Free Agents Dig In For Long Haul
by Chad Ford

This summer's amazing race -- a frenzied cash grab in which 30 NBA owners handed out more than a billion dollars in guaranteed contracts -- is over.

Now comes the long, hard slog where the remaining free agents and the teams that still have a little bit of cash left over slowly sink into the quicksand.

The money, for the most part, is gone.

The Clippers have between $7 and $13 million in cap space remaining depending on what they do with Quentin Richardson. If they match Richardson, most believe they're done spending and will save the remaining surplus for next year. If they let him go, that's even a stronger indication that Donald Sterling, still stung by losing out on Kobe Bryant, is retreating back into his vault.

The Hawks have $10.7 million in cash, but can't seem to get anyone to take it. They've talked with Erick Dampier and Stromile Swift, but have yet to sign either to a contract. They've also talked to the Nuggets about a deal that would land them Nikoloz Tskitishvili (the Nuggets would like Boris Diaw back), but they're reluctant to pull the trigger until they know for sure that Dampier and Swift aren't coming to Atlanta.

The Bobcats have anywhere between $6.5 million and $12.5 million depending on whether they're going to waive Jahidi White. However, Bernie Bickerstaff has been telling agents he's essentially through spending cash. He's apparently happy with his roster despite the fact that the team has just one point guard, Jason Hart -- a guy who has never started an NBA game on the team.

The Suns could have $5.8 million in cap room if the Clippers decide to match their offer sheet for Richardson. The Suns have interest in Dampier, especially if the price continues to come down. However, a contract for Dampier starting at $5.8 million and going up 10 percent each year gets Damp to just $42 million over six years -- a little over the mid-level exception.

When he sees what teammate Adonal Foyle got, he's got to cringe. The Suns have enough flexibility to make a sign-and-trade happen to get Dampier a little more money, but it's doubtful they'd part with anything more than Jake Voskuhl (who is in the last year of his contract) to make that happen.

The Jazz have roughly $3 million in remaining cap room. The Nuggets have $2.3 million left. The Cavaliers have cleared approximately $2.2 million in cap through trades.

All three teams are looking to spend it. The Jazz and Cavs are still in the market for back-up centers. Fabricio Oberto, Chris Mihm, Slava Medvedenko, Jake Tsakalidis, Zeljko Rebraca, Joel Przybilla and Nikola Vujcic are all options here. The Nuggets are still trying to land a back-up swingman to put behind Voshon Lenard and Carmelo Anthony. Eric Williams, Rodney White, Jon Barry, Bob Sura, Anthony Peeler and DeShawn Stevenson are still options for the Nuggets.

The Celtics, Rockets, Timberwolves, Nets, Knicks, Sonics and Wizards have their full $4.9 million mid-level exceptions intact. However, only the Celtics, Rockets and Knicks have shown any inclination to spend it.

The Bucks signed Etan Thomas to an offer sheet. If the Wizards match it, the Bucks will have their full mid-level exception remaining. The same holds true for the Hornets (who signed Morris Peterson) and the Blazers (who signed Trenton Hassell).

Of the players left on the board, only Dampier, Swift, Jamal Crawford and Darius Miles are worth more than the mid-level. However, given the market, all of them might be forced to accept it or take their team's one-year tender offer.

Of the three restricted free agents, Miles is the most likely to take his team's one-year tender. Swift and Crawford want to cut a deal. Eric Williams, Fabricio Oberto and Chris Mihm are the only three free agents who will likely command close, if not all, of the mid-level.

The Bulls ($1.9 million), Pacers ($2.7 million), Heat ($2.5 million), Sixers ($500,000), and Raptors ($1.4 million) have partial mid-level exceptions remaining.

The Heat are saving most of their money, hoping that Karl Malone will take it. If he doesn't, the money could go to Toni Kukoc. The Pacers and Raptors are looking for another back-up center. Fabricio Oberto has been in both teams' cross hairs for a while, though neither may have the cash to land him at this point. The Bulls still have interest in sharp shooter Arvydas Macijauskas. The Sixers may be done spending.

