How did draft night affect Rashard Lewis?
Seattle was busy last night. Durant is next years small forward, but a future power forward in the West. By trading Ray Allen for Jeff Green and Wally Szczerbiak they picked up a second small forward and a new shooting guard. With two big cap holds for Durant and Green the SuperSonics are at or near the $54-$57 million salary cap. They could sign Lewis for the max and pay luxury tax, but they really need a working center instead of a duplicate player.
It appears they are ready for life after Rashard Lewis. It would be best for Seattle to sign and trade Lewis where they could pick up a low cost big man who can actually play in the NBA.
Charlotte and Orlando had the cap room to go after Lewis. Last night Charlotte traded for Golden State's Jason Richardson. Richardson is an $11m shooting guard. It's pretty clear they will now resign SF Gerald Wallace who would have left if he didn't get help.
The Knicks wanted to make a splash with a trade this year and had targetted Lewis as a possibility. The Zach Randolph trade last night possibly ending their offseason moves. (NYC area strippers beware)
That leaves Orlando as a likely destination for Lewis.
Orlando needs to quickly sign Darko to remove a $13 million cap hold, then dump a Battie or Turkoglu sized contract on either Seattle or a third party to make the numbers work. This should be an intersting next 10 days.
If the Magic want that shiny new stadium the keys just might be Darko and Lewis.
Lewis is a 9 year veteran. 27 years old. 6-10, 215 lbs. SF. Last year averaged 22.4 pts, 6.6 rebounds in 60 games. He missed 22 games in a row with a right hand tendon problem but finished the season strong averaging over 23 points after the All Star break.
It appears they are ready for life after Rashard Lewis. It would be best for Seattle to sign and trade Lewis where they could pick up a low cost big man who can actually play in the NBA.
Charlotte and Orlando had the cap room to go after Lewis. Last night Charlotte traded for Golden State's Jason Richardson. Richardson is an $11m shooting guard. It's pretty clear they will now resign SF Gerald Wallace who would have left if he didn't get help.
The Knicks wanted to make a splash with a trade this year and had targetted Lewis as a possibility. The Zach Randolph trade last night possibly ending their offseason moves. (NYC area strippers beware)
That leaves Orlando as a likely destination for Lewis.
Orlando needs to quickly sign Darko to remove a $13 million cap hold, then dump a Battie or Turkoglu sized contract on either Seattle or a third party to make the numbers work. This should be an intersting next 10 days.
If the Magic want that shiny new stadium the keys just might be Darko and Lewis.
Lewis is a 9 year veteran. 27 years old. 6-10, 215 lbs. SF. Last year averaged 22.4 pts, 6.6 rebounds in 60 games. He missed 22 games in a row with a right hand tendon problem but finished the season strong averaging over 23 points after the All Star break.
posted by WeRDevos @ 9:11 AM
6 Comments:
At 10:03 AM,
WeRDevos said…
Miami says they want to do a sign and trade with Seattle for Lewis, but Seattle would have to take back Lewis' full contract value in trade. If Orlando is involved, Seattle would have to take back a less costly player since Orlando will be below the cap after signing Darko.
At 4:25 PM,
OVERWADED said…
I'm guessing Udonis Haslem is the guy they'd offer considering they have nobody else a young rebuilding team like Seattle would be interested in. And not just to blow Orlando's horn, but why would Lewis want to go play with D Wade at the old-folks home anyway?
At 5:03 PM,
WeRDevos said…
It would have to be Haslem plus Williams or Walker for Miami to make the trade. Williams only has a year left on his contract, so Seattle may be interested. But Williams is a bit of an idiot, and Miami really shouldn't trade Udonis.
The other possibility is Cleveland. The LeBron's are over the cap but could put together a package of players. But who would Seattle want from that bunch? Gooden?
At 5:28 PM,
OVERWADED said…
Gooden would be the only possibility. Big Z is on his way out. Larry Hughes is only a few notches above G Hill in regards to the injury problems; plus he's extremely overpaid.
I don't see much getting in the way of Lewis coming here except ourselves. Otis just needs to make it happen.
At 6:50 PM,
Mike from Illinois said…
Here is what Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune said in Friday morning's Trib in regard to the Magic's future:
... Much depends on whether the Sonics re-sign free agent Rashard Lewis or try for a sign-and-trade or lose him to a team under the salary cap, like Orlando.
Smith continues... the Magic could become a playoff player as well with center Dwight Howard, the East's best big man. If Orlando lands Lewis, it might persuade Grant Hill to re-sign. There also have been rumors of Chauncey Billups leaving Detroit to sign with Orlando, giving the Magic a potentially impressive inside/outside attack.
Usually, Sam Smith is pretty reliable, but I wonder where he's getting his info here? From all indications, Grant Hill wants to sign with another team, and I sure haven't heard anything that the Magic are interested in Billups, especially if they re-sign Darko and sign Lewis.
At 2:46 AM,
Anonymous said…
"then dump a Battie or Turkoglu sized contract on either Seattle"
What is wrong with you Bush loving embiciles? Seattle has gotten enough worthless riffraff from the Boston deal!
Do you think the Seattle fans want a bunch of crappy cadavers that no one else wants? Oh, yes, Seattle will package them with Earl Watson and Luke Ridnour and ship the whole bunch off to the Lakers for Bryant. GET REAL!
Seattle has to have something back of value in such a trade, SUCH AS DWIGHT HOWARD!!!
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