First official day of free agency open thread

by Mike Prada on Jul 11, 2007 2:25 PM EDT in Free Agency Comment 15 comments

I don't even think there's a real point to this post, but tomorrow officially opens the free agency period. The official 2007/08 salary cap is 55.63 million, and the luxury tax threshold is 67.8 million. The Wizards apparently are just under 60 million in total salary, according to Ivan's article. Contracts can be officially signed starting tomorrow, so I guess player movement should pick up a bit.

Post any free agency comments here. I'll leave you with this nugget from the end of the article linked above.

According to team sources, the Wizards and unrestricted free agent shooting guard DeShawn Stevenson have reached in impasse in negotiations. The Wizards have offered a four-year, $15 million contract, but Stevenson is seeking closer to $18 million over four years, according to sources. . . .

I'm going to sleep on that news and consider it tomorrow, but in the meantime, feel free to post your reactions and any other random free agent thoughts of any kind here.

Update [2007-7-11 14:4:44 by Pradamaster]: Here's more Stevenson stuff, as well as a new name we haven't heard about yet. Per Ivan's blog:

If you read today's Post (and once again, I know you did) you'll see that I had an item mentioning that talks between DeShawn Stevenson and the Wiz had reached an impasse as of last night. According to my sources, the Wiz have offered a four-year deal worth $15 and DeShawn wants something closer to four-years, $18 mill or five years, $20 mill.

Neither side has said anything crazy about the other and it's obviously possible that a meeting of the minds can take place. The wild card in all of this is DeShawn's leverage via talks with other teams. So far, he's had nibbles but I think everyone is waiting to see what goes on with the Wizards because it's been no secret that Ernie's priority has been to keep DeShawn. Stay tuned.

Something to chew on: I saw free agent shooting guard Devin Brown out here yesterday. His agent, Derrick Powell, has a bunch of guys playing in the summer league, including Wiz pg Brian Chase. I hear that Powell and Ernie rapped last night but I can't say for sure that the team has serious intentions for Brown, who put up 11.6 points per game on 42 percent shooting in 58 games with the Hornets last season. Again, I'll keep you posted.

To the question of DeShawn's leverage, I have to ask, who's nibbling? Again, I'd be shocked if nobody was nibbling at all, but I'm surprised that we haven't seen rumors of other teams interested in Mister 50.

As for Devin Brown, that's actually a pretty nice cheap alternative. Check out their numbers from this past season.

Note: WS is Win Shares, a stat extensively used in baseball that, admittedly, is still being tinkered to work in the NBA. Here's an article that describes how it's calculated. RR refers to Roland Rating, a stat popularized by 82 Games.

Brown actually has a leg up in pretty much every category on that list. DeShawn's true shooting percentage is a bit higher, but I imagine Brown's will improve if he's paired with Gilbert Arenas. I don't really know much about Brown's defense though, so I imagine Stevenson has a leg up there. Still, if the options are Stevenson for 4.5 million or Devin Brown for 2-3 million, give me Brown every time.

One last item for now. Not only is this the first official day of free agency, but it's also Mr. Writer/Youtubesman's 19th birthday. The site has grown considerably since Jake started posting on the main page at the end of the season, so I hope everyone can wish him a happy birthday.

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DeShawn Stevenson did not learn from last year

He almost priced himself out of the league and I hope he has priced himself off the Wizards because I don't think he is worth 4/15 and that by mid-season of year one of that contract, he will no long be a starter for the Wizards. Better wake up DeShawn...

by LoneWiz54 on Jul 11, 2007 8:40 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

History repeating itself?

When DeShawn lost that $20K to Gilbert, it had to hurt, since he was only making a little over the veterans minimum. Seems like he wants to put himself in the same position again.

by Vanilla Gorilla on Jul 11, 2007 9:17 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

comparisons

I think what's pushing deshawn is that AD is getting 6 mil a year off the bench. I'm a big fan of AD, but i dont think EG's the type to make the same mistake twice.

by future on Jul 11, 2007 10:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

AD proved in the playoffs he has skills still

His big problem is that EJ sucks at using his bench. You might be right about DeShawn, but I just don't think he is worth anymore than 3years/9 million.

by LoneWiz54 on Jul 11, 2007 10:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The bigger problem with AD

is that he really doesn't fit in here. He's a point guard that needs the ball to be effective, but so is Gilbert, and Gilbert is way more effective than AD.

This will definitely be the subject of a longer post, but Ernie would be very dumb to not try to explore AD's value. To a team that needs a point guard, he would be very valuable. The Wizards simply aren't that team.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Jul 11, 2007 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

If you trade Antonio Daniels

you had better have a backup behind Gilbert who is not named Donnell Taylor.

www.dcprosportsreport.com

by Spence on Jul 11, 2007 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe

But if Gilbert is playing 40 minutes a game anyway, what's the point of having a high-priced backup? You might as well stick with Taylor and devote more money to finding good backups at the 2.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Jul 11, 2007 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Again, I think AD can have an effective function

on this team, but EJ does not know how to use him. There is no need for Gil to be averaging 40 mins a game with AD on this team. EJ has to have more faith in the bench and learn how to place players in position to be successful and how to develop young players. I think AD has tremendous trade value around the league, but I don't want Taylor to be the first point guard off the bench, unless he has improved his game greatly from last year. It would be wise to see what AD could bring back in possible trades...

