Forget the NBA draft.
The real talent chase begins Tuesday when the free-agency negotiating period opens. Teams can sign players starting July 16.
The Spurs, Nuggets and Jazz are the only serious bidders this summer because they each have more than $10 million in salary-cap room. Utah's ability to sign is dependent on whether the team re-signs Karl Malone. The Clippers also are well under the cap, but they don't do that kind of thing.
Jason Kidd heads an unrestricted free-agent list that includes Jermaine O'Neal, Brad Miller, Reggie Miller, Gary Payton, Tyrone Hill, Derrick Coleman, Juwan Howard, Scottie Pippen and Alonzo Mourning. Other notable names are Michael Olowokandi, P.J. Brown, Elden Campbell, Kenny Thomas and Rasho Nesterovic. Keon Clark could become a free agent if he opts out of his contract with Sacramento. There also is a bunch of guards, including Kenny Anderson, Earl Boykins, Dion Glover, Darrell Armstrong and Speedy Claxton.
Restricted free agents—players whose teams can match offers for one year to retain them—include Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Gilbert Arenas (though only up to about $4.6 million for the Warriors), Lamar Odom and James Posey.
Via Chicago Tribune
Chicago Bulls, General Basketball
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Michael Jordan looked into buying the Milwaukee Bucks. But in the end, Herb Kohl wasn't ready to sell.
Kohl, the Bucks owner and U.S. senator from Wisconsin, announced that he is pulling his team off the market.
In a statement released Sunday, Kohl said: "I have decided not to sell the Milwaukee Bucks at this time, and will continue to own them, improve them, and commit them to remaining in Wisconsin."
Kohl, a Milwaukee native who has owned the team since 1985, acknowledged that he had "detailed discussions" with Jordan, who is looking to remain in the league after retiring in Washington as a player after the 2002-03 season.
The deal apparently was close to getting done, although it still would have needed the NBA's approval, a process that could have taken several weeks.
Via ESPN
Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, General Basketball
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Summertime, and the livin' is easy. The hard part, for NBA free agents, is finding teams offering maximum salary slots.
Jason Kidd is almost guaranteed to get "max" money, whether it's from the Nets or Spurs.
But as free agency starts Tuesday for 142 other free agents, including 13 former All-Stars, just about everyone else is going to feel the effects of a league-wide recession.
Only four teams - the Spurs, Nuggets, Jazz and Clippers, who never spend any money - have the potential to offer maximum salaries. A handful of teams, including the Heat, could be anywhere from $4 million to $6 million under the cap.
But the vast majority of teams are either capped out or wary of over-spending because of the luxury tax. So the best they can do is offer the $4.5 million exception. That's not exactly big money, but times are tough all over.
Via New York Daily News
New Jersey Nets, General Basketball
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Jun 2003 Archive
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New York Post | Jun 29, 2003
THAT was quite a story Jim Gray "broke" on draft night; it seems, Kobe Bryant revealed to ESPN's perpetually vigilant correspondent he plans to opt out of his Lakers' contract at the end of the 2003-04 season.
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Dallas Morning News | Jun 28, 2003
Empty their checkbooks and strip away their holdings, and Dallas' two most visible sports owners wouldn't share much in common.
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Chicago Sun-Times | Jun 26, 2003
One of Jay Williams' former Duke teammates had grim news about the injured Bulls guard's condition after speaking with him Sunday.
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Los Angeles Times | Jun 26, 2003
It's the NBA's down time, and some guys go to Cabo, others to Maui, wherever there are nightclubs or golf or whatever.
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Los Angeles Times | Jun 22, 2003
Golden State broadcaster Bob Fitzgerald is faxing around his idea for a six-division, no-conference scheme for 2004-05 when the Charlotte Bobcats start play, with division winners making the playoffs along with the next 10 best records and the whole postseason seeded.
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Los Angeles Times | Jun 22, 2003
As David Stern's deputy, Russ Granik, said before the NBA Finals when they were doing their usual reassuring number on the yawning East-West chasm, "Let's see how the Nets do.
