Player Movement Thread (Was Free Agency Thread)

[DuckyNinja]

Is Billy King working as a consultant for the Bucks?

[TheGuiltyParty]

I think there's something that goes along you can't teach height

Wow. Team's are stupid. Didn't Chris Paul finish 2nd in MVP voting this season? Didn't he lead the Hornets to 2nd best record in the West? What did or has Bogut done individually or for his team??

The Bucks are dumb!

[jemagee]

No, it's worse, a US senator owns the bucks, i mean talk about someone who knows how to waste money on international aid that won't do a damn thing

[pointguard86]

Is Billy King working as a consultant for the Bucks?

Maybe he's working working in the shadows.  Wait, did the Bucks outbid themselves?

[TheGuiltyParty]

Instantly this contract becomes one of the 20 worst in the league. Something weird happened over the past 18 months... we suddenly stopped making stupid decisions and other teams picked up for our absence.

[jemagee]

If only we could figure out HOW this happened...maybe the phillies will figure it out before giving amaro the job

[tk76-]

Instantly this contract becomes one of the 20 worst in the league. Something weird happened over the past 18 months... we suddenly stopped making stupid decisions and other teams picked up for our absence.

Yeah, since when do we have the GM who pounces on an opportunity that is created by another team's mismanagement of a contract situation (Brand?)

Even if we didn't have such a promising roster, I'd say as a Sixer fan things are looking up.

Man does it feel unatural to say that- and I was hoping we would start tanking 18 months ago...

[TheGuiltyParty]

Isn't there a new GM in Milwaukee? I thought they hired Joe Dumar's right hand man. If so, he's off to a rough start.

[jemagee]

I think the new GM is under pressure from the still stupid owner to 'get to the playoffs now'...

[Skates]

Instantly this contract becomes one of the 20 worst in the league. Something weird happened over the past 18 months... we suddenly stopped making stupid decisions and other teams picked up for our absence.

Henry Abbott hit it right on the head on his ESPN column, the difference between the two conferences can be traced directly to management and ownership:

More than a year ago, I was on a media bus from the hotel to Quicken Loans Arena for the NBA Finals, where the San Antonio Spurs were due to smack around the Cleveland Cavaliers for a fourth straight game.

We were talking, not surprisingly, about the imbalance between conferences.

Was it just a case of luck? Certainly, that was a big part of it. For instance, if some East team had won the Tim Duncan sweepstakes, we might think very differently about the conferences in recent years. Yao Ming and Greg Oden could also enter that conversation. While the East has had the top overall pick in LeBron James and Dwight Howard years, the conference has also been there for drafts led by the likes of Kwame Brown, Andrea Bargnani, and Andrew Bogut. All can play, but none in a way that shifts the balance of power.

There are some small built-in injustices. For instance, it's an oddity that the stronger conference ends up getting more than its fair share of lottery picks. (If conference were not a factor in making the playoffs, Philadelphia and Atlanta would have had the lottery picks that ended up in the hands of Golden State and Portland. Repeated year after year, that makes a difference.)

But the best explanation we media fold on the bus could come up with, to explain the persistent imbalance, was that the West had more than its fair share of top front office management.

For instance:

Jerry West used every trick in the book to unite Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
The Spurs were ahead of their time in appreciating international players, and made visionary draft picks in Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.
The Suns made the right gamble on Steve Nash.
Mitck Kupchak is now considered great again.
Jeff Bower has pushed the right buttons in New Orleans.
Everyone in the League seems to think Kevin Pritchard has some kind of mad voodoo.
But there are flickers of life in the East. Danny Ainge brought the league's best defensive big man East and won a title. Donnie Walsh has people optimistic in New York.

And how about that Ed Stefanski in Philadelphia?

The Sixers hired Stefanski on December 4, 2007. He talked to the staff, made some changes to how the team was run, and swapped around some personnel.

But look what happened! A team that had gone 40-59 from the beginning of the 2006 season until Stefanski's hire finished the year 35-30, even while gaining cap flexibility.

A lot of that was on the backs of players previous GM Billy King had drafted, like Thaddeus Young and Jason Smith. But Stefanski was a key factor in getting those young guys playing time.

The Sixers even managed to beat the mighty Pistons twice in the playoffs.

They could have won even more, it seemed, but for the fact that their most reliable scorer, Andre Iguodala, was stymied against Detroit's defense. Virtually all of Philadelphia's scorers are pretty opportunistic, and when Detroit's good defense took the opportunities away, as good teams do in the playoffs ... things got monumentally stagnant.

This was a promising team, in need of a real, big-time, adult scorer.

