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Josh Howard Returns to Wizards

July 29, 2010   Brett Pollakoff   No comments

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Josh Howard will return to the Wizards next season, on a one-year deal that will pay him in the neighborhood of $4 million. And it might not even cost Washington that much.

Michael Lee of The Washington Post reports that the contract will include incentives based on both minutes and games played. But even if Howard hits all of his revenue-generating targets, it’s still a pretty good deal for the Wiz, and a sign of just how far Howard’s stock has fallen in the eyes of the NBA people who are in charge of cutting the checks.

Howard’s previous contract — the one the Wizards inherited when they dealt for him at the trade deadline — included a team option for the upcoming season that would have paid the one-time All-Star $11.8 million. But when you consider Howard’s off-the-court issues, decline in production, and torn ACL that he suffered a mere four games into his Washington career, it’s no surprise that the team declined to pick up that option.

 

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Shaq, Richard Jefferson Among Top Available Free Agents

July 16, 2010   Tom Ziller   No comments

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As NBA free agency calms down, the list of available impact players dwindles. Only two players who entered the 2010 free agent period in FanHouse’s top 20 remain unsigned, and only nine in the complete top 50 are available.

Let’s take a look at those nine top available free agents.

Shaquille O’Neal

The Most Dominant Ever still hasn’t caught on with a team, as, according to FanHouse’s Chris Tomasson, the Hawks have decided against signing Shaq. There’s little to no chance he returns to Cleveland — Byron Scott wants his team to run and has named Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson frontcourt starters — and even less chance he pops up in Miami next to Chris “RuPaul” Bosh and former teammates LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Has O’Neal burned enough bridges to be left out in the cold? Someone has to pick him up; he can still play a bit, and he’s one of few NBA players whose name resonates with even the most casual, oblivious Americans.

 

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Defense in Dallas? Oh Yeah, the Mavs Are Back

April 01, 2010   Jordan Schultz   No comments

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While the Celtics and Lakers have been the toast of the NBA over the past two years, both teams are aging fast and looking slow right now.

Kevin Garnett can’t move anymore, and neither can Ray Allen. Pau Gasol is griping about touches, while Kobe has forgotten about the teamwork that epitomized the Lakers‘ title run last season.

Meanwhile, sitting quietly as the No. 2 seed out west is Dallas, always known more as a great team to watch rather than a great team.

Ever since the Mavs blew a 2-0 series lead over Miami in the 2006 finals, common belief has been that Dallas is more pretender than contender. Their colossal collapse the following season against Golden State only solidified such a sentiment.

But since the February 18 trading deadline, things have drastically changed in Dallas. For the better.

 

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Have the Mavericks Started a New Arms Race?

February 14, 2010   Bethlehem Shoals   No comments

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On a Texas-sized weekend of frivolity, the hometown team pulled off a Texas-sized trade that could have enormous implications for the second half. Texas-sized implications.

Everything’s bigger in Texas, and this Caron Butler swap is no exception. Before their slump, the Mavs were the surprise team of the West. Adding Butler, who when he’s locked in functions like an All-Star; the hugely underrated Brendan Haywood; and loose-cannon defensive specialist DeShawn Stevenson, should get them back on track and more.

All they had to give up was injured, and expiring, Josh Howard (albeit quite a player when healthy), blotchy big man experiment Drew Gooden, and whatever nebulous shot they had at pursuing a 2010 free agent. It’s a financial move by the Wizards, a team that’s trying to figure out the sturdiest way to off itself. Regardless, this deal is as lopsided as everyone thought the Pau Gasol was in the spring 2008.

There’s another parallel with the Gasol-to-L.A. deal that threw the league into a panic. That transaction spurred Dallas’s acquisition of Jason Kidd, the Suns‘s wholesale conversion to the church of Shaquille O’Neal, and the Cavs trading their entire team and coming up with Delonte West where once Larry Hughes was. Gasol put the Lakers over the top, Kidd solidified Dallas, and the Cleveland did a good job of cutting costs and adding useful role players. The Suns, well, that’s another story. But at the time, it felt like everyone was loading up for the end of the world.

We had expected this coming summer to be the next major shock wave. With even some of the top teams facing the possibility of coming up big or left alone, weeping, and empty, the operative idea for 2009-10 seemed to be letting teams play. But the Wizards wanted to get a jump on cutting costs, Dallas’s slump put a damper on their “I told you so” start, and the Lakers, Cavaliers and Celtics find themselves beset upon by the scourge of injury.

For the Mavs, it was a fine time to make a move. Butler was there for the taking, their 2010 hopes were always slim — locking down Dirk should be enough — and Kidd’s days are numbered. But all of us little people want to know: Will this deal set off another arms race, or be seen as an isolated case of opportunism?

 

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Wizards Still Face Luxury Tax Bill

February 13, 2010   Tom Ziller   No comments

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Saturday’s big trade with Dallas certainly cleared quite a bit salary off Washington’s books going forward. It didn’t, however, get the Wizards under the luxury tax this season. The trade sending Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson to the Mavericks for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, Quinton Ross and James Singleton cut a few bucks off the team’s payroll, but not enough to eliminate the team’s tax bill outright.

After counting the tax savings from the 50-game suspension of Gilbert Arenas and the 38-game suspension of Javaris Crittenton and accounting for the Saturday movement, Washington’s 2009-10 payroll is at $72.7 million. The luxury tax threshold is $69.9 million — for every dollar over that line a team is, it must pay a dollar into a fund which is eventually dispersed between all teams under the tax line. As such, barring no further trades, the Wizards will owe about $2.8 million.

