950, KJR and Locked on Sports has learned that free agent guard Juan Dixon has accepted a 3 year contract from the Portland Trailblazers. According to Dixon's agent Calvin Andrews the deal is for just under 3 million dollars per year. The Sonics had heavily pursued Dixon in free agency.The Sonics never made an offer to Dixon. It is believed that the Sonics were a bit hamstrung with the amount of moveable parts they have at the current time. In addition, any offer to Dixon would have allowed the Blazers to offer Wilkins and the Sonics no ability to match Wilkins. It could be said the Sonics choose to keep Murray and Wilkins rather then sign Dixon and Murray.
This still leaves the Blazers with just over 2 million dollars of their mid-level exception available for other players. The Blazers had intended to extend an offer sheet to the Sonics Damien Wilkins. However, Wilkins turned down a $16 million offer .
This increases the likelihood the Sonics will turn to Flip Murray as their back-up guard.
Seed Newsvine
13 comments:
the other juan dixon thread got taken down but i said he was worth giving only 3 years, less than $3 million per and would likely not be a sonic. the new report is in line with that.
See the latest post on the Sonics cap situation.
A. Walker may be an overall upgrade over Radmanovic, but he may not be a good fit for the team. He's not an effective scorer at .92 points/shot last season. In comparison, Radmanovic does a better job at 1.02 pts/sht. There wouldn't be enough balls to go around to Allen, Lewis, Radmanovic, and Walker. In addition, it's a possibility that his ego could clash with Allen's. Also, he tends to turnover the ball. If we were able to trade Rad for a center or point guard then I may be willing to do it. In addition, if he were willing to come off the bench, play 25-30 min/gm, and be able to mesh with the current chemistry then I would go with it. But, that seems like lots of ifs.
In regards to the Sonics spending money. Don't hold your breath! They're not going to go over the cap. If you look at the Pistons and Spurs, it's obvious teams don't have to overspend to win a championship.
I want to compliment everyone on the comments to this blog. The knowledge and expertise is impressive and interesting. Thanks a ton.
On thing Jack alludes to is that Vlady is not a very good point per shot player. He is just about dead average in the NBA. The reason is he never goes to the free throw line. If Vlady starts to head to the line with any regularity he will become a extremely potent offensive player. I think I would more likely bet that would happen rather then not happen.
It's good news Dixon isn't coming to the Sonics. But, what scares me is if he was the number one choice to relace AD. Hopefully, they have someone better than Flip or Dixon.
I read a rumor regarding Sacramento and Charlotte. The Kings are to receive J.Hart for a second round pick. I like that move a lot for the Kings. I wish the Sonics could do a trade of that sort.
walker is much maligned and much is deserved. but he isnt a complete untouchable in my mind. the questions are what role would sonic want him to fill. is he 100% on board and what would be the terms of the contract. i'm sure he wants 5 years and i'd have some concerns about that. 5-7 million a year is not outrageous. i'd say it would come down to attitude and whether the role/ the player matched up. if they keep rad, no walker. trade rad away, maybe. sign and trade for walker might be a possibility. walker's weight would be an issue for me. if he is over 250, i'd say no thanks. and i'd tie some of his pay to weight like they did with baker.
walker's defense as a center is no worse than at either forward spot according to 82 games.com data. i remain intrigued by inside/outside centers like sam perkins. i think walker would pose additional serious matchup problems for opponents if they played him significantly at center. if they want to run fast and a lot that would probably be fine with him, he can rebound and start the break or trail and hit a three or rumble into the lane for a dunk.
and centers on average are the weakest offensive position, so that is probably the best place stats wise to try to hide walker's d. with the except of a few matchups.
actually at dallas in 2003-4 center was his best defensive position, giving up 4-5 less points to oppponents and 4-6% less on FG% allowed. ( but he was at center only 15% of his time.)
Locke-
I don't want to deceive anyone regarding the point/shot stat.
If you goto ESPN.com(NBA) and look under a specific teams stat section, you'll see as you scroll down to their version(maybe the official version?) of points/shot.
What I did was take the (total points - free throws made) divided by total field goals attempted. That way I could see the actual effectiveness of a player's scoring ability per shot. Here are several examples:
R.Allen: 1.00 (01-02: 1.12)
R.Lewis: 1.07
V.Radmanovic: 1.02 (pre-A.S.: 1.06)
AD: .96
L.Ridnour: .90
JJ: 1.02
Flip: .78
D.Fortson: 1.04
D.Wilkins: .96
N.Collison: 1.07 (post-A.S.: 1.12)
R.Evans: .95
V.Potapenko: 1.03
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K.Bryant: .96
S.Nash: 1.11
S.Marion: 1.04
Joe Johnson: 1.07
T.McGrady: .95
Y.Ming: 1.10
P.Stojakovic: 1.06 (03-04: 1.13)
B.Miller: 1.06
M.Bibby: .99
T.Duncan: 1.00
M.Ginobili: 1.07
K.Garnett: 1.01
D.Wade: .97
Shaq: 1.20
A.Iverson: .91
SAR: 1.03
J.Kidd: .95
S.Francis: .88
C.Billups: 1.07
B.Wallace: .95
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Many of the stars like AI, McGrady, and Bryant need many free throw attempts(and FTM) which contributes to their significant average. I wasn't trying to downplay the importance of getting free throws. But it is important to realize the effectiveness of field goals made, since many players don't receive or earn 10 FTA's/game.
Jack you are right. I use a different breakdown which accounts for times to the line and then also accounts for amount of shots in time on the court. Vlady comes out very average on that chart.
I use what is called True Shooting % and then I don't have a name for the other but it is basically John Hollinger's brick %.
I just added a post 4 down that is a way to evaluate offensive players
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