Warriors reach verbal agreement with Maggette

[Iceman_44]

With Brand out of picture, Warriors reach verbal agreement with Maggette
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3479117

The Golden State Warriors on Tuesday conceded defeat in the chase for Elton Brand's signature by quickly moving on to new targets and reaching a faster-than-expected verbal agreement to sign unrestricted free agent Corey Maggette, according to NBA front-office sources.

Sources told ESPN.com that Maggette decided against waiting to see if the Los Angeles Clippers would lose Brand to the Philadelphia 76ers -- which could have created an opportunity to stay with the Clippers -- to take a multiyear offer from the Warriors at a starting salary above the mid-level exception, which is expected to approach $6 million.

The Warriors and Clippers are two of the few teams with salary-cap space to spend on free agents above the mid-level, along with Memphis. Philadelphia was on that list before reaching a verbal agreement Tuesday to sign Brand away from the Clippers.

Golden State responded to the loss of Baron Davis to the Clippers by offering Brand a five-year deal worth an estimated $90 million, but the Warriors never came as close to luring Brand away from L.A. as the Sixers.

Maggette drew serious interest from several top contenders who are over the cap and only had the mid-level exception to offer, including Boston, San Antonio, Detroit, Utah, Cleveland and Orlando. It was presumed that Maggette was leaning toward signing with the Spurs if he couldn't secure an offer from a team with cap space.

The Clippers, sources said, expected to respond to the departures of Brand and Maggette by making a hard run at Atlanta Hawks restricted free agent Josh Smith, who was Philadelphia's No. 2 target behind Brand. If the Clippers elect to sign Smith to an offer sheet, Atlanta would have seven days to match.

Related:
Elton Brand agrees to go to the 76ers; Corey Maggette has deal with the Warriors
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-clippers9-2008jul09,0,7626268.story
What is Corey Maggette Worth?
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-33-25/What-is-Corey-Maggette-Worth-.html?post=true

[dansensei]

what will happen to the clippers now? w/o brand and magette, i don't know how will they compete in the east.

[L10]

hell no! bad news for the spurs!! and i agree with you dansensei... "maggette&brand>barondavis"... the clippers scew it up

[Dan's Brain]

i don't know how will they compete in the east.

They probably wont compete in the East. I doubt they'll even be a part of the Eastern Conference any more.

[homicide1550]

Too bad for the Clippers, they have now lost two of their best players.. They are left with Baron Davis and a bunch of scrubs..

edit: The Clippers play in the Western Conference not the East...

[Iceman_44]

Other NBA Signings:

Portland's James Jones is likely to ink a long-term deal with Miami.

Golden State's Mickael Pietrus is expected to sign with Orlando.

[dansensei]

i don't know how will they compete in the east.

They probably wont compete in the East. I doubt they'll even be a part of the Eastern Conference any more.

oops. sorry, my bad...

[Alejandrov011]

But now the Clipps can give more burn to Thorton, who played very well in his rookie season...


But Brand is Brand and will be missed

[Andrew]

and i agree with you dansensei... "maggette&brand>barondavis"... the clippers scew it up

I doubt that was their intention. Brand and Maggette both opted out; if they didn't want to re-sign, that places the Clippers in an uneviable position.

[benji]

It looks like the Clippers may have renounced Brand's rights to clear space for Davis. So they shot themselves in the foot on that one, even if he had opted-out.

Thorton, who played very well in his rookie season...

Enh, depends on how you define "very well." Other than shooting a lot he didn't really do anything remarkable. He was basically as efficient as Quinton Ross while using (wasting?) twice as many possessions.

Another way to put it, he played very much like Tim Thomas but with less passing.

[Lamrock]

Thank God Shammgod that Maggette didn't sign with the Spurms.

This is another hit for the Clippers, but if they get Josh Smith, it will be worth it.

[RKO]

Maggette is stupid. He rather play for money than win a championship. He rather player for the Warriors who are not even a playoff team than the Spurs or the Celtics for 5.8 million. Clipper players are a bunch of liars and backstabbers, except Baron Davis but he was a Warrior.

[Andrew]

Or maybe he finds the Warriors a more appealing option for other reasons, too. Maggette didn't lie to anyone or stab them in the back. He was considering offers from other teams and has obviously chosen not to accept them. That's his right after all and doesn't make him a bad person.