by LoneWiz54 on Jul 11, 2007 2:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree

That Eddie needs to learn how to develop the bench more, but I think even the best head coaches would play Gilbert close to 40 minutes a game.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Jul 12, 2007 1:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Exceptional

The thing about DeShawn is that he's not exceptional at anything. He's an average player (recognizing that average for the NBA is very high level basketball) in pretty much every respect -- average shooter, average scorer, slightly above average defender -- in all, a good guy to have him on your team, but he doesn't do anything that compels you to do whatever it takes to get him. But the guys he's being compared to in an effort to assess his value DO do something exceptional. Jason Kapono is arguably the best outside shooter in the league. Matt Carroll also is an exceptional shooter. Even AD is exceptional, having led the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio last season and finished second two season ago.

The more I think about it, the more I agree with LoneWiz that $3 million per ought to be the max offer for DeShawn.

by Vanilla Gorilla on Jul 11, 2007 10:38 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

agreed

i agree with yall, i was a surprised deshawn didnt take the magic's offer last year, and thought, hey their loss is our gain, but he was getting paid the minimum, and now that he wants 4yrs/18m.. when he's barely worth 3 yrs/9mil, for an easily replaceable player, im hoping its some other team next year thats signed him to a minimum, then has this headache next summer.

by future on Jul 11, 2007 11:12 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

devin brown

thats interesting. I think he'd fit well on the wizards. Hes a different type of player than deshawn, more of a 2/3 combo whos probaly a stronger rebounder and better jump shooter(i think, just from catching him play every now and then) but not as competent a ball handler and im not sure of defense. Devin brown for 2-3 mill would be a good signing.

Im well on the record for this, i think 4 years 18 mill for deshawn is a deal we should just go ahead and sign. The effect of his salary having an extra 500 grand on it each year is less than the impact of us losing him. It might be a little bit of an overpay for his skill set, but compared to salaries other people are getting, its fair and fine.

Just no jarvis hayes!

I hear what you(prada) have been saying about the interest of other teams never being mentioned, but that doesnt mean it wont be there if negotiaions break down with the wizards. I just dont want us to lose him over a couple million that, big picture, arent very signifigant.

Any word on blatche negotiations? I dont know what to think of the fact that we havent seen any rumors concering where negotiations between him and the wizards are at this point.

by Wooz on Jul 11, 2007 10:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The problem

is that the Wizards are so close to the tax threshold that every dollar matters. If Stevenson is signed for 4.5 million, that leaves only 3 million or so left for Blatche, and you have to think someone will offer more than that.

My view is not that Stevenson isn't worth 4.5 million a season necessarily, it's that it makes no sense for the Wizards specifically to pay that much for him. If the cap situation was more flexible, then I don't see a problem overpaying Stevenson a bit. But since overpaying Stevenson could very well mean we have to pay the tax (and believe me, Abe's not going there), there's no reason to do it, not with capable alternatives in Devin Brown and JCN waiting in the wings. From Stevenson's perspective, the fact that there have been very few rumors out there increases the chances that he'll simply have a repeat of last year. Since I doubt Ernie's going any higher than 4 years/15 million, I think it would be prudent for DeShawn to just re-sign, to be totally safe.

I've been meaning to clarify this point with Ivan through e-mail (we've met once or twice, so he sort of knows me), but I'm pretty sure the Wizards can't do anything with Blatche until someone signs him to an offer sheet. I know that, with first-round picks, you can elect to make a minimum qualifying offer to keep him as a RFA, and then, provided nobody makes a higher offer, he just accepts it. I'm not sure the same rule applies to second-round picks though. Either way, it seems like Ernie's waiting for someone to throw an offer at him that they'll just match, which I'm not sure is the right strategy, if in fact they are allowed to work something out. The good news is that Amir Johnson, a similar upside-type guy for the Pistons, reportedly signed for just over 3 million a season today, which would be very reasonable, IMO, for Blatche.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Jul 11, 2007 10:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah yeah yeah

I just liked the way stevenson played off of arenas and jamison and i liked the dynamic of the locker room. Though, maybe we could use to get more serious. I dont see timmy d challenging oberto to 3pt contests and putting it on youtube. They should just meet in the middle and everyone will be happy.

Maybe im just too quick to spend abe polins millions.

That makes sense about blatche. Id be thrilled if we could sign him for 3mill, but i expect it to be 4-5.

by Wooz on Jul 11, 2007 10:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Clarification on Blatche

From Wizards Insider:

I haven't really had much to say about Andray's situation because nothing has changed. He's a restricted free agent and the entire league understands that Ernie will likely match any reasonable offer. Also, it's not as though anyone really has the cap space to throw a big contract his way. Charlotte just gave noted Wiz killer Gerald Wallace huge money. Orlando dumped a max deal on Rashard Lewis. Memphis gave Darko a big contract. Milwaukee has money but plans on signing Mo Williams and possibly Charlie Bell.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Jul 12, 2007 1:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs