Hoopshype

[Sources]

Gary Payton looks to become the first player in quite some time to sign a contract and play at the age of 40. This generation's Robert Parrish, Payton has been in the league since the beginning, and he still might be worth more than a minimum contract at age 40.

[Sources]

What lies ahead for the two greatest players in sim league history? Penny Hardaway is still green, is incredibly athletic for his age, can handle, and can score. Kemp can still defend, rebound, and score, and is also athletic for his age. Both put up good PERs last year. Eventually, they'll decline, but there's no doubt each have value in the league still. At 37 and 38 years old, could each still get multi-year deals? It sounds crazy, but it's very possible.

[Sources]

One guy who has more maxes than Artest: Steven Hunter. Some believe he is better than Artest because he plays a more crucial role. Has "the summer of Artest" been misnamed this whole time?

[Sources]

In our bold statement of the day section, this one has to do with the Pacific. Many feel this will be a two-horse race between the Sonics and Kings. However at least one GM believes that the Clippers are a team to watch not only for the future, but now too. Not only do they have Durant and Dirk, but they also have 30 million in cap. One GM states: "Clippers have a brighter present and future than the Sonics. feel [like] Sonics will end up 3rd in the division again." If Stephen Jackson goes to LA, maybe they can compete for the West. But if they miss on him, if they fill out their roster well, could they be better than the Sonics? Some believe so.

[Sources]

GMs around the league are getting frustrated at the trade market. One Eastern Conference GM trying to get rid of an older player on a large contract complained, "I don't understand it - as long as a guy was still productive, I could always find a team desperate for talent to take him and send a pick - or multiple picks - in return." A Western Conference GM who has been looking to add a veteran player complained, "teams value picks and cost-controlled players more than ever and aren't going to give them up for over-30 players on huge contracts... but the teams trying to sell those over-30 players don't want to believe that nobody's going to give them a pick any more... they refuse to do business when it's clear there isn't enough demand for them to get what they want." Most GMs agree the gap between supply and demand for these players has led to a tepid trade market the past couple of years.

"At some point, something's going to give," said another Western Conference GM. "Either the teams trying to sell off older players will have to take less or the teams trying to acquire them will have to give up more." When asked which was more likely, the response from another Eastern Conference GM was, "look, the luxury tax punishes teams for taking on salary, and this new training camp insurance thing makes youth even more valuable. I think eventually the 'selling' teams are going to accept that they're going to have to take less because the demand just isn't there any more. If you have a big contract you don't want, you'd better be prepared to take pennies on the dollar to get rid of it or just ride the contract out."

[Sources]

GMs around the league are getting frustrated at the trade market. One Eastern Conference GM trying to get rid of an older player on a large contract complained, "I don't understand it - as long as a guy was still productive, I could always find a team desperate for talent to take him and send a pick - or multiple picks - in return." A Western Conference GM who has been looking to add a veteran player complained, "teams value picks and cost-controlled players more than ever and aren't going to give them up for over-30 players on huge contracts... but the teams trying to sell those over-30 players don't want to believe that nobody's going to give them a pick any more... they refuse to do business when it's clear there isn't enough demand for them to get what they want." Most GMs agree the gap between supply and demand for these players has led to a tepid trade market the past couple of years.

"At some point, something's going to give," said another Western Conference GM. "Either the teams trying to sell off older players will have to take less or the teams trying to acquire them will have to give up more." When asked which was more likely, the response from another Eastern Conference GM was, "look, the luxury tax punishes teams for taking on salary, and this new training camp insurance thing makes youth even more valuable. I think eventually the 'selling' teams are going to accept that they're going to have to take less because the demand just isn't there any more. If you have a big contract you don't want, you'd better be prepared to take pennies on the dollar to get rid of it or just ride the contract out."

The Eastern Conference GM just sent a text:

Things nobody wants to believe but everybody needs to hear: if your player isn't blue potential AND on a rookie contract, right now the market for your player is, "not only are you not going to GET a draft pick for him, you're going to have to SEND a draft pick just to get rid of him."

[Sources]

Multiple people reporting this is the lamest trade deadline ever. As one GM put it, "Even Quail is sitting on his hands."

