You link, I link, he links, we all link

by Mike Prada on Jul 6, 2007 11:04 AM EDT Comment 10 comments

Link dump today, because nothing's really worth expounding on yet.

According to Ivan Carter, the team has offered DeShawn a 4 year, 12 million dollar contract. This is the same amount of money as the previous offer, but with one more year attached. Still, I doubt DeShawn bites at this point, especially after seeing Jason Kapono and Matt Carroll make more with more years. This negotiation might take a while.
The news on Navarro hasn't changed much, but according to Ivan's latest blog, it appears he's going to be used as a way to entice a team to take on one of Thomas/Haywood. Ivan still seems convinced that Navarro is only trying to drive his price up in Europe, but I don't buy that. The goood news is that the Posey rumors appear to be quieting.
True Hoop's Henry Abbott spoke to one of Navarro's representatives, who confirmed that playing for the Wizards remains his top priority, despite his murky comments. He added that the speculation about other teams is mostly driven by a manipulative Spanish press.
According to Carter and John Mitchell of the Washington Times, Nick Young and O-Pec are officially under contract. Because of NBA rules, they get slotted under the set income for first-round draft picks. Speaking of, Young needs a nickname. Any ideas?
Summer League starts today, but the Wizards don't play until next Tuesday. As a reminder, here is the roster. If you have any burning questions that need to be answered, send them in so I can relay them to our blogger at Blazers Edge, who will be attending in person.
Our bitter rivals, the Cavaliers, have also thrown their lot into the Navarro sweepstakes, according to Brian Windhorst's blog. Apparently, they're also after Andray Blatche, which makes very little sense to me. I doubt they'll be anything to worry about. Dallas also seems to want Blatche as a backup plan, but I really don't see that happening. If anything, this just means that Blatche's price tag might rise a bit, but that's a risk definitely worth taking.
Remember to watch Blog Show tonight at 6 on Comcast SportsNet.

0 recs | Comment 10 comments

Comments

Visser

Visser's ranked 15 by Hollinger. It would be great if he was in the Wizards camp. The offer to 50% is an insult. It's the same offer, with another year added, that Orlando offered him last year, and it indicates to me that they think they can find another player off the street to provide 10 points and a little defense.

by billyjoe on Jul 6, 2007 12:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not an insult

I think DeShawn may find that teams don't value his game as highly as he does. Carroll and Kapono are dead-eye 3-point shooters who stretch the defense and open lanes for slashers and big. DeShawn was a good shooter last year, but he's just not the outside threat those guys are.

He has said he'll take another year at the minimum (elsewhere) rather than sign the contract he turned down from Orlando last summer. I hope it doesn't come to that, but it seems he may price himself out of the market. At some point, you have to recognize that $10 to $12 million is a boatload of money, even if Jason Kapono got more.

As for Visser, would love to see him stick around. Maybe he'll be an upgrade from one of our benchwarming bigs, although if both he and Dom McGuire are on the team, rather than the NBDL (along with Pecherov), Eddie may end up having to play a rookie big more than he might like. But if those dudes can play, I say go for it. Paul Millsap and Craig Smith both came out of nowhere to log important minutes last season.

I will be very surprised to see anyone steal Blatche from us, and while I'd rather sign JCN than deal him, we still have AD and Nick Young for backcourt depth, and if JCN helps us unload Haywood for someone worthwhile, that's a big step in the right direction.

by Vanilla Gorilla on Jul 6, 2007 2:16 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Deshawn

I think 3 years 12 million is fair for deshawn. He's worth more than 3 million per. A starter/strong bench player at 4 million a year is a good bargain, especially considering jamison's contract comes off next year and thatll alleviate some of the luxury tax concerns the team has.

If navarro can net us a good big man and lose us haywood id be more than willing to say goodbye to him. As much as id love to have him on the team, realistically he doesnt fit that great and can help us more in a trade than on the court.

by Wooz on Jul 6, 2007 2:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs