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Some Big Name Free Agents Still Out There

Allen Iverson is still looking for a place to play. (Photo by Ray Amati/NBAE via Getty Images)

More photos » Ray Amati - NBAE/Getty Images

Allen Iverson is still looking for a place to play. (Photo by Ray Amati/NBAE via Getty Images)

While there have been some trades and big free agent signings in the offseason, there remain a large number of free agents available to NBA teams. Here's a quick rundown of a few of the bigger names on the market:

Allen Iverson, PG/SG:  With a career player efficiency rating of 21.2, Iverson is one of the star players still available. Perhaps that's why he's still available as he had a dropoff in production last year. That would make him less attractive to teams, especially considering he's probably got a pretty steep asking price.

Big Baby and Leon Powe:  The two Celtics' forwards are restricted free agents and have not been locked up yet. Both are pretty productive players. Powe had an injury late last season, but both guys have had interest from other teams.

Wally Szczerbiak, SG:  Wally poured in shots from beyond-the-arc at a 41.1% clip last season, and has a career average of 40.6%. His production declined overall, but eventually he'll be signed by a team with a little bit of cap room and a need for a deep threat.

Joe Smith, F/C:  The former #1 overall draft pick is more of a veteran role player these days. He's been steadily average for his entire career - his PER has never fallen below 13.8, and has never risen above 17.2. He's also been fairly durable, never appearing in less than half the games in a season. Add to that 52 games of playoff experience, and he'll be a cheap but potentially valuable pickup for someone.

Lamar Odom, PF:  It seems like he'll wind up in Miami or Los Angeles. But he's still technically available.

Flip Murray, SG:  Murray is an interesting player. He's reaching the time where he should be peaking in his career. At the moment he seems like a decent energy player off the bench. However, his 3-point production has increased 24% in the last two years, and he's now shooting 36% from beyond the arc. In addition to adding range, he also improved his overall efficiency over the past couple years. He could be a good pickup.

Stephon Marbury, PG:  Yep, Starbury is still available. He's not drawing a ton of interest probably because he has a bit of baggage. However, say what you will, he did make positive contributions in Boston down the stretch.

Drew Gooden, PF:  Gooden has a 16.5 career PER, along with 44 games and 1189 minutes in playoff games in his career. That's about all you need to know. He'll be more expensive than a guy like Smith, but he's closer to the prime of his career.

QUESTION: Would you want any of these free agents?

0 recs  |  Comment 10 comments |

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Feb 2010 by daddydai - 0 comments

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Powe is not restricted

he was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Celts because of his knee injury so he is a UFA.

Big Baby is apparently close to heading to NJ in a strange 3 team trade with Indiana.

Drew Gooden was signed 3 days ago by the Mavs.

An interesting name that is out there would be Hakim Warrick who has his tender pulled by the Griz the other day, if only his shot blocking (ability not always results) in college had translated at all in the nba to this point.

by mleetch352 on Jul 29, 2009 2:14 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

and if we are going to name who is out there

Ramon Sessions

David Lee

Nate Robinson

Ray Felton

Marvin Williams

Von Wafer

Most interesting names i could think of that are still out there other than what you mentioned and Warrick who i mentioned above.

by mleetch352 on Jul 29, 2009 2:30 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

I am so happy that Drew Gooden cannot be signed by smart teams. Then again, he wouldn't be.

I got more than my fill of Gooden watching him on the Bulls. When he’s playing defense it’s like you can see the wheels slowly turning, slowly, whoops! Somebody scored!
When he’s playing offense, of course, he only thinks of one thing. Mmm shooting.
Odom, obviously, would be by far the best piece. But he’s not worth what he’s actually worth to OKC because he’ll be out of his prime when everyone else gets into theirs.
Most of these people were available because of attitude problems, and I wouldn’t want those around the Thunder.

Vinny Del Negro: Possibly the most unintentionally irritating last name in the history of last names [Hint: I can't for the life of me pronounce it correctly].
-Brandon Jennings: PG of the future!

by Prevenge on Jul 29, 2009 3:10 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Since we traded for Etan...

I’m not really interested in adding much more.

Powe could be a nice cheap pick up, but he would have to compete (once healthy) with Green, White, Collison, and Ibaka for minutes. I keep hearing Collison mentioned in trade theories, if that is the case adding another PF wouldn’t be a bad idea. I think the Thunder should keep Collison and look for upgrades in next year’s draft.

If the Thunder give up on Vaden and does not sign Mason, I’d be very interested in Wafer. He is a proven bench scorer who was impressive during the playoffs.

Also Known as "4D" one step beyond 3D

by daddydai on Jul 29, 2009 7:59 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

i do like the idea of Wafer if cheap as a very effective bench scorer.

by mleetch352 on Jul 29, 2009 2:45 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

David Lee

Put a double-double machine in there?

by Superhombre54 on Jul 29, 2009 4:28 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

PER is a less than optimal measure when it comes to wholescale ballhogs

So saying that Iverson (and a number of other players here) is a “star player” is probably, at a minimum, a minor bit of off target reaching. Basically (cited from The Wages of Wins Journal):

Hollinger argues that each two point field goal made is worth about 1.65 points. A three point field goal made is worth 2.65 points. A missed field goal, though, costs a team 0.72 points.

Given these values, with a bit of math we can show that a player will break even on his two point field goal attempts if he hits on 30.4% of these shots. On three pointers the break-even point is 21.4%. If a player exceeds these thresholds, and virtually every NBA played does so with respect to two-point shots, the more he shoots the higher his value in PERs. So a player can be an inefficient scorer and simply inflate his value by taking a large number of shots.

by manifestus on Jul 29, 2009 5:23 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

NONE, I wouldn’t want any of those cancers on my beloved Thunder!

by c_becker11 on Jul 30, 2009 4:48 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

And for the record

I’d love to snag Powe. Or really a bunch of others (Lee, Big Baby, Wafer, etc) for the right price.

by manifestus on Jul 30, 2009 10:53 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

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