Monday, July 18, 2005

VLADY RADMANOVIC NEGOTATIONS UPDATE

UPDATE ON VLADY RADMANOVIC NEGOTATIONS

I just got off the phone with Vlady Radmanovic’s agent Dave Bauman about Vlady’s contract situation. It is clear that signing Radmanovic will not be easy for the Sonics. Bauman feels that Radmanovic should be a starter and that he is worth starter money in the NBA. Moreover, he sees Radmanovic as a star that is about to explode and wants him paid like the star he is going to be. All agents have this request.
The Sonics have made an offer to Radmanovic and it is a 6-year offer in the range of 39 million dollars for the contract. According to Bauman, this deal does not equal what Radmanovic is worth. Bauman sites the deals just signed by Bobby Simmons, averaging about 9 million a year, and Kwane Brown, around 8 million a year, as deals that represent the market for Radmanovic. Most importantly, Bauman says that Radmanovic would not sign the 6 year deal and would instead sign a 1 year deal at 3.2 million and become an unrestricted free agent next season.
He also says that he has two sign and trade deals that would pay Radmanovic that kind of money. Bauman insists that the negotiations are not adversarial at this point. He will be flying to Belgrade tomorrow to meet with Radmanovic to give him the details face to face.
. The Sonics can match any deal that Radmanovic receives. If Radmanovic doesn’t get an offer that his camp believes equals his value they will take the one year tender and become an unrestricted free agent.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a nutty idea, but what about just letting him go and trying to sign Shareef Abdur-Rahim? SAR + Rashard + Ray would be a pretty solid and versatile trio, and I think SAR would sign for around what they're offering Radman.

Anonymous said...

Vlade has to realize that unless he pulls down 10 rebounds a game and plays some stopper defense he can't expect us to pay him what he is asking. Yes, he improved his game last year and said all the right things. However, on this team we need defense and rebounding to compliment Rashard. We can't possibly start them both because they play the same position. I wouldn't mind doing a sign and trade if that meant getting a 10 pts./10 reb. power forward in return. Is there such a player available? Vlade may have come off the bench but he did get starter minutes and he is a lot better than Simmons and Brown put together. I like vlade because he is an offensive threat off the bench and he more valuable to the Sonics by doing that. Vlade if you want the starter minutes then please start crashing the boards and play stopper defense like we need from or power forward position.

Anonymous said...

What fair value trade is available to the Sonics for Radmanovic?

It seems like this is just another year where the Sonics miss the big opportunity to step up and sign a big free agent outside of Seattle. Have they ever signed a legitimate big-name player(outside of Seattle) that made a significant difference? Will this year be any different?

Anonymous said...

i believe that the sonics should find a way to pay Vlad before he intices some team to pay him some serious dough. I know that the market isn't so hot right now and that there are few teams with the cap space to give him crazy amounts of money, but the sonics should pounce on inking him on a contract soon. I think that now that Weiss is now our coach (who mentioned yesterday that our team would liek to open up the offense) it would allow Radmanovic to become more involved in the offense and not just be pegged as just a perimeter shooter. I believe that with McMillan as our coach it stunted Vlad's development a bit and because of his loyalty to play Reggie Evans as the starter. I am hoping we resign Vlad soon and unleashing the potential that's been stappled down by McMillan's strict control of the team. I think that Vlad has the potential to be a bright star for our Sonics and it would be a shame to see him break out in another uniform. I've been to many sonics games and have arrived early to observe our team and the visiting team as the warm up. What I noticed when I observed Radmanovic was that he has the ability to handle the ball pretty well for a player his size. Compared to the other 6'10" shooter on our team Vlad has better handles. I've heard the comparisons by Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley on TNT and the common name is Dirk Nowitzki but more athletic and probably better defense. If there are any glimpses of Radmanovic being able to become anywhere as good as Dirk, I just think we can't lose the opportunity to sign him to a deal that pleases both sides soon. I don't want to lose a quality #3 scorer, someone who can create matchup problems at both the 3 and 4 spots and a potentially potent player for some average joe that scores 5 points and grabs 8 boards a game. I just think that the Sonics shouldremember why the drafted Radmanovic over players like Richard Jefferson(turnover prone one demensional slasher) and Zach Randolf (post game without heart). I see the potential and i hope they resign the dude.

