Very little news on Matt Barnes front
Tattoos!
Matt Barnes is back to considering five teams, a day after he accepted Toronto’s phantom two-year, $10 million offer that simply didn’t work under the CBA.
Five teams remain in the running to sign free-agent swingman Matt Barnes, according to sources with knowledge of Barnes’ thinking.
Toronto is still one of those teams, sources told ESPN.com, despite the collapse of a sign-and-trade deal with Orlando that Barnes thought would be completed by now.
One source close to process said early Wednesday that Barnes continues to weigh interest from the Raptors along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and three title contenders he has been negotiating with since last week: the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.
Of those teams, the Cavaliers can offer the most money with the Raptors second (although they can’t offer him nearly as much as they already tried to). The Lakers can offer more money than any other title contender, but the Celtics can probably give Barnes more playing time. The Heat, meanwhile, would be selling the prospect of playing alongside LeWade, but with Mike Miller already backing up the SuperFriends, Barnes probably wouldn’t get much opportunity to play.
If Cleveland doesn’t blow Barnes’ socks off with an offer, I’d be willing to bet he signs with one of the title contenders. And if he opts for playing time instead of money, the Celtics could be his choice. I am starting to think Barnes to the Celtics might happen after all, even though I might be completely, miserably wrong.
P.S. – The Matt Barnes watch is driving me insane. He’s not even close to being good enough to warrant this much attention. But when the other names being tossed around are Ime Udoka and Larry Hughes, Barnes is – by default – the cream of the crop.
Related posts:
Celtics Blog, Featured | Jay King | July 21, 2010
Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, Matt Barnes, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors
Truth. I still find it ironic that people rave on his defense while Paul Pierce absolutely flat out, torched him last seasons ECF.
Still, he’s a far better option than anything else out there to back up Paul Pierce.
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That’s the thing. He’s perfectly flawed, but everyone else on the market has more flaws.
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Even still, I think he’s more than a minimum player. But not much more. If TA can get 3mil per year without a jump shot, I see no reason Barnes can’t, TA has just as many flaws.
I’d fully expect Cleveland to come in around 3mil per year, Toronto would have been overpaying at 5mil per year. That’s near mid-level money, and Barnes is not a mid-level player (slightly below.)
So the question comes down to, what’s worth more to him, an extra 1.5mil, or playing for a contender, and getting more playing time? We’ll find out soon.
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I read somewhere he’s going to pick a contender unless an offer blows him away. The Toronto “offer” blew him away. I’m not so sure $3 mil or so from Cleveland will. But who knows.
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paul pierce is still a top 5 one-on-one scorer in the playoffs—so lets not act like barnes got torched by delonte westtt
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Don’t forget, Barnes was suffering from a back injury when he played PP so I don’t think he would have got abused so bad had he had his full mobility. Albeit, he still would’ve been abused.
PP is too big and strong for a wirey guy like Barnes to keep down. He can limit players, when healthy, which is all you really need from a guy like that.
I’m definitely down for Barnes. He’d be a REAL backup SF, which is something we haven’t had since Posey left. I would still like us to target someone who can shoot like Mason, but the Battier trade would be the best of both worlds. Shane would be instant 6th man candidate and if Barnes came too and we got Mason! That’d be like a starting 5 practically! Then we’d just need Kurt Thomas or Josh Boone or Shaq and we’d have Nate, Mason, Barnes, Battier, JO and one of those Bigs.
If we even got two of the three wings and one of those bigs, we’d be in a real good position.
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That would be one hell of a bench, but that’s only if everything goes perfectly.
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Take Josh Boone solid rebounder off the bench Thats we we lost this year he does not shoot well but somebody esle can do that just get the ball and once in a while he excels on offense has a double double. I love Paul Pierce one of my favorite playes
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I’m not nearly as sold on Josh Boone as you are.
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