Redd and Allen head a deep free-agent class
Now that the draft is behind us, NBA teams quickly switched gears Wednesday
and began preparations for the 2005 free-agent frenzy.
Who will have the cap space to make a difference in this summer's free-agent
market?
Assuming there's a $49.5 million cap (based on the latest projections with the
new collective-bargaining agreement), the Cleveland Cavaliers will have
roughly $28 million in cap room. The Atlanta Hawks and Seattle Sonics will
have $25 million, the Charlotte Bobcats and New Orleans Hornets roughly $20
million. The Los Angeles Clippers will have about $16 million. The Chicago
Bulls will have about $15 million. The Milwaukee Bucks have cleared about $12
million.
Will they really want or be able to use it? The Sonics, Bucks and Bulls likely
will spend all of their room re-signing their own free agents. The Cavs will
use roughly $10 million to $12 million of theirs in an attempt to re-up
Zydrunas Ilgauskas. And the Bobcats likely will save much of their cap space
for summer 2007.
That leaves the Hawks, Cavs (roughly $16 million to $18 million, if they sign
Ilgauskas), Hornets and Clippers as the big players in the free-agent market.
Since only one of those teams, the Cavs, has shown it can compete for the
playoffs (though the Clippers are getting close), the free-agent destinations
for top veterans will be very limited.
This year's list of free agents isn't top-heavy, but it's deep. Ray Allen,
Michael Redd, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antoine Walker and Ilgauskas top the list
of unrestricted veterans. Of that group, Allen, Walker and Abdur-Rahim are the
most likely to bolt for new teams.
The restricted free-agent class looks much better, but remember, going after
restricted free agents in the summer is always a dicey proposition. Only two
top restricted free agents changed teams last summer. The Nuggets swiped
Kenyon Martin from the New Jersey Nets (the Nets eventually agreed to a
sign-and-trade) and the Phoenix Suns pried Quentin Richardson away from the
Clippers.
Here's Insider's look at the free-agent class of 2005. The names on the board
might leave fans (and GMs) breathless. Whether most of these guys actually
will switch teams is another question.
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