[Sources]

Despite having strong records, both GMs of the Grizzlies and Sonics have poor approval ratings from the owner, but the reasons are not on the court. Despite having the team in first place, Loco's sarcasm and prickly demeanor over the years has worn thin with ownership who feels he's become difficult to work with. As long as the team is winning, don't expect any changes. Same with the Sonics owner who really dislikes DarthVegito due to his volatile temper and constantly being miserable to deal with as well as not reaching expectations when the two-time champion GM was hired.

[Sources]

With the Bucks window closing quickly, we're hearing enigmatic GM Ian Quailman is shopping any and everyone even Artest. A source in the organization says no clue where we go today. He'll take any deal if he thinks he won it.

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Lots of other GMs around the league are perplexed that the Wizerd's GM is shopping Danny Granger. At 25 he's the Wizards best player and the Wizards aren't in any financial trouble.

[Sources]

Huge question at the all star game. What happened to the Lakers ?

[Sources]

Word out of Toronto is the player have quit on their coach. The pupu platter of players assembled all know it's likely none of them will be back. No one is risking injury. And Tim Thomas has demanded to be moved to a winner. Only time will tell if this GM cowers to his players demands.

[Sources]

Kevin Durant is walking around LA repeating "The Clippers are coming" and he may be right. With the preseason hype on the kings and sonics they're in perfect position to shock the world.

[Sources]

With $50 million in cap space this upcoming offseason, expect the Rockets to start adding to their young core with massive spending in free agency. Sources claim teams hoping to re-sign their own free agents to hometown discounts will suffer the consequences.

[Sources]

Word is that the Kings are terrified of the Supersonics and does not want to lose in the first round to them. It's been said that they are positioning themselves in the seeding so that they won't face the Sonics until the WCF, so they can at least say they made it there. Fans in Sacramento are not feeling good going into the post-season.

[Sources]

Shocking news out of Houston. The Rockets have hired Byron Russell to be the head of Restricted Free Agent Scouting and Contract valuation.

[Sources]

Am being told no reason to get excited about Boston declining option on Boozer, it's a formality to lock him up longterm on a 5 year supermax a year early. There were concerns about luxury tax next year and running the risk of not being able to resign him a year from now. Celtics front office and Boozer's camp actually started this conversation immediately after finals loss last year.

[Sources]

Hearing rumblings that the league is considering doing away with the General Manager of the Year award starting next season. "It's had a nice run, but all it does is make GMs act like petty schoolgirls," a league source said. "No one can ever establish their own candidacy without shamelessly ripping into another GM's hard work. And everyone is so sensitive, there's no such thing as reasoned discussion."

The other awards will likely stay on. "No one cares about those awards, they're fine," the source said.

[Sources]

Talking to the media yesterday, Ron Artest announced he was thinking about getting injured in the second round this year. "It's really tempting to just pack it in early but I gotta stick around long enough to give Quail some hope. You know what I'm sayin?"

[Sources]

With the announcement from the Hawks that Duncan is on the market, trade rumors immediately began swirling. "Look for something like Jason Richardson, points, and the 2010 Sonics' pick or Maggette, points, and the Kings' pick or Jarvis Hayes, the Bucks 2010, and points. That's apparently the value of Duncan these days."

[Sources]

Sources in San Antonio say the team is growing frustrated with Russell Westbrook's lack of gym time. Team officials have asked him to get in the weight room to get his strength up, but Westbrook continues to defy them and be more seen in the fashion scene.

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[Sources]

Knicks denying in public that they'll match a max for Nate Robinson, but there are some skeptics. Most think with the cap increase the Knicks will match any max unless they can get something back for him.

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[Sources]

The mysterious case of Danny Granger. With Indiana drawing the ire of fellow GMs "resting" Granger before the deadline, most believe that he did and does, in fact, intended to trade Granger; while another party thinks he was doing so to exploit the draft system.

Either way, Granger will certainly muster the max. With other team's seeing how much the Wizards not wanting him to be apart of the team's future, many think they won't be able to muster any leverage in a RFA deal.

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[Sources]

Nets front office intent on picking between Mosgov and Kaman by the end of the offseason to make another run.

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[Sources]

Word on the street is both the Bulls and the Blazers are open to moving picks 2 and 3.