Friday, February 24, 2006

SALARY CAP STUFF METIONED ON SHOW

During Friday night's show I mentioned an article that discussed the impacts of the collective bargaining agreement for the 2006 and 2007 season. It has major implications on Alexander's contract.
Click here for the article
Here is a summary
1) A signing bonus can only be spread over 4 years in 2006. In the past it could be longer
2) You can't increase the contract from 2006 to 2007 more then 30%.

Also, the article explains the real implication of the upcapped year in 2007.

SIMULBLOG FOR SONICS V. MAGIC

Magic 102 Sonics 89 – FINAL SCORE
Sonics may have run out of energy
Poor decisions exasperated the issue
Poor transition defense before fatigue became an issue was the key to the lose
Overall a different energy in this game and the hope is that will be the result of the trades
Rashard was too quiet for a game without Ray


Magic 84 Sonics 78 with 8:18 left in the 4th Quarter
Sometimes this team isn’t very smart. Lewis abused Hill on the opening possession of the quarter drawing two fouls, including Hill’s 4th, and then hit a 3 on the next possession and Seattle was within two. On the next four possessions Lewis didn’t touch and Wilkins did his best Flip Murray impression having three straight possessions end in his hand. Wilkins has a serious turnover issue. He has 6 so far tonight.


Magic 74 Sonics 66 with 1:48 left in the 3rd Quarter
Wilkins showing some real offensive skills
Wilcox continues to play above the rim for the Sonics, He had seven dunks the other night and is on his way again tonight. His quick jumping ability is equaled rarely in this league. Should he start?


Orlando 44 Seattle 39 with 4:39 left in the 2nd Quarter
D-Wilk continues to play well. The question is will he ever be a good enough outside shooter to be a starter rather then just a bench player. If he can start to hit the outside shot with some consistency then the Sonics could consider moving either Allen or Lewis but until then he is a nice compliment.
Sonics are hot offensively in the quarter

Orlando 27 Sonics 17 at the end of 1 Quarter
Very poor first quarter
No offense at all.
I am not sure how much having only 7 players impacted how bad the Sonics were in the first quarter. It is a nice excuse but it really shouldn’t show until the later portion of the game.


Orlando 15 Seattle 13 with 5:27 left in the 1st Quarter
The Sonics have just seven players. Nick Collison has returned to Seattle for the birth of a child. Ray Allen has food poisioning. Roebrt Swift is in Seattle for the nose surgery.
Then all the other guys were traded.
It will be interesting to see Wilcox start. That is probably what he should do.
League rules say a team must have 8 players in uniform so Ray Allen was in uniform for the opening tip on the bench and then went back to the locker-room.
The Sonics transition defense is abysmal. They have allowed Grant Hill to prance down floor on three occasions and meat no resistance. Once he went all the way to the basket the other two times he hit pull-ups

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

BOTH DEALS DONE

The Sonics completed two deals today; the first was a 4 team 9 player deal in which the Sonics received Earl Watson, Bryon Russell and a 2nd round pick. Denver received Ruben Patterson, Charles Smith and Reggie Evans, Porland recieved Voshon Lenard and Brian Skinner and the Kings get Vitaly Potpenko and Sergei Monia.

The Second deal has Flip Murray going to Cleveland for Mike Wilks.




UPDATE 10:09 AM DEAL NOT DONE--- Hold your horses. There are a lot of moving parts in the Earl Watson to Seattle deal. The players need to give approval which can be read as the agents need to give approval. There are trade kickers involved on Patterson’s contract.
This is still likely to happen, but it is not done and it still needs some items to fall into place.
The Flip Murray situation is a bit more in flux then I had thought. The Sonics are still working a deal for Flip, but none of them are done. The Sonics are looking to receive a 2nd round pick in the deal.


UPDATE 9:15 AM WATSON A SONIC--- As we suspected the deal is a three-way deal with Earl Watson coming to Seattle and Reggie Evans going to Denver with Vitaly Potapenko going to Portland. The Nuggets will also get Rueben Patterson and Voshon Lenard will be moved to Portland.
Seattle will also move Flip Murray before the deadline. His destination is currently unknown.
This is a very good move for the Sonics. They are a better team with a deal. This is basically a free agent signing for the Sonics. This is the replacement to Antonio Daniels that the Sonics didn’t fill in the off-season.



LATEST UPDATE AT 7:36 AM
--- The Sonics goal today is to split Reggie Evans and Flip Watson in two different deals. At this moment it seems likely that will get done. The Earl Watson trade is still hot with Reggie Evans and Vitaly Potpaenko going to Denver. This could be part of a multiple team deal with Rueben Patterson moving from Portland to Denver and one of these pieces, likely Evans ending up in Portland.
The Sonics had discussions with the Utah Jazz this morning but that deal is no off and the Sonics have another move percolating that involves Flip Murray.



UPDATE 12:15 AM
--- According to my sources the Sonics are willing to pick up the contract on Earl Watson so the Sonics Flip Murray and Vitaly for Watson deal is still a possibility. There are other combinations in that deal that have been discussed. Flip Murray did not play last night which is a clear sign the Sonics plan to move him. The Sonics plan to have more conversations with Utah on Thursday morning about a deal that they have been working on. Details are unclear, but the names Milt Palacio and Matt Harpring have been mentioned around the league. The Sonics also made final checks with Indiana about Anthony Johnson and Toronto about Jose Calderon as of late last night neither was willing to budge.
Elsewhere around the league the Carlos Boozer talk seemed to be heating up and Denver has looking for new trading partners after missing out with New York. Some of these conversations included a deal with Portland


LATEST UPDATE – 3:44 PM-- The Sonics are continuing the talks with the Nuggets amongst other teams. Through my sources I have learned that one of those teams is the Utah Jazz. The Jazz have three guards Deron Williams, Keith McLeod and Milt Palacio. The word is the conversation involves Palacio and Matt Harpring. Both of those players are free agents at the end of the season. It is unclear what the combination of players Seattle would need. Utah continues to work very hard on a Carlos Boozer deal.

11:35 AM UPDATE – The Knicks move with Orlando puts the Sonics back on the Earl Watson map. The conversations with the Nuggets were all but dead and have now recommenced. The Sonics are hoping to do the deal for Watson with by trading either Flip or Reggie with Vitaly and then moving the other piece in a separate deal.

UPDATED AT 11:15 AM --
LATEST NEWS -- According to my sources the Knicks and the Magic have completed a deal. The Knicks will receive Steve Francis and the Magic will get the contract of Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza. The big news here is that the particulars from the Knicks are different then anticipated. The Magic turned down Jamal Crawford because they wanted the expiring contract of Hardaway.

This makes things very interesting in regards to what the next domino will be. This eliminates the Kevin Garnett talk. This leaves Portland without the ability to clear their cap with a deal with the Knicks. It also leaves the Nuggets without an avenue to clear the out Kenyon Martin.

So what is the next move? This may put the Sonics back at the forefront of teams able to make moves.

Hee is what teams want to get done by tomorrow.
· The Nuggets want to move both Earl Watson and Kenyon Martin
· The Blazers want to clear cap to be able to sign Joel Przybilla
· The Sonics are interested in a back-up point guard
· Minnesota is looking to make waves
· Atlanta is talking about the
· Cleveland is willing to move Drew Gooden
· Golden State is looking for a big
· Houston is going to move Derek Anderson
· The Jazz are trying to move Carlos Boozer and the Lakers are interested.




Here is the latest of what I am hearing …

SONICS MOVES
· The Denver Nuggets have told the Sonics that they will do the Earl Watson deal to the Sonics for Flip Murray and Reggie Evans and a contract if everything else falls apart. The Sonics would likely have to take Bryon Russell as well. The Nuggets are in the midst of numerous conversations around the league including New York and Orlando most prominently. The Sonics may turn this down by the end of the day. The Sonics are very concerned with the contract that Watson signed, he is badly overpaid, but at the same time they are looking for someone to push Ridnour and Watson could be that guy. That is the internal debate in Sonics land

· The Sonics and the Chicago Bulls have had conversations about Chris Duhon for Reggie Evans. The Bulls are all over the map at this time and there is no deal that is imminent. The Sonics would probably rather do this deal then the Denver deal if Chicago buys in. According, to some sources the Bulls are unwilling to move Duhon.

· The Sonics have also had conversations with the Toronto Raptors for Jose Calderon and the Pacers for Anthony Johnson. The Raptors have no interest in moving Calderon and the Sonics and Pacers are having a hard time getting the numbers to add up.

· According to sources, the Wolves and the Sonics had conversations about Marko Jaric however, the Sonics went cold on the conversation.

· Ideally, the Sonics would like to hold onto Danny Fortson and Vitaly Potapenko because their contracts would be valuable pieces to trade along with their draft pick if the right deal came about.

REST OF THE NBA
· Don’t dismiss the Kevin Garnett talks with New York. KG has lost the fire that he used to play with and Minnesota is open to moving him. However, they are very concerned about taking back bad contracts. Therefore, the realgm.com rumored deal of Penny Hardaway and Channing Frye makes sense because the Wolves would be getting rid of the albatross of Garnett’s deal without taking back too much baggage.

* The Utah Jazz are actively shopping Carlos Boozer. According to most people in the league they believe that Jazz GM Kevin O’Connor is doing the leg work for a deal this summer.

· The Denver Nuggets are trying to move Kenyon Martin. Martin and Karl don’t click and the relationship in not salvageable.