The Celtics, Bulls, Pistons, Warriors, Rockets, Pacers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, Nets, Knicks, Sixers, Blazers, Spurs, Sonics and Raptors all have their full $1.6 million veteran's exception available.

Free agents like Keon Clark, Toni Kukoc, Bob Sura, Marcus Fizer, Ron Mercer, Jacque Vaughn, Mike James, Robert Horry, Charlie Ward, Robert Traylor and Jake Tsakalidis probably fall into that right now.

Several teams also have sizeable trade exceptions that could help them land a free agent via a sign-and-trade. The Rockets own a trade exception from the Tracy McGrady trade worth roughly $5.4 million. The Kings own a $5 million exception that expires Aug. 5th. The Nets own a $4.8 million trade exception from the Kenyon Martin trade. The Warriors own a $3.5 million trade exception that expires Aug. 18th. The Bucks own a $2.4 million trade exception.

The Rockets are looking to land a starting-caliber point guard and back-up center. They'll try to use their trade exception to get one and part, if not all, of the mid-level for the other one. The Kings, Nets, Warriors and Bucks all appear inclined not to spend anymore money right now.

Around the League

# Isiah makes him move: Over the course of the past three weeks, we've heard Isiah Thomas and the Knicks associated with almost every prominent (and not so prominent) free agent in the league. Clearly players want to play in New York and clearly Isiah, if he could, would pay them all whatever they wanted to come.

But so far, the Knicks are one of the few teams still standing around empty handed. They've gotten close to deals for Erick Dampier and Jamal Crawford in free agency and Antoine Walker via trade. But so far, Isiah's been unable to seal the deal.

In an effort to change the Knicks' fortunes, Isiah will fly to Chicago today, at the behest of Crawford's agent, Aaron Goodwin, in an attempt to work out a sign-and-trade deal with Bulls GM John Paxson. You've read about the deal ad nauseum, but for those of you who somehow missed it, the deal would send a re-signed Crawford along with Jerome Williams and Eddie Robinson to the Knicks for Shandon Anderson, Othella Harrington, Cezary Trybanski, Frank Williams and either Dikembe Mutombo or Moochie Norris.

By now you know that Paxson wants Mutombo in the deal because his contract is expiring. Isiah wants Norris in the deal because he believes Mutombo is an asset that could fetch him another valuable piece in a trade down the road. This deal has taken various forms over the past week. The latest has Isiah offering to throw in $3 million in cash if the Bulls will take Norris.

So far, Paxson isn't budging. While there has been plenty of optimism in the Knicks' and Crawford's camp the past few weeks, Paxson has been resolute that he won't work out a trade unless he gets massive salary-cap relief in return. The easiest way for that to happen is for him to get back the expiring contracts of Harrington, Trybanski, Williams and Mutombo in return.

Crawford and Goodwin have grown increasingly upset over the past few weeks and claim that Crawford no longer wants to play in Chicago. It doesn't matter. Paxson still holds all of the cards. Crawford is a restricted free agent. The only teams left on the market that can offer him more than the Bulls are offering (6 years, $39 million) are the Hawks, Bobcats, Clippers and possibly the Suns. None of the teams has shown strong interest.

Cavs rebound from Boozer debacle: Last week, the conventional wisdom on the Cavs' trade for Eric Snow was that Snow was a nice piece to the puzzle, but without a power forward, why were the Cavs spending all of that money on Snow? The other shoe dropped on Friday when the Cavs traded Tony Battie for Drew Gooden, Steven Hunter and the rights to second-round pick Anderson Varejao. Losing Battie, who was rock solid for the Cavs as a back-up center last season, was a blow . . . but the truth was that the Cavs needed a starting power forward and Gooden was the best available on the trading block.

