O'Neal to Toronto & Bogut $14m/year

O'neal to Toronto

Indiana Pacers have sent Jermaine O’Neal and the 41st pick (Nathan Jawai) to the Toronto Raptors for T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston, and the 17th selection (Roy Hibbert). The teams agreed to the deal in principle before last month's draft, but it couldn't be officially announced until Wednesday.

A six-time All-Star, O'Neal averaged 18.6 points and 9.6 rebounds over eight seasons with Indiana. He'll pair with two-time All-Star Chris Bosh to give the Raptors one of the league's best inside tandems.

Also Wednesday, the Raptors officially announced the re-signing of restricted free agent guard Jose Calderon, whose emergence last season while Ford was injured allowed Toronto to acquire O'Neal.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3480419

Bogut $72.5m/5yrs

Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut will sign a five-year, $72.5 million extension later this week, his agent said Wednesday.

Bogut, the top overall pick in the 2005 draft, was expected to sign the extension Friday, agent David Bauman said.

"He's thrilled," Bauman told The Associated Press. "He feels like Milwaukee really stepped up and demonstrated to him he's a valued member of this team."

The signing should also silence critics who feel the team hasn't shown a commitment to winning, Bauman said. The hiring of Scott Skiles as coach and the trade for Richard Jefferson demonstrated to Bogut that the team was making a push to be competitive.

"These moves show Andrew this team is committed to winning now," Bauman said.

The extension does not affect the nearly $7 million Bogut is owed for the upcoming season, the final year of his rookie contract.

Despite the Bucks' struggles in the past two seasons, Bogut indicated he wanted to stay with the team.

He played in 78 games last season, averaging 14.3 points and 9.8 rebounds.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3480697

Lakers Turiaf to Sign w/ Warriors

The Riverside Press-Enterprise is reporting that Ronny Turiaf, the Lakers' restricted free agent, has agreed to a four-year, $17 million offer from the Warriors.

If Turiaf actually signs the offer sheet, the Lakers have seven days to match. And in this case, there's reason to think they won't. The Lakers are already over the luxury tax, so keeping Turiaf would cost them double his actual salary. That comes out to more than $8 million a year once the dollar-for-dollar penalty is factored in -- an awful lot to pay for a backup power forward on a team with plenty of big men.

Mason agrees to deal with San Antonio

According to two league sources, the Spurs have reached an agreement with free-agent guard Roger Mason Jr. that would pay him $7.5 million over two years.

Mason, 27, was a revelation for the Washington Wizards last season, his fourth in the NBA. He averaged 9.1 points off the bench, helping the Wizards overcome injuries to guards Gilbert Arenas and Antonio Daniels and make the playoffs.

This isn't the first time the Spurs have shown interest in Mason. They offered him a three-year contract last summer, but he opted to return to Washington for one more season.
http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/archives/2008/07/jeff_mcdonald_s_10.html

James Jones: Signs With Heat

As Expected Jones signed a five-year contract with the Heat on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. Jones had the best season of his career behind the 3-point line last year, shooting better than 44 percent. The Heat are in desperate need of athletic shooters so Jones should be a good fit. He will reportedly earn $4 million next season.
yahoo sport

Warriors to Extend Ellis

Sources say Ellis is on track for a multi-year deal/offer averaging more than $11 million a year. Talks with Biedrins will start this week, according to the CC Times.

Last edited by Iceman_44 on Thu Jul 10, 2008 11:34 am, edited 14 times in total.

wtf?

I guess Bogut's getting paid $1M for each point he averages.

Bogut $72.5m/5yrs??? That's almost $15m a year!! Is that really worth it?

JO to Toronto . . .Gonna get my Jersey JUST NOW

Yeah, 72.5m is not worth for Bogut, IMO...And good to say JO move, he's one of my fave forwards prior to his injury...Hope he stays healthy this time...