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Chicago Sun-Times | Jun 21, 2003
Bulls coach Bill Cartwright, who has owned a motorcycle for 10 years, said he was unaware guard Jay Williams had recently purchased a motorcycle and had not seen the need to warn his players to stay off the machines.
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The Denver Post | Jun 18, 2003
Woody Paige doesn't like the idea of selecting Carmelo Anthony w/ Denver's third pick.
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Denver Post | Jun 17, 2003
The kind of good karma that eluded the Denver Nuggets throughout the 2002-03 NBA season found a home at the Pepsi Center Monday afternoon, when, hours after a workout by Syracuse All-American Carmelo Anthony, the league and team officially announced the 2005 All-Star Game would be played here Feb.
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Indianapolis Star | Jun 17, 2003
Four NBA teams remain in search of a coach.
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San Antonio Express-News | Jun 17, 2003
Hollywood and Madison Avenue can have their glitz and TV ratings.
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San Antonio Express-News | Jun 17, 2003
What's good for the San Antonio Spurs is not necessarily good for the National Basketball Association.
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Chicago Tribune | Jun 16, 2003
So let's make a deal.
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Rocky Mountain News | Jun 16, 2003
The David Stern regime began immediately after the NBA All-Star Game in Denver in 1984.
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Miami Herald | Jun 15, 2003
There are only so many Jermaine ONeals, Jason Kidds and Elton Brands to go around in this summer's free-agent class.
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Dallas Morning News | Jun 14, 2003
In San Antonio, where the Spurs are playing the New Jersey Nets for the championship this weekend, owner Peter Holt figures his team will make about $10 million this season.
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Detroit Free Press | Jun 14, 2003
Two weeks after the Pistons fired him, Rick Carlisle is weighing his employment options.
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Rocky Mountain News | Jun 13, 2003
Representing the Nuggets, Vandeweghe played in the All-Star Game in 1984, the most recent time the event was staged in Denver.
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Chicago Tribune | Jun 13, 2003
Retired basketball superstar Michael Jordan scored another victory Thursday when former girlfriend Karla Knafel's claim that he owed her $5 million was dismissed because the pact she alleged would be an illegal and unenforceable bid for "hush money.
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Minneapolis Star Tribune Columnist Dan Barreiro | Jun 13, 2003
While hungry candidates continue to wait for their first shot at being an NBA head coach, Tim Floyd has just been given his second.
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Charlotte Observer | Jun 12, 2003
It's Wednesday morning at The Park Hotel, and NBA Commissioner David Stern sits at a couch where Michael Jordan once napped before road games against the Hornets.
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New York Daily News | Jun 12, 2003
Commissioner David Stern is putting pressure on Lewis Katz and the rest of the Nets owners to find a new home for the team.
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Boston Herald | Jun 12, 2003
Paul Pierce is back in the running for the U.
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Denver Post | Jun 12, 2003
The best basketball players in the world are coming to Colorado.
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Denver Post | Jun 11, 2003
The Detroit Pistons hired Larry Brown.
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Florida Today | Jun 11, 2003
For the better part of 20 years, Will Perdue always had some place he had to be.
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Newsday | Jun 10, 2003
Islanders owner Charles Wang said Monday that he was engaged in an "ongoing dialogue" about buying the New Jersey Nets and moving them to Long Island.
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Detroit News | Jun 9, 2003
Network ratings on ABC are proving once again that Detroit is not only a basketball town, but also one of the best sports towns in America.
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Jun 8, 2003
Coaching: the sports world's most fickle profession.
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Sacramento Bee | Jun 7, 2003
The one-year experiment with instant replay will continue into 2003-04, league officials said Friday while noting that the revolutionary review policy showed referees had a high success rate.
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Newark Star-Ledger | Jun 7, 2003
The NBA's instant replay system was an instant success this season.
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Miami Herald | Jun 7, 2003
The coaching carousel that has been the NBA the past month has disconcerted many, particularly when winning coaches such as Rick Carlisle (Detroit) and Paul Silas (New Orleans) found themselves unemployed.
