2008 Free Agent Crop Print E-mail
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Written by Rodney K   
Tuesday, 01 July 2008
Brand and Maggette Among the Top FA


As the NBA becomes a buzz over the free agent that will be in 2010, it is now time for the league owners, GM’s, and coaches to turn their attention towards the Free Agent class of 2008. As we know, and have read LeBron James will be a free agent in 2010, and wants to play in the Big Apple. But, who is going to be available to sign this off-season? What teams will make the biggest free agent splash? It should be an interesting summer to see where the names go.

There are several different kinds of free agents. Guys like Sam Cassell, Chris Duhon, Devean George, and Gilbert Areans are listed as Unrestricted Free Agents. Restricted free agents such as Luol Deng, Andre Brown, and Ryan Gomes are listed as restricted. Some players have a team option; example of this is Othella Harrington. And some players have the final option, they are: James Posey, Melvin Ely, and Jannero Pargo. What do the different kinds of free agency mean? An Unrestricted FA is a player who has completed four or more seasons in the NBA, and their contract is expiring. A Restricted Free Agents are players who have completed three accrued seasons of service and whose contracts have expired. They have received qualifying offers from their old clubs and are free to negotiate with any club until April 21, at which time their rights revert to their original club. If a player accepts an offer from a new club, the old club will have the right to match the offer and retain the player. If the old club elects not to match the offer, it may receive draft-choice compensation depending on the level of the qualifying offer made to the player.

A team option is simply, the team deciding if they want to sign that player for one more year at the current contract, re up their contract, or simply let the player go. A player option is similar, the player gets to decide, does he want one more year under the current agreement, or try his luck with a different team.

This class of free agents seems to be a pretty decent class. Let’s take a look at the free agent class of 2008.

Josh Childress (Atlanta)
Josh Smith (Atlanta)
Salim Studamire (Atlanta)
Mario West (Atlanta)

Tony Allen (Boston)
Sam Cassell (Boston)
Eddie House (Boston)
Scot Pollard (Boston)
James Posey (Boston)

Derek Anderson (Charlotte)
Jermareo Davidson (Charlotte)
Othella Harrington (Charlotte)
Ryan Hollins (Charlotte)
Emeka Okafor (Charlotte)

Shannon Brown (Chicago)
Luol Deng (Chicago)
Chris Duhon (Chicago)
Ben Gordon (Chicago)
Demetris Nichols (Chicago)

Devin Brown (Cleveland)
Daniel Gibson (Cleveland)
Dwayne Jones (Cleveland)
Delonte West (Cleveland)

Malik Allen (Dallas)
Jose Juan Barea (Dallas)
Devean George (Dallas)
Juwan Howard (Dallas)
Eddie Jones (Dallas)
Tyronn Lue (Dallas)
Jamaal Magloire (Dallas)
Antoine Wright (Dallas)

Anthony Carter (Denver)
Yakouba Diawara(Denver)
Bobby Jones(Denver)
Eduardo Najera(Denver)
J.R. Smith(Denver)

Juan Dixon(Detroit)
Jarvis Hayes(Detroit)
Walter Herrmann(Detroit)
Lindsey Hunter(Detroit)
Theo Ratliff(Detroit)

Kelenna Azubuike(Golden State)
Matt Barnes(Golden State)
Austin Croshere(Golden State)
Baron Davis(Golden State)
Monta Ellis(Golden State)
Patrick O’Bryant(Golden State)
Mickael Pietrus(Golden State)

Steve Francis(Houston)
Carl Landry(Houston)
Dikembe Mutombo(Houston)
Steve Novak(Houston)

David Harrison(Indiana)
Andre Owens(Indiana)
Kareem Rush(Indiana)

Elton Brand(Los Angeles Clippers)
Paul Davis(Los Angeles Clippers)
Dan Dickau(Los Angeles Clippers)
Shaun Livingston(Los Angeles Clippers)
Corey Maggette(Los Angeles Clippers)
Smush Parker(Los Angeles Clippers)
Quinton Ross(Los Angeles Clippers)

