Free Agents Can Talk, and Teams Listen
By STEVE POPPER
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/01/sports/basketball/01nba.html
Published: July 1, 2004


At the stroke of midnight, phone numbers were punched across the nation. Not only were teenagers dialing a summer crush after their parents went to bed, but National Basketball Association owners, general managers, coaches and players were calling potential saviors. On the other end of the line, agents and players listened to ringing that sounded like a cash register.

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The 14-day free-agency period is underway. It is a time when teams can flirt with and cajole players on the open market. Free agents cannot sign with a new team, rendering most of the conversations as hollow as a teenager's talk, but it is a chance for teams with salary-cap room, like the Utah Jazz, the Phoenix Suns, the Denver Nuggets and the San Antonio Spurs, to express their affection for the best of a marginal crop.

The object of almost any team's pursuit is Kobe Bryant, who may well wind up back in Los Angeles, although the team that shares the Staples Center with the Lakers, the Clippers, will call, too. Other key players on the market are the Nets' Kenyon Martin, Dallas's Steve Nash and Detroit's Rasheed Wallace. The second tier, still high priced, will include Denver's Marcus Camby, Golden State's Erick Dampier, San Antonio's Manu Ginóbili and Detroit's Mehmet Okur.

Even the teams without cap space will make a call, armed with a midlevel exception worth approximately $5 million and promises of how much better life would be in New York, Portland, Miami and points in between.

There was no private jet rushing Bryant or Wallace to Madison Square Garden, no glitzy recruiting show with the jerseys of prospective free agents hanging from the rafters beside the legendary jerseys that are already there, and no tours of Manhattan or the suburbs. The Knicks, without the cap space to compete with the big spenders, are relying on the potential of the hastily restructured roster and the persuasive powers of their general manager, Isiah Thomas, to lure more help to New York.

Across the Hudson River, Jason Kidd will have arthroscopic surgery on his injured left knee today or tomorrow, according to a person with knowledge of Kidd's plans.

Rod Thorn, the Nets' president, said he would not make any phone calls today, not to prospective free agents or even to Martin, who will begin his national tour in search of a maximum contract worth $85 million. Thorn will sit tight, waiting for a player to slip through the cracks whom he can grab for a low paycheck to fill out his bench and hoping that Martin does not receive an offer out of the Nets' range.

Teams that figure to be the legitimate suitors for Bryant will be the Suns and the Clippers. While San Antonio could possibly afford Bryant if it is willing to let Ginóbili and Hedo Turkoglu walk. Bryant, given his close relationship with the Lakers' owner, Jerry Buss, and the departure of Phil Jackson as coach, would still figure to be likely to return to the Lakers.

Failing to land Bryant, the Suns are expected to be the leading team for the services of Nash, who spent his first two seasons in the league in Phoenix. Martin is expected to visit Denver and Atlanta, which could both offer him a maximum contract.

Wallace was happy in Detroit, winning a title and removing the stigma that had accompanied him from Portland, but he will listen to other offers.

"I know there will be solid interest,'' Wallace's agent, Bill Strickland, said.

Dampier and Camby opted out of their contracts to enter a market weak on big men, but the availability of Shaquille O'Neal, who has been placed on the trading block by the Lakers, has overshadowed their availability. But trades figure to be as much a factor in the market as free agents, with teams seeking to use sign-and-trade deals not only to spend more for a player, but also to move salaries off their payrolls.

The Knicks and the Nets will at least make an attempt to be active. The Nets are trying to deal Kerry Kittles and the final year of his contract, worth $9.8 million, in exchange for either a lower-priced player from a team with cap space or a package of two or three players to match his contract. The Knicks will dangle Kurt Thomas, Dikembe Mutombo and Othella Harrington, but will they not hesitate to add Tim Thomas to the right package.

"We'll be actively trying to improve our team, whether it be through trades or free agency," Isiah Thomas said last week. "This is the time that I think we'll probably be the most active. I don't necessarily think it'll be a lot of the bigger names that are in the market. However, there are some pieces that are kind of floating around out there that we think we can acquire that will make our team better."

If i'm atlanta right now, I'd go very strong after martin and maybe also dampier.

martin is reachable and could be a first step in the good direction, with his strong defense and energy play. you need big names to attract big names.

that's why we're better off with IT and marbury now that we were with layden and eisley. (oops I forgot mc knee)