Taking Advantage of the Situation

The talk about the free agent class of 2010 is already in full force, and I am really getting sick of it already. This next year and a half needs to go by much more quickly or else I may lose it. However, this post is actually to talk about that summer and the free agent class. However, it's an idea for teams that don't have as good of a chance to land any of the huge name guys (Bosh, LeBron, and Wade are the main ones).

There's a lot of teams that are doing everything they can to clear out cap room for the 2010 offseason, and players with contracts that expire before then are starting to become much more valuable while players with contracts that expire after then are less valuable than they really should be. Of course once that summer goes by their value will go back up to where it should be.

So, for the teams that have some contracts that will expire by 2010 and are not the types of teams to draw in the big names through free agency, I say go ahead and try to trade away some of those players with contracts that expire by 2010 for some of those guys with contracts that go beyond 2010. If you're not going to be able to get any of the huge names, then why not at least try to get something out of this mayhem.

The teams that have the best chance at landing LeBron based on market and just being places where he would want to go are New York, Cleveland, Chicago, and the Lakers. I'm sure there's plenty of other places that he would consider going, but those are the three largest market teams right there (Clippers don't really count), and of course Cleveland since they're his hometown team and it's his current team. The Knicks are already in a position to offer him a huge contract, and while the Cavs will have some cap room as well, they really don't need it to resign their own player. The Lakers, however, do have Pau Gasol eating up nearly $18 million as well as Sasha Vujacic and Luke Walton eating up about a combined $11 million. Vladimir Radmanovic also has an option for about $7 million. Add all that up and you could get $36 million off of their books for the summer of 2010. They still have Kobe and Bynum eating up a lot of money during that summer, and who knows, maybe they'll be willing to trade Kobe. Bryant is getting into his thirties, but he's also still an elite player. However, the chance of getting a younger guy who's starting to eclipse Kobe in LeBron may be enough to get the Lakers to trade away Kobe for good players with contracts that expire by the summer of 2010 (provided they're not complete scrubs either). Who knows, you might be able to trade for Kobe at a bargain, but I really wouldn't count on that.

I'm not going to go into Wade or Bosh, but I think you guys get the idea. Some teams with large contracts that expire by 2010 include Houston (T-Mac alone is around $23 million), Milwaukee (Redd very well could opt out), and Miami (Wade, of course (even if they do want to bring him back), but Haslem, Blount, and Marion will all be gone by then as well).

I know that the teams aren't going to be able to get any superstars (for the most part) or anything like that for their contracts that expire by 2010, but they could get some very good players, possibly borderline all-stars. It's also a good idea for teams that are looking to surround good young players with some good veteran players. The Bulls (of course I pick my team), for instance have Derrick Rose with a bunch of guys that don't know how to play along with him. They also have Larry Hughes, Ben Gordon, and Drew Gooden, who combine for about $27 million that will be off the books by the 2010 summer. If they decide that they're not going to make a run at LeBron, Wade, or Bosh, then they could trade those guys away and probably get more than their value for them. There's also guys like Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha, who will combine for about $7.5 million for that summer as well who will also be able to be let go of at that time.

For me, this just seems like a great move for a lot of teams out there to make if they have enough contracts that expire by that time.