Free Agent Movement

Tuesday had some movers and shakers in the Association, with Corey Maggette accepting a reported 5 year deal worth 50 million dollars with the Golden State Warriors. Warriors finally find a taker as they were shun by Baron Davis and Elton Brand. Mikael Pietrus a former Warrior, has agreed to terms with the Orlando Magic, reportedly for their full mid level exception. James Jones agreed to a long term deal with the Miami Heat. A team he played for previously. More updates will be posted as they come in.

Baron Automatic!!! Do It Mitch!

Ok , Ok , I’ll admit it. I am a HUGE Baron Davis fan. Ever since he walked onto the court at Pauley Pavilion on the campus at UCLA ive been a fan. The guy is electric. Body of a linebacker and quickness of a gazelle. He has been a matchup nightmare for everyone he goes up against every single night. He can dazzle you with his passes or his penetrating drives to the basket and finishes with thunderous dunks. Then theres the personality. The guy obviously loves his job and gives great effort when hes on the court. One second he has a snarl that would make the opponent quiver and then the next second hes got that grin that lights up the arena giving the impression that theres no place he’d rather be then on the hardwood entertaining. Lets face it , this is Hollywood , we all know a little something about entertainment here dont we?

At 9:01 Pacific Standard time tonight, General Managers made the proverbial suck up phone calls to their own free agents as well as other free agents from teams around the league with dreams of adding that special someone to their roster for the upcoming season. Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak made his call to Sasha Vujacic and probably offered a new suede headband to hold his locks in place. HA HA I kid I kid. Also Ronny Turiaf got a phone call from Mitch as well offering the freshest crescents and baguettes to the French Man. I still kid I still kid. But ah!!! There was an early Christmas present possibly dangling there for Laker fans when unexpectedly Baron Davis of the Golden State Warriors opted out of his contract to many a surprise and left a whopping 17 million plus on the table. Could he be had? Please wake me i must be dreaming, certainly there is no chance the Lakers can actually sign him with the Mid Level Exception could they? Would Baron leave some 13 million on the table to play for his hometown team that he grew up cheering for? Mmmm Probably not. Hes not that crazy. But he couldve forced the Warriors hand to possibly sign and trade him for say a Lamar Odom? Ofcourse they would have to probably add another piece to make the financial numbers work. Ofcourse if the other bag of chips that you throw in happen to be Luke Walton or Vlad Radmanovic then the Warriors would probably reply with Salt and Vinegar or Barbeque instead and you got a deal.

Look I know alot of Laker fans would probably say “Baron Davis will never work in the triangle or he demands the ball too much or Phil doesnt like point guards blah blah blah” My response is how do you know? We’ve never had a point guard since Magic. Baron would take pressure off Kobe , bring the ball up, help set up Kobe instead of Kobe setting up other players. Allow Kobe to focus on defense more, not to mention the fact that Baron is one of the clutchest players in the league. He has great size for a point guard that would be matchup problems with teams trying to focus on guarding Kobe and him. He would bring it every night and isnt that the knock on Lamar? We all love Lamar as a guy. Im sure hes one of the coolest teammates you can have. But were trying to win a championship here. Here is a guy in Davis who would love to be a Laker and all that it stands for . A guy that has said he would love to play with Kobe and how many people have done that . Although there is more than the media would want you to believe. Also, he was ready to become a Laker about 4 years ago when Kobe wanted the Lakers to acquire Baron , then with the New Orleans Hornets. The deal was about to go down and Baron thought he actually was going to be a Laker except for the fact that Mitch got cold feet due to Barons knee concerns and backed out. The opportunity knocks again and dont let it go to waste Mitch. Youre on a roll. So break out that Magic Wand again just like you did with Pau Gasol and maybe we can get Baron for say….. Kobe Carl?