He signed with the Seattle Oklahoma City Sonics Something-or-others. From the Salt Lake Tribune:
Miles signed a four-year, $15 million contract with Oklahoma City, sources said Friday. Utah will have seven days to decide about matching the offer sheet and keeping the restricted free-agent guard.
The quest for a backup three continues. So who’s left? The Celtics are in a very similar position as Detroit with James Posey defecting to the Hornets — here’s the best remaining options that Matt Porter of the Boston Globe could come up with: Tony Allen, Matt Barnes, Mo Evans, Ryan Gomes, Michael Finley, Devean George, Bostjan Nochbar and Bonzi Wells.
I wouldn’t be terribly excited about bringing Evans back and Finley is a bit long in the tooth, but I could actually get up for Barnes, Nochbar or even Wells. Gomes has some upside, as well, but I’m guessing he’s out of Detroit’s price range.
(On a side note, sorry for the short and/or non-existent posts lately — I’m in Vegas for the Summer League and have been stretched thin. Expect some Pistons stuff up on FanHouse in a little bit, though.)
I wonder if SF Mickael Gelabale (formerly of the Sonics) is worth signing to a 2 year/minimum deal. He’s coming off a torn ACL and isn’t that spectacular to begin with but I think he could be a good energy bench player at the 3. I can see him growing into a Posey/Bowen type down the road.
Man, imagine a Zoo Crew with Wells at the 3. That’d be NASTY. People would stop having sex. They’d be too afraid their babies would fall victim to The Zoo.
Speaking of backup SFs… Sharpe had a nice stat line in the last VSL game. 5 assists and 0 TOs. And another 3 ball.
Curry seems to be using Amir a lot in traps and full court presses because of his athletic ability.
If Curry is planning to use this style of play a lot, maybe Hermann fits better than all the other SFs available. He showed that he could be effective in a full court press. Saunders referred to him as a one-man press.
The running theme from the VSL recaps is that Amir, Samb and Plaisted are very guick big men that can jam the pick and roll and get back to their man.
Note - I’m not saying Gelabale is the greatest option (he got released from the Sonics), I just think it’s easier to “grow your own” Bowen or Posey instead of buying them as free agents. Afflalo could be that kind of player but I think he has a higher ceiling and one day could be a starting SG on a championship team.
joejoejoe: You and I are on a level lately, man. *high-five*. I mentioned this possibility a while back though and unfortunately it’s not a good one. After doing some snooping about his torn ACL (thanks MarkButter for originally pointing it out) I found out his knee is in BAD shape and he’s slated to miss most of this coming season should he even find a team who covets his services. He tore it in March, and the ACL is usually a six month injury in the absolute best-case, but almost universally at least nine months, sometimes a year or more. Gelabale won’t be helping us out anytime soon
French-Steven Jackson is doo-doo.
@UTEP2STEP:
I Lol’d.
@QuickDarshan:
Very astute observation, and I agree with you. I think that’s a solid suggestion. With Sharpe playing the way he is, I’d be comfortable with him as a third option at SF behind Tay and Herrmann. Also, unless Herrmann gets another offer in the NBA, we’ve got him on lock since he is restricted. Another year out of him won’t cost us much. That way we’d be able to hang on to the majority of our MLE…
Walter Sharpe and Afflalo are left.
I believe that they will back up Tay at the #3.
This is what Amir said to Matt about Sharpe in a interview
MW: From what you’ve seen so far with the three draft picks, what’s impressed you the most?
AJ: For Walter Sharpe, his ball-handling skills. I was very impressed how he handles the ball at the three position. He’s a real over-sized three and he can post up little three men and little guards at his position. I’m very impressed by his ball-handling.
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2008/07/18/amir-johnson-is-a-21-year-old-grizzled-vet
That’s a good interview with Amir. He sounds like he’s got a balanced perspective on things and is working hard which is about all he can do. That bit about Sharpe being an oversized three sounds good. A big 3 could come in handy against the big Eastern Conference SFs.
MP: Obviously there’s no rule against Herrmann going overseas to play. We may have to go head-to-head against an international suitor (and it may be more about PT/confidence than $), and I don’t like those odds if it came to it. Though that could just be me being the proverbial Chicken Little.
On a mostly related note, I think it would’ve been steep for us to go 4 years/$15 million to CJ Miles, so I’m glad Joe wasn’t a quick draw on that one. For a team like Oklahoma City, I think they have more reason to make the plunge, namely cap space. I think, though it’s no fun for us, Joe’s waiting to strike will prove to be real fruitful. We’ve seen some players get grossly overpaid, and now as the market begins to thin out more and more, there are still guys standing all over the place that make a fit. Here’s a wholly incomplete list:
Biedrins(sign&trade, no?), Kristic, Childress, Josh Smith (sign&trade), Iguodala (sign&trade), Emeka Okafor (sign&trade, no?), JR Smith (no one is talking about/to him, and he is damn good), Josh Childress (because NO ONE on DBB has mentioned him yet, hehe), there are tons.
And personally, I like Walter Sharpe. I like a platoon of Herrmann and Sharpe just fine. Then again, I also like what I’ve seen from Will Bynum too, so maybe I’m an idiot. I think that maybe there should be a spot for him on our roster not definitely, but I really like what I’ve seen from Bynum. Is that wrong, Israeli guys (and others with Bynum pro-league watching experience?)? Matt seemed to agree with me in his chat yesterday, and Matt is my (our) conscience.
