Archive for June, 2008
Now that we can put Ron Artest behind us, let’s start putting all our thoughts in having Baron Davis in Purple & Gold. Whose with me?! Sound-off…
ESPN: Golden State point guard Baron Davis elected to become a free agent Monday night, opting out of the final year of his contract with the Warriors in a surprise move.
Davis had until Monday night to decide whether to turn down his $17.8 million contract for next season, the final year of a six-year deal. The Warriors didn’t expect him to opt out of the deal despite little progress in the parties’ long-term contract negotiation, but club spokesman Raymond Ridder said they received a letter from Davis’ agent, Todd Ramasar, late Monday indicating his intentions.
Davis still could return to Golden State as a free agent, but his opt-out clause was his only bit of leverage in forcing contract talks with the Warriors before next summer. The former All-Star also is now free to negotiate with other clubs, possibly facilitating a sign-and-trade deal with Golden State.
Davis, a 29-year-old veteran, repeatedly has said he intended to return to Golden State, but he might be displeased by Warriors coach Don Nelson’s recent declarations about giving more playing time to Golden State’s young players, even at the expense of a few victories next season. Nelson reiterated his plan Monday at a news conference to introduce draft picks Anthony Randolph and Richard Hendrix.
Continue reading ‘ESPN: Baron Davis to opt out of deal’
L.A. Times: The game is the same, as is the goal: win it all and bring home a gold medal from the Beijing Summer Games. Kobe Bryant sat down with The Times on Sunday to talk about Team USA before departing for New York, where he and his U.S. teammates — including Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade — will be formally introduced during a promotional tour.
Question: On a team full of stars on their respective teams, how does each find his individual role?
Answer: It’s actually pretty easy. It’s not necessarily about roles or what have you. It’s just playing basketball. A lot of philosophies that we play with on the Lakers is the same thing we do here. Just hit the open man when you have the opportunity, make it quick. If not, you just move the ball and try to get an open shot.
Q: Is it up to each player to find his own role?
A: Everybody’s offensively talented, so whatever situation you find yourself in, you can make something out of it. So it’s just about, if you’re open and you have the opportunity, you take advantage of it. We all have well-rounded offensive games where we can take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves.
Q: What did it mean to you when Coach Mike Krzyzewski at the start of Saturday’s practice played the video of Marvin Gaye performing the national anthem?
A: I had seen it many times before, being in L.A., because that’s where it took place. I had seen it time and time before, but to see it in that context, as far as us using it as our song, it put it in a little bit of a different light because you have more of an appreciation and it hit home a little bit more.
Continue reading ‘Q & A with Kobe Bryant’
Kobe was #5 on this illustrious list of America’s wealthiest athletes…
SI.com: How’s that for a change of tune? He once criticized his teammates; last month Bryant bought each of them $9,000 Swiss watches as a thank you for helping him win his first MVP award.
Well, it appears after walking the line for a bit, Ron Artest has decided to remain a Sacramento Queen…
News10.net: Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest will honor the final year of his contract and play for the Kings in the 2008-2009 season.
In an email sent to News10’s Bryan May, Artest confirmed he is not exercising the free agency option in the final year of his contract, meaning he will earn $7,450,000 the coming season.
Artest is entering his third year with the Sacramento franchise, having come over in a January 2006 trade for Peja Stojakovic to the Indiana Pacers.
Bryan May will have more on News10 at 6.
Update: ESPN has now posted an article about Artest NOT opting out.
Continue reading ‘Artest “Not Opting Out” according to local Sac news station’
You go Kobe! I’m glad to hear a nice namedrop with Zambezi Ink as well – they are absolutely phenomenal over there!!!
JonesOnTheNBA: People talk about Kobe Bryant being dead in the marketing world, but he’s still number four in total marketing dollars pulled in this year. As I’ve said before, you can’t say that a guy who is first or second in jersey sales every season, whose team is first or second in road attendance every season, and whose team is near the top in league television ratings every season is not marketable. His partnership with Zambezi Ink is also doing wonders for his images, as their viral marketing campaigns have been sensational.
Well he is an attractive free agent no doubt. It’s now official he will opt out of his contract today…
BostonGlobe: The Globe’s Marc J. Spears writes today that, in a move that shouldn’t come as a surprise, James Posey will opt out of the second and final year of his contract with the Celtics.
ESPN’s Chad Ford ranks the best available free agents and has Posey at No. 7 among this year’s crop of unrestricted free agents. Ford writes: “Posey helped himself with a strong performance against the Lakers in the Finals. He’s another player who should get a three- to four-year midlevel deal somewhere.”
The Lakers have reached out to both fan fav’s Sasha and Ronny. We’ll have to see how it plays out now:
Yahoo: The Los Angeles Lakers extended qualifying offers to restricted free agent forward Ronny Turiaf and guard Sasha Vujacic on Monday.
Turiaf averaged 6.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 78 games last season, while Vujacic scored 8.8 points in 72 contests. Both players can still sign with another team but the Lakers have the right to match those offers.
These are pretty cool. The L.A. Times blog recently wrote up report cards for all the Lakers players; reviewing their seasons. To make it real easy, I’ll bullet-link each player below. Click on the link to check them out:
Vujacic | Bynum | Ariza | Walton | Turiaf | Mbenga & Mihm | Newble | Karl
We’ll post more as they come in!
He will make up his mind tonight…
Sacramento Bee: Opting out makes little financial sense for Artest. The Lakers, for example, might be able to offer a shot at the title, but they would be restricted to a midlevel exception offer (approximately $6 million per season) for a contract – a plight shared by most of the league. Artest’s agent, Mark Stevens, said it was “obvious” opting out would result in a midlevel exception deal.
If Artest opts out, the Kings, who hold Artest’s Bird rights, could execute a sign-and-trade deal in which he can sign a sixyear deal rather than the maximum five with other teams.
In an e-mail to The Bee last week, Artest sounded as if the allure of joining a title contender was enough to lose money. “I never knew so many teams would be coming after me,” he wrote. “All I can say is I made a (big) turnaround.”
Will Sasha and Turiaf look for a better offer? Sound-off in the comments…
O.C. Register: Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak is expected to be on the phone shortly after 9 p.m. Monday when the NBA free agency period begins.
First he will call Sasha Vujacic’s agent. After getting some idea of which way the restricted free agent is leaning, Kupchak then will dial Ronny Turiaf’s agent.
Both players are restricted free agents, meaning the Lakers can match any offer sheet they sign with another team. Kupchak is hoping to avoid that scenario by re-signing the two.
“A lot of it’s going to depend on the progress we make with Sasha and Ronny” Kupchak said last week. “I think we feel if we can bring those two players back, and we get Trevor [Ariza]and Andrew [Bynum]back, we’d be happy going into training camp with that group. If we run into a roadblock … then we’ll have to look in other directions.
“But right now, based on the free-agent market that’s out there and our existing free agents, we think it’s in our best interest to sign back our free agents. It’s not a great group of players to choose from when you’re comparing them against Sasha or Ronny.”
The Lakers, who are well over the salary cap, will pay nearly $5 million in luxury taxes for last season and aren’t expected to look much into other options beyond Vujacic and Turiaf. The Lakers can only offer a free agent the mid-level exception between $5 million and $6 million.
Restricted free agents can talk with teams but cannot officially sign until July 9.
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