07.02
So it’s gonna be a quite free agency year, huh? Good call. Looks like the Warriors are all kinds of pissed at seeing the back end of The Baron and have offered Elton Brand 5 years at $85-90mill. This is AFTER offering Gilbert Arenas 5 years, $100 mill and WHILE sitting down talking to Monta Ellis. Of course, it’s not like the Raptors haven’t made any strides in free agency. Achem. I know, I know…wait until 2010. Absolutely. Wake me up when we get there, because I doubt I will be watching much Raptor ball this year featuring their highly touted 10man rotation of AllStars.
Keeping with people looking for benjamins: Danny Granger is looking for an extension and Chris Duhon is being wooed by the Knicks. Duhon is being offered $7mil over 2 years to battle it out with Starbury. Granger obviously likes the shape the Pacers are taking and wants to latch on to a rising star. As much as I despise the Pacers, I have to agree with his desire to stay.
Michael Beasley? Well, he got hammered with an elbow today and ended up going to hospital. Welcome to the NBA, young fella.
Good community story: Yao is raffling off a trip to the Olympics, with all proceeds going to his foundation that is doing fine work in helping China recover from the recent earthquakes. It’s quite the package:
The winner, to be announced July 21, will receive round-trip airfare from a U.S. city to Beijing, a seven-day stay at a hotel in Beijing from Aug. 7-14, two tickets to the China-USA basketball game at the Olympics, a $1,500 cash stipend, a guided tour of the Great Wall of China, two Houston Rockets jerseys autographed by Yao, two tickets to a Rockets game and a chance to meet Yao after a Rockets game.
The cost of the tickets? $2.00
Bad Community story: some nitwit is trying to stir up support to keep Aaron McKie out of their neighbourhood. Seemingly McKie is “another Iverson”.
Finally, our pal Dirk has a new centre joining him on the German national team. None other than…..Chris Kaman. Evidently Chris has German roots…just not in his hair.
The Knicks are supposedly going to buyout the last year of Starbury’s contract, which would mean Duhon has a shot at being their starting guard. I have to admit, after the way he played this year I could see him sticking in the NBA, but I didn’t think he’d actually get a RAISE.
That was my understanding as well, but, according to this article, that could be false. They are looking at keeping Marbury and having a guns-at-high-noon fight for the starting spot.
Marbs will have a “season ending injury” which will be miraculously healed if he’s cut before that happens. If he can score a lot of junk points — which he actually can do — he can at least get someone’s MLE next year, same as happened with Juwan Howard a few years back when he was coming off his own insane contract. With Duhon (not to mention Nate Robinson, plus Jamal Crawford taking a few minutes at the point), there’s not a chance in hell of that happening.
Carlos Boozer also has German roots too (he was born there). That would be one helluva boost in the frontcourt, if the German team had Dirk, Kaman and Boozer!