Fork

What does he think he's going to get that's so much better next season. I've compiled a list of players who may be available or will be available as free agents next season. A few may be wrong, but I'm sure nobody will point out my mistakes.

There are at least 10 restricted free agents that are better players and or better prospects than Darius Miles. (In my opinion: Zach Randolph, Eddy Curry, Troy Murphy, Pau Gasol, Andrei Kirilenko, Richard Jefferson, Jasson Richardson, Tony Parker are clearly better. Sam Dalembert, Tyson Chandler, Shane Battier and Jamaal Tinsley are very close if not better)

Then, there are the unrestricted free agents. Tracy McGrady, Shareef, Ray Allen, Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, etc... There's a much better crop of FA's next year and I believe there will be fewer teams with cap space to pay those players.

Compare this years list (Chad Ford's take)

1. SG Kobe Bryant
2. PF Kenyon Martin
3. PF Rasheed Wallace
4. PG Steve Nash
5. PF/C Mehmet Okur
6. C Erick Dampier
7. SG Manu Ginobili
8. PF Carlos Boozer
9. PF/C Stromile Swift
10. C Mark Blount

To next year's (my take)

1. Tracy McGrady
2. Stephon Marbury
3. Ray Allen
4. Allen Iverson
5. Andrei Kirilenko
6. Pau Gasol
7. Zach Randolph
8. Tony Parker
9. Theo Ratliff
10 Shareef Abdur Rahim

2005 is clearly a better group, and I don't see Darius Miles cracking that top 10 list next year either.

If Darius Miles wants next year to be significantly different than this year, then he better put up 17 and 8 consistantly to get paid. Another year of 12 pts/5 rebounds and he'll be offered the MLE and that's pretty much that.

Smart move by Nash, not throwing the bank at an unproven commodity.


2005 free agents:

CENTERS:
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Theo Ratliff
Eddy Curry (R)
Samuel Dalembert (R)

POWER FORWARDS:
Shareef-Abdur Rahim
Kurt Thomas
Karl Malone
Kwame Brown (R)
Pau Gasol (R)
Tyson Chandler (R)
Troy Murphy (R)
Zach Randolph (R)

SMALL FORWARDS:
Donyell Marshall
Jamal Mashburn (if he uses his 2005 opt-out)
Keith Van Horn (if he uses his 2005 opt-out)
Grant Hill (if he uses his 2005 opt-out)
Devean George (if he uses his 2005 opt-out)
Richard Jefferson (R)
Andrei Kirilenko (R)
Shane Battier (R)
Rodney White (R)
Gerald Wallace (R)

SHOOTING GUARDS:
Ray Allen
Allen Iverson
Latrell Sprewell
Tracy McGrady (if he uses his 2005 opt-out)
Cuttino Mobley (if he uses his 2005 opt-out)
Eddie Jones (if he uses his 2005 opt-out)
Jason Richardson (R)
Joe Johnson (R)

POINT GUARDS:
Stephon Marbury
Damon Stoudamire
Antonio Daniels
Marko Jaric
Jeff McInnis
Gary Payton
Nick Van Exel (if the Warriors don't invoke their 2005 T.O.)
Eric Snow (if he uses his 2005 opt-out)
Tony Parker (R)
Jamaal Tinsley (R)

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When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. -- Sinclair Lewis, 1935

If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by. -- Japanese proverb

Blazer Freak

Marbury signed an extension with the Suns at teh beginning of teh season.

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cimalee

didnt Mabury and iverson both sign extensions last summer

Blazer Freak

Yeah. I believe they both go until the 08-09 season.

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Trader Ed

I agree with Darius taking a chance.. this is waht I said in teh Jason Quick at 5pm thread...




Miles is taking a big chance now... the moritorium is OVER...

Do you hear us Darius??? Teams are filling up their team salary amounts, and to our knowledge no one has courted Darius serious enough to want to make an offer to him. Not $9 mil, not $8 mil, not even $6 or 7 mil... the longer the summer goes on, the more salary will be commited to teams and the odds of Darius coming up with the big dollar contract long term will begin to shrink to absolutley zilch.

Darius, go ahead.. sign a one year contract with us for $5.4 mil.... and become unrestricted next summer. With the list of prominent players available next year, do you really think you will be on the top of their lists? Come on... you have had 4-5 months of quality basketball (not great) in 3 years... who wants to commit big dollars to you for 5 years when you are nto proven.


