Free Agent Watch: CP3 & D12

[Underdog]

I figured these two guys could use their own thread, seeing as how the Official Offseason Thread has officially become a mess to sort through... Now we have a single location to collect all of our hopes and dreams before reality sets them on fire.

I'm going to kick it off with the first few entries from Tim MacMahon's series on Chris Paul:

Plan CP3: Mark Cuban is Mavs' biggest advantage

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There’s one reason why Chris Paul might consider leaving millions of dollars on the table to say farewell to a 56-win team with a lot of young talent. His name is Donald Sterling.

Sterling spending money for two good seasons, made possible by the deal to acquire Paul from the Hornets, doesn’t erase three decades of being a penny-pinching NBA disgrace.

Put it this way: The Clippers have made half as many playoff appearances during Sterling’s 32-year ownership tenure as the Mavs have in 13 full seasons under Mark Cuban. Sterling’s squads have won a grand total of two playoff series, 11 fewer than Cuban’s teams.

Oh, and Sterling also happens to have been accused of racism, sexism, etc. in multiple lawsuits. In basketball and his other business, he’s simply an awful boss. Cuban, on the other hand, is widely beloved by those who have played for the Mavs for his willingness to do whatever is in his power to give his team the best chance to win. (He also happens to be friendly with Paul, as evidenced by Cuban and Dirk Nowitzki palling around with Paul at Tiger Woods' charity poker tournament in Las Vegas over the weekend.)

That’s why Cuban vs. Sterling is a point the Mavs must hammer in their talks with Paul.

Clippers president Andy Roeser and general manager Gary Sacks, who was promoted to his position last summer after Neil Olshey made a lateral move to Portland, deserve credit for putting together one of the league’s deepest benches. However, they’ve also been part of the problem franchise for two decades.

The mountains of Sterling’s dirt might be enough to plant seeds of doubt in Paul’s mind about staying in L.A. The Mavs brass would still have to sell him on their ability to build and sustain a legitimate contender with him as a centerpiece.

Cuban and president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson can point to their dozen-year playoff run with Nowitzki as proof of their credibility. Their challenge will be forming a plan for the future that could make CP3 believe that he’d win a championship in Dallas.

EDGE: Mavs by a mile.

Plan CP3: Clippers can't find better coach than Rick Carlisle

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Is Donald Sterling seriously considering giving Vinny Del Negro a new contract?

If that’s the case, Mark Cuban ought to offer to pay half of Del Negro’s salary. It’d be worth it to potentially push Chris Paul to leave Los Angeles instead of continuing to play for a clearly overmatched coach.

(UPDATE: Sources say Del Negro will not return as head coach of the Clippers.)

For the sake of discussion, let’s eliminate Del Negro from the equation. Paul will surely have the right to hand-pick his head coach if he returns to the Clippers, right? That’s just common sense for any franchise trying to keep a perennial All-NBA player.

Still, who could Paul possibly pick that’s better than Rick Carlisle?

The only possible answer would be convincing Phil Jackson to get off his couch and stick it to Jim Buss by coaching the Staples Center’s other basketball team. All indications, however, are that Jackson is only interested in a front-office position at this point, not the day-to-day grind of coaching again.

The Mavs need to maximize Carlisle as an asset in their recruiting pitch to Paul. They need to make a case that Carlisle is a perfect coach for CP3, an elite point guard in his prime with a hard-driving personality.

It’s not just about the credibility Carlisle has from the Mavs’ championship run. His preferred offensive style – a flow system that depends on the point guard to dictate the pace and make good decisions – is a phenomenal fit for Paul and his Jason Kidd-like basketball brain. And Carlisle’s ability to come up with smart, creative play calls when appropriate would appeal to Paul, who praised the Mavs coach via Twitter for a beautifully designed play that freed up O.J. Mayo for a clutch 3 during one of Dallas’ national TV games this season.

Carlisle prides himself on being brutally honest and relentlessly pushing his players. Paul has a similar reputation as a leader, arguably to a fault.

There’s no question Paul’s skills, savvy and take-no-stuff leadership style would make him an ideal point guard for Carlisle. The Mavs must convince Paul that relationship would be mutually beneficial.

EDGE: Another major advantage for the Mavs.

Plan CP3: Dirk Nowitzki or a decade-younger Blake Griffin?

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The power forward’s production has dipped significantly after his award-winning 2010-11 season.

That statement applies to both Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin.

Nowitzki:

2010-11 – 23.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg
2011-12 – 21.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg
2012-13 – 17.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg

Griffin:

2010-11 – 22.5 ppg, 12.1 rpg
2011-12 – 20.7 ppg, 10.9 rpg
2012-13 – 18.0 ppg, 8.3 rpg

Dirk’s declining numbers are easily explained. He’s about to turn 35, dealt with knee issues the last two seasons and had serious point guard problems this year. With good health and a great point guard, Nowitzki returning to All-Star form certainly doesn’t seem to be a stretch.

What’s up with the 24-year-old Griffin’s regression since his Rookie of the Year campaign? You’d think such an elite athlete would be better after being paired with a premier point guard, but the evidence so far doesn’t support that theory.

“Lob City” has produced a lot of highlights, but the Chris Paul/Griffin pick-and-roll hasn’t been quite as lethal as anticipated. There have also been L.A. media rumblings about friction forming between the two Clippers cornerstones, with Paul supposedly growing weary of Griffin’s immaturity.

