Upcoming Free Agents Part 4

This is the final installment of the Free Agency feature here at Miami Heat Times. There are 8 teams left to be covered, but I'll try to keep it short, especially since there aren't many players coming up that are worth talking about. The Draft is coming up in less than a week, and the FA period soon after, so it's about to get real busy down here in Wade County.


Phoenix Suns
Restricted: None
Unrestricted: Gordan Giricek, Grant Hill, Linton Johnson, Sean Marks, Eric Piatkowski, Brian Skinner
> Lot of age in this group. In fact, other than Linton Johnson (who?), everyone here is over 30. Not exactly the kind of players Miami needs to sink money into during a rebuilding year. We're looking for young, up and coming role players to be high-energy, consistent performers alongside Wade and (insert draft pick here). Since exactly zero of these guys fit the bill, I'm moving on.


Portland Trail Blazers
Restricted: Von Wafer
Unrestricted: James Jones
> I could've skipped Portland altogether, and nobody would've noticed. However, I wouldn't totally write off James Jones. He's not that good, but he's from Miami, he's got good size for a SF (6'8 220), and he shot 44% from 3pt range last season on 200+ attempts. If we fail to land a decent backup swingman, Jones could probably end up like a middle-class man's James Posey. I definitely wouldn't take him over a guy like Ariza, Deng, or Iguodala, but as a worst-case scenario, he wouldn't be half bad.


Sacramento Kings
Restricted: None
Unrestricted: Beno Udrih, Anthony Johnson, Lorenzen Wright
> There's a realistic chance Artest could opt out, at least giving some name recognition to the Kings' FA's, but I wouldn't touch him in free agency, or a trade, or for free. Let's just focus on the actual names here. Beno Udrih looks like he could develop into a solid PG, but he doesn't shoot the 3 ball enough to satisfy me at the position. However, if he can stay around 38% at a higher shooting clip, he could be a nice complementary player.


San Antonio Spurs
Restricted: None
Unrestricted: Brent Barry, Michael Finley, Robert Horry, DerMarr Johnson, Damon Stoudamire, Kurt Thomas, Jacque Vaughn
> This is the NBA's Senior League All-Star Team. A few of these guys might retire, but it doesn't matter to me, we won't be seeing anybody here in a Heat uniform. What's next?


Seattle SuperSonics
Restricted: Mickael Gelabale, Robert Swift
Unrestricted: Ronald Dupree, Francisco Elson
> Two 7ft stiffs. In the same paragraph. And in a couple months I may have to come back and change the team to the Oklahoma City something-or-others (I propose Bombers). I told you this post would be short.


Toronto Raptors
Restricted: Jose Calderon, Carlos Delfino
Unrestricted: Primoz Brezec, Rasho Nesterovic
> I seriously doubt Toronto allows Calderon to go elsewhere, especially when you consider that they are trying to move Ford in a trade. I'd love to have him here, but i can't think of a scenario where the Raps would allow him to get away. However, if Jamario Moon is available, somebody over at Heat HQ should get on the phone with Toronto ASAP.

Utah Jazz
Restricted: C.J. Miles, Paul Millsap
Unrestricted: Jason Hart
> We already have a Millsap-clone in Haslem, (or is Millsap a Haslem-clone?). We don't need two guys like that. We're getting close to the end here, and there isn't one guy I really want out of this group of teams.

Washington Wizards
Restricted: None
Unrestricted: Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison, Roger Mason
> Arenas opted out of his contract as expected, but I kind of expect him to resign with Washington eventually. And I wouldn't want him on this team anyway. With DWade and our rookie, there won't be enough shots to satisfy him, and he'll probably take shots away from the other two guys to get his own. He's not a very good second banana, and we don't need another top dog in the rotation. Jamison would be a solid PF for us, but at 32, how much longer can he really go before his play declines? I think I would rather have a younger guy who has the potential to put up Jamison's numbers, than take a chance that Antawn can continue this level of play into his mid-30's.


This may have been the weakest group of the 4, but that's everyone. Not exactly a strong class, but there's some hidden gems out there that could contribute nicely. I doubt Pat breaks the bank for anybody this season, considering we could be major player's in '09 and '10 when we'll have Marion's 18mil to throw around. If Marion decides to opt out, we could make a play at one or two of the restricted FA's (Okafor, Deng, Boobie Gibson, Iguodala). There's alot of ways we can go this offseason, and it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming weeks.