Gooden, whom Jerry West selected with the No. 4 pick in the draft, finds himself on his third team after just two seasons in the NBA. After an impressive summer league debut, West went so far as to claim Gooden would be the rookie of the year. What gives? No one denies his talent. In the Magic's 2003 playoff run, Gooden averaged 14 ppg and 12.7 rpg -- not bad for a rookie.

But attitude problems and questionable off-the-court behavior have hurt his stock on both teams. Gooden hasn't responded well to coming off the bench, something he was asked to do in both Memphis and Orlando. He pouted when his playing time was cut, and his normal high-energy game disappeared last season when the Magic added Juwan Howard to the mix. There were also complaints in both Memphis and Orlando that Gooden had trouble remembering plays and breaking down the more complicated offensive sets.

But that's just part of the story. Magic GM John Weisbrod, in his press conference announcing the trade, alluded to more than just on-the-court issues. He told reporters that Gooden may be a better player than Battie, especially offensively, but that Battie was a "high character guy" and a better fit for the team. "We definitely feel that Battie is a better fit, more the type of person and player we are looking to accumulate," Weisbrod told reporters.

It didn't take long for the local writers to start digging. It didn't take them long to come up with the same scuttlebutt that had been traveling through the league ever since West traded him for Mike Miller. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that he had a rep as "one of the league's biggest partiers -- a guy who seems more enthusiastic about hitting spots after games than he does hitting the boards during them. And Gooden also comes with a sizeable personal entourage, one that causes constant headaches and ranks among the NBA's most obnoxious."

With all of that said, there's no question that this trade should help the Cavs tremendously. Gooden is younger, more athletic and better offensively than Battie. In fact, as far as upside goes, he has more of it than Boozer, athletically. He's shown that when he's happy and motivated he can be the same type of high-energy scrapper on the boards that Boozer was. If Paul Silas (who has zero tolerance for nonsense) doesn't kill him first, he could end up filling Boozer's hole very nicely.

But the real key to this trade for the Cavs was Varejao -- one of the real sleepers in the draft. Varejao is closer to Boozer than Gooden is. The Magic had seven teams pursuing Varejao before cutting a deal with the Cavs. The Brazilian native put up just so-so numbers for the F.C. Barcelona, but he had a great game versus the Team USA in the Olympic qualifying tournament, scoring 16 points and dunking on Jermaine O'Neal.

Varejao is a very active, energetic forward who runs the floor, crashes the glass, dives for loose balls and plays his heart out on both ends of the floor. He's a good athlete, though not a great leaper. His offense is still pretty raw. He's developed a nice jumper over the last 18 months and has shown some 3-point range. However, he doesn't appear to be the type of guy who could ever average more than 10 ppg in the pros. Scouts are baffled over why he isn't a better rebounder or shot blocker considering his length and activity on the floor.

The team is working on helping him get bought out of his contract with Barcelona, but all sides expect him to join the Cavs this year. With Gooden and Varjeao on the floor together, Snow at the point and Luke Jackson and Aleksandar Pavlovic to play the three, the Cavs -- as much as it pains me to say it -- have upgraded their team this year.

The loss of Boozer is still inexplicable, but Cavs GM Jim Paxson has rebounded nicely. In the coming days, the team will try to add a back-up center to help out Zydrunas Ilgauskas (DeSanga Diop looked awful again in the summer league). If this crew stays healthy, adds some more depth at the five, keeps Gooden focused and the rookies pan out, there's no reason that the Cavs won't be a playoff team next spring.

Sonics-Mavs swap stiffs: The Sonics-Mavs swap of Calvin Booth for Danny Fortson on Monday wasn't exactly a blockbuster -- unless you talk to Sonics GM Rick Sund, that is.

"I'm not sure what a blockbuster trade is. If Danny comes here and does the things we think he can do, then maybe this is a blockbuster trade," Sund told the Seattle Times.

OK. . . . usually a blockbuster trade involves teams trading their best or second-best player. Not the 12th man on each team.

