On tuesday night, the NBA Free Agent Negotiating period began. So far a number of... interesting moves have been made.
Lakers Reach Agreement With Artest
Today, Ron Artest and the Lakers reached an agreement somewhere near 3 years/18 mil, ESPN's Marc Stein reports. This move holes up the Lakers roster fairly well, as Artest is a better Ariza for 3/4 the cost. The Lakers now may be able to re-sign Lamar Odom, but an Ariza return is unlikely. The Lakers will only improve if this Artest deal goes through, but the acquiring of Ron poses a serious question: 2 Attitude Problems on a team? Can the Diva Kobe and the Angry Ron play alongside each other for 3 Years? We will see.
Pistons Reach Agreement With Gordon, Villinueva
The Pistons have reached verbal agreements with FA's Ben Gordon and Charlie Villinueva. The agreement with Ben Gordon strikes me as odd, if only because they now have 3 starting guards in Rodney Stuckey, Ben Gordon, and Richard Hamilton. They also lack any size besides Charlie with Antonio McDyess and Rasheed Wallace leaving. The only big man left standing is Jason Maxiell. Charlie Villinueva+Jason MaxiellAntonio McDyess+Rasheed Wallace+Jason Maxiell. I expect a guard to be traded for a big man.
Rockets Agree To Deal With Ariza
In what is essentially a player swap, the Rockets lost Ron Artest to the Lakers and agreed to a deal with Trevor Ariza. They basically payed more money for a worse player. The problem for the Rockets? When McGrady returns, they will have McGrady, Battier, and Ariza, all wanting to start, playing only 2 positions. A possible solution? The Clippers are reportedly interested in Battier. A Kaman-Battier swap would clear up the backcourt logjam for the Rockets.
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Let me add on to this:
ReplyDeleteKobe and Artest are actually pretty good friends, but when playoffs rise, competition would probably get tough seeing as how you have to compete with the same player 4-7 games. Will Artest and Kobe be a problem? Possibly, but if Artest and Kobe really has that friendship, I think they'll be fine.
As for a Kaman for Battier scanrio, I don't believe it. Letting go of Kaman now means that we can have a depleted amount of bigs in 2010. (Camby's contract expires in 2010 and is a very valuable trade option to any teams competeing for the playoffs and want something cheap and affordable.) Can Camby come back with Clippers in 2010? Yes, but Camby isn't getting any younger. Who knows how much more legs he has left in him?