The CP3/Dirk pick-and-pop wouldn’t be nearly as flashy, but it’d be an efficient piece of art. Paul loved playing with a midrange-shooting machine of a power forward in New Orleans, dubbing David West as “The 18-foot Assassin.” There has never been a sweeter-shooting power forward than Nowitzki, whose calm competitiveness would also complement Paul’s fiery personality. (And there'd be no clash of egos with Dirk, who wants nothing more than to suddenly become the Mavs' second best player.)

Nowitzki has established himself as an elite closer and has consistently stepped up his game in the postseason. Griffin can make neither of those claims.

For all of Griffin’s athleticism, if Paul had to pick one of the power forwards for a playoff run, there’s little doubt it’d be Dirk at this point.

But CP3 has to be thinking about the long term this summer, and when comparing co-stars, that almost certainly tips the scales to the dude that’s more than a decade younger than his fellow power forward.

The finances could be a factor here, too. Dirk has declared that he'll take a massive pay cut when he re-signs with Dallas next summer, meaning the Mavs are guaranteed to have the cap space to pursue another star, while Griffin's max contract extension is about to kick in. But we'll wait until Thursday's installment to weigh the impact of the dollars difference.

EDGE: Clippers

Plan CP3: Can Mavs sell a potential supporting cast?

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Here’s where the Mavs have to make a heck of a sales pitch.

It wouldn’t be difficult for the Mavs to create enough cap space to give Chris Paul a max deal while keeping Shawn Marion and Vince Carter. That might give the Mavs a chance to be competitive next season, but the opportunity to play with a couple of savvy veterans with expiring contracts isn’t going to convince Paul to leave Los Angeles.

To have any hope, the Mavs must make Paul believe in their ability to build a legitimate contender around him next summer. And that’s where the dollars difference between Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin might matter.

Nowitzki is on record as saying he’ll take a “significant pay cut” when he re-signs with Dallas next year, which guarantees that the Mavs can be major players again in the 2014 free agency market. Griffin’s five-year max deal kicks in next season, starting with a $13.7 million salary that increases by a little more than $1 million each year.

Worry about the semantics of what “significant” means if you wish, but Nowitzki has made it clear that his salary won’t get in the way of the Mavs making major upgrades after his current contract expires. The Clippers won’t have nearly as much flexibility with two max players plus center DeAndre Jordan due to make $21.4 million over the next two seasons.

It’s not enough to get Paul to envision the personnel possibilities in Dallas. The Mavs brass has to get CP3 excited about them. It’s a virtual lock that Dallas will be a preferred destination if Paul is running the point and the Mavs have ample cap space.

Hey, did you know CP3 and LeBron James (who can opt out of his contract next summer) are great buddies? Too far-fetched? OK, how about DeMarcus Cousins coming to Dallas as a restricted free agent?

The Clippers have a couple of complementary talents in addition to Griffin already locked up. You can argue that Jordan is overpaid, but he’s a young big man with freakish athleticism. Jamal Crawford, who has three years remaining on his midlevel deal, is a perennial Sixth Man of the Year candidate.

The Clippers also have a couple of assets that could be extremely attractive in the trade market this season: restricted free agent-to-be point guard Eric Bledsoe, who is stuck as Paul’s backup but good enough to start for a lot of teams; and the $8 million expiring contract of Caron Butler.

The Clippers’ supporting cast looks better on paper. The Mavs leave a lot more room for the imagination.

EDGE: Clippers, unless Mark Cuban manages to convince CP3 otherwise.

Plan CP3: How much does he value L.A. legacy?

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Both of these franchises used to be NBA laughingstocks.

The Mavs have since earned a reputation as one of the league’s best franchises. They were one of only three franchises in NBA history to reel off 11 consecutive 50-win seasons, making a pair of Finals appearances and winning one title during that span. That type of success demands respect.

The Clippers, meanwhile, have a grand total of one 50-win season in franchise history.

Granted, that was last season, when Chris Paul led the Clippers to a 56-win campaign. That came on the heels of a .606 winning percentage in the lockout-compressed 2011-12 season, when the Clippers won a playoff series for just the second time in franchise history.

The Clippers’ tradition is terrible, but CP3 has a ton of sweat equity in the franchise’s glory days. How much does he value the legacy of being the man who keyed the turnaround of Los Angeles’ other basketball team?

If Paul joins the Mavs, he’s joining a franchise that has recently been to the top of the mountain and plans to return. Dirk Nowitzki would willingly pass the baton as franchise centerpiece, but Paul would be attempting to live up to standards set in Dallas during Dirk’s Hall of Fame career.

With the Clippers, CP3 sets the standards. He’s the guy who saved that franchise from being a long-running basketball joke.

EDGE: Mavs, although Paul could have a major emotional investment in trying to finish the job in L.A.

[Underdog]

More MacMahon:

Sweep dreams: Hope of bringing Dwight Howard to Dallas

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Here’s how Mark Cuban views the first NBA postseason that doesn’t include Dallas in a dozen years: "Mavs fans just want teams with free agents to get eliminated early."

Well, then Lakers-Spurs couldn’t have gone better, huh?

After all, Dwight Howard’s team got swept. Heck, Howard didn’t even stick around the whole four games, getting ejected early in the second half of the embarrassing finale. And then he called his season in Los Angeles "a nightmare."

Howard, as expected, is sending all sorts of mixed messages about whether he’ll stay or leave L.A. It’s at least enough of a possibility that the Mavs must be fully prepared to make their best recruiting pitch.

And, no, there isn’t any question about whether the Mavs would want to take on all that Dwight drama. Here’s a pretty good rule of thumb for NBA GMs: If you can get the game’s best big man in his prime, do it.

Howard has plenty of baggage, but he’s a perennial All-Star who averaged 17.1 points, a league-high 12.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in a down year while coming off back surgery and dealing with a bum shoulder. He represents the Mavs’ best chance of pulling off the "quick rebuild" that Cuban is determined to make happen.

