Damien Wilkins will be back with the Oklahoma City Thunder for another season. Wilkins’ agent, Mark Bartelstein, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the guard would not terminate the player option on his contract.
Wilkins averaged a career-low 5.3 points last season as he fell out of the rotation and played in only half of Oklahoma City’s 82 games. Before then, he had been a regular in the lineup during the franchise’s days in Seattle. He played in every game for the SuperSonics over a two-year span and averaged 9.2 points in 76 games in the team’s final season in Seattle. Wilkins indicated after the season that he planned to return.
Also, there’s a rumor floating that David Lee will sign an offer sheet with the Thunder:
A source told Ken Berger that he believes David Lee’s days as with the Knicks are over. Agent Mark Bartelstein will reportedly have Lee sign an offer sheet with the Grizzlies or Thunder that the Knicks will not be willing to match. “It’s a tough loss for New York, but they don’t want to screw up their 2010 plan,” the source said.
UPDATE: Daryl Morey, general manager of the Rockets, is courting Marcin Gortat… via Twitter.
“Meeting in a few w/ Gortat,” wrote the Rockets general manager. “Send a note to him NOW at rocketsfanslovegortat@gmail.com. He will receive. Show him how much we want him in Red!”
I'm not sure why we arent first in line to sign Shawn Marion. The Matrix @ 4 w/ Krstic, RW, Green and KD would be a phenomenal starting 5. You bring Thabo, Harden, Collison off the bench. Paul Milsap is good but the Matrix would put OKC on the map!
David Lee had more triple doubles than anyone in the nba besides Lebron James. He is a perfect fit. We would be lucky to get him.
Colly has this up coming year and next at about 6.5 per year.
If we are going to get someone then i prefer Lee, just because of his attitude and his rebounding, there are no guarantees with Gortat although i do think he's ok. I say we wait a year, there's no rush, we aint winning the championship this year anyway so we dont need to rush.
Who are the mid level guys next year of a similar standard or maybe a bit better.
When does Collinson contract run out
Nice post Keith, but he was an undersized 5 with NY - no big deal for D'antoni, but not really a good fit for us -
and BECAUSE of those inflated stats (PPG is a big deal when players negotiate contracts - whether he was actually better or not won't come into play) he will get more money, prob much more than Gortat . . .
Keith, do you prefer Lee or Gortat???
David Lee highs pre D'Antoni
10.8 pts, 10.4 rbds, 1.8 assts, 60% FG, 82% FT, 29.8 min.
David Lee highs with D'Antoni
16 pts, 11.8 rbds, 2.1 assts, 55% FG, 75.5% FT, 34.9 min.
Besides the increase in shots (and thus points), David Lee's improvements (or lack thereof) seem to have little to do with system. He was a 10 and 10 guy before D'Antoni (with better efficiency), and was slightly above that (accountable simply with increased minutes) with D'Antoni.
I haven't watched him enough to determine how useful he is on defense (he was better than Randolph and Curry, but that's not saying much). Still, I don't think anyone can argue that he'd hold down the 5 spot (not going to displace Green yet) considerably better than anyone we have. The very fact that he could pull down 10-14 rebounds a game would be nice for us.
Powe should be a cheap option to get production. Being cost-effective is the name of the game for Presti. If we sign him to a two-year deal what's the harm? He'll get FAR less than a Gortat/Lee/Milsap.
Are we sure Gortat is the answer for us? Getting in a bidding war for an uproven C who might command 8,9,10 a year seems silly to me. I think he's a nice player but not one I count on to be my franchise center when I don't have a big PF presence alongside him.
@Kev
because of that, he won't be able to command much money. and when he plays, he really plays. remember what he did to the lakers last year? he's a good interior scorer off the bench, that would be nice
Why are you guys so big on Powe = his injury history is going to scare off most teams . . . I read where he slipped to the 2nd round (like Blair) because of it . . .
