From Yahoo, click here for more:
LeBron James could crush the world for an Olympic gold medal this summer, but the evolving power of the euro could cost him his Cleveland Cavaliers point guard.
This time, the overseas revolution of outbidding NBA teams for restricted free agents advances with Dynamo Moscow discussing a two-year, $10 million offer with Delonte West, a source close to West said on Thursday.
As with most restricted free agents, West has few options right now. He could sign a $2.76 million qualifying offer for the 2008-09 season and become an unrestricted free agent next year. General manager Danny Ferry has considered sign-and-trade possibilities for West but ultimately has wanted to keep West.
After his trade from the Seattle SuperSonics at the February deadline, West won the Cavaliers’ starting point guard job, averaging 10.5 points and four assists per game. In pushing the Boston Celtics to seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals, West averaged 14.5 points – including two 21-point performances – over the final five games.
That’s great news for Delonte, happy for him. That’s a very good contract offer and likely more than he’ll get in the NBA. He should take the deal. The Cavs shouldn’t match and likely shouldn’t make 4-5mil type offer themselves.
So how badly would this hurt the Cavaliers?
It would be pretty bad. Delonte will be a difficult guy to replace simply because it’s late in the game and the free agent point guard ranks are fairly bleak right now. The only guy with solid talent is Jannero Pargo and he’d likely cost 4mil-to-MLE to get out of New Orleans. That’s a pricey contract. Once you get past him there’s nothing more than 3rd string point guards in the unrestricted group. The only good restricted free agents all look like they’re too difficult to entice away from their teams. So replacing Delonte will clearly be a problem. The Cavs aren’t exactly flush with trading assets, although one of their expiring deals possibly could acquire someone on a bad contract (Earl Watson or Ridnour for example).
Delonte was probably the second best Cavalier at creating his own shot during the Celtics series. He was able to alleviate at least a small bit of the pressure/burden on LeBron’s shoulders to create everything offensively. He was also a good shooter, a good driver and a functional passer/handle/point guard. He gave good hustle and was very competitive rising to the challenge as far as his talent would take him. Basically, he leaves a sizable hole.
Possible Replacements:
Their expiring contracts could net an overpaid point guard
- Earl Watson
- Luke Ridnour
- Jamaal Tinsley
- Mo Williams – Mo’s lack of point guard bones won’t hurt as much in Cleveland since they have no offense, hardly any passing and LeBron dominates the ball.
- Stephon Marbury
- Mike James – He’d be a very interesting fit next to LeBron. Hornets would be happy to take part in that and the Cavs could possibly get something else of quality in return.