(That’s assuming Chris Paul stays with the Clippers, which we’ll probably address after the other L.A. team’s playoff run is over.)

Let’s make another thing clear: A lack of cap space won’t be the reason if the Mavs miss out on Howard. They’d have to move Shawn Marion or Vince Carter to be able to give him a max deal, but it wouldn’t be difficult to dump the salary of a quality veteran entering the last year of his contract.

First and foremost, it’s a matter of whether Howard is miserable enough as a SoCal scapegoat to leave the Lakers’ five-year, $118 million offer on the table to take $87.6 million over four years from another team.

If that’s the case, then Cuban, Donnie Nelson, Rick Carlisle and that goofy German guy must make a strong enough pitch to persuade Howard to pick Dallas instead of other potential destinations, such as Houston or Atlanta.

All due respect to Dirk Nowitzki, who is more than willing to become the second fiddle to accommodate a twenty-something superstar, but the presence of one of the all-time best power forwards can’t be the Mavs’ primary selling point. Not with Nowitzki turning 35 this summer and James Harden just approaching his prime in Houston.

The Mavs must sell Howard on their ability to build and sustain a contender around him. They did it for a dozen years around Dirk, and they need to make Howard believe they can do it for a decade around him.

Cuban, who is making the great sacrifice of not scheduling any "Shark Tank" tapings during the July free agency period, has to paint a championship picture for Howard. The big man has to believe, with the Mavs scheduled to have a ton of cap space again next summer, that the front office can put the pieces around him required to get another ring.

Two major pieces are in place: Nowitzki and coach Rick Carlisle, who can help the Mavs’ cause by showing clips of some of the plays the Pacers used to run to get Jermaine O'Neal the rock during his All-Star days.

And the Mavs must play to Howard’s flaws, convincing him that he’ll be comfortable in Dallas for the rest of his career. It helps that the front office has a strong relationship with agent Dan Fegan, who also represents Marion.

Is it likely that Howard will leave L.A. for Dallas? Nope.

But, hey, what were the odds in October that the Lakers wouldn’t win a single playoff game? That stunning development – and all the drama that unfolded this season in L.A. – certainly improved the Mavs’ odds of landing the NBA’s best big man as their next centerpiece.

[Underdog]

Dollar and cents from Larry Coon:

CBA FAQ Blog: What about Houston and Dallas?

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This week I wrote a piece for ESPN Insider (you need an Insider account to view it) looking at the cap situations for the entire league heading into this summer’s free agency. Teams naturally fell into categories:

*The big spenders: Teams way over the luxury tax line.
*The low-tax teams: Teams between the luxury tax threshold and the apron.
*The teams just below the tax line: Teams that are capped-out, and which will likely want to stay out of the luxury tax.
*The teams with big cap room: Teams able to offer at least $20.5 million to a free agent (i.e., enough for Dwight Howard).
*The field: The remaining 15 teams that aren’t in one of the above categories.

Due to space constraints (yes, space constraints exist, even on a web site where a page is theoretically infinite in length) I had to gloss over the field, and only mentioned this category in passing.

Of course, this gave rise to many “what about _____?” questions, naming one of the 15 teams I had glossed over. The most frequently mentioned teams were the Rockets and Mavericks. These two teams will have a lot of cap room, to be sure — but not enough to make my “big cap room” category.

Let’s take a look at these two teams now, and assess their ability to sign Dwight Howard this summer. Due to the league’s max salary rules, Howard will be able to sign for up to $20,513,178 next season. Let’s assume he will want to sign for the full max if at all possible (which I think is a very reasonable assumption).

Let’s also assume the 2013-14 cap will be in the $58.5 million to $60 million range, which is the range in which the teams to which I have spoken are projecting. Note that the value of the cap is dependent on BRI, a lot of BRI comes from playoff revenue, and a lot of this playoff revenue is determined by which teams make the playoffs and how far they advance — so a $1.5 million range is about as accurate as we can be at this point.

The Rockets

Houston currently has $54,951,158 committed for 2013-14, which includes $100,000 remaining for Tyler Honeycutt, who cleared waivers. They have 15 players signed for next season. Adding Howard would take them to $75,464,336 — which is well above the projected cap. At first glance it appears there’s no way the Rockets can offer Howard a competitive deal.

But if you’ve studied the league you know that Rockets GM Daryl Morey likes to keep his options open. He has done exactly that heading into this summer, by utilizing team options as non-guaranteed salary as follows:

Francisco Garcia: Team option ($6.4 million)
James Anderson: Non-guaranteed
Patrick Beverley: Non-guaranteed
Aaron Brooks: Non-guaranteed
Carlos Delfino: Non-guaranteed
Tim Ohlbrecht: Non-guaranteed
Chandler Parsons: Partially guaranteed ($600,000)
Greg Smith: Non-guaranteed

Some of these players’ guarantee amounts change to full on July 1 or October 31, so let’s assume Morey declines Garcia’s team option, and waives the remaining players before July 1 in order to maximize his cap room.

The remaining seven players would then total $39,338,522, before accounting for cap holds for empty roster spots and first round draft picks. As a result of earlier trades the Rockets are slated to keep their first round pick if it’s in the top-14, and lose it otherwise. As of right now they’d wind up with the 19th pick, so let’s assume they lose it and that we don’t need to account for it. We only need to account for five empty roster spots at $490,180 each, bringing the team’s total to $41,789,422.

If we add Howard to this total their team salary would be $62,302,600. So even if Morey clears the team’s roster as much as possible he still won’t be able to offer Howard the max. The largest contract he could offer would start at $16.7 million to $18.2 million.

