First, let me get this out of the way: CP3 is signing an extension! It hasn't been decided on if it's three years or five years - and there are financial reasons he would like either that I won't get into here - but the fact remains, he's in New Orleans for at least 4 more years. There had been rumors scuttling about that he might be willing to bolt to join LeBron in the near future, but this pretty much squashes those. Can't say I'm not extremely happy with the news, I didn't really believe those rumors, but they do like to lurk.
So . . . YAY!
Moving on. In order for the Clippers to bring Baron and Brand on board, it will become necessary for them to renounce their rights to Corey Maggette. The impact? No trades can be made with the Clippers to pick up Maggette, because they no longer have the rights to sign him for more than the salary cap allows.
This means the Hornets can now only go after him by using the Mid-Level Exception, and already I've seen reports that the Celtics, Spurs, and a couple other teams are preparing to make that offer to him. That's tough competition.
It may be a moot point, however. I haven't seen any confirmed reports that the Hornets are pursuing Maggette at all.
The only free agents the Hornets appear to be targeting at this time are James Posey and Jannero Pargo.
Posey is of course getting lots of interest around the league. From all reports, he's willing to settle for the Mid-Level Exception, but he's already rejected a preliminary offer by the Celtics that was deemed too short. It seems we'd need to give him the full Mid-Level for 5 years, which would mean he'd be collecting 7 mil at age 36. Hmm.
Pargo has said he wants to return to the Hornets, but the Nuggets, Nets, and Jazz have also reached out to him in Free Agency. Of course, those contacts are all reported by Mark Bartelstein, Pargo's agent, so you have to take that information with a grain of salt.
I'm still wondering though, what big man the Hornets are targeting. There's been a lot of rumblings in the organization that they have one in mind, but no reports have surfaced that I've seen. Diop appears to be off the market already - going to Dallas. Turiaf is restricted. Najera has said he wants the same amount he made last year.(When he was overpaid) Chris Andersen has been brought in by the Celtics to work out for them. Hope something surfaces soon.
I'll keep these updates going as long as new information appears.
21 intriguing comments post your own
sportnlife
07/02/08 06:22 AM
Competition for Maggette: Boston (so they say): Can offer championship run, but does he get to start? Where, point guard? What if Posey says yes first? Denver: He's already been on the Clippers. Besides, waiting for the ball to swing around from Iverson or Melo could get lonely. Utah: Boozer won't be working in Salt Lake for much longer (all sides agree on this). Jazz draft another 7 foot three point shooter with European game. Don't see much to offer there, except a recurring role as the inquisitive new black neighbor on Big Love. San Antonio: Splitting time with Ginobili and Bowen, while getting the chance to perfect long-range shooting with lots of open 3s on an aging team. SA is a fading lady, desperately trying to lure in new blood. New Orleans: Starting job that comes with guaranteed green light in the lane, many fast-break Sport Center highlight dunks, all the CP3 dimes your piggy bank can handle. A young talented roster, set for the next 3-4 years. Not Palookaville, anymore. So when are we gonna get in this game for real?
#1
Adam Rodney
07/02/08 07:03 AM
YEAH! HELL YEAH! LET'S GET GETTE! the hornets need to stop bullshitin'... and make some real moves for Magette. At least show me you tried, at least get some talk out there, some speculation, drum up the possibility of an amazing starting five of paul, gette, stoy-stoy, d-west, and TC. the idea alone sells itself. i trust bower but i think he is afraid to show his cards, does losing out in high profile free agency race with the celts and the spurs, make us look bad? does it devalue the team? I think not.
#2
E.J. Rios
07/02/08 07:34 AM
I really hope we can get maggette, that starting five with pargo, Ju Ju, Wells, Mo Pete off the bench would be sick.
#3
Mikey
07/02/08 08:43 AM
Yea, Maggette really screwed the pooch by opting out. It's not out of the question to do a sign-and-trade with someone who has the cap space though. Memphis seems like the most likely candidate, but what would we have to give up? I guarantee you that if a proposed sign-and-trade were discussed, Julian Wright is going to be in the conversation.
