Will he stay or Go???

[TheKid]

Booth Ache
Mavs Believe They'll Keep Center

By Mike Fisher and Tom House -- DallasBasketball.com
Seattle’s adios to Portland-bound Ruben Patterson opens up $5 million in cap room for the Sonics, who would like to use that slot to lure Dallas free-agent center Calvin Booth. But Mavs owner Mark Cuban stood firm Monday in his belief that Booth won’t be going anywhere.
“I’ve emphasized to Cal that if he wants the full six years, he won’t get as much money, but for the shorter-term deal, he’d get the full $4.5 million (a year) we’re able to pay,’’ Cuban tells DallasBasketball.com. “I think Cal wants to come back. He knows we love him.’’
As of Sunday, love and a shrinking market might have been enough. Before the Patterson deal, Seattle had exactly $3,732,042 in cap space.” Without $5 million in room, there wasn’t room to outbid the Mavs for Booth.
But with Seattle exec Rick Sund saying the team will use its new-found room to plunge into free agency, Calvin Booth now has multiple potential lovers.
Cuban counters by noting that Seattle GM Wally Walker would likely be reluctant to overpay for a non-superstar center. The Patrick Ewing experiment wasn’t a success, and as Cuban says, “I think Wally learned some lessons from (Vin) Baker and Jim (McIlvane). … Seattle has multiple needs to fill.’’
Cuban’s wait-and-see approach to Booth represents a gamble, but he says, “we could play games with Seattle, by making an offer to Shammond Williams, who is on our list as somebody who’d been a good backup point guard. … (But) with Cal, everything is progressing. We haven’t reached any huge stumbling blocks, other than he wants a longer deal than we’re offering.’’
Games? It seems Seattle could acquire Booth and still keep Williams, though Cuban may be talking of a sign-and-trade with Seattle to swap Booth for Williams and gain Dallas cap flexibility in the process.
Cuban, meanwhile, is also confident that a new deal for the other free-agent center, Shawn Bradley, might be completed this week. “We’re in good shape,’’ Cuban says. It might be that confidence that keeps him from jumping at other interior players available.
On the subject of Hakeem Olajuwon, presented Monday with a three-year, $10 million deal to stay in Houston, Cuban says, “Not interested. Hakeem wants to go where he can start, and play a lot. I believe he probably wants to go to the East, where there aren’t really many dominant centers.’’ Cuban adds that he doubts Olajuwon will accept the Rockets’ offer.
Nor does Miami power forward Anthony Mason tempt the Mavs – at least for now.
“No, no, not at this time,’’ Cuban said of interest in Mason. “It has nothing to do with off-court issues. It’s that Anthony would want to come in and start, and with his strong personality, if he expects minutes and doesn’t get them, it creates problems.’’
Differing views from across the negotiating table can cause problems, too. But Cuban says that’s not an issue for the Mavs and Booth.
“There are always rumors of everything, right?’’ Cuban says. “If Cal says there are hard feelings, well, we’ve made it clear that we want him, no if’s, and’s or but’s. We consider him to be very valuable. But the point I’ve made to him is that I’m representing 14 other Mavericks who want to do what’s best to win championships.’’
The Mavs can keep selling. But the Sonics can keep making room. They could renounce other free agents like Jelani McCoy and David Wingate and create even more room, ballooning their available money in a way that Dallas cannot match. Give Booth more money, and a starting job, and. …
In other words, the Mavs are asking Calvin Booth to make a slight sacrifice. Meanwhile, Seattle might be asking him to make a major move.