My advice to Darius...
sign a 4 year deal with Portland starting at $5.5 mil... with the 4th year a team option. = $5.5 mil, $6 mil, $6.5 mil, $7 mil = $25 mil or so

make it so, and be happy your a pro athlete who can make millions of dollars while not being an all-star!!!!

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"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts..."

Heart, desire and hustle! Its the fire within that makes a champion.

B_&_B

I agree!!!

good post Fork.

Fork

Even taking those two out, my point remains that the 2005 group is much better than the 2004.

__________________
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. -- Sinclair Lewis, 1935

If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by. -- Japanese proverb

Storyteller

Fork -

You're being too generous. You're approaching the situation as if it were July 1st. It's not.

The only two left from Ford's top 10 list are Dampier and Swift. The top 10 now (other than Miles) are probably:

1) Dampier
2) Swift
3) Crawford
4) Sura
5) E. Williams
6) K. Clark
7) C. Anderson
8) J. Barry
9) C. Mihm
10) M. Peterson

And competing against these heavyweights, Miles can't even get an MLE offer?

That speaks volumes about his value to GM's around the league.

Now, the kid has TONS of potential. I'd love to see him re-sign with Portland. But not for some outlandish amount.

A couple of months of good basketball does not warrant an $8 million contract.

Now, it's also clear that Nash is playing with fire. If Miles signs the qualifying offer and has a TRUE breakout year, he might command more money next summer. He might become more of a player in demand. But he's simply got to prove it first - to me, and more importantly, to Nash and Patterson.

Honestly, I really believe that Nash would "show him the money" if his play warranted it.


BTW, I doubt that McGrady is available next summer. He might opt out to sign an extension with Houston, but now that he's forced a trade to his team of choice, why would he test the FA market?

Yega1979

I GM probably wouldn't even bother to offer Miles a MLE, because Portland would easily match it. However, that doesn't mean Miles value is lower than any of those players. He'd probably be in the top 3 on that list.

yangsta

It's damn good to see Damon on that list

Fork

Good points.

If Miles DOES have that huge breakout year, we can always do a sign and trade. Or if we're looking like we're out of the playoff picture, trade him before the deadline when his 5.4 million dollar salary can net us a couple top prospects.

I still think he'll end up re-signing though after next year.

I also agree about McGrady resigning in Houston. Every player that re-signs with their old team means one fewer team with any cash to offer a guy like Darius Miles.

__________________
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. -- Sinclair Lewis, 1935

If you sit by the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by. -- Japanese proverb

Storyteller

If he signs the qualifying offer, he can't be traded this season.

A sign-and-trade is a possibility next summer, though.

Ed O

You guys are underselling Miles's chances just a bit, I think, for a couple of reasons:

-- we don't know if he's received an MLE offer or not. It's entirely possible a team would be willing to pay that, but he's not interested in "Brian Cardinal money". If he signs an MLE offer sheet, he knows Portland will match and might not be interested in settling for that little.

-- we don't know how much Portland's deep pockets affects other teams' interest level. Even in cost-cutting mode, Portland's able to outspend almost every team in the NBA... if a team offers their MLE or any of their cap space, it'll be tied up for two weeks and they might ultimately come away empty handed.

Next year? Miles will be unrestricted. Neither of the above considerations will apply, and if he has a good, healthy year (he really only had a good month or so in Portland after a lousy half-season in Cleveland) he has a good chance at getting a more-than-MLE deal next year.

In the mean time, he's going to make, what, $5.4m this year if he accepts the qualifying offer? That's more than the first year of the MLE and, while it obviously doesn't give him security long-term contractually, it DOES give him an opportunity to make a heck of a lot more money long-term.

Ed O.

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"In the end, it all comes down to talent. You can talk all you want about intangibles, I just don't know what that means. Talent makes winners, not intangibles. Can nice guys win? Sure, nice guys can win -- if they're nice guys with a lot of talent. Nice guys with a little talent finish fourth, and nice guys with no talent finish last."

-- Sandy Koufax

HOWIE

Agreed! This is the season the Miles needs to show that he was worthy of being the 3rd pick or to have a future in a Blazers uniform. This might cost Portland more money next season, but they will have a lot of money to throw around next season.

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dkap