2010 Free Agency: Teams On The Brink

Posted by Stephen Rhodes under NBA Free Agents, NBA Rumors, SDC COMMENTARY

Here we are less than a week into the 2009 NBA regular season and yet you cannot help but worry about the year 2010. Why 2010, you ask? That’s the year that 3 marquee players – LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh – with other players becoming restricted free agents during that time have the opportunity to really cash in.

And you know that there’s teams out there drooling at the prospect of obtaining one (or more) of the aforementioned NBA ballers, albeit at a steep price. That’s what is so fun about impending free agency. You can speculate where players may or may land next season and think of the implications of the signings.

I can think of 7 NBA teams that I think will become major players in the 2010 Free Agent Sweepstakes. I obviously cann0t predict which player or players they may sign, but as the saying goes, “Money talks and b******* walks.” Having said that, here are the teams that hope to make a splash during the offseason (maybe sooner); keep in mind that there are two figures applied here – salary cap numbers are for the 2010-11 season:

1. New Jersey
$53.6 million salary cap: $24.9 million in cap space
$50 million salary cap: $21.3 million in cap space

How sweet can it be when the New Jersey Nets are about to get a new owner who is perhaps richer than God – so to speak? By richer, I am talking about the new kid in town, Russia’s own Mikhail Prokhorov. His net worth, as of this post, is $9.5 billion. That’s billion with a B, folks.

Barring some unlikely collapse, expect Prokhorov to get approved by the league. With that in place, he could become the Russian equivalent of George Steinbrenner, meaning he will have very, very deep pockets that will enable him to get the best available free agent(s) that his money can buy. Let’s also factor in that Jay-Z – who is a minority owner – will actually make his presence known. His name will make New Jersey an attractive destination for James, should he not re-up with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Maybe LJ can be a spokesman for Stolichnaya (that’s a brand of vodka that is very big in Russia).

2. New York
$53.6 million salary cap: $23.4 million in cap space
$50 million salary cap: $19.8 million in cap space

What is it with the NYC-Newark connection? Oh yeah, I forgot: New York City and the surrounding area is the financial capital of the NBA (and the USA). With the impending free agency period, owner James Dolan must feel like the kid in the candy store with a carte blanche Visa card.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Knicks were harboring this fantasy of signing James and perhaps another marquee player (Wade and Bosh, presumably). But there is a bit of a problem with that scenario/pipe dream. The team has a bunch of first-year contracts which alone eat up around $16 million, so the likeliest scenario is nabbing one marquee-type player then some medium-value player. That could change if – and this is a big if – they can get rid of Eddy Curry and his fat (pun semi-intended) contract and get an expiring contract back in return. But that’s a best-case scenario assuming that David Lee and Nate Robinson are no longer on the team next season.

3. Miami
$53.6 million salary cap: $18.5 million of cap space
$50 million salary cap: $14.9 million of cap space

The Heat, with this embarrassment of riches, do indeed have some options. $18.5 million should allow Miami to make some noise. Let’s say that the Heat use the $50 million figure; they’ll still have enough maneuverability to get a marquee-type (Bosh or someone that isn’t too similar to Michael Beasley) andre-sign Wade. So in some ways, Miami may be better off, financially, than the New York Knicks.

4. Chicago
$53.6 million salary cap: $12.9 million of cap space
$50 million salary cap: $9.3 million of cap space

Not many people think of the Bulls as players in the 2010 Sweepstakes, yet the cap numbers do not lie. If Chicago wants to get a upper-echelon player, they will have to move some bodies for that to happen. Players like Kirk Hinrich and Tyrus Thomas automatically come to mind as they’re not about to shop Joakim Noah or Derrick Rose. If they can get above the $10 million mark in cap space, anything can happen.

5. Minnesota
$53.6 million salary cap: $12.5 million of cap space
$50 million salary cap: $8.9 million of cap space

Don’t laugh; again, salary cap numbers do not lie. The T-Wolves have some bling to use during the 2010 offseason, but they may – due to their circumstances – use that to facilitate some trades. One thing in Minnesota’s favor is that they have an abundance of bargaining power in the form of guards on their roster (Jonny Flynn, Ramon Sessions and Ricky Rubio) which gives the T-Wolves’ fan base a glimmer of hope. The team could go even further up the salary cap food chain if they do not renew the option of Oleksiy Pecherov and also depending on what the Bulls do with Tyrus Thomas along with the T-Wolves’ multiple draft picks next June.

6. Oklahoma City
$53.6 million salary cap: $11.8 million of cap space
$50 million salary cap: $8.2 million of cap space

I kind of envy the current position that the Thunder are in, both in personnel and cap space. You have a promising core of players (Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook and James Harden) which is a good selling point for any prospective free agent.

Since this Oklahoma City’s first trip with a fully loaded VISA card, they will have to simply convince free agents that they are worth the visit. More than likely they won’t sign James, Wade or Bosh, but despite that, they can make a signing which will provide some impact. But as anything that goes in the NBA, anything can happen.

7. Los Angeles Clippers
$53.6 million salary cap: $11.1 million of cap space
$50 million salary cap: $7.5 million of cap space

The Clippers, for once, can actually benefit from team owner Donald Sterling’s spendthrift ways. Like Oklahoma City, they have a core of players on which to build on (Baron Davis, Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin). But part of the problem is perception – or reputation, depending on your point of view.

The Clippers haven’t really been successful, both on and off the court, so they will have to work really hard to make an impact in the 2010 Free Agent Sweepstakes. If they want to improve their salary cap net worth, they may need to rid themselves of the contracts of either Al Thornton and/or Sebastian Telfair. Personally, I like Thornton; however, I don’t own the Clippers, so that’s neither here nor there.

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