What does Mavs president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson think? "We don't see this as anything but a nice addition to the center rotation. It's not a blockbuster. It's a base hit."

Ah. . . the voice of reason.

What's interesting about this trade is that it could actually help both teams -- a little bit. Fortson has proved to be one of the top rebounders in the league when he's healthy and not buried at the end of the bench. Obviously the Sonics felt that second-year forward Nick Collison wasn't ready to take over the power forward position just yet. Coach Nate McMillan has never liked playing Vladimir Radmanovic there and Reggie Evans is sort of a last resort. Booth was giving them nothing.

Fortson could end up being a starter in Seattle so, overall, it could be a good trade for the Sonics. McMillan has been looking for a few tough guys on what may be the softest team in the league and Fortson qualifies -- maybe too much so.

On the flip side, the Mavericks had nowhere to put Fortson. Booth had a great season with the Mavericks before he bolted for the Sonics three summers ago. The way coach Don Nelson plays, Booth can be an asset if he can stay healthy for more than 25 games.

"We traded rebounding for defense and shot-blocking," Nelson said. "Calvin is healthy for the first time in two years. With the center market being pretty tough, we felt this was a good move."

The numbers don't lie: More contracts are rolling into the league office. Here's the latest, exclusively for Insiders, on the actual contract numbers of some free agents.

The Nuggets ended up getting a sweet heart deal for Marcus Camby, Insider has learned. Camby's deal had been reported for as much as six years between $60 and $70 million. Actually, he's guaranteed only six years, $45 million -- just a few million over the mid-level exception. The contract has another $22 million in incentives. $12 million of those incentives (essentially $2 million per year) are based on the number of games that Camby plays in each season. He has to play in a minimum of 55 games for those incentives to kick in and 70 games for the full bonus to be effective.

He also has a performance bonus tied to his ability to average 12 points and 12 rebounds over the course of the season. It's a win-win for both the Nuggets and Camby. If Camby stays healthy and plays well, like he did last season, he's going to be one of the highest-paid centers in the league. If he resorts back to sitting out a week every time he gets a splinter, the Nuggets aren't on the hook for that much money.

Kobe Bryant got one significant concession from the Lakers in his contract. He'll receive 70 percent of his first season's salary on Aug. 15th -- $9.9 million dollars. While paying 70 percent of a contract (the maximum allowed by the CBA) at the beginning of the season is rare, it isn't unheard of. What is highly unusual, however, is the date Bryant is getting his money. All of the other deals I've seen with this provision (Elton Brand, Andre Miller and Bruce Bowen come to mind) have a pay date of Nov. 1, basically the first day of the NBA season. Is it a coincidence the Kobe gets his just 12 days before he goes to trial for sexual assault? Interestingly, the Aug. 15th date is a one time provision. In subsequent years, Bryant gets his 70 percent on Sept. 1st.

Kenyon Martin's seven-year, $91 million deal with the Nuggets includes a $1.5 million signing bonus and a player early termination option following the 2009-10 season.

The lower-than-expected salary-cap number meant that Brent Barry ended up taking a small hit on his four-year deal with the Spurs. Barry's contract comes out to four years, $19.6 million -- a little lower than the reported four year, $23 million deal he had supposedly agreed to.

Stephen Jackson's contract came out to six years, $38 million -- a bit lower than $44 million originally reported.

Jason Hart got a three-year, $4.6 million contract with the Bobcats. The third year of the contract is a player option.

This is why I say the Knicks have to wait on Dampier. If the Clippers don't match Quentin ( a distinct possibility), Damps really only has the Knicks MLE or Atlanta's money if there's no trade to be done. Weird, but the Knicks HAVE to keep their MLE out there for Damps.

Also, the shrunken market probably bodes well for getting Crawford and to possibly add a solid piece with the LLE. This all seems like good news...

an over-rated center 6'10" from Argentina. He played in the World Championships. He's not good defensively, though supposedly a 'banger'. Chad Ford always overrates European and South American players.