The Mavericks

Dallas is committed to $42,205,221 right now for seven players, before accounting for empty roster spots and draft picks. But unlike the Rockets, the Mavs don’t have many options. O.J. Mayo and Shawn Marion have a player option and an ETO, respectively, but since those are in favor of the player, they are out of the team’s control. (Their problems would be solved if Marion opted-out, but I don’t think that’s likely.) The only Maverick on non-guaranteed salary is Bernard James, and he will make the minimum salary for a one-year player.

Let’s do the same exercise we did with Houston and see how much cap room they can generate. If they waive James their total would be $41,416,349 for six players. Their first round pick is top-20 protected, and as of right now they’d get the 13th pick — so let’s assume they keep that, adding a cap hold for $1,655,300. We also need to add five roster charges for $490,180 each, bringing their total to $45,532,549.

This is higher than the total we got for the Rockets, so you know what the answer is going to be. Adding Howard at the max salary would bring their total to $66,045,727, which is above the upper limit of the projected cap. The largest contract the Mavs could offer would start at $13.0 million to $14.5 million.

So both the Rockets and Mavs can offer Howard a big contract, but not a max contract. But note the following:

*The maximum salaries vary by player, and Howard will have the highest maximum of any free agent this summer (unless I’m forgetting someone). Other players will have maximum salaries as low as $15 million or so, so while neither team will be able to field a competitive offer to Howard, they potentially can be competitive for other free agents.

*If a team is dead-set on signing Howard, it may be possible to entice the Lakers into participating in a sign-and-trade transaction. (The Lakers will be prohibited from receiving a player in a sign-and-trade, but nothing prevents them from trading a player away in such a transaction.)

*Both teams can potentially clear additional salary by making a trade as a prelude to a Howard deal. For example, if the Mavs persuade a team to take Marion off their hands (with little or no salary coming back), they will be able to offer Howard a deal at the maximum.

*A team can clear additional cap room by waiving a player whose salary is guaranteed and utilizing the stretch provision. For example, if the Mavs waived Mayo (with one year remaining at $4.2 million), his salary would be stretched over three seasons, and the Mavs’ 2013-14 team salary would be reduced by $2.8 million. This scenario is only feasible with players signed under the current CBA (December 2011 or later).

So as things stand right now, either the Rockets or the Mavericks could offer Dwight Howard a large contract, but neither team will be able to offer him the maximum. To do that would require some extra — and tricky — maneuvering.


Update 4/18/2013:

Tim MacMahon from ESPN Dallas tweeted that OJ Mayo has opted to be a free agent this summer. This potentially changes the equation.

Let’s assume Mayo opts-out and leaves the Mavs, and that the team tries to maximize cap space by waiving the non-guaranteed contracts of Josh Akognon (signed after this post was originally written) and Bernard James. Let’s also assume that Shawn Marion does not exercise his early termination option.

The Mavs would then have $37,215,449 committed to five players. They will officially keep their own first round pick now, but we still don’t know where it will land. On the basis of the final standings they’d pick #14, which would have a cap hold of $1,572,600.

That adds up to $38,788,049 for six players, so we’d need six empty roster charges totaling $2,941,080, for a total of $41,729,129.

If we stick with the cap projection of $58.5 million to $60 million, the Mavs would have about $16.7 million to $18.3 million in cap room. Still not enough for Dwight Howard, but a lot more than they would have had without Mayo opting out.

Of course, now they also have to replace Mayo.

[SMC0007]

I hope to hear a minimal amount of "Because it's L.A. and the ocean and the beach, man!" crap. You can't drive anywhere in L.A. without being completely beaten to a pulp from traffic. They play ball indoor and do an incredible amount of travel. All the reasons geographically to play is over rated.

[j0Shi]

Dunno if this has been mentioned: In my eyes CP3 should be first target, Dwight second. I'd be cool with both, but there's much more talk about Dwight to Dallas, which suggests that he tops the FO's priority list?

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by j0Shi

Dunno if this has been mentioned: In my eyes CP3 should be first target, Dwight second. I'd be cool with both, but there's much more talk about Dwight to Dallas, which suggests that he tops the FO's priority list?

I think Chris Paul is our #1 target, but Dwight Howard's ego needs to believe he's #1 or else he'll feel slighted and lose interest... Both guys are top priority, so it's more of a 1a/1b situation. I doubt the Mavs FO is going to dedicate to an answer on that anyway.

[oilfieldtrash]

Trade away everyone. Once we get ditched by cp3 and Dwight we'll have a empty roster to fill out. Then the mavs go after the near 40 guys. Billups, Mike James, Paul Pierce, Andre Miller snt, etc..

[oilfieldtrash]

I forgot the elusive Kurt Thomas. I think this is the year we finally sign him.
Maybe a snt for Kidd.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by oilfieldtrash

Trade away everyone. Once we get ditched by cp3 and Dwight we'll have a empty roster to fill out. Then the mavs go after the near 40 guys. Billups, Mike James, Paul Pierce, Andre Miller snt, etc..

Originally Posted by oilfieldtrash

I forgot the elusive Kurt Thomas. I think this is the year we finally sign him.
Maybe a snt for Kidd.

[LonghornDub]

CP3 should be the top target, and it sounds like he is, although it seems to me that he is leaning toward staying in LA.

That said, he's obviously coming to Dallas. So is Dwight.

[Kidd Karma]

Originally Posted by oilfieldtrash

I forgot the elusive Kurt Thomas. I think this is the year we finally sign him.
Maybe a snt for Kidd.