Bogut's value isnt ppg. He is a good defender/ rebounder first, scorer second. But still, he is way overpaid.

wth that guy is totally overrated and overpaid!
we were discussing if maggette deserve to get a 10m... and bogut is getting 14m!! no way xD ... imo-

Matthew's right, it's not all about scoring. I'd agree that he is getting overpaid based on his current output. I expected him to net himself at least a $60m contract over 5 years, so a little bit more than I expected. Although given he's a talented 7 footer, it should come as no surprise that Bucks have thrown money at him. You don't get many chances to get a talented 7 footer. Teams overpay bigs, as simple as that. So I don't think it's fair to compare his money to what Maggette gets. Fair enough to compare to what Chris Kaman got, & what other bigs got though.

We already had a thread on the O'Neal deal, so check there for comments.

Don't understand the Turiaf signing. Especially when combined with the Maggette one. Do like the Ellis signing depending on how it is structured. He was the one player they couldn't let get away.

Enh about Mason to the Spurs. Seems like there could be better options in the NBDL and Europe. But the Spurs do like "proven" players to bring off the bench.

I like Jones to the Heat. Maybe not for that much or that long, but he's a great shooter. He can defend the right matchup but he's hardly special, let alone good, on that end. The Suns regret letting him go, and he's a nice piece for the "surprise" Heat next season. (Especially with Chalmers looking promising.) I might prefer Childress, but it'll probably be a while before he signs.

ben wallace = 14.5 mil
dwayne wade, melo, lebron = 14.41 mil
zach randolph = 14.6 mil
odom = 14.56 mil
etc.

good to see bogut joining the 14 club.

Damn, I wanted Jones for the Sixers

Drex, ha-ha u've got yourselfs Brand!

You know who the Sixers could use? Kyle Korver.

MY MAN ROGER MASON JR. TEARIN' IT UP DROPPIN BOMBS IN SAN ANTONIO NEXT SEASON.

Sorry... I, uh, really liked him as a Raptor before.

Bogut - great role player.. overpaid salary.. 72.5 million dollar guy under the shades of Redd and Jefferson.. tsktsk.. they could have given that to BDiddy who's just asking for 65M 5 years from the clippers.. too bad Brand won't be joining him there.. The Bucks did a great job in giving him the extenson, I just don't understand why they're giving him that much money.. Anyway, the know better than me, it's their team anyway.. haha!

Baron Davis didn't want to go for Milwaukee, even for same money or better....if it not for Clippers & temptation of Hollywood & home, he would've stayed in Oakland....

I think Bogut's better than a role player....he'll be fringe All-Star big man....still overpaid yes....

I didn't really said that it was a good fit.. I was just saying that they could have made a better move than paying that much money for Bogut.. He's a great big man, and would really be part of the future of the Bucks, but they could have saved more money for future contracts to bigger names..

I didn't mean to say that X, I was just making Baron an example.. I also think that with their current roster, Bogut for me, is now the 3rd option.. That's why I quoted him as a role player, which I think he should be given the opportunity to do what he can do.. One of the most underrated big man in the league today.. But I agree that he's an all-star big man.. A very valuable piece to their team..

a brad miller probably at his best.....

I agree that Bogut's talented, but I don't think he's proven himself yet to earn $72M contract. Then again, the Bucks have their future to think about..
..huh, Turiaf to G-State. A little odd since he seemed real loyal to the Lakers, not to mention Kobe.

I like Bogut, I think he'll be a good centre in the league throughout the majority of his career but I'm surprised to see the Bucks make that kind of financial commitment at this juncture. I wouldn't have thought they'd be willing to go that high.

..huh, Turiaf to G-State. A little odd since he seemed real loyal to the Lakers, not to mention Kobe.

Got tired of being Kobe's bitch?

Probably, considering Kobe dragged him along for that car stunt just to promote his new shoe.

Nothing amuses me like a team outbidding itself, like in Milwaukee's case...

This move establishes Bogut as the franchise's marquee player, moving him above Michael Redd, and that's kind of understandable in this team's context.

On the bright side, Bogut seems to have what it takes to move ahead of the likes of Jim McIlvaine, Jon Konkac, and all the other obscenely overpayd white stiffs this league has know, since he does display an evolving set of old school skills.

I wonder what Bill Simmons has to say about this?

You know who the Sixers could use? Kyle Korver.

They should trade Brand for him.