NBA At 2: Nene Off Market?
In today’s edition of the NBA At 2: Denver may be close to locking up Nene…Nenad Krstic signs in Russia…Tony Parker’s comments irrelevant…Will LeBron bounce back?…NBA Chats.
Bill Ingram will be back Friday.
Nene Off the Market? There are tons of questions surrounding 2011 Free Agency, not the least of which is when will it begin, who will have any money to spend, and will they be willing to spend it. Teams are approaching free agency three different ways.
Some teams are looking to shed long-term contracts, in order to be in better shape in a new reality that could involve a much harder salary cap.
Some teams are sitting on their hands, preferring to wait and do nothing, letting their free agents go and not making any moves to bring in further salary.
Others have decided to spend their money while they can, proactively agreeing to contract extensions with players under the current rules. The idea is no matter what the next CBA looks like, that player will be under contract. The team won’t have to worry about another team stealing them for a lower price because new rules restrict what they can spend.
This is what the Memphis Grizzlies did in April with power forward Zach Randolph, arguably the biggest potential name in 2011 Free Agency.
Now the Denver Nuggets are, according to Chris Tomasson, deep into discussions with Nene to work out a contract extension and both sides are optimistic a deal will get done before the CBA expires at the end of June. Nene, the top possible center prospect, is under contract for 2011-12 for $11.6 million, but has an Early Termination Option he could invoke by the end of June and become an unrestricted free agent. He has talked previously about leaning towards invoking the ETO.
A contract extension agreement would include guaranteeing that $11.6 million, plus the ability the add up to three years at a maximum raise equal to the maximum when he signed the previous contract, for a total of $40 million (current rules dictate a player can be under contract for up to five years and this year’s current salary counts).
Keeping Nene is a no-brainer for the Nuggets. They would not be able to replace him in free agency or the draft, and it allows them to enter free agency – whenever that begins – focused purely on retaining Arron Afflalo and/or Wilson Chandler.
It also means any team hoping to improve the center position in free agency may just be out of luck.
Krstic Leaving NBA Again: Boston Celtics’ center Nenad Krstic, slated to be a free agent come July, has decided to leave the NBA for a second time and has agreed to a deal with CSKA Moscow according to Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
{AUTHOR_BOX}Krstic originally left the New Jersey Nets and the NBA after the 2007-08 season, following battles with injuries. The Nets still owned his rights and he technically was a restricted free agent (a la Josh Childress and the Atlanta Hawks), but began the season in Russia. In December of that year he signed an offer sheet with the Oklahoma City Thunder for three years and about $16 million, which New Jersey declined to match.
Earlier this season Krstic was traded along with Jeff Green to the Celtics for Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson. The Thunder needed a tough, defensive presence in the middle and that’s not Krstic’s game.
Over seven seasons with three teams in the NBA Krstic has averaged 10.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, and shot 49% from the field.
Tony Parker-Gate: This seems like a rite of passage, like an annual indication summer has come. Last week Andrea Bargnani issued a statement through the Toronto Raptors insisting he did not tell a foreign journalist he wanted to be traded, and now it’s San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker backing away from a statement.
Parker was quoted as saying he didn’t believe the Spurs truly were contenders anymore with the ages of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. He insists that is not the case.
“First of all, I didn’t say that,” Parker told Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News. “But you know that newspapers need stories and need to talk about stuff.
“I’m in a great situation. I love the Spurs. I love being a Spur. I re-signed four years. If I didn’t think we could win a championship, I wouldn’t have re-signed four years. I love being with my teammates. I’m very loyal and I love being here.”
Whether that’s true or not only Parker knows; a guaranteed $50 million extension over four years (which he signed last summer and kicks in for next season) is a good reason to re-sign regardless of a team’s future. Spurs’ head coach Gregg Popovich, half joking, told the same paper he didn’t care what Parker though about the team’s future.
“You think I care what Tony Parker says? You think Tony Parker is gonna coach when he quits? Why would I listen to Tony Parker?”
Whether the Spurs do or do not have what it takes to continue to be a contender isn’t necessarily relevant to this story. What is relevant is Parker sounds like a guy willing to continue to toe the company line and go to great lengths to keep himself in the team’s good graces, and Popovich will continue to run the team however he deems necessary.
You know, the way players and coaches are supposed to approach their jobs.
LeBron: Since the disappointing performance of Miami’s LeBron James in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Sunday everyone and their dog has weighed in, some with measured analysis and some with gleeful attacks. But, no matter how one feels about LeBron James, the Miami HEAT, or anything related, we can probably agree on one thing:
He will not have two bad games in a row.
Considering Dallas barely won Game 4 with James playing so poorly, that should give them some pause.
Will LeBron bounce back in Game 5? Will Miami or Dallas take the series lead back to Miami? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
NBA Chats: Joel Brigham, based in Chicago, is up next on the chat schedule at 1:30pm ET. Later tonight Lang Greene, based in Atlanta, will take your questions at 8pm ET. Here are all the upcoming chats and all the chat wraps.
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