Duke NBA Alumni Free Agent Watch

[Oriole Way]

Shane Battier will be signing with the Heat, which I believe will be the difference in winning LeBron his first title.

Grant Hill is close to signing with the Knicks. It will be interesting to see how he meshes with Melo, Amare, and Billups.

Mike Dunleavy has reportedly signed with the Bucks. He should get a good chance to start there and get extensive minutes, I hope he can stay healthy.

The Lakers have been linked with Josh McRoberts. Now that they have acquired Chris Paul and traded away Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom in a blockbuster trade, I think McRoberts is likely to land in LA. If he does, he could very well be their starting PF, and I think he would flourish with Paul feeding him.

It's nice to see several Dukies winding up with playoff teams who will be making deep runs in the postseason.

[CDu]

Wow, didn't realize that Gasol AND Odom would go in the deal. I'm not sure how great a move this is for the Lakers. It means they have no frontcourt after Bynum. And they have an aging star and a PG with knee troubles, both of whom need the ball a lot and neither is a great perimeter shooter. It's a combination sort of like Wade/LeBron, only not nearly as athletic or as good defensively. And Artest isn't exactly the floor spacing shooter to work off those guys.

I also felt like Odom might be a necessary piece in a Howard trade (along with Bynum obviously). Now, I have to wonder if the Lakers have the ammo for Howard.

If they get Howard somehow, that's a trio that could threaten/best the Heat for the title for the next few years (until Bryant gets too old and Paul's body gives out). With Bynum, it's an odd pairing.

[Oriole Way]

Wow, didn't realize that Gasol AND Odom would go in the deal. I'm not sure how great a move this is for the Lakers. It means they have no frontcourt after Bynum. And they have an aging star and a PG with knee troubles, both of whom need the ball a lot and neither is a great perimeter shooter. It's a combination sort of like Wade/LeBron, only not nearly as athletic or as good defensively. And Artest isn't exactly the floor spacing shooter to work off those guys.

I also felt like Odom might be a necessary piece in a Howard trade (along with Bynum obviously). Now, I have to wonder if the Lakers have the ammo for Howard.

If they get Howard somehow, that's a trio that could threaten/best the Heat for the title for the next few years (until Bryant gets too old and Paul's body gives out). With Bynum, it's an odd pairing.

Agreed on all counts. Odom is an incredibly versatile and valuable player. I consider Paul to be one of the top 3 most valuable and best players in the league (Durant, James, Paul, probably in that order), but the problem is that Gasol is a top 5-10 player, and Odom is a top 25 player. You can't really weigh this deal as Odom and Gasol vs. Paul, but the Lakers are actually giving up more value and wins, in my opinion. They will have to be extremely wise with how they fill out the rest of their starting 5 and bench.

Losing Shannon Brown also hurts them - I think he could be a valuable starter on most non-playoff teams or a heavily-used 6th man on most playoff teams, but he was really underused with the Lakers.

I also don't see how they have enough to land Howard. If they get him the same way the Lakers got Gasol from the Grizzlies (a weak package), something shady will definitely be going on. If they stick with Bynum, they'll be relying on an injury-prone center, and that's a losing bet given the nature of Bynum's injuries. I'll be impressed with the Lakers front office if they can trade Bynum for an elite, reliable center.

[Greg_Newton]

Doesn't matter, because the deal was vetoed for "basketball reasons" by the Hornets' front office... the NBA: http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/s...chris-paul-off

Not sure we've seen anything quite like this...

[COYS]

Doesn't matter, because the deal was vetoed for "basketball reasons" by the Hornets' front office... the NBA: http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/s...chris-paul-off

Not sure we've seen anything quite like this...

Terrible precedent set by the NBA. It was a good trade for New Orleans and Houston. However, I agree with you guys that it wasn't so good for the Lakers and this might actually be a blessing for LA. Not only does Bynum get injured all the time, he also misses the first 10 games of the season due to suspension. That means the Lakers would have lost the core of their non-Kobe offense from last season and an amazing and versatile sixth man, and replaced them with veterans minimum type post players.

[JasonEvans]

Hill is not going to the Knicks. He's returning to Phoenix. 1-year deal worth $6.5 mil.

