NBA TAKE 5: Yao Ready or Not?

OPEN ENDED - With the Matt Barnes deal teetering the Toronto Raptors have had a string of premature leakage of information from their involved parties. While many media had gotten wind of the Barnes to Toronto deal early yesterday – even before Barnes tweeted that he was indeed coming to Toronto – the deal has hit a salary cap snag that the two sides are committed to working out. In order for Barnes to secure a reported 2-year $9-$10M deal for the Raptors he would first have to sign with the Magic who would then trade him to Toronto for a portion of Toronto’s traded player exemption and perhaps player fodder. Problem there is that the Magic are a luxury tax paying team and simply don’t have the spare change to do a deal for Barnes. Also, such a deal would need to be at least three-years in length and while only the first year needs to be guaranteed, it still leaves a lot of numbers crunching and cap flexing to make something work. If you recall it was early July when Charlotte Bobcats center Tyson Chandler told media that he had been traded to the Raptors, only for his general manager Michael Jordan to back out of the deal a day later, sending him to the Dallas Mavericks in a separate deal shortly after. Barnes was also courted by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets and Los Angeles Lakers. With the Heat having little left to spend the Cavs and Lakers are the two teams on the front burner should the Raptors deal die. Neither offer will be as sweet financially and only one – Los Angeles – puts him in a title-run situation. That Barnes was willing to forgo another shot at a title to take the payday in Toronto speaks to where his mind is. The Raptors had the biggest offer for Barnes by a wide margin and at 30 years of age with a history of playing for cheap the 7-year (and seven-team) veteran is look to make up for lost wages.

BUCKSHOTS – SWAY Sports handed out its “Balls of the Year” award early this season, like right after the Bucks signed/acquired Corey Maggette, Chris-Douglas Roberts and Drew Gooden to add to their surprisingly successful core group of 2010. With center Andrew Bogut on the mend in Australia and Brandon Jennings expected to build on a great rookie season the team added some quality role players to surround their on-the-cusp-of-stardom duo. Grizzled head coach Scott Skiles has his fingerprints all over the new additions but there are some in-house blessings as well. Swingman Carlos Delfino had a deceptively successful season in Milwaukee and resigning guard John Salmons to a long-term contract gives them a shot at creating an All-Star caliber backcourt. Of course that may or may not include Michael Redd who will be trying to comeback from yet another knee injury that cost him most of last season. At the very least he is an ending contract that can be parlayed into a quality piece mid-season should the Bucks do the expected and vault themselves into eastern conference contention. Draft pick Larry Sanders out of Virginia Commonwealth had a good summer league showing and along with Luc Mbah a Moute represents young hustle in the frontcourt. There are risks with this bunch however, and most of it is mental. Can Maggette shake the horror of being a focal part of so many losing teams after eight seasons Los Angeles with the Clippers and another two with the Golden State Warriors? A single playoff appearance in 11 years? Some in the New Jersey Nets organization considered Douglas-Roberts a locker room cancer while others have praised his competitiveness. Douglas took the losing and criticism hard last season in Jersey and will need to wipe his own slate clean. Gooden has long been a mystifying force during his 11-team, 8-year NBA career. Over that span he has recorded 11.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 47% field goal shooting over 580 regular season games but the impact of those numbers is sometimes lost behind his tendency to disappear for key stretches. If the newbies can exercise some of their demons with Skiles’ help, don’t count on the Bucks doing too much of that next season.