#4
Mark
07/02/08 08:49 AM
Though I salivate at the potential damage this kid could do with our line-up, I don't see this becoming a practical solution to our team. With a major contract with CP, a major contract with Predrag, and a few mid-level contracts with other players, and our penny-pinching habits, I doubt we can really afford too much this off-season. While Hilton hasn't developed quite like how we expected, I thought keeping that Darrell Arthur kid may have been a good back-up for our team. But anyway, I'd say look for some generic-brand signings this off-season in hopes of CP brining their game up.
#5
sportnlife
07/02/08 09:06 AM
Beg to differ, Mark. Next time you're rewinding through Hornets playofffootage. take a closer look at CP3's face. Guy thinks he's supposed to win. Every time. Think he'd re-up for multiple years without a commitment to getting the rest of the pieces for a title run? He's not crazy. No, when the Hornets' brass passed on the draft, they were implicitly making a promise to upgrade through free agency. They have no choice but to get into the game. Chris Paul is watching. (He's probably got Maggette's number in his "fave five" already.) Purpose, Passion, Pride? Prove it.
#6
sportnlife
07/02/08 09:13 AM
On more thing: B Scotty laid down a marker when he only signed for another two years. We'll know something more about how convincing the Hornets were in their talks with Paul about upgrading when we see how many years CP3 signed for.
#7
mW
07/02/08 11:09 AM
@ Mikey: it's my understanding that by bringing in Baron, if the Clips also re-sign Brand, they really aren't capable of performing a sign and trade with anyone. Which means, if the Hornets are talking with Maggette, we're as attractive as anywhere else, maybe more so.
www.hornetshype.com #8
Mark
07/02/08 12:10 PM
sportnlife, I hope your acquired implication ends up true, but I have not seen any history of long-term commitments (albeit usually instigated by the players) from the Hornets organization of ol'. Therefore I have no basis to believe that the organization will go above and beyond the salary cap by signing a key-name free agent. My understanding of the NBA salary limitations IS limited, so correct me if I'm wrong. But with three players at 10 mil+ next season (not to mention DX at 9, and the rest hovering around 4 mil/), unless we are willing to spend some over the budget (again, no track record to support why they'd do that), I don't know if we could afford a name-brand FA. I think the key is perhaps ridding Mike James' expensive contract somehow and signing just a ho-hum PG to free up some cap space. But I do so hope that they prove me wrong.
#9
Mark
07/02/08 12:14 PM
Oh by the way Ryan, while this squashes CP leaving town to join BronBron, it sure doesn't rule out the possibility that BronBron is shipped to join CP! Haha, just kidding. I'm not sure how that would ever work out.
#10
sportnlife
07/02/08 12:42 PM
Mark, I actually agree with you there. That's I want the Hornets to get in the game now. These kinds of situations sometimes turn dramatically, based on momentary perceptions. Consider Baron Davis, once thought to be not opting out of his 17 million plus remaining contract year now signing for about 13 and change. Huhn? Because he maybe got benched during the playoffs by the coach for poor effort? Because they didn't want to re-sign him for five years, but 3? But to my point about the Hornets and their commitment to upgrade. I repeat that any agent worth his stuff is going to press the issue of how far the team is willing to go to put a winner on the floor. Chris Paul's agent does not want to hear, "Hey, we're thinking about giving Jarvis Hayes a long look." Or, "Hey, what're you talking about? We're bringing in some unknown Scottish guy to our summer team for a tryout. This will put us over the top, for sure." For a point of reference, consider Kobe Bryant last year, or LeBron James: "Give me something to work with or I'm gone." This is the leverage the star player has at contract time. So I think there has to have been some sort of assurance that the team was working toward getting to the next level. As for what that would take this year. Well, thanks to B-Diddy going to the Clip Joint, Maggette probably can't get more than the mid-level exception in this market, which is called an exception I think because you can use it to pay a player up to a certain limit even if you go over the cap. If there's only a handful of teams with real cap space, and none of them are in the market for a player like Maggette, then it's all about him choosing from the handful of teams that can ONLY offer him about the same 5.7 million per year contract, regardless of their current salary commitments or cap space. It's then up to him to find the best professional and personal fit. The Hornets have a very good pitch to make in a level playing field like this, but they need to be making it now. Some slimy gm my be whispering to his agent, "The Hornets say they are interested? So where's the love?" That's why I think they have to make their interest clear. The money comes in different ways, opt out clauses, escalators of various sorts, re-openers. I don't know the contract stuff, but they need someone really creative putting together the best possible financial scenario, while they give the player himself the VIP treatment. We can't wait for the guy to come knocking.
