Terry Shilton

The offer the Goldenstate Warriors, have made to Elton Brand has an interesting ripple effect on the rest of NBA’s free agents.

Monta Ellis is in a nice position to hold the team hostage should Elton Brand decide to resign elsewhere rumors are he’d be looking for upwards of 10 million per season and the Goldenstate Warriors having just lost out on Baron Davis and Brand, would be face a very tough decision with their young star.

Then turn to Corey Magette he wants to play in Orlando but they have only a mid level exception to offer and are looking to add both a PG and a wing, right now both their targets: Corey Magette, Chris Duhon are holding out for the whole thing.

Then the Philadelphia Seventy Sixers are quietly poised to cause “Offer Sheet” mayhem as they like both the Josh’s from the Atlanta Hawks and will offer Josh Smith a 5 year deal over the 42 million that the Hawks have offered him and could go as high as 5 years worth as much as 67 million. This would put alot of pressure on the Hawks as they already have the large contracts of Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby, but supposing they match. The Sixers will just turn their attention to Josh Childress their second target and begin the process again albeit with reduced figures, my guess is one of these Josh’s will be a Philadelphia 76er next season.

The Knicks are not so quietly looking for a PG, having already offered Chris Duhon slightly more than half their 5.5 mid level veteran exception, and should Duhon sign elsewhere they woulld immediatly turn their attention to others like: Sebatian Telfair, Tyronn Lue, Jannero Pargo and Keyon Dooling all the while embattled former star Stephon Marbury waits in the wings having not benn bought out and currently not part of the teams plans. Stephon Marbury has something to prove and when he is bought out, it will be very interestng to see where he ends up.

Last if this drama isn’t enough Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng’s situation haven’t played out yet at all Chicago is in tough as they just have too many guards and players like Kirk Hinrich and Shawn Marion are already being shopped by their teams. 

Terry Shilton

Goldenstate fresh off of losing PG Baron Davis has offered Brand a monster contract, a five year deal worth in the 85 to 90 million range, this is substatntially more than the Clippers can offer, approx 20 million.

This move certainly signals that the Warriors must believe that Gilbert Arenas is going to sign and stay in Washington as they had also offered Arenas a max deal.

Gerald Green dunk contest phenom and straight from high school player has signed a one year deal with the Mav’s, Gerald has moved around alot and is seen to have Tmac like potential but as yet has come no where close to living up to it.

James Posey is being pursued by Boston, Los Angeles Lakes and Detroit after opting out.

Corey Magette is getting several looks, teams that have contact him include, Orlando, Boston, Utah, San Antonio and Miami, he personally would love to go back to Orlando and the team plans to offer a mult-year deal at their mid-level exception. Other teams may be able to offer Corey a little more money so it will be interesting how this plays out.

Tyronn Lue chose Dallas over Phoenix last year when he was waived by Sacramento; Phoenix wanted the PG then and they want him now, Steve Kerr is trying to get the player signed to backup Nash.

Jarvis Hayes is being pursued by both the Suns and the Spurs; he is thought to have a game much like James Posey, can score, can defend and makes good decisions with the ball.

Chris Duhon, has met with the Knicks and has scheduled a visit with Orlando I’d look for a decision by mid-week.

Brent Barry is high on both the Suns and Lakers free agency wish lists, Houston has offered their midlevel exception already.

 Sebastian Telfair is being pursued by both the Knicks and Heat, interesting if he ends up in NY, Marbury’s cousin as his replacement?

Marbury might be an interesting free agent if he gets bought, a lot of skill, also alot of issues, but i still think he could help the right team.

Ron Artest believes he made a mistake not opting out, speaking very candidly on the subject yesterday, I’d look for him to get moved, he has an expiring contract and some value.

Josh Smith is meeting with Philly today to talk about possibly signing there.

Kevin Lee

This is a bit of a surprise.  Read more on this story below.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3470016