And against just about everyone's expectations, and thanks to some fancy footwork to trade for even more cap space, Stefanski has reportedly hauled in the absolute cream of the free agent crop, Elton Brand.

Now I look at the Philadelphia roster and say, hey ... not bad. Everybody in the NBA is excited to see the futures of Thaddeus Young and Louis Williams unfold. So there will be improvement there, and likely from Jason Smith too. But now that happens in a context with a rock-solid starting five of Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala, Young, Elton Brand, and Samuel Dalembert, backed up by Williams, Willie Green, Reggie Evans, Smith, and rookie big man Marreese Speights.

John Hollinger likes the mix, and who wouldn't?

What's more, the team clearly needs to add some reliable outside shooting, and Brand could be a free agent magnet. (Remember last month when he did that for the Clippers?) Some free agents really want to win. With Brand, Philadelphia might be in the running for people who have other options.

That would be the icing on the "Welcome Back to Relevancy" cake they should be serving this morning at Sixers headquarters.

So, call the doctor! How do you solve the imbalance between the conferences? There are no miracles. There is no way to immunize a whole conference against incompetence. But there are sometimes successful local operations. One by one, sick franchises can be rehabilitated. In Philadelphia, Ed Stefanski has his scrubs on and is proving to be a skilled surgeon indeed.

[TheGuiltyParty]

Ric Bucher was just on SportsCenter. Here's a quick recap.

- A lot of GMs are upset about the Bogat extension. The fact that he's getting that much money means that Biedrins and Okafor will probably command similar dollar amounts.

- The Clippers are currently meeting with Josh Smith. Bucher said that if LAC goes over an offer of $11MIL per year, the Hawks may let him walk

- GSW will probably make a trade for one of Memphis' PGs

- We should know where Posey will sign within the next 24 hours and Barry's decision should be within 48 hours

[noah]

Ric Bucher was just on SportsCenter. Here's a quick recap.
- A lot of GMs are upset about the Bogat extension. The fact that he's getting that much money means that Biedrins and Okafor will probably command similar dollar amounts.
- The Clippers are currently meeting with Josh Smith. Bucher said that if LAC goes over an offer of $11MIL per year, the Hawks may let him walk
- GSW will probably make a trade for one of Memphis' PGs
- We should know where Posey will sign within the next 24 hours and Barry's decision should be within 48 hours

Thanks, man.  Whew, I'm TV-less, and craving any FA fodder like an addict on the streets.  Thanks for the hit.

Bogut was a disastrous signing IMO... For Hammond's first move since drafting Joe Alexander (over Brook Lopez, mind you), this was certainly not the way to endear the shrewd Bucks fans and executives around the league.  At all... Wow, we have a new fish at the table, for all you poker players out there.... 

IMO, Joe Alexander was a questionable pick over Brook Lopez.  I was in strong disagreement with the pick at the draft... watching Lopez wait that long didn't make good basketball sense... Especially since the Bucks acquired RJ to play the 3... But I still love that Yi trade, so the jury's still out on Hammond altogether.  But Bogut now makes Brand look like a serious bargain.

Who's it gonna be, boys? We know it's coming... Eddie is too shrewd not to add a modest shooter:

Matt Carroll
JJ Redick
Roger Mason

-Ben Gordon will be way too expensive...  And if there's any possible chance to nab Luther Head whatsoever, I deal.  Thoughts?



 

[DuckyNinja]

I'm 99% sure at this point that Bill Simmons could be doing a better job running the Bucks than Hammond.  The trade was horrible for the Bucks.  It ties up a lot of cap space for the foreseeable future to a guy who doesn't put them anywhere near the top while giving away cheap youth.  They won talentwise, but it was still a stupid move overall, as was taking Alexander over Lopez.

Mason signed already, I believe to SA but I could be wrong, and the other guys would require a trade, probably moving Jason Smith or Reggie Evans.  There's other cheap FA options that could/should be just as good (that you can find easily listed on page 25 of this topic!).  But yeah, it's nice to have a GM who actually has a plan and both the brain and the balls to implement it.

[Skates]

Next year the Bucks will have about $48 million dollars committed to paying just these five guys:

Richard Jefferson
Michael Redd
Andrew Bogut
Dan Gadzuric
Mo Williams

There is an all-star team for you.  Oh, and not a single one of those contracts expires after next year, salary cap hell thy name is the Bucks.

[tk76-]

So does that mean the Sixers would have gotten Smith if the whole Brand thing fell through?  Ed is looking like a man amongst boys out there this off-season.

Anyone having second thoughts about Brand over Smith?  And then maybe add Critt?  It would have been an awedroppingly athletic show, but fro me, no regrets.