#11
sportnlife
07/02/08 12:44 PM
Sorry about that last post coming out goofy. Apparently, you can't cut and paste in this form. Who knew?
#12
sportnlife
07/02/08 12:52 PM
Okay, shorter version: If everybody interested in bidding for Maggette is limited to the same 5.7 million dollar yearly limit, then the "intangibles" count for more. The player can go with the best professional and personal fit because all things financial being equal, . . . well, everything financial IS equal. So I think Hornets have to mount a more serious courtship to sell themselves as a team on the brink and a better fit for his skills, all money things being equal. They have to demonstrate that they want an upgrade, not a tweak. Is all.
#13
Mark
07/02/08 01:18 PM
I agree with you sportnlife, but I'm coming from an area where I don't know A) if all teams can offer generally the same contract (both money and length considered), and B) what we would do with the insignificant change we end up if we do sign up Maggette. Again, Maggette would seem to be an awesome asset for the bees, but in all practicality purposes, I don't really see it happening while maintaining a <strong>deep </strong>team without breaking the bank. Yes, almost everybody wants to play with a PG like CP (I do! <em>I do!</em>), but simultaneously willing to take a "paycut", strictly due to NBA salary cap and a lack of <em>ungodly </em>Mark Cuban-like funds. Oh, and I think everybody's tripped on 247's commenting restrictions, but Ryan/Ron's pretty good at editing it when they get online.
#14
sportnlife
07/02/08 01:32 PM
Mark: My point is this: All of the teams in the running are basically working with the same $$ to give Maggette because of Salary cap restrictions. The ones that have cap space don't need/ want him. They're saving their $$ for the Big Enchiladas in 2010. Whatever. Meanwhile, the storyline out of New Orleans is "Hornets Interested in Posey." Okay, and they should be. But Posey wants the same mid-level contract as Maggette, and there's only one. Question is, do you pay the same $ to a guy who starts, who gets you 20+ a game, who will create a big cover problem and make for no double teams on your other starters? Or do you pay it to the defensive stopper who gets you 7+ per game and comes off the bench for 20 minutes a game? Do you split the exception in two and pick up a Jarvis Hayes and a Kwame Brown or Kurt Thomas, and use it to fill two positions? Or do you try to make a BIG statement? Chris Paul, believe me, wants to know. The correct answer is that you do what Boston did last year. You get the impact players, and then the other stuff sorts itself out.
#15
ticktock6
07/02/08 01:41 PM
yeah, this is my issue. We're hearing about Spurs/Celtics offering Maggette the MLE, and we can at least match that AND are a younger team. Yes, they've won championships and we haven't (yet), but we've also got a longer window. Why NOT here? And why aren't we hearing more rumors about what the Hornets are doing/who they're pursuing? Argh...
hornetshype.com #16
Mikey
07/03/08 06:16 AM
Well, I just read a report that stated the Warriors were going to extend a max contract to Elton Brand. This probably frees up the Clips to re-up Maggette. I'm starting to get the sense that this is going to be a relatively inactive free agency period thisoffseason. That should make the trade deadline next year REAL interesting.
#17
Kyle
07/03/08 07:47 AM
look, we traded our first round pick so that we could afford a top free agent wjich Magette fits the bill for the hornets, if we dont go after him im going to question Bowers judgment here.
#18
mW
07/03/08 12:34 PM
Maggette or bust, baby!
www.hornetshype.com #19
Jeremy Mazon
07/03/08 01:45 PM
What about ron artest? How far off an option is he and what kind of salary would he be looking for? I would love to see him on the team as a defensive presence. Defense wins championships.....
#20
kyris
07/07/08 06:14 AM
snagg juan dixon in place for moe pete, darius miles miles to help chandler/ west, and possibly a great three point shooter such as vujavic to complement stojakovic , in order for hornets to progress to the next level such as the multi-deal trades via boston j-kidd, etc.
n/a #21