Kidd for the 3rd time? But NYPOST columnist Frank Isola did tweet he believes will be gone from the Knicks by request to search for another ring....despite Grunwald's exit interview concluding that he thinks Kidd will not retire.

[nowhereman]

We all know it's not gonna happen

[nowhereman]

... but it's awesome to think of!

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by nowhereman

We all know it's not gonna happen

Booooooooo!!!

Originally Posted by nowhereman

... but it's awesome to think of!

Yaaaaaaaaay!!!

[DevinHarriswillstart]

DALLAS — Now that the Los Angeles Clippers have refused to offer coach Vinny Del Negro a new contract, a source said Wednesday that the Dallas Mavericks believe they have a better chance of acquiring Dwight Howard than acquiring Chris Paul.

Howard is the Los Angeles Lakers’ center who will become a free agent on July 1, the day free agency begins across the league.

Paul, a point guard with the Los Angeles Clippers last season who also will be a free agent, likely will have a say-so on which coach the Clippers hire, meaning he’ll probably stay with the Clippers.

“I think Chris Paul, depending on who [the Clippers] hire, is going to stay with the Clippers,” the source said. “The Mavericks are really interested in Chris Paul, but I think they want Dwight more. They think they can make them a point guard.”

The source said two point guards who interest the Mavs are Golden State’s Jarrett Jack and Memphis’ Jerryd Bayless. Both players figured prominently in their teams’ runs in the current playoffs, and both will become free agents in July.

Meanwhile, the source said that the Mavs were aggressively shopping the No. 13 pick they garnered in Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery so they’d be able to create more salary cap space and make a stronger pitch to obtain Howard.

The Lakers are in the driver’s seat in that they can offer Howard a five-year, $118 million contract. The most any other team can offer Howard is a four-year, $87.6 million deal.

Forward Dirk Nowitzki has already said he’ll sign for significantly less money when he becomes a free agent next summer if it’ll help the Mavs secure Howard, who is generally considered the game’s best center.

Howard has not said what his future basketball plans are other than to mention that the Houston Rockets, Mavs and Lakers are on his wish list.

“They’re trying to go after [Howard] pretty hard,” the source said of the Mavs. “They think they’ve got as good enough of a chance as anybody, but I think Houston is a better fit for him.”

http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05...k=digger-topic

[LonghornDub]

Kidd is probably done (not retiring, necessarily, but in terms of effectiveness). Not sure why anybody would be pitching for him, unless it's a player-coach, DA type deal.

[yahyes]

I wouldn't mind Jarret Jack as a plan B incase Paul stays. But I really would like them to consider Jose Calderon first. A true pass first point guard with underrated shooting abilities.

Calderon, Dirk, and Dwight Howard sounds like a nice lineup as well.

[ibivibiv]

I just hope they work a solid plan B while trying to get either one. Howard has proven to be so unpredictable. If he becomes plan A I think the Mavs better have a very solid and active plan B running.

[SMC0007]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05...k=digger-topic

I'm surprised with Jaryd Bayliss' play. He really seems like a J. Jack type player tho. If we have Dwight, why bother with the scoring PG?

[Kidd Karma]

Originally Posted by SMC0007

I'm surprised with Jaryd Bayliss' play. He really seems like a J. Jack type player tho. If we have Dwight, why bother with the scoring PG?

I think you want your creator to have as many weapons as possible. Both can spot up with regularity as well as drive and finish. Creates much more opportunity for Dwight on the block. But I don't think of Dwight as a #1 offensive option though, his individual low block skills don't exist. Most of his points come of teammates drive and dish or a followup at the rim. His low block game took a back seat with his back issues. I worked with Hakeem 2 offseasons ago, there was improvement, but still really raw in terms of individual low block play. Defense and rebounding is 2nd to none. Definitely a game changer.

[The Ghost of Championship]

Originally Posted by nowhereman

We all know it's not gonna happen

I honestly believe we have the most to offer both these players, who want to play together anyway. Dwight won't win in LA and they've strapped themselves financially away from improving. The new "apron" rule will crush every move they try to make and limits the value of their exceptions too. Basically the same applies to CP3 plus he works for the biggest douche in the industry.

Think about it. Dirk has said he will take a pay cut for another championship. We can give both these guys $19,000,000 this summer if we unload everything. Then Dirk signs for the minimum next summer. That's a heavy core at a $40,000,000 price tag. Don't you think names like Paul Pierce will be running here for MLE type money? I do.

CP3
Free Agent
Paul Pierce
Dirk
Dwight

I LOVE that team. Yes, they are old, but who cares since you have two of the top five players in the game in the long shot it doesn't work out. Try it for two years and then retool if necessary.

[The Ghost of Championship]

I also believe the writing is on the wall for these two to take a pay cut. Ever since Miami formed the super team, every top player knows they have to run away from Kobe contracts if they ever want to make it to the glory land. They're all silly rich anyway, and at some point a ring becomes worth more than money.

They don't need the prestige of a James Harden contract either since they don't have to prove they can get one or are worth max money. That's why James Harden left, and it's why CP3 and Dwight are coming here this summer.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Ooooh...so now Dwight is considering the Warriors? But...I thought it was Houston or LA? What a drama fest June will be.

Dwight Howard is considering signing with the Golden State Warriors as well as the previously reported Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Atlanta Hawks, a source close to the player said Thursday.

According to the source, Howard's main concern involves "what team he feels has the best chance to win championships, has the best team and system around him."

Howard can't officially sign with a team until July 10, when a moratorium on NBA business is lifted.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...ering-Warriors

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Ooooh...so now Dwight is considering the Warriors? But...I thought it was Houston or LA? What a drama fest June will be.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...ering-Warriors

Dwight Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest...