· Numerous reports have the Magic and the Knicks close to culminating a deal for Steve Francis to New York that would include Rainer Beach product Jamal Crawford going to Orlando

· The Blazers deal of Ratliff and Miles to New York for Penny Hardaway is supposedly very close. However, the recent Garnett discussions have this on the back burner.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

SIMULBLOG FOR SONICS V. SPURS

Spurs 103 Sonics 78 –FINAL SCORE
Here is my expert analysis
Spurs very good Sonics not very good


Spurs 78 Sonics 64 at the end of 3 Quarters
Notice how many of the Spurs 3’s all come from the corner, they believe that is a higher percentage shot and they build the offense to deliver that shot.
Sonics are without Lewis and Wilcox and Swift was sent home with an injury from shootaround.


Spurs 70 Seattle 56 with 4:04 left in 3rd Quarter
This is a really good team imposing its will on the Sonics.
It has been evident from the beginning that it was only a matter of when not if that this was going to happen.
All season Seattle has wilted under this circumstance and gotten blow out. I would be very pleased with a full night effort
Lewis is going to the locker-room. He has been silent all night.


Spurs 46 Sonics 39 at the half
The Sonics played very well defensively in the first half
Collison has to stay out of foul trouble in the 3rd Quarter
Tony Parker has been unstoppable and the Sonics have to find a way to contain him. Ginobilli doesn’t have a field goal.
Duncan continues to struggle.
Allen can’t get free from Bowen and Lewis is shockingly quiet


Sonics 31 Spurs 31 with 5:36 in the 2nd Quarter
Johan Petro is really playing well. He and Swift are tremendous finds. Huge kudos to the draft staff of the Sonics
Defensively Nick Collison is really helping Seattle a great deal
Wilcox was just ok but he sure is long


Spurs 27 Sonics 20 at the end of 1st Quarter
Rick Brunson makes his first appearance
Seattle got beat by the Spurs on the Spurs offensive glass. This shouldn’t happen the Spurs are a poor offensive rebounding team.
Chris Wilcox played and nothing stood out. He is not very active. He made a really nice pass to Lewis. It is lonely being a Sonics big


Spurs 16 Sonics 13 with 4:10 left in the 1st Quarter
Good start for the Sups
They are doing a nice job in the transition to keep the floor open
Ridnour has made a few nice plays early in the game
Spurs hit Seattle early and they answered back to get back in the game
The only thing that isn’t clear is can the Spurs put their will on the Sonics anytime they want,

CRAZY TRADE THAT MAY NOT BE THAT CRAZY

NOTE -- FROM WHAT I AM HEARING MORE THIS IS PROBABLY EXAGERATED FORM OF ANY REAL CONVERSATION. THEREFORE, I WILL LEAVE IT ON THE BLOG FOR MORE OF A DEBATE PIECE ABOUT WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE THE SONICS GM

Take a moment and sink your teeth into this trade concept….

This is being bantered around the league today. Let be very clear – I am not saying this is pending – I have not confirmed that the conversation took place – I give this to you for food for thought

The story is that the Bulls called about Ray Allen and the conversation got to the following point. The Bulls would trade Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, the #1 pick the Bulls have from the Knicks along with cap fillers Thomas and Piatkowski.


The Bulls called back and said we can’t do it unless you include Rashard Lewis but we would be willing to include Chris Duhon.

It sounds totally nutty but …… this is what the Sonics would be left with.
New Line-Up
PG: Ridnour and Duhon
SG: Gordon and Wilkins
SF: Deng
PF: Wilcox and Collison
C: Swift and Petro


With two first round draft picks that are currently #2 pick in all likelihood Adam Morrison and the #6 pick (likely to be better) and the Sonics would also have $10 million in cap room to sign a free agent

Is this really that crazy ?

NBA TRADE DEADLINE LOOMING

Here is the latest of what I am hearing …

SONICS MOVES
· The Denver Nuggets have told the Sonics that they will do the Earl Watson deal to the Sonics for Flip Murray and Reggie Evans and a contract if everything else falls apart. The Sonics would likely have to take Bryon Russell as well. The Nuggets are in the midst of numerous conversations around the league including New York and Orlando most prominently. This is looking more and more unlikely.
· The Sonics and the Chicago Bulls have had conversations about Chris Duhon for Reggie Evans. The Bulls are all over the map at this time and there is no deal that is imminent. The Sonics would probably rather do this deal then the Denver deal if Chicago buys in. According, to some sources the Bulls are unwilling to move Duhon.
· The Sonics have also had conversations with the Toronto Raptors for Jose Calderon and the Pacers for Anthony Johnson.
· According to sources, the Wolves and the Sonics had conversations about Marko Jaric however, the Sonics went cold on the conversation.
· Ideally, the Sonics would like to hold onto Danny Fortson and Vitaly Potapenko because their contracts would be valuable pieces to trade along with their draft pick if the right deal came about.

REST OF THE NBA
· The Utah Jazz are actively shopping Carlos Boozer
· The Denver Nuggets are trying to move Kenyon Martin
· Numerous reports have the Magic and the Knicks close to culminating a deal for Steve Francis to New York that would include Rainer Beach product Jamal Crawford going to Orlando
· The Blazers deal of Ratliff and Miles to New York for Penny Hardaway is supposedly very close.