-Jason

[sagegrouse]

Hill is not going to the Knicks. He's returning to Phoenix. 1-year deal worth $6.5 mil.

-Jason

Good for Grant. I know he toiled for a couple of years near the NBA minimum. (I'll look it up when I have time.) -- sage

[dcdevil2009]

Per Basketball Reference, Grant wasn't quite as low as the minimum in his two lowest paid years, but was making less than two million per. For the past two years he's add a little over three million per, which is still less than the midlevel exemption that was a big part of the lockout.

[El_Diablo]

The Grizzlies and Pacers are close to a sign-and-trade of McRoberts (to Memphis) for OJ Mayo (to Indiana):

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/73...cording-source

[Greg_Newton]

The Grizzlies and Pacers are close to a sign-and-trade of McRoberts (to Memphis) for OJ Mayo (to Indiana):

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/73...cording-source

Looks like McBobs could start in the post for the Grizz, assuming they don't acquire any more bigs? Arthur is the only other PF besides Randolph on the team, and he didn't play a whole lot last year.

[shoutingncu]

Mike Dunleavy has reportedly signed with the Bucks.

The Grizzlies and Pacers are close to a sign-and-trade of McRoberts (to Memphis) for OJ Mayo (to Indiana)

Leaving Dahntay as the only Dukie left on the Pacers?

[SilkyJ]

Looks like McBobs could start in the post for the Grizz, assuming they don't acquire any more bigs? Arthur is the only other PF besides Randolph on the team, and he didn't play a whole lot last year.

Grizz resigned Marc Gasol, which was a major priority. McBob will get some run off the bench, but not much more, in fact probably less, than he would have in Indy. I think its fair to say he's on a better team tho...

[Greg_Newton]

Grizz resigned Marc Gasol, which was a major priority. McBob will get some run off the bench, but not much more, in fact probably less, than he would have in Indy. I think its fair to say he's on a better team tho...

Ahhhh right. Knew that roster was missing someone. Oh well.

At least he'll bring a different dimension to their frontcourt, as Gasol and Randolph are massive, below-the-rim clunkers. Too bad though, it seemed like they had high hopes for him in Indy.

[delfrio]

Shelden signed a 1-year deal with the Nets. I'm guessing he will come off the bench behind Outlaw?

[Kdogg]

The Grizzlies and Pacers are close to a sign-and-trade of McRoberts (to Memphis) for OJ Mayo (to Indiana):

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/73...cording-source

Looks like the trade is off and McBob signs with the Lakers.

[hq2]

Shelden signed a 1-year deal with the Nets

....

...with none other than GM Billy King, Duke '88.

[Oriole Way]

I don't think it's an accident that, after indeed signing McRoberts, the Lakers are suddenly pursuing Chris Paul again.

ESPN.com learned Tuesday that a Lakers' deal for Paul has not yet been ruled out, contingent on the fact that they can recruit at least one other team to supply some of the young pieces that the league is demanding. But the Lakers do still have Gasol as a centerpiece, who could either replace Paul as the Hornets' franchise player or give New Orleans a top-20 player to be dangled in subsequent deals.

"The Lakers are definitely still in this," said one source close to the talks.

I really think the Lakers believe McRoberts could start for them. Like I said earlier, Chris Paul feeding McBob would be fun to see.

[Oriole Way]

By the way, to commemorate Mike Dunleavy signing with the Bucks, wanted to share this clip:

"Manleavy"

I'm really surprised I never saw that until recently. It's just pure awesome.

[throatybeard]

Per Basketball Reference, Grant wasn't quite as low as the minimum in his two lowest paid years, but was making less than two million per. For the past two years he's add a little over three million per, which is still less than the midlevel exemption that was a big part of the lockout.

Thanks for the link. Interesting that Grant's similarity-score buddy is Chris Mullin.

[juise]

By the way, to commemorate Mike Dunleavy signing with the Bucks, wanted to share this clip:

"Manleavy"

I'm really surprised I never saw that until recently. It's just pure awesome.

Agreed. I love when that fan puts on his sweaty jersey at the end.