I read on TrueHoop that Delfino’s contract is worth the equivalent of $9 million US dollars because of different tax laws for athlete salaries in Europe and the strong Euro. That may play into Herrmann’s decison making a bit.
LB: Thanks for the props re: ACL
I think we are all falling in love with Sharpe given his thus far limited exposure. But I have seen alot of comments above stating Hermann and Sharpe are fine at the SF backup. I think it’s important for us to recognize that we’re comfortable with them as a tandem (i.e., Hermann’s experience and Sharpe being able to learn). If Hermann signs somewhere else I don’t think any of us feel as comfortable with Sharpe being the first 3 off the bench. Therefore, I think it is important Joe D. look for some help at the 3, whether it be signing Hermann now or something in the back of his mind later.
I could see Max at the 3 possibly with some of the 3’s. Paul Pierce comes to mind as does perhaps Lebron, recognizing Max would need a ton of help…but who wouldn’t. And perhaps some of Affalo at the 3.
I would like to repeat that I think we should throw some money at Nenard Kristyk (nets big man). I think the Nets won’t match with Boone, Williams and now Lopez, Bobby Simmons and the chinese guy in their front court. Krisck is a battler underneath, though not in bulk, has a decent shot from 15 ft, has a better O game than Biedrins and I think would come cheaper (no sign & trade). Anything at the MLE or below and GS will match for Bedriens, I don’t think the Nets will if it’s around 4M with a 2nd year option or perhpas box them in going into 2010 and their desire for Bron & the Bronx move somehow in the contract language.
I think CJ miles signing is part small panic on his part and get the cash while it’s there, what appears to be a rift with Sloan (which every player loses), owner Larry H. Miller has been in the hospital and has been but is not close to grooming a successer (his son) and the fact that Sloan may not be there longer meaning probably Phil Johnson at some point. He would have been a nice pickup at the 3 backing up, but obviously would like to play and he wouldn’t that much with the pistons as currently constructed.
I’ve been high on Childress for a while, and I think he’d be realistic and relatively easy to get. But, I’ve never mentioned him twice in the same post before, so you probably like him more.
LOL @ Paul M
I read on TrueHoop that Delfino’s contract is worth the equivalent of $9 million US dollars because of different tax laws for athlete salaries in Europe and the strong Euro. That may play into Herrmann’s decison making a bit.>>
That statement is incorrect.
1. It assumes that someone making X dollars over here pays a certain tax rate. People that make millions of dollars a year do not pay the full tax rate. Every liberal politician will tell you that. LOL
2. The cost of living is a lot higher in Europe. So a Euro does not buy as much as the equivalent dollar. That is one of the reasons that the dollar keeps depreciating vs the Euro.
How much more in buying power a person Delfino’s contract in Euros will get him vs what he might have made in the U.S. is open to debate depending on a number of factors and is not just a matter of taking a Euro number and dividing it my the conversion rate and again by the max U.S. tax rate.
Atlanta would match an MLE offer for Childress.
We are already over the cap and will not spend more for anyone we might sign than what we have available under the MLE.
I agree with Tay. I believe that we will stay pat. According to what Joe D. said publicly the odds are 50-50 that we stay pay. I say that they are a lot higher and he was saying 50 - 50 in order to assuage the anxiety of Pistons fans who are clamoring for us to do a deal.
I see no reason not to go with what we currently have. I think with MC as the head coach and the further development of the young guys this year we will be good enough to get to the Finals if not win it.
I did not feel that way last summer about our chances in 2007-08.
Oops…it was Marc Stein/ESPN, not TrueHoop.
“Sources say Delfino will be earning nearly 3 million euros annually — tax free, of course — with his new club. One expert on the matter says that equates to an NBA salary of more than $9 million when you factor in the exchange rate and the tax money Delfino won’t have to give back.”
Since Euro players often get all kinds of perks like free housing I’d say that the “purchasing power” argument doesn’t really apply.
“I see no reason not to go with what we currently have. I think with MC as the head coach and the further development of the young guys this year we will be good enough to get to the Finals if not win it.”
And if they’re not good enough to win it, then they’ll at least get Sheed’s contract off the books. And Dyess’s as well as he’ll probably retire. Maybe Lindsay and Ratliff too if they come back for this year. You could be looking at just under $20mil off the books. Enough money to tie up the youngins and bring in a free agent.
@QD and Mike:
While I’m on board with the talk of Biedrins and Smith, I will not complain if we don’t make a single change this off-season. I’m happy with Michael Curry:
http://www.detroitbadboys.com/archives/2008-07-09/the-free-agent-market-gets-smaller/#comment-141830
Granted, that was before Brand went to Philly…
I am not at all certain that Atlanta will pay Childress. They certainly should, but they will almost certainly be paying Smith, and I don’t think they are aware of what they have in Childress.
J.R. Smith is an interesting possibility in light of Denver’s salary dumping. Were they trying to make room to sign their young players, or are they hemorraging?
I’d look to Joe D. to put out some “standing pat” vibes. If teams realize they are not going to fleece a panicky GM, they’ll put their A-offers on the table. You can keep Al Harrington, thanks.