Warriors reach verbal agreement with Maggette

[jonthefon]

Do NBA players play the game for the money? Or do they play for the championships? Or does that change over years? I'd take number one every time when choosing between 6 and 10mil: if I wanted number two to have fun, I'd play YMCA ball.

[putodelagoa]

Maggette is a mid level guy, certainly not a 10 million a year player... I can't understand what the Warriors were thinking about. Why not trying to seduce Josh Smith instead? And for 5 years? That's another blunder to join Mullin's long list. They certainly despaired after BD left town and lost perspective...
Does it say something that the only year Maggette got to the postseason he barely played?
Guess not... Mike James syndrome.

[Andrew]

Maggette is a liar. Ever since the FA was open and players opted out all you heard about Maggette is going to a championship contending team. Spurs were obviously his #1 choice and then probably the Magic and the Celtics. Maggette has said that he would take less money to play for a championship team and look at what he did.

But that's not him committing to a team, so he didn't lie about anything. Speculation that he's going to a contender doesn't make him a liar if he doesn't.

Also Brand is a backstabber. Him and Baron have agreed on a handshake that they will play together in LA. That is the reason Baron opted out and decided to take the Clippers offer. Brand told him that he will do the same and look what happend.

That's the first I've heard of that. Have you got a link?

I can't understand what the Warriors were thinking about. Why not trying to seduce Josh Smith instead?

Josh Smith is a restricted free agent, so the Hawks can choose to match any offer sheet he signs. That makes him a more difficult player to pursue.

[putodelagoa]

Sure Andrew, but my point is I would rather overpay Josh Smith to lure him away, even if I had to risk Atlanta's reply, than overpay Maggette.
Sometimes the best deals are those you don't make, right? And they still have two key free agents to sign...

[Andrew]

I see what you mean, but as far as trying for Josh Smith they probably aren't bothering because the Hawks aren't likely to let him walk. No use helping him get a bigger payday when they could be pursuing people who are interested in joining the team.

[RKO]

I heard about that handshake thing on SportsCenter, Andrew.

[putodelagoa]

About the Hawks, who knows what they are going to do?
It's been a crazy free agency... Nothing would surprise me. Much less the Hawks being cheap on Smith allowing him to go.

[Andrew]

Fair enough. Still, what loyalty does Elton Brand have to Baron Davis, a player who incidentally "abandoned" the team that gave him an opportunity to redeem himself after his career faltered with the Hornets after he got banged up with a few injuries? Doesn't that make Davis a backstabber too?

If Brand did have some sort of agreement with Davis that he's backed out of then that is pretty poor but ultimately, everyone's going to look out for their own interests.

[RKO]

Yeah true, and that will change Brand image as an NBA Player. I mean everyone expected him to sign with the Clippers but I'm happy he is gone East. Him and Baron Davis could've gotten the 8th seed and with potential good role players but Im happy he is with the 76ers.

[Indy]

Just when it seemed like Mullin had gotten it together as a GM he goes out and does something like this.

It's funny, all those years they hated Dunleavy and wanted him and his horrible contract out the door, and now they have a worse player in Maggette making more money than Mike.

[Alejandrov011]

I saw in the web that the offer of the GSW if 5year $50M


I think Maggete is not worth that money...

[NovU]

maggette deserves close to 10 mil. it's worth a risk. when he was healthy and playing well, he was one hell of offensive machine. the key is to stay healthy for him. but i sorta wished to see him to go to defense first minded team like SAS. GSW basically replaced baron with maggette. in a sense, it worked out well for gsw, cuz ellis could play point and corey at sg instead of 2 point guards playing together.

now it will be interesting to see where baron lands. personally, i wish to see him with bron if it's possible.

[wazee]

Sure Andrew, but my point is I would rather overpay Josh Smith to lure him away, even if I had to risk Atlanta's reply, than overpay Maggette.

Sometimes the best deals are those you don't make, right? And they still have two key free agents to sign...

They would wait for a max of 7 days if the Hawks would match their offer.. If ever their offer is matched, they just wasted their time for nothing and missed the chances of landing possible top free agents during the time they waited for the Hawks to match it.. There are a lot of things that could happen in that 7 days.. Andrew's right, he's restricted..

All they can do is rebuild and wait for 2010.. There are a bunch of all-stars available..

[Andrew]

About the Hawks, who knows what they are going to do?
It's been a crazy free agency... Nothing would surprise me. Much less the Hawks being cheap on Smith allowing him to go.

Sure, anything's possible but I would expect they would be willing to match offers for one of their key players. Maybe they'd balk at the cost but I think it's more likely that they'd match.

[Rip32]

About the Hawks, who knows what they are going to do?
It's been a crazy free agency... Nothing would surprise me. Much less the Hawks being cheap on Smith allowing him to go.

Sure, anything's possible but I would expect they would be willing to match offers for one of their key players. Maybe they'd balk at the cost but I think it's more likely that they'd match.

If the Hawks know Smith doesn't want to be there and he isn't going to resign without throwing off their salary numbers by demending or signing an offer sheet for an outragous amount of money, they should look to sign and trade him.

Even though sign and trade deals are always 50 cents on the dollar for the traders of the big player.

[Andrew]

If you're a Hawks fan, you'd hope that if he's adamant about leaving the team would be smart enough to try for a "fifty cents on the dollar" trade rather than getting nothing in return. As far as I'm aware though, no one can offer him a better deal than the Hawks at this juncture.

[Vintage]

Sure Andrew, but my point is I would rather overpay Josh Smith to lure him away, even if I had to risk Atlanta's reply, than overpay Maggette.

Sometimes the best deals are those you don't make, right? And they still have two key free agents to sign...

They would wait for a max of 7 days if the Hawks would match their offer.. If ever their offer is matched, they just wasted their time for nothing and missed the chances of landing possible top free agents during the time they waited for the Hawks to match it.. There are a lot of things that could happen in that 7 days.. Andrew's right, he's restricted..

All they can do is rebuild and wait for 2010.. There are a bunch of all-stars available..

Well then... If that's your plan, how about refraining from throw away cap space at a part season "scorer" and save it for better investment later on?

Golden State had the room to see their offer being matched... If they got Smith, all for the better. If they didn't, too bad, but at least they save the cap space and get a nice bouquet from Josh Smith with the following note: "Forever thankfull for my brand new 15 million a Year Hawks contract.
Warm Regards, Josh"