake a case to challenge the “Eastern Power Triumph rate” of the Pistons, Pacers and the Heat.
Finally, perhaps the most talented available free agent stayed with the Sonics, i.e., Mr. Ray Allen. Some are beginning to write off the Sonics as a one year wonder as they have lost an under-rated coach in Nate McMillian, James, and are allegedly going to lose Antonio Daniels. However, Ray Allen moving to another team might have shifted the “power structure” as last year. Mr. Allen became not only a better all around scorer but a leader of his team as well. The Sonics in my opinion still have a lot to offer with Rashard Lewis, Vladimir Radmanovic, Luke Ridnour, and others. Don’t write them off just yet!
Maybe something big will still happen in this years trades and free agents. I sure hope so for both the fans and the league.
Don’t give up hope for some more changes that could shake up the league. There have been rumors out of San Antonio of either Tony Parker or Rasho Nesterovic moving; Shareff Abdur – Rahim is free to leave Portland and could sign with multiple teams; Stephon Marbury has been alleged to be moving despite Isiah Thomas’s strong denials to the contrary; and Eddy Curry who is a restricted free agent could be going to the Hawks (if the Bulls don’t match the offer) after seemingly getting cleared for his heart arrhythmia. The Bulls cannot afford to lose Curry if they hope to continue to improve and challenge the top Eastern teams and I believe they will match any offer and keep this enigmatic young talent.
Stay tuned until then lets all Yawn!
News/Exclusive Editor and SportsDoc/Superfan!
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"There have been rumors out of San Antonio of either Tony Parker or Rasho Nesterovic moving."
Where are they getting this Tony rumor from? I hope the whole thing, especially the latter part, proves to be false.
You all know how I am about Rasho. I'll spare you a speech and let you imagine it for yourself.
As for Tony Parker... I am nowhere near a die hard fan. However, I can't think of anyone the Spurs could realistically replace him with.
You know how the national media likes to pick on Tony because he often struggles late in series. With the lack of big news so far in free agency these guys have to come up with something to heighten interest ... true or not.
I myself have worked to discredit these rumors but they are out there - I believe both will be back next year until Spurs see how strong Nazr starts out.
I personally would not replace Parker except for perhaps 1-2 PG in league and would have to think long and hard on any!
Hey Doc,
"who almost single handily put the Spurs over the hump"
WTF with the "almost"? Robert scored all of his 21 points in Game5's last 12:03.
"almost"? No Rob, no Game5, no ring.
The only "rumors" of Tony Parker moving have been started by Spurs fans with too much time on their hands (and I'm being charitable).
The Parker rumors did not originate out of San Antonio, as your article implies. And they aren't even rumors. They were hack NBA beat writer speculation.
You claim to work to discredit these "rumors" - yet you do nothing in your article to even temper them, much less discredit them. In fact you are helping to further spread them. The next story will refer to yours, saying something like "there are now rumors circulatring on ther internet that Tony Parker may be available...".
You are either naive or irresponsible.
I am happy to see we could be moving rony parker for someone better liek steve nash
or chancey billups
He's right the Tony Parker movement rumor didnt start out here in San Antonio, and as for Rasho i'm counting down the day's till he's not in a Spurs uniform again thank the lord.
hmm what does the "liberal" media have to do with basketballl
does the liberal media want more forigners to play ?
does the liberal media want to tax the players?
does the liberal media want to protect the right of players from owners srewing them
what the are you using liberal media with sports
No offense to the writer of this article, but you should spell the names of NBA players correctly in your articles. I understand having a typo slip through your editor every once in a while, but your last article misspelled Shaquille and LeBron. Now this one misspells Shareef. At the very least, get the names right so that people can take your work more seriously.
Thanks for catching the spelling error on Shareef's name (damm that is a hard one), as for the other story believe it was a draft that was posted here as I usually double check names. Believe me it is easy to make mistakes trying to make deadlines even on common names.
As for Parker and Rasho rumors, ESPN has also been involved by the sources I have heard have had at least Rasho rumors coming out of SA. Parker (esp. for Marbury) was probably a non - story = at least in my view. However, the story was really out there in the NY area and they were claiming on the FAN (NY radio station on 660) that it originated out of a SA source.
Who really cares, the bottom line is that the Spurs will probably be little changed - which is a good thing in my opinion.
Dude you "articles" le doesn't even read properly.
Actually the bottom line is you are a hypocrite.
You say:
and yet you write an article that gives the rumors - especially the Parker rumor - MORE credibility. Show us where you have worked to "discredit these rumors" at the same exposure level on which you are spreading them.I myself have worked to discredit these rumors but they are out there
the parker rumor is way out there... they just locked him into a "reasonable" long term contract and he's only 23/24 years old. the rasho rumors might soon turn into nazr rumors too. (because of their contracts)
after getting oberto, if the spurs can get another quality 3 thats locked up for 2 or more years. that would be huge news. it means that the team that won the championship this year, comes back intact for the next few years, and they added depth and a possible future starter. (at the only spot they really needed it)
What?! You're not a die hard Tony Parker fan?!
That's it.......we can't be friends anymore, Angel!
Oh, and Rummpd, I'm suprised you didn't mention the whole Laker trade/new coach thing as part of the big summer moves....IMO, that's a big one.
PJ coming back to coach Kobe and Odom? Butler and Brown trade?........big moves, you could argue on the positive and negative side of it, yet it wasn't mentioned in the article.
Overall, I agree though...it has been a Yawn! Offseason, but that's prolly because there weren't that many big name FA's.
The only one crazy enough to will take Rasho off the Spurs hands is I. Thomas in NY. J/K. I am sure there are a couple of teams taking a look at Rasho because he is 7ft tall.
Good points but I am trying to stay away "from all things Lakers all the time"!
IMO they will be better but they would have been anyway with Kobe healthier and any decent coach.
Will be a soap opera thats for sure along way to probably a 7-8 seed if they click or if they not, LakerGod and others will have new excuses!
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