‘MELO AND MANHATTEN– Time for our semi-regular rant about the future of the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Net. So now, apparently new Knicks hope Amar’e Stoudemire has been in the ear of New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul and Denver Nuggets franchise guy Carmelo Anthony about joining him in the Zoo sometime, ANYTIME, soon. If you’ve been listening to this right here you would know that the idea has not been scoffed at in these parts, especially the ditty about Anthony, though I’m not as sold as him going to the Knicks over the Nets. I do hear (repeatedly) that Anthony is eventually New York bound, under contract with the Nuggets or not, and that an eventual push for a move/trade by his camp is inevitable. The thinking here is that it will lean more towards Brooklyn and their new beginning, which should coincide with Anthony’s own Denver ending when he realizes how old his team suddenly got and bolts. With both the Knicks and Nets coming out of the biggest free agent period of all-time without one of the household names they were aiming for, Anthony is – and always has been – a risky plan B. He is a seriously talented and marketable star that played his lone college season out of Syracuse University in New York, not unlike their second-round draft pick this past June Andy Rautins. Nothing is a given in this big bad NBA world with player/team/organization situations changing almost daily, but if you were asking for a call to be made from the cheap seats, this would be it.

DIESEL RUNNING LOW – Once upon a time Shaquille O’Neal was the biggest commodity in the NBA. A few years ago there weren’t many GM’s who would have passed on a chance to employ the hall of fame big man. Today O’Neal has become a gun for hire, and will be suiting up for his fourth team in four years whenever he decides on a destination, still said to be the interested Atlanta Hawks. In a perfect world O’Neal is hoping his final year in the NBA will be with his hometown Nets. Seeing has how he wants to play for three more seasons and the Nets should be in their new Brooklyn digs by then, playing in Jersey might not be the actual priority. Having Shaq help usher in the Brooklyn Nets in 2012 might be. After squeezing out one final All-Star appearance two seasons ago with the Phoenix Suns O’Neal’s superstar days truly seem behind him now, his contributions reduced to that of back up centre, mentor and media punch-liner. His ever-changing address is a reality check that doesn’t seem lost on the Big Journeyman either. Instead, O’Neal seems intent on playing the part with never before seen gusto and the opinion at this newsstand is that despite the declining skill and influence. the big fella represents everything good about basketball, and has the tricks, trades and experience to improve any team’s chances in the win/loss column. Of course in most people’s eyes that isn’t worth the $5.8M mid-level O’Neal is seeking which would have to include a sign-and-trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Without it O’Neal shouldn’t expect much more than a $2M per year offer from a limited pool of teams. Just over a year ago O’Neal was coming of a contract that paid him $21M in the last year of the deal.

HOLY COW, YAO! – Reports suggest that Yao Ming’s injured foot may not be ready for October training camp. The Houston Rockets were rebuffed by their list of preferable free agents and the uncertainty surrounding Yao’s return seems to have played a part. Kevin Martin, Louis Scola, Shane Battier and Trevor Ariza represent a good core but without Yao Ming they might as well be the supporting cast of the Cosby show; not much of anything without its star. Funny thing about this story is that before the free agency process began Rockets GM Daryl Morey and his crew used Yao’s ‘confirmed’ return as a selling point to would-be free agents they were chasing this summer, including top target Chris Bosh. Morey has since denied a story first published in the Racine Journal-Times suggesting Yao could miss as much as two months to start the 2010-11 season. Because of their limited salary cap space the Rockets could not offer a maximum contract outright to any of the big names but Yao’s presence was being depended on to make up some of the difference. Because of Yao many of his teammates have entered into lucrative endorsement deals in China due to the popularity of the Rockets in that country. With his immediate future in jeopardy so too are those spoils for potential free agents, which may explain why the Rockets have spent much of this summer resigning their own guys, with special attention to the frontcourt, rather than making a big splash on the free agent front. The bruising Scola is newly minted with a 5-year, $47M pact and the club just announced the signing of veteran center Brad Miller to a 3-year, $15M agreement. Guard Kyle Lowry had signed an offer sheet with the Cavaliers for $23M but the Rockets matched it shortly after. Yes, the added beef is insurance for Yao’s reconstructed left foot and the injury is part of the reason he decided not to opt out of the final year of his 5-year contract that pays him over $17M for the 2010-11 season. Clearly the Rockets free agency advances seem to have been hurt by the doubt surrounding the rehabilitation of Yao’s foot.