[LonghornDub]

Seems pretty unlikely that the Warriors could get enough cap space to sign Dwight.

[spreedom]

Good stuff from Dwain Price here. Apparently the Mavs are honing in on Dwight, thinking that they have a better chance to sign him than they do CP3:

Mavericks are preparing hot pursuit of free agent Dwight Howard, source says

DALLAS — Now that the Los Angeles Clippers have refused to offer coach Vinny Del Negro a new contract, a source said Wednesday that the Dallas Mavericks believe they have a better chance of acquiring Dwight Howard than acquiring Chris Paul.

Howard is the Los Angeles Lakers' center who will become a free agent on July 1, the day free agency begins across the league.

Paul, a point guard with the Los Angeles Clippers last season who also will be a free agent, likely will have a say-so on which coach the Clippers hire, meaning he'll probably stay with the Clippers.

“I think Chris Paul, depending on who [the Clippers] hire, is going to stay with the Clippers,” the source said. “The Mavericks are really interested in Chris Paul, but I think they want Dwight more. They think they can make them a point guard.”

The source said two point guards who interest the Mavs are Golden State's Jarrett Jack and Memphis' Jerryd Bayless. Both players figured prominently in their teams' runs in the current playoffs, and both will become free agents in July.

Meanwhile, the source said that the Mavs were aggressively shopping the No. 13 pick they garnered in Tuesday’s NBA Draft Lottery so they'd be able to create more salary cap space and make a stronger pitch to obtain Howard.

The Lakers are in the driver’s seat in that they can offer Howard a five-year, $118 million contract. The most any other team can offer Howard is a four-year, $87.6 million deal.

Forward Dirk Nowitzki has already said he'll sign for significantly less money when he becomes a free agent next summer if it'll help the Mavs secure Howard, who is generally considered the game’s best center.

Howard has not said what his future basketball plans are other than to mention that the Houston Rockets, Mavs and Lakers are on his wish list.

“They're trying to go after [Howard] pretty hard,” the source said of the Mavs. “They think they've got as good enough of a chance as anybody, but I think Houston is a better fit for him.”

http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05...t-pursuit.html

[rabbitproof]

Sportswriters love this stuff.

I think Howard is getting more publicity because Howard is more finicky than Paul.

[Underdog]

Continuing MacMahon's CP3 series...

Plan CP3: Can Mavs sell a potential supporting cast?

link

Here’s where the Mavs have to make a heck of a sales pitch.

It wouldn’t be difficult for the Mavs to create enough cap space to give Chris Paul a max deal while keeping Shawn Marion and Vince Carter. That might give the Mavs a chance to be competitive next season, but the opportunity to play with a couple of savvy veterans with expiring contracts isn’t going to convince Paul to leave Los Angeles.

To have any hope, the Mavs must make Paul believe in their ability to build a legitimate contender around him next summer. And that’s where the dollars difference between Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin might matter.

Nowitzki is on record as saying he’ll take a “significant pay cut” when he re-signs with Dallas next year, which guarantees that the Mavs can be major players again in the 2014 free agency market. Griffin’s five-year max deal kicks in next season, starting with a $13.7 million salary that increases by a little more than $1 million each year.

Worry about the semantics of what “significant” means if you wish, but Nowitzki has made it clear that his salary won’t get in the way of the Mavs making major upgrades after his current contract expires. The Clippers won’t have nearly as much flexibility with two max players plus center DeAndre Jordan due to make $21.4 million over the next two seasons.

It’s not enough to get Paul to envision the personnel possibilities in Dallas. The Mavs brass has to get CP3 excited about them. It’s a virtual lock that Dallas will be a preferred destination if Paul is running the point and the Mavs have ample cap space.

Hey, did you know CP3 and LeBron James (who can opt out of his contract next summer) are great buddies? Too far-fetched? OK, how about DeMarcus Cousins coming to Dallas as a restricted free agent?

The Clippers have a couple of complementary talents in addition to Griffin already locked up. You can argue that Jordan is overpaid, but he’s a young big man with freakish athleticism. Jamal Crawford, who has three years remaining on his midlevel deal, is a perennial Sixth Man of the Year candidate.

The Clippers also have a couple of assets that could be extremely attractive in the trade market this season: restricted free agent-to-be point guard Eric Bledsoe, who is stuck as Paul’s backup but good enough to start for a lot of teams; and the $8 million expiring contract of Caron Butler.

The Clippers’ supporting cast looks better on paper. The Mavs leave a lot more room for the imagination.

EDGE: Clippers, unless Mark Cuban manages to convince CP3 otherwise.

Plan CP3: How much does he value L.A. legacy?

link

Both of these franchises used to be NBA laughingstocks.

The Mavs have since earned a reputation as one of the league’s best franchises. They were one of only three franchises in NBA history to reel off 11 consecutive 50-win seasons, making a pair of Finals appearances and winning one title during that span. That type of success demands respect.

The Clippers, meanwhile, have a grand total of one 50-win season in franchise history.

Granted, that was last season, when Chris Paul led the Clippers to a 56-win campaign. That came on the heels of a .606 winning percentage in the lockout-compressed 2011-12 season, when the Clippers won a playoff series for just the second time in franchise history.

The Clippers’ tradition is terrible, but CP3 has a ton of sweat equity in the franchise’s glory days. How much does he value the legacy of being the man who keyed the turnaround of Los Angeles’ other basketball team?

If Paul joins the Mavs, he’s joining a franchise that has recently been to the top of the mountain and plans to return. Dirk Nowitzki would willingly pass the baton as franchise centerpiece, but Paul would be attempting to live up to standards set in Dallas during Dirk’s Hall of Fame career.

