The news yesterday broke via Twitter that Chuck Hayes was likely out. This will be a different lockerroom next season. Hayes was a man who many, myself included, hoped would retire with this team. He was the type of player who, upon reflection, conjured memories of Thorpe, Elie, and other franchise icons. True heart, grit, his style of play personifying what this Rockets team came to be about these past few years. With the forward’s departure, this will be a new Rockets team going forward. The Jeff Van Gundy era is now officially over, with its last holdover headed for greener (?) pastures. Unless some monumental acquisition is made, this loss alone should sufficiently ensure a losing record next season, an outcome I all along have been hoping for, given the circumstances.
Hornets guard Chris Paul will not commit to signing a contract extension after this season with the Golden State Warriors or Los Angeles Clippers if he is traded to either team, citing the potential financial hit if he were to do that rather than becoming a free agent and signing a new deal with a new team next summer, according to league sources. That has left potential deals with both teams in limbo. It was not known Wednesday if Paul had similar reluctance to sign an extension after this season with the Lakers, who are also involved in trade talks for Paul.
Paul is essentially making the same decision that Nets guard Deron Williams made last week in deciding not to sign an extension with New Jersey and becoming a free agent next summer. But while Williams could still re-sign in New Jersey, very few people around the league think there’s any chance Paul will stay in New Orleans after this season, which is hastening the Hornets’ desire to move Paul before the start of the season. Training camps are scheduled to open Friday, after the National Basketball Players Association and the NBA’s Board of Governors each complete ratification votes on the new CBA Thursday.
Paul is getting paid $16.359 million this season, and has a player option for next season at $17.779 million. If he were to agree to an extension on the existing contract, he would play for the $17.779 million next season, and then be eligible for a two-year extension in 2013 for $19.112 million and $20.446 million, for a total package of $74 million through the 2014-15 season. If, however, he opts out and becomes a free agent, he’d be able to sign a five-year deal with his incumbent team worth $102 million.
Both teams understand Paul’s position, but don’t feel comfortable moving forward with no assurances he would stay with them after this season.
The Clippers, for example, are very reluctant to include the unprotected 2012 first-round pick from Minnesota they currently own in any deal with New Orleans — which is understandably holding out for the maximum amount possible in exchange for its franchise player — under the current scenario. A source indicated Wednesday it would be up to the Hornets to lower their demands for Paul to make the deal happen. New Orleans wants a combination of young players and Draft picks for Paul. But the Clippers’ package still does not include guard Eric Gordon, the player the Hornets are believed to covet most off of L.A.’s roster.
Another source indicated Wednesday night that New Orleans wasn’t interested in the Clippers’ second-year forward, Al-Farouq Aminu, as part of the package, either. Aminu would be more expendible if the Clippers sign Mavericks free agent small forward Caron Butler, who visited them Monday night, or Detroit’s Tayshaun Prince. Butler was in New Jersey Wednesday night visiting with the Nets, after very positive meetings earlier in the week with the Bulls and Spurs.
The Warriors have indicated they will not put their young star guard, Stephen Curry, in a trade package, though league sources are divided as to whether that’s a permanent decision or one just based on Paul’s current stance.
Paul has only reportedly told the Knicks — who most believe don’t have enough assets to make an acceptable offer to New Orleans — that he is willing to sign an extension after this season. While there are some teams around the league that would be willing to take the gamble that they were only renting Paul’s services for a year, the Clippers and Warriors are not among them.
Bold emphasis mine. It seems that things are cooling on both (GSW, LAC) fronts with neither of those clubs willing to part with prized assets. That the Clippers are reluctant to include the draft pick owed from Minnesota comes as news; unless that stance changes, that almost certainly would take that team out of the running.
Still no mention of the Rockets–who remain firm in their offer–and more emphasis upon Boston as the contingency plan if talks with the West coast suitors fall through. Unless that’s just big-market bias, it would seem the Hornets have little interest in Houston’s package. Still, stranger things have happened as it was reported all along that Denver last season had no desire to obtain any of what the Knicks were offering [in a Carmelo Anthony deal]…until they actually did at the 11th hour.
It was reported earlier by Y! that the Rockets’ offer included some combination of Kyle Lowry, Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Patrick Patterson, Marcus Morris, [and future draft pick obligations], all fine players in their own right, but none considered to be “blue-chip prospects.”
It is believed that the Hornets will deal Paul prior to the start of training camp tomorrow, wanting to avoid the circus last year’s Anthony talks brought into Denver. I’d be shocked if this were the case. So-called ‘distractions’ for a team with no expectations awaiting an inevitable outcome are no valid justification for rushing through a deal for its most prized commodity. Having said that, in a shortened season, with Paul’s stance on extensions remaining firm, this is a situation unlike most: waiting longer would not increase the likelihood of teams sweetening the pot as they ordinarily would/have in the past.
Finally, there is the news, much to my chagrin, of mutual interest between the Rockets and Samuel Dalembert. Signing Dalembert–a move which would most likely be followed up by amnestying center Hasheem Thabeet–seems more like a Carrol Dawson transaction, a thought which makes me shudder. I would much rather avoid such costs and see definitively what we have in Thabeet. Hopefully such interest on the Rockets’ part is merely for appearances.