Anonymous said...

If you check out 82games.com, Vlade plays most of his minutes at the power forward position, with Fortson-Evans-Collison at the 5. Vlade was rarely on the floor at the same time as James. Sure this is a small line-up, but it spread the floor and forced the other team to go small.

He led the team in on-court +/-, and his only clear deficiency is in defense, which seems to be getting better.

With a new coach that can correctly pronounce his last name, I expect him to flourish on offense and improve on defense. Let's hope that this is just shrewd agent posturing and that the Sonics can bring him back on a long term basis.

P.S. I've loved Shareef's game since his rookie season, but it seems like every team he's played with has been AWFUL, and he seems to bring it with him to each new team.

Anonymous said...

Barring some completely unforseen signing Collision or Fortson will start the 5 and the combination of the 2 will play the majority of the minutes there this season. Since Vlade is playing 30 minutes a game already they should just start him already, he's become pretty solid defensively and just needs to focus more on rebounding on the defensive end. He was playing the end of games when healthy. When the Sonics were hammering people last year it was usually with Vlade on the floor because that opened up the offense and some poor 2nd string center was left trying to keep Fortson off the glass by his lonesome. When Vlade got hurt, Danny wasn't nearly as effective because he wasn't just dealing with 1 defensive rebounder anymore.

Rashard is already a nightmare mismatch on the low post for most small forwards in the league and if Vlade's handle and drive to the basket contintues to improve he'll be the same on the perimeter for most power forwards trying to guard him.

I loved Nate but his control freak instincts held in a team that could be a much stronger running team. Vlade gets up and down the floor and handles very, very well for a PF. If the Sonics don't bite the bullet and sign him this year for the $'s he's asking for they'll either have let him slip away after a 1 year deal or be stuck paying considerably more than they can get him for this year. With fewer big men on the roster he's going to get more minutes and will likely have significantly better #'s at the end of this coming season so his price will go up. He's got more potential than anyone else on the team other than Ray or Rashard, signing the three of them plus Luke and Nick next year will give the Sonics a solid core for the next several years.

Anonymous said...

David,
I now hope valdy does return.But if the sonics somehow loose him and his potental they have no one blame but Wally. Nate stated on Fox Sports Radio
that he was being expected to take the team to the next level and with so many free agents and uncertainty about what this team will be like. "He" said he had doubts in his own mind if he could do it.And when doubt creeps in its time to move on. So its part Wally II. I think Coach Bob is being setup for a scapegoat.
If the Soncis do not add equal or better quality than last year and they fail this coming season Wally should go.

Anonymous said...

David,
I now hope valdy does return.But if the sonics somehow loose him and his potental they have no one blame but Wally. Nate stated on Fox Sports Radio
that he was being expected to take the team to the next level and with so many free agents and uncertainty about what this team will be like. "He" said he had doubts in his own mind if he could do it.And when doubt creeps in its time to move on. So its part Wally II. I think Coach Bob is being setup for a scapegoat.
If the Soncis do not add equal or better quality than last year and they fail this coming season Wally should go.

Anonymous said...

Consider option 3:

Philly is losing Korver, their deep threat.

The 76er's want to keep Dalembert but don't want to lock up money in a guy they're not so sure fits their MO. They need more scoring beside AI but need it in a regular 4 instead of a small 4 or big 3 (Mashburn). With Bradley, Jackson and Webber they can rotate 3 guys in the 5 if Dalembert is moved.

If the Sonics can convince Vlad to a sign and trade you could see him moved to Philly for Dalembert.

Then again, it makes too much sense.