HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

West Heads The Class:  There was almost no doubting Hornets’ forward David West would opt out of the final year of his contract, and he is expected to do just that before Thursday. His current contract, as constructed, planned for West to opt out as its value decreases from $8.29 million to $7.52 million next season. So West opting out of the final year is not a surprise, it was actually planned.

West did suffer a season-ending knee injury, a torn ACL in March, and is said to be ahead of schedule on his rehab, but even coming off a knee injury West is expected to opt-out – his camp informed the Hornets today according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! -  and headline the free agent class of 2011.

The Hornets have been fairly clear re-signing West or getting a contract extension in under the current labor rules would be something they would work towards. However with the dollar amount West is slated to earn, there is a strong belief West can do better as a free agent both in terms of annual salary and length of deal if he opts out and hits free agency, even under what’s expected to be a tighter salary system.

The Hornets have had an ongoing dialogue with West about an extension, but the current labor rules only allow for the first year of an extension to be 110.5% of the salary in the last season of the contract being extended, so in West’s case the best the Hornets can offer him is a deal starting at $8.30 million and his camp feels there will be that and more available on the open market.

Under the current rules the Hornet’s would have the ability to re-sign West as an unrestricted free agent up to the NBA allowed maximum salary using his “Bird Rights”, however there are no guarantees that provision will exist in the next labor deal.

The Hornets have been clear West is a priority for them and they will spend whatever it takes to keep him, so it still seems like they can win the day on David West, however there are several teams projected to be under the current $58 million salary cap number next season and if the new cap lands anywhere close to the current number New Orleans will have competition.

Some of the teams will have ample room under the current cap figure for next season include: Sacramento Kings ($28.7 million under), Indiana Pacers ($22.4 million under), New Jersey Nets ($17.1 million), Denver Nuggets ($17.0 million under), Minnesota Timberwolves ($14.3 million under), Los Angeles Clippers ($12.62 million under) and the Washington Wizards ($12.15 million under).

West fits and fills a real need for the Kings, Pacers, Nuggets, Wizards and Nets, so seeing how much room others have to offer it’s not surprising that West will opt out, the question is how much will teams commit to a player who will be 31 in August and coming off major knee reconstruction?

That’s where the Hornets will have an advantage.

Mini Camps:  With no summer league and only a few days left before a possible lockout, NBA teams are ramping up impromptu free agent camps to get a look at possible additions for when the labor situation gets resolved.

NBA rules prohibit teams from working out players that finished the season on a roster and in turn would be Free Agents on July 1st, but players that went undrafted or were not on rosters at the close of the season are edible and a number of teams are taking advantage of the window.

The Charlotte Bobcats will hold the biggest workout bringing in players such as Brandon Heath, Cedric Jackson, Russell Robinson, Garrett Temple, Alan Andersen, Elijah Milsap, Tony Gaffney, Jawad Williams, Adam Koch, Stephane Lasme, Lance Allred, Patrick O’ Bryant, Thomas Coleman, Gary Flowers, Orien Greene.

The Miami HEAT have scheduled several players including Eddy Curry, Greg Smith, Carlton Scott, Julyan Stone, Jamine Peterson, Matt Howard and Papa Dia.

The HEAT were said to be very high on Julyan Stone and Greg Smith in the draft process and had them ranked fairly high on their draft board.

The Atlanta Hawks have a three-day camp starting today featuring Joe Alexander, second rounder Keith Benson, Vernon Goodridge, Zach Graham, Demonte Harper, Jeremy Hazell, Dontell Jefferson, Ivan Johnson, Marcus Landry, David Lighty, Demetri McCamey, Eniel Polynice, Matt Rogers, Omar Samhan, Damian Saunders, Donald Sloan, Malcolm Thomas, Brad Wanamaker, and Qyntel Woods .

The Miami HEAT, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs are all expected to host a free agent camp this week.

These players cannot be signed to contracts; however all are working out hoping to land a camp invite or a partially guaranteed contract next season.

Trading The Superstar:  Over the weekend Twitter was flooded with bogus trade rumors regarding Orlando’s Dwight Howard, and while it’s easy to see why the bogus rumor took on a life of its own – it was exactly what some fans, especially in L.A. were hoping for.

{AUTHOR_BOX}The truth of the matter is Orlando, just like New Orleans, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Phoenix – who have all been linked to trades involving their stars – will be waiting out the Collective Bargaining process before making moves or major decisions.

Over the last month we have seen the proposal from the Owners’ side change fairly radically going from a $45 million hard cap to a $62 million cap ceiling.

Depending on where that number finally lands, and what mechanisms teams are given to reach it – amnesty cuts and salary rollbacks – the landscape will change pretty rapidly.

Take the Orlando Magic for instance; they are currently sitting on $76.21 million in salary commitments next season. If the salary cap ceiling gets set at $67 million and the new CBA allows for an 8% rollback in salaries and one amnesty cut, the Magic’s cap picture changes pretty drastically dropping to $59.2 million with rollbacks and cutting Hedo Turkoglu’s remaining $22.83 million.

If the new deal allows for two Amnesty cuts which some have said is possible, that number goes down even more.

The Magic are not going to eat Gilbert Arenas’ $63 million contract, as much as Magic fans want to believe that, under the system outlines above they won’t have to, to get under the cap ceiling.

The Lakers and 76ers are in the same situation. They don’t know what the new deal will look like yet, so trading away a star player only to have to cut the assets you take back doesn’t make a lot of sense.

There will be trades once a labor deal is reached and the Magic like the Hornets will have to make a decision at the trade deadline whether they want to risk losing their franchise player to free agency, as both Dwight Howard and Chris Paul will opt out of their current deals. But until the rules are clear and the deal is written none of those teams are engaging in talks regarding their players. This is mainly because they all know the new rules will give them more tools to keep their players in town.

Most people talking trades involving Dwight Howard forget Magic CEO Bob Vander Weide is on the labor relations committee for the Owners. You can bet big dollars he is going to fight hard for a provision in the next labor deal to help Orlando secure Howard for the balance of his career.

Until we know what the deal is and want tools teams have to work with, it’s somewhat foolish to believe teams are just gonna cut bait and fish. Major deals are not going to drop until the rules are set and based on where things stand today… we are a long way from that.

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