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Dallas Morning News | Jun 7, 2003
Mavericks guard Michael Finley will be on the short list of candidates to replace Kobe Bryant on the U.
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Washington Post | Jun 7, 2003
NBA Commissioner David Stern said tonight he is optimistic that Michael Jordan will be back in the NBA in some capacity, most likely as an executive or owner, before next season.
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San Jose Mercury News Columnist Tim Kawakami | Jun 6, 2003
Trade Shaquille O'Neal? Insanity!
Yet you will hear serious whispers about this maybe in a few months, probably by the middle of next season, certainly by this time next year, when the Los Angeles Lakers tumble out of the postseason again.
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San Antonio Express-News | Jun 6, 2003
The NBA plans to honor retiring Spurs center David Robinson with a $100,000 donation to the inner-city school he founded, Commissioner David Stern said.
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San Antonio Express-News | Jun 6, 2003
Five thousand miles east and south of San Antonio, basketball fans are pulling for the Spurs in the NBA Finals with as much fervor as the Baseline Bums.
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Jun 6, 2003
If Game 1 television ratings are an accurate barometer, the National Basketball Association Finals don't come close to holding the nation's - or Milwaukee's - interest the way they did last season.
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New Orleans Times-Picayune | Jun 5, 2003
When Larry Brown resigned as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers two weeks ago, little could he have known what a domino effect it would have.
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Miami Herald | Jun 5, 2003
Retired shooting guard Mitch Richmond, who talks with Tim Hardaway, said the former Heat point guard wants to play one more year.
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New York Daily News | Jun 5, 2003
P.
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Rocky Mountain News | Jun 5, 2003
Julius Erving has gray hair.
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Detroit Free Press | Jun 5, 2003
The whirlwind that is Rick Carlisle's life continued Wednesday.
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Chicago Tribune | Jun 5, 2003
John Paxson is a popular guy at the NBA predraft camp this week, and not just because of the sharp Bulls golf shirt he has been wearing.
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Chicago Sun-Times | Jun 4, 2003
As Jim Stack stood next to Jerry Krause on Tuesday during the opening night of the predraft camp at Moody Bible Institute, the two former Bulls employees likely discussed the possibility of one of them returning to the Bulls.
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Denver Post | Jun 4, 2003
Denver could be awarded the 2005 NBA All-Star Game as soon as next week, according to a Kroenke Sports Enterprises executive.
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Newark Star-Ledger | Jun 4, 2003
The Nets are pretty sure they have already rid themselves of the Curse of Dr.
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Chicago Tribune | Jun 3, 2003
Jerry Krause's fishing pole is bowed, his senses are engaged and his smile is unmistakably wide as he plays the largemouth bass on the end of his line.
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Rocky Mountain News | Jun 3, 2003
The Mayor's Office of Economic Development and International Trade said Monday it will contribute $400,000 toward expenses expected to exceed $1 million if Kroenke Sports Enterprises is successful in its bid to bring the NBA All-Star Game to Denver.
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Times-Picayune | Jun 3, 2003
Mike Fratello, one of three candidates to be the head coach of the Hornets, withdrew from consideration Monday morning.
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Washington Times | Jun 3, 2003
The 2003 NBA Finals has no Shaq, no Kobe and — for the first time since 1995 — no Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls or New York Knicks.
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Houston Chronicle | Jun 3, 2003
Yao Ming still will get to show the Rockets around China, but he will have to wait longer than expected to bring his NBA team home.
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Detroit News | Jun 3, 2003
Larry Brown had known for months he might get the chance to coach the Pistons' Ben Wallace.
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Jun 1, 2003
The Hawks are not among the seven NBA teams with actual coaching vacancies, but most observers say a coaching change is more likely than not with a new owner about to come on board.
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Jun 1, 2003
There has been a growing reluctance on the part of National Basketball Association teams to sign free agents to long-term contracts.
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New York Times | Jun 1, 2003
Dennis Rodman, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, lounges in a chair on the patio of his oceanfront home in Newport Beach, Calif.
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New York Times | Jun 1, 2003
What Byron Scott remembers most about the last days of the American Basketball Association is the look.
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