With the Clippers, CP3 sets the standards. He’s the guy who saved that franchise from being a long-running basketball joke.

EDGE: Mavs, although Paul could have a major emotional investment in trying to finish the job in L.A.

[SMC0007]

Chris Paul is the only one on the Clippers who knows how to win.

[yahyes]

Originally Posted by SMC0007

Chris Paul is the only one on the Clippers who knows how to win.

Which is pretty bad. The clippers team is full of individuals latter down the road heading into playoffs. Blake Griffin becomes a one dimension highlight reel with no accurate jump shot. DeAndre Jordan has bad basketball IQ who merely looks for lob passes, just to try finding a way embarrassing someone.

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by yahyes

Which is pretty bad. The clippers team is full of individuals latter down the road heading into playoffs. Blake Griffin becomes a one dimension highlight reel with no accurate jump shot. DeAndre Jordan has bad basketball IQ who merely looks for lob passes, just to try finding a way embarrassing someone.

I really thought that Blake would add onto his game once he got into the NBA. Just imagine what he could be with a decent midrange game. Even when Paul gets Griffin the ball when and where he is supposed to, it's dribble, dribble, allow a double-team, and throw a bailout to a teammate at the end of the shot clock. If he just added a move across the lane, instead of looking to either hook his opponent and go to the spin move for a dunk or power right over him, he would would be so much more of a threat.

There are way too many ball dominant players on the Clips to maximize the gifts that Chris Paul has. With no pick-and-pop option from the big in the pick-and-roll, teams just collapse to the hoop and muck up the works, relegating CP3 to an iso player who has to consistently bail out his team with the clock running down. He can certainly do that, but he can get teammates involved like few other PGs can today, and that makes him special. It seems like it's transition dunk or bust for the Clips, which negates Paul's great abilities in half court sets. And having wing players like Crawford and Butler, who seem to prefer breaking down defenders off the dribble instead of spacing the floor, working baseline, or doing the dirty work to free up teammates instead of just calling for the ball for an iso, further neutralizes many of his talents.

Carlisle would have an absolute field day with Chris Paul running point. We have seen what his version of a motion offense can do with a PG who can distribute while Kidd was here, and he was far more limited offensively than CP3 is.

Just thinking about Dirk and CP3 running the pick-and-roll makes me smile. With Dirk's ability to find shooters and exploit switches, life would be so much easier for Paul. I hope that he realizes that.

[Windmill360]

Lets turn the clock back one year.

In Derons eyes:

Prokorov>Cuban
Avery>Carlisle
JJ>Dirk
GWallace, Lopez, Brooks> Marion

So in Pauls eyes:

Sterling>Cuban? Possibly
Fill in the blank>Carlisle? Might be (especially since Paul will be hand picking the sacrificial lamb)
Griffin>Dirk? You never know...
Clips supporting cast>Mavs supporting cast? Definitly

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Windmill360

Lets turn the clock back one year.

In Derons eyes:

Prokorov>Cuban
Avery>Carlisle
JJ>Dirk
GWallace, Lopez, Brooks> Marion

So in Pauls eyes:

Sterling>Cuban? Possibly
Fill in the blank>Carlisle? Might be (especially since Paul will be hand picking the sacrificial lamb)
Griffin>Dirk? You never know...
Clips supporting cast>Mavs supporting cast? Definitly

Cuban>Sterling no question, (unless Sterling is sharing his hookers)
Carlisle>Gentry (unless Paul only likes Black coaches)
Dirk>Griffin
Clipps>>>>>Mavs supporting cast

[Windmill360]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Cuban>Sterling no question, (unless Sterling is sharing his hookers)
Carlisle>Gentry (unless Paul only likes Black coaches)
Dirk>Griffin
Clipps>>>>>Mavs supporting cast

Obviously those are true, but the point is we thought it would be obvious to Deron as well.

[ribosoma]

Wow.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/stor...ketball-issues

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Windmill360

Obviously those are true, but the point is we thought it would be obvious to Deron as well.

Pecker-ov was new and shiny and could make big promises with his new arena and his hundreds of billions of dollars. Sterling has a 32-year history of being slouch.

Elgin Baylor accused Sterling of saying that he wants, "poor black boys from the South and a white head coach" and a DoJ investigation accuses him of not renting to African Americans because "Black tenants smell and attract vermin." He's also been observed taunting his own players.

Obviously we know that Carlisle is the better coach than Johnson, but I guess that didn;t work out for us.

If it is about the owner, we are the hands-down winner. Hard to compare coaches because we don't know who is the next coach. Supporting cast here is pretty weak outside of Dirk and one more year of Marion. It's going to be a hard sell, but at least ownership

[The Ghost of Championship]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Pecker-ov was new and shiny and could make big promises with his new arena and his hundreds of billions of dollars. Sterling has a 32-year history of being slouch.

Elgin Baylor accused Sterling of saying that he wants, "poor black boys from the South and a white head coach" and a DoJ investigation accuses him of not renting to African Americans because "Black tenants smell and attract vermin." He's also been observed taunting his own players.

Obviously we know that Carlisle is the better coach than Johnson, but I guess that didn;t work out for us.

If it is about the owner, we are the hands-down winner. Hard to compare coaches because we don't know who is the next coach. Supporting cast here is pretty weak outside of Dirk and one more year of Marion. It's going to be a hard sell, but at least ownership

Oh, come on. Phil Jackson is on record saying a bunch of racist stuff back in the early 90's. People change and society progresses, yet you want to hang a guy for having slaves in the 1800's?