[Lamrock]

Maggette is stupid. He rather play for money than win a championship. He rather player for the Warriors who are not even a playoff team than the Spurs or the Celtics for 5.8 million. Clipper players are a bunch of liars and backstabbers, except Baron Davis but he was a Warrior.

[benji]

The Warriors were (are?) vastly underrated, especially if Brandan Wright is legit. Maggette kinda replicates what they've got (and will lose in Pietrus) and is not a distributor but hey, who doesn't want to see them continue to spend much of the game throwing nothing but SF/SGs out there (with your Harrington/Barnes style PF) and letting whoever gets the ball once it passes the half court line fire it up? Ball handler? I don't even want to see the ball touch the floor this year!

Maybe they can trade Biedrins for Artest too. This is the kind of team that needs to bring Artest and Jackson back together despite the league rule against them playing on the same team. And sign Ruben Patterson to round out the bench. Maybe they can get Memphis to send over Antoine Walker too.

They might need to talk with the Knicks...the Knicks with that goal of assembling a team of combo guards (especially if they're former Bulls) and the Warriors a team of combo forwards/wings. They can probably help each other out with this. Ellis and Watson for Richardson and Jeffries? America says yes!

[diddy]

Other NBA Signings:

Portland's James Jones is likely to ink a long-term deal with Miami.

Golden State's Mickael Pietrus is expected to sign with Orlando.

nooo, if it's true, Riley should sign Pietrus instead of jones, and i don't think air france's cost much higher that jones's!

[RKO]

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.

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.

But after all this is business and you never know what's gonna happen. Sixers are legitimate contenders and can possibly get the 5th or 6th spot in the East. While Maggette will be home early, not even make the playoffs in the West as I see the Spurs, Lakers, Hornets, Mavs, Rockets, Blazers, Jazz and the Suns being better teams than the Warriors.

[Rip32]

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.

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.

But after all this is business and you never know what's gonna happen. Sixers are legitimate contenders and can possibly get the 5th or 6th spot in the East. While Maggette will be home early, not even make the playoffs in the West as I see the Spurs, Lakers, Hornets, Mavs, Rockets, Blazers, Jazz and the Suns being better teams than the Warriors.

someone seems a little jaded. Maggette chose the fast pace scoring offense of goldenstate over the slow down post up offense of the spurs. I think it came down to whether he wanted to play his preferred style or just go out and play out of his game.


btw... 70% of pro athletes never keep their word

[Iceman_44]

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.

Even tho I'm a Spur fan I'm not mad at Maggette, the guy did what 99% percent of other players would of done: Follow the Money. Its not like the guy is being overpayed, he 28 years old, averaged 22 pts last season and his true value lies at around $10 Million. Taking the MLE would of meant a $4 million dollar paycut per year. I'm not going to pull a Sprewell and say he needed the extra money to feed his family but it was a major change in salary.
You don't really see many other NBA players taking salary cuts, the ones who do are usually at the twilight of their careers. Maggette said he would consider --as in maybe--playing for a contender but obviously him and his agent agreed that it wasn't in his best interest.

I don't know whether Brand and Davis had any type of agreement to sign and play together in LA. But I'm pretty sure that playing w/ Brand was at leas part of the sales pitch and one of the factors that made Davis opt-out.

[RKO]

Don't you think that winning the championship will earn him more money? And for him to be such a valuable piece, don't you think his value would go up?

[benji]

Not if he were to sign a long term deal at the MLE.

[RKO]

It wouldn't be long term. Either a year or 2.

[benji]

When he'd be 30 and not coming off a 22ppg season and have to compete with the 2010 frenzy. Along with a precedent for accepting less money to play for a serious contender. Getting an extra million from a championship share then have to go back on the market wouldn't outweigh a hefty long-term contract.

He opted out looking for a payday, when it looked like there wasn't much free agent money he started talking to teams about the MLE. Stated if he couldn't get a nice deal he'd go with San Antonio or Boston for the MLE to win. Now he's getting a nice contract from a Western contender.

It is not an ideal situation for him or Spurs fans, but he's not a liar.

[Emiliano]

Seems like the Warriors were after EVERYBODY his free agency. Every day it would be a different player haha.
They were like: "Oops that guy is gone, NEXT!"

To tell you te truth, I don't know if this is a great move or not....

[The X]

I knew he wouldn't sign with Spurs....it made no sense....at least if he is signing MLE with Warriors, his numbers can be padded in a faster paced offence which could lead to bigger pay day next off-season (assuming he has an opt out after one season which seems logical that he would have)....