Monday marks the date that NBA teams can begin talking to agents and players before the official signing period starts on December 9th. Although this free agency period is not promised to be no where near as lucrative as a summer ago, the small time frame will make it seem like it is. December 9th also marks the date that official training camp gets under way with the two game preseason starting on December 16th. Therefore, teams and free agents will be looking to work fast.
Over the weekend, news surfaced about several free agents: Shane Battier, Caron Butler, and Samuel Dalembert. It appears that the Miami Heat are looking like the strong front runner for Battier’s services, as was expected. Miami is looking to add some much needed depth and landing Battier would do just that. Battier, 33, is long removed from his days at Duke but has consistently shown that he continues to be one of the best defenders and perimeter shooters in the league. The Heat were recently hit with the news that Mike Miller will be out for 8 weeks due to hernia surgery. The urgency to sign Battier rises significantly with the news on Miller. Behind Mr. James, the Heat currently have no one else at SF as James Jones is an unrestricted free agent. The Heat have also had their sights on landing center, Samuel Dalembert. However, Miami most likely will have to use all of their mid-level exception on Battier. Several media outlets have reported that Dalembert would be unwilling to accept a mid-level with Miami over bigger deals from other teams.
In other news, it appears that Caron Butler is leaning towards signing with the Chicago Bulls or Los Angeles Clippers. Butler is coming off right knee surgery and is being coveted as one of the top free agents. The Bulls are in desperate need of another scoring option working beside DRose. If Butler decides with Chicago, then they are proposed with the question of where to play Butler at. The Bulls currently have Luol Deng at the SF spot and are figured to target free agent SG’s Jamal Crawford and Jason Richardson as well. The Clips provide Butler with the option of teaming up with the young tandem of Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon. Butler would provide “the other” Los Angeles team with a much more viable threat at the 3 spot rather than Al-Farouq Aminu, whom the Clippers are waiting on to develop fully.
Much of the free agent pool is filled with veterans with a “win right now” mentality. Look for the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, and other title contenders to be guns blazing come Friday.
Alex Rosencutter is an NCAA basketball player and kinesiology major at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa. Originally from Kenosha, Wisconsin, this hoops addict and die hard Miami Heat fan, who is obsessed with old school hoops, has a fever for basketball and the only prescription is more basketball.