Look, every mega-millionaire did slimy stuff back in the day. It doesn't mean we hold 32 year old junk over their heads. Sterling is a piece of garbage but playing the racist card is just dumb.

[ribosoma]

Originally Posted by The Ghost of Championship

Oh, come on. Phil Jackson is on record saying a bunch of racist stuff back in the early 90's. People change and society progresses, yet you want to hang a guy for having slaves in the 1800's?

Look, every mega-millionaire did slimy stuff back in the day. It doesn't mean we hold 32 year old junk over their heads. Sterling is a piece of garbage but playing the racist card is just dumb.

From:http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4187729

When Sterling first bought the Ardmore, he remarked on its odor to Davenport. "That's because of all the blacks in this building, they smell, they're not clean," he said, according to Davenport's testimony. "And it's because of all of the Mexicans that just sit around and smoke and drink all day." He added: "So we have to get them out of here." Shortly after, construction work caused a serious leak at the complex. When Davenport surveyed the damage, she found an elderly woman, Kandynce Jones, wading through several inches of water in Apartment 121. Jones was paralyzed on the right side and legally blind. She took medication for high blood pressure and to thin a clot in her leg. Still, she was remarkably cheerful, showing Davenport pictures of her children, even as some of her belongings floated around her.

Jones had repeatedly walked to the apartment manager's office to plead for assistance, according to sworn testimony given by her daughter Ebony Jones in the Housing Rights Center case. Kandynce Jones' refrigerator dripped, her dishwasher was broken, and her apartment was always cold. Now it had flooded. Davenport reported what she saw to Sterling, and according to her testimony, he asked: "Is she one of those black people that stink?" When Davenport told Sterling that Jones wanted to be reimbursed for the water damage and compensated for her ruined property, he replied: "I am not going to do that. Just evict the bitch."

Repairs never came. The shower stopped working, and the toilet wouldn't flush; Jones needed to use a plunger and disposed of waste tissue in bags.

Kandynce Jones departed the home she loved but that caused her so much grief when she passed away, on July 21, 2003, at age 67.

Sterling's Tinseltown fantasy, though, didn't extend to investing much more in his team than he had in San Diego. Throughout the '80s and '90s, he didn't sign a single significant free agent. Instead, the franchise regularly picked players high in the draft -- Michael Cage, Danny Manning, Lamar Odom -- only to develop them for a while before letting them go. Some insiders saw his strategy as something more insidious than mere bargain-hunting. Baylor says that because he tried to pay African-American players such as Cage fairly, Sterling restricted him from negotiating with them; eventually, Baylor contends, the owner told his GM not to talk to players or agents about money at all. Baylor also alleges that when the Clippers got bogged down in negotiations with Manning, Sterling said, "I'm offering a lot of money for a poor black kid." (Clippers general counsel Robert H. Platt responded in a statement that Baylor's "false claims carry no weight and have no credibility," saying his lawsuit is "driven by publicity-seeking attorneys.") All the while, Sterling was building a reputation as an invasive but indecisive owner. Classic example: In 1993, Manning, then an unhappy All-Star, asked Sterling why he wasn't dealt at the trade deadline. Sterling replied that he'd dreamed the Clippers had won a championship after he'd passed the ball to Manning for the winning shot. The following year, though, Manning was dumped for an over-the-hill Dominique Wilkins. "Dealing with Sterling was impossible," Carl Scheer, the team's GM from 1984 to 1986, once said. "If he took the elevator down, he'd ask the operator what he thought, and by the time he had reached the lobby, he'd changed his mind."

Sterling's preference for Asians extended to the people he wanted in his buildings. "I like Korean employees and I like Korean tenants," he told Dean Segal, chief engineer at a Sterling property called the Mark Wilshire Tower Apartments, according to testimony Segal gave in the Housing Rights Center case. And Davenport testified that Sterling told her, "I don't have to spend any more money on them, they will take whatever conditions I give them and still pay the rent…so I'm going to keep buying in Koreatown."

At the Towers, Sterling's staff issued applications for garage-door remote controls that required residents to disclose their birthplace and national origin. Darren Schield, controller at Beverly Hills Properties, later denied that Sterling wanted the information to screen tenants by race.

Instead, he said, "sometime after Sept. 11, 2001," an FBI special agent warned that several tenants who were "foreign, I mean as Muslim, or, you know," were targets of Bureau investigations. Even more bizarre but just as effective at driving away African-Americans and Hispanics, Beverly Hills Properties changed the name of the Wilshire Towers complex to Korean World Towers. A huge banner printed entirely in Korean was hung on the building, and the doormen were replaced by armed, Korean-born guards who were hostile to non-Koreans, again according to testimony given by multiple residents.

In May 2002, Sterling met with the staff of the newly acquired Wilshire Tower Apartments. He talked about his plans to make the 20-story building a beautiful landmark. Then, according to sworn testimony given in 2004 by building manager Dixie Martin, he said, "I like Korean tenants."

Raymond Henson, head of security at the building, who was standing outside the room, heard what happened next. Sterling, according to Henson's 2004 sworn statement, once again expressed his distaste for Mexicans as tenants, saying, "I don't like Mexican men because they smoke, drink and just hang around the house." Later, Sterling told Martin that he knew he shouldn't discriminate. But he had the right to do so, she recalled him saying, because he owned the place.

[sefant77]

The end of the article:

although Paul could have a major emotional investment in trying to finish the job in L.A.

Well, did he really try to finish the job in NO? Not really...

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by sefant77

The end of the article:



Well, did he really try to finish the job in NO? Not really...

To be fair, he didn't ask to be traded.