Chris Mihm(Los Angeles Lakers)
Ira Newble(Los Angeles Lakers)
Ronny Turiaf(Los Angeles Lakers)
Sasha Vujacic(Los Angeles Lakers)

Andre Brown(Memphis)
Kwame Brown(Memphis)
Casey Jacobsen(Memphis)
Juan Carlos Navarro(Memphis)

Earl Barron(Miami)
Ricky Davis(Miami)
Alonzo Mourning(Miami)
Chris Quinn(Miami)
Jason Williams(Miami)
Dorrell Wright(Miami)

Royal Ivey(Milwaukee)
Michael Ruffin(Milwaukee)
Awvee Storey(Milwaukee)
Jake Voskuhl(Milwaukee)

Michael Doleac(Minnesota)
Ryan Gomes(Minnesota)
Chris Richard(Minnesota)
Craig Smith(Minnesota)
Kirk Snyder(Minnesota)
Sebastian Telfair(Minnesota)

Darrell Armstrong(New Jersey)
DeSagana Diop(New Jersey)
Nenad Krstic(New Jersey)
Bostjan Nachbar(New Jersey)
Stromile Swift(New Jersey)

Ryan Bowen(New Orleans)
Melvin Ely(New Orleans)
Jannero Pargo(New Orleans)
Bonzi Wells(New Orleans)

Fred Jones(New York)
Randolph Morris(New York)

Carlos Arroyo(Orlando)
James Augustine(Orlando)
Keith Bogans(Orlando)
Keyon Dooling(Orlando)
Maurice Evans(Orlando)
Adonal Foyle(Orlando)
Pat Garrity(Orlando)

Louis Amunsdon(Philadelphia)
Herbert Hill(Philadelphia)
Andre Iguodala(Philadelphia)
Kevin Ollie(Philadelphia)
Shavlik Randolph(Philadelphia)
Louis Williams(Philadelphia)

Gordan Giricek(Phoenix)
Sean Marks(Phoenix)
Eric Piatkowski(Phoenix)
Brian Skinner(Phoenix)

James Jones(Portland)
Von Wafer(Portland)

Anthony Johnson(Sacramento)
Kenny Thomas(Sacramento)
Beno Udrih(Sacramento)
Lorenzen Wright(Sacramento)

Brent Barry(San Antonio)
Michael Finley(San Antonio)
Robert Horry(San Antontio)
Kurt Thomas(San Antonio)
Jacque Vaughn(San Antonio)

Fransisco Elson(Seattle)
Mickael Gelabale(Seattle)
Robert Swift(Seattle)

Primoz Breze(Toronto)
Jose Calderon(Toronto)
Carlos Delfino(Toronto)

Jason Hart(Utah)
C.J. Miles(Utah)

Gilbert Arenas(Washington)
Roger Mason(Washington)

Out of this entire list, I would say the head of the class has got to be Gilbert Arenas, Elton Brand and Baron Davis. These three guys would make impacts anywhere they want. It would be beneficial for Golden State to keep Davis at home. If not, most of the East will be dying for Baron.  I’d say Washington should let Arenas walk, if they do, the Clippers, the Warriors, Grizzles and 76ers look to be top spenders for Gil. With Brand’s injury patterns, it may be wise for the Clippers to move another direction. If that is the case, look for the 76ers to make a huge offer. A few other guys that will make big splashes are, Corey Maggette, DeSagana Diop, Beno Udrih, Kurt Thomas, and James Posey. Maggette has been on the trading blocks for year, so it looks as if the Clips will let him walk. Diop doesn’t give you a ton of numbers, but this guy is valuable. Dallas really is pushing to grab him.  

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Stay tuned here at Hoops4Life to get the latest on all the NBA free agent signings!



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