@Joe
definitely. going after more undersized, overpaid 4/5 players versus a cheaper true 5 would absolutely hurt my opinion of presti. although i'm ok with powe, just because he would come really cheap.
@Crow
I'm with you on Leon Powe. He can play and should cheap. He'll have time to get healthy with our developing roster too.
I've seen similar rumors about us offering Millsap as well. I just don't get it. Where would these guys play? I would be astonished if Green isn't our starting 4 next season. That only leaves the backup PF/undersized C option open. But why? I've said it before, I'll say it again. Hustle players should never be offered more than the MLE unless they bring dominant shot blocking or elite back-to-the-basket play, and certainly BOTH of those qualities if you're talking about a multiyear +$10M contract. Geez.
All of this is beside that fact that this is a niche already adequately filled by Collison. He's a solid player, and while Millsap/Lee would be upgrades IMO, they are NOT for the prices I've seen floating around. Never mind that Collison's contract isn't very valuable next season and we aren't likely to get much value from it if we tried to move what would suddenly become dead weight after acquiring one of those guys.
I would really like to have Gortat, but I think that ship has already sailed. He's a solid player, but it's starting to look like he is going to be overpaid. I see shades of Beno written all over this one.
Which NBA owner/GM/coach least likely to be on Twitter? Round 1: Sam Presti vs. Jerry Sloan
@Duncan
I think the topper is when Mark Bartelstein - who also represents Earl and Damien - puts out the "I'm gonna have Sam Presti write David Lee a contract" stuff.
Honestly, it's probably more a matter of Oklahoma City being one of the few teams with money than it is being tight lipped.
Even though I agree that he is not a great fit and his numbers are inflated. You have to love the way Lee plays the game and he fits in with the attitude of our team.
Have Presti and the Thunder's tight lipped ways started working against them? On the one hand it keeps them from tipping their hand... on the other it seems like we've become the hot team for every agent and unnamed source in the league to try and float rumors of interest and artificially create demand for a player.
Also, the Knicks were almost 5 points better on defense when Lee was on the bench than when he was in the game this last season. That indicates that NYK's replacement defender was far superior when Lee took a breather.
But in fairness, the team was better defensively with Lee in the game the previous season when D'Antoni wasn't playing circus ball. So Lee might not be the best defender for a fast paced team....like the Thunder.
Your right about Houston DJ:
Houston Rockets – Team Salary Link
Salaries Committed: $62.3 million to 11 players
Available Money: $-3.7 million
Free Agents: Ron Artest, Von Wafer, Dikembe Mutombo
From Hoopsworld.
I would much rather have Gortat than Lee. Presti's genius status is up in the air if he overpays for Lee and doesn't go after Gortat.
Sign Leon Powe. If recovery is expected. They can wait. The price should be good. Far cheaper than Milsap or Lee. He is a player. Good defender at 4. Shoots almost everything inside.
Morey could also try to dance his way to a sign n trade involving Landry.
@dj
I wouldn't say we're full.
Arguably Mullens could play D-League all season and you would have Kristic/Lee/Collison
@Kev
Here's the thing...I'm with you that Lee's numbers are inflated, but Lee is a better 5 then Collison is...(not sure anyone can argue that) and we could pottentially trade Collison. Leaving us Kristic/Lee/Mullens
That doesn't hurt our cap for the future KD/JG and then RW year. Realistically, Lee would come off the cap in RW's FA year.
Is he inflated? Yes...Is he better then what we've got at the 5? I think so. Competition isn't a bad thing.
There is no way Presti offers Lee a contract. He's alreay got a full roster.
All Houston has is a mid-level.
http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/60227/20090701/morey_kicks_off_free_agency_with_gortat_tweet/
Houston meeting with Gortat - the Yao news hurts us . . .
anyone know their cap situation??
@Kev
I second that.
I'm not big on the Lee signing - his numbers were inflated in the D'Antoni system - I don't think he's a good interior defender . . .
Hopefully we get Gortat . . .