August's arrival sends free agency into summertime snooze
If you're still paying attention to NBA free agency, you're either A) me; B) running out of things to do besides watch Stephon Marbury's streaming videos; C) a free agent who still doesn't have a job; or D) one of those free agent's agents.
This is not a story about how you should feel empathy for the dozens of free agents who have yet to sign contracts more than a month into the negotiating and signing period. They don't need your empathy, and in this unique free-agent summer, it wouldn't do any good, anyway.
There's always an initial flurry of trades and signings, and then a lull, and then it's bargain-hunting time in August and, in some cases, into September. But this year is different -- for everybody.
There are big names, former All-Stars, one future Hall of Famer, dependable veterans and a slew of effective sixth men/potential starters on the right side of 30 still without contracts. There's a lineup of restricted free agents -- David Lee, Linas Kleiza, Raymond Felton and Glen "Big Baby" Davis -- who'd have a chance to win more games than the Grizzlies if they formed their own team with one of the half-dozen or so serviceable centers still on the market.
We're still only a few days into August, and NBA free agency is in worse shape than Cash for Clunkers. Too many clunkers and not enough cash.
"I don't really think you can look at this year and take anything from last year or years past," said one agent still trying to find a home for a nine-year veteran client. "We are having an economic meltdown in our country. We have a number of teams losing money and a number of teams that are looking at things differently than they have in the past."
• Berger: Knicks, Lee at impasse | Offseason scorecard
Say what you want about him, but Allen Iverson is going to Springfield five minutes after he's eligible for enshrinement. Despite overtures from the Clippers and Grizzlies -- and with friends like those, who needs enemies? -- Iverson can't find a job.
Jason Williams decided to come out of retirement but he should've waited until next year, when teams actually will have salary cap space. J-Will generated immediate interest from the Knicks, but only because the team saw that by acquiring his rights via waivers, it would have a chance to trade him for a more useful asset.
Flip Murray, who turned 30 last week, averaged 12.2 points as a key sparkplug off the bench for the Hawks last season -- and is still looking for a contract. Ime Udoka was billed as the next Bruce Bowen when the Spurs signed him two years ago. Now, the actual Bruce Bowen, bought out by the Bucks last week, will join Udoka on the list of free agents once he clears waivers.
It's not hard to keep up with the Joneses, Damon and Fred, two serviceable NBA veterans without jobs. In the case of Fred, teams that plan to carry 13 players next season might not have a spot for someone who can defend but not score. As for Damon, the days of bench warmers known more for their suits than for how they suit up are essentially over. Before he was traded to Milwaukee last February, Keith Bogans appeared in 36 games for NBA Finalist Orlando. As my father used to say, that and a token will get you on the subway -- but it won't get Bogans a contract.
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| Glen Davis and David Lee should have contracts by now, but restricted free agency has been, well, restrictive. (Getty Images) |
• Free agents: East | West | Trades | B/R: Best players left
Several factors are at work. Free agency was destined to be a buyer's market this year to begin with because only a handful of teams had significant cap space -- and one of them, the Pistons, spent it all on the first day. Add the heightened concerns about eroding revenues -- we showed you last month how bad it was at the box office for the bottom feeders last season -- and it's no wonder nobody is rushing to sign the aging, declining Iverson or the mentally crumbling (not to mention utterly ineffective) Marbury. (Most GMs would rather eat Vaseline.)
Then you have the broken system of restricted free agency, which in an already cautious spending environment, has made it next to impossible for RFAs to change teams. Agents and executives planned to watch what happened with Lee, the Knicks forward who averaged a double-double and was top-five in all the major rebounding categories last season. Hope they weren't holding their breath. Lee's foray into free agency has been stalled by a triple-whammy: not enough teams with cap space; teams considering an offer sheet have been scared off by the seven-day period in which the Knicks have the right to match; and sign-and-trade options are virtually non-existent due to Lee's status as a base-year compensation player, which complicates the salary-matching requirements for trades to work under the CBA.
The matching period is even more troublesome in cases when offer sheets are extended to restricted free agents during the one-week negotiating period at the start of free agency. In that case, the seven-day matching period doesn't begin until the moratorium ends, meaning that teams targeting RFAs during the negotiating period must wait up to two weeks to find out if they got their guy -- and must put their pursuit of other free agents and trades on hold in the meantime.
With negotiators for the league and the players association opening talks on a new CBA on Tuesday in New York, sources said changing the restricted free agency model will be one of the union's key objectives.
"Clearly, one way to fix it is to make it a 24-hour waiting period instead of seven days," said Lee's agent, Mark Bartelstein. "Give teams 24 hours to make a decision and they wouldn't be so afraid."
Agents for other players said that once Lee's situation is resolved -- either with a successful offer sheet, sign-and-trade or a one-year deal with the Knicks -- you will see the other free-agent dominos begin to fall. That is, if you're still watching.