There’s a rumor, first published by DallasBasketball.com, that Dallas will execute a second trade with Washington in which the Mavs take Fabricio Oberto in exchange for a trade exception — the Wizards would take no player back. Oberto is due $2.99 million, so such a trade would allow Washington to slip under the threshold and receive the expected $3-5 million pay-out to teams under the line.

The real key here was the benefit from the Arenas and Crittenton suspensions. The Wizards still pay out those salaries, with the portions forfeited by each player going to charity. But under the most recent collective bargaining agreement, teams can discount their luxury tax bill 50 percent of salaries of players suspended by the league. Arenas only counts for $12.4 million in luxury tax figuring, and Crittenton counts for only $1.2 million.

Thanks to ShamSports.com for the most accurate salary numbers on the web.

 

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Mavericks ‘Ready to Lock Horns’ After 7-Player Trade

February 13, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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DALLAS — Leave it to Mark Cuban to try to upstage his own All-Star Weekend.

The trade deadline is Thursday, and the Dallas Mavericks got the real action started Saturday by hooking up with Washington in a seven-player deal.

OK, so maybe it won’t upstage Sunday’s All-Star Game, an event where Dallas owner Cuban plans to pack more than 90,000 into Cowboys Stadium. But it sure upstaged Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki helping lead a Texas team to victory in Saturday night’s Shooting Stars competition.

The big pieces in the deal were the Mavericks picking up forward Caron Butler and center Brendan Haywood and dispatching forwards Josh Howard and Drew Gooden. Also, guard DeShawn Stevenson went to Dallas and swingman Quinton Ross and forward James Singleton to the Wizards.

“You pull the trigger when the deal presents itself,” said Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson. “Look, it’s All-Star Weekend. It’s not the perfect timing, but the deal was right. Both sides felt it was good so the deal got executed.”

 

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Mavericks-Wizards Talks Expand to Include Haywood

February 13, 2010   Tom Ziller   No comments

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UPDATE: 8:00 PM ET: The Mavericks have confirmed the trade; it is official.

UPDATE, 6:02 PM ET: Michael Lee of the Washington Post reports that the teams have agreed to the deal outlined below in principle.

Yesterday’s rumor that the Wizards were prepared to send two-time All-Star forward Caron Butler to Dallas in exchange for the expiring contract of Josh Howard has held up overnight … but in a fuller form. Brendan Haywood may also be on his way to Dallas, reports Michael Lee of the Washington Post. The Wizards would receive Drew Gooden and up to two other small-salary players in the swap. DeShawn Stevenson would go to the Mavericks.

Haywood, at this point, might be as big a prize as Butler. For one, he’s relatively cheap — owed $6 million this season, the final of his contract. He immediately becomes, in my estimation, the Mavericks’ second-best defender (Shawn Marion‘s tops) and could take over for Erick Dampier in the starting line-up immediately. As Haywood was thought to be highly sought after right now — Portland has reportedly offered up promising small forward Travis Outlaw — I’m curious as to Washington’s reasons for including the center in a deal which was apparently already on track. Can the Wizards not shed Butler and Stevenson without also giving up Haywood? That’s surprising, an indication (if true) of how far Butler’s value has fallen.

The deal would be a coup, obviously, for Dallas. You’d need to see just how the parts work — particularly the Butler-Dirk Nowitzki-Jason Kidd relationship — but I, for one, can’t imagine many problems. As it stands, the Mavericks would have a tough time convincing anyone they can hang with the Lakers; adding two starters with ever-injured Howard and hot-and-cold Gooden as the main losses … that’s massive improvement.

We’ll see where these talks head over the remainder of the weekend.

 

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Caron Butler Reportedly Traded to Mavericks for Josh Howard

February 12, 2010   Tom Ziller   No comments

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Caron ButlerConsummating a persistent rumor, Caron Butler will be traded to the Mavericks in exchange for Josh Howard, several outlets are reporting, including Yahoo! Sports. Butler will be joined in the Southern sojourn by DeShawn Stevenson. Either Tim Thomas or James Singleton will head to D.C. with Howard.

Butler always seemed to be Washington’s most obvious chip, in that among all Wizards stars perhaps he has underperformed the most. You can sense the disillusionment with Butler both in the on-court action and in newsprint (digital as it may be). This Tough Juice is (at least) a step removed from the 2008-09 version; that edition was a step removed from the two-time All-Star version which it succeeded.

J-Ho is an expiring contract — Washington would be downright silly to pick up its team option on Howard’s 2010-11 salary ($11.8 million). D.C. clears Butler’s $10.5 million ’10-11 salary off its books, as well as the likely-to-be-exercised $4.1 million Stevenson is scheduled to make, putting the team in position to come in right at the cap without trading Antawn Jamison or voiding Gilbert Arenas‘s contract. (If either of those chips fall, the Wizards could be in position to be at least minor free agent players this summer.)

Butler is clearly the best player in this trade, and while Dallas had (has?) dreams of somehow splashing into the ’10 market, this trade isn’t a huge monetary impact. The team will be well over the luxury tax line in 2011, as always. For the 2007-08 Wizards, Butler served as a fantastic partner for Jamison and center Brendan Haywood, leading Washington to the playoffs without Gil’s services. It’s been rough since, but Butler has never played with a point guard like Jason Kidd, and he hasn’t played with a true supernova like Dirk Nowitzki since his young seasons behind Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant. The Mavericks are much improved with this deal.

 

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