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SteelLAC2010
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Post subject: Latest on Udrih and Calderon
 Posted: Jun 27, 2008 - 10:56 AM PST
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Clipper 6th Man
Joined: May 29, 2007
Posts: 246
  
votes: 1
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ESPN Article on ESPN Insider
Point Guard Wanted
The Clippers are expected to shop for a point guard once free agency opens with Sacramento's Beno Udrih, whom they had already made one failed attempt at landing last season, and Toronto's Jose Calderon as early targets.
"We will have to address those either through free agency or trades," Mike Dunleavy said. -- Los Angeles Times
Article #1
Clippers May Pursue Udrih
Posted: 6/27/2008 3:53:00 AM
Source: LA Times
The Clippers are expected to shop for a point guard once free agency opens with Sacramento's Beno Udrih, whom they had already made one failed attempt at landing last season, and Toronto's Jose Calderon as early targets.
"We will have to address those either through free agency or trades," Dunleavy said.
Article #2
Dominoes will start to fall soon for Kings
The draft is step one in shaping the roster.
By Sam Amick - samick@sacbee.com
Published 12:08 am PDT Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
The ominous clock will keep ticking for the Kings after Thursday's draft when many questions about the team's roster are expected to be answered in coming weeks.
First it's the No. 12 pick, a vital decision to be made that could range from hoping an impact player falls their way to finding a way to move up or down in the lineup. Four days later it's decision day for small forward Ron Artest, whose agent reiterated Tuesday that he's not likely to opt out of his contract by Monday's deadline.
But Tuesday is the first day of free agency for point guard Beno Udrih. And while negotiations can't officially begin until then and deals can't be formalized until July 7, his agent, Marc Cornstein, said he would consider an offer of the full midlevel exception (approximately $6 million per season) a "bargain" price for his client.
If the Kings come to the table with anything lower, in other words, Udrih could certainly head elsewhere. Because the Kings are over the salary cap, they can only offer the midlevel.
"Beno proved himself this year to be a starting point guard in this league, and if you see what the market is for starting point guards in this league (the full midlevel) would certainly seem almost like a bargain," Cornstein said. "You can read into that whatever you want to read into that, but I think the market will dictate that as we get to the start of free agency."
The benchmark set by incumbent starting points guards is indeed a pricey one, with the 24 teams who will return their point men paying them an average of $8.5 million. Dallas veteran Jason Kidd is the highest paid ($21.3 million), while third-year Minnesota point guard Randy Foye is the lowest with a 2008-09 salary of $2.8 million.
The question for the Kings is whether they can fill their need any other way. There has been much trade talk around the league surrounding Toronto's T.J. Ford, a young, up-tempo point guard who is available for the right price but whose contract (two years and $16.5 million guaranteed) is no bargain on its own. The draft could still produce results at the point as well, but only if the likes of Texas' D.J. Augustin or even Arizona combo guard Jerryd Bayless fall their way.
Yet it's the No. 7 Clippers pick that could very well play a part in Udrih's fate. The Clippers aren't expected to exercise the team option on point guard Shaun Livingston and are believed to have strong interest in Udrih. What's more, they have the salary cap room with which to pay more than the midlevel. If, that is, their lucky No. 7 doesn't yield a badly-needed starter up top. New York and new coach Mike D'Antoni are also expected to pursue Udrih, although the Knicks can only offer the midlevel as well.
Artest's agent, meanwhile, continued to indicate that his client's future in Sacramento will last at least one more season. Asked if the recent speculation about Artest opting out to join the Lakers or any other championship-caliber team for the midlevel could change his mind in these final stages, Stevens said it wasn't likely.
"I don't think it would be a wise decision to (opt out)," he said. "I don't think it will happen. There's been a lot of stuff on TV about Ron, but we're not listening to any of that."
Hector Amezcua / Sacramento Bee file, 2007 It appears Ron Artest, right, will remain with the Kings, but Beno Udrih could sign elsewhere, depending on what the market dictates. The Kings can only offer the midlevel exception.
Article #3
Udrih Will Consider Full Mid-Level
Beno Udrih | Kings
Tuesday is the first day of free agency for point guard Beno Udrih. And while negotiations can't officially begin until then and deals can't be formalized until July 9, his agent, Marc Cornstein, said he would consider an offer of the full midlevel exception (approximately $6 million per season) a "bargain" price for his client.
"Beno proved himself this year to be a starting point guard in this league, and if you see what the market is for starting point guards in this league (the full midlevel) would certainly seem almost like a bargain," Cornstein said. "You can read into that whatever you want to read into that, but I think the market will dictate that as we get to the start of free agency." -- Sacramento Bee
STATUS ALERT
Status Alert on Udrih
Udrih, who will become a free agent on Tuesday, is a "bargain" if a team considers signing him at the midlevel exception according to his agent, the Sacramento Bee reports. (Jun 25)
Status Alert on Calderon
The Raptors extended a qualifying offer to Calderon on Friday. (Jun 20)
Player Analysis on these PGs
Player Analysis on Udrih
Hollinger Player Profile | Stats Key
SEASON FG% FT% P/40 R/40 A/40 TS% Ast TO Usg Reb PER
2004-05 .444 .753 16.4 2.9 5.2 54.9 22.9 11.7 19.8 4.2 14.31
2005-06 .455 .780 18.6 3.5 6.2 53.9 23.0 13.3 23.6 5.2 15.28
2006-07 .369 .883 14.3 3.5 5.1 45.9 22.2 10.2 20.2 5.2 10.31
2007-08 .464 .850 16.0 4.2 5.4 54.0 23.5 12.3 19.0 6.2 13.39
2007-08 (projected) .403 .837 15.8 3.5 5.4 49.11 22.46 11.15 20.78 5.32 12.37
2006-07 season: I spent all this time defending Udrih a year ago, and then he does this to me. Udrih lost his backup point guard role to Jacque Vaughn, of all people, and didn't even put up much of a fight. He and Gregg Popovich were at loggerheads almost from the get-go, when Popovich was upset that Udrih didn't recover quickly from a training camp hamstring injury, and things went downhill from there.
While Udrih showed his usual penchant for creating shots, making them proved another story. He hit only 36.9 percent from the floor and an ugly 28.7 percent on 3-pointers, leading to a horrid true shooting percentage that ranked 62nd among the league's 67 point guards.
A key to the struggles was his inability to get to the rim. Udrih massively upped the percentage of his 2-point shots that weren't in the immediate basket area -- from 28.1 percent of his shots in 2005-06 to 43.1 percent last year. At the same time, his accuracy on those shots went the other direction, from 43.9 percent two years ago to 36.1 percent last year.
So basically he spent a lot more time taking shots that he had trouble making. Last year was also the third in a row he shot 36 percent or less on long 2-pointers, furthering the idea that midrange jumpers aren't quite his cup of tea.
Scouting report: Udrih is a shoot-first point guard who has good range on his line-drive lefty jump shot but spotty accuracy. If he's not scoring, he's not helping, because his assist ratio is consistently near the bottom of the players at his position.
Udrih has good size at the defensive end but poor feet, so he's a bit of a liability at that end. He's big enough to play the 2 on occasion, a more natural fit for his offensive game, but between his modest quickness and soft play he's the guard version of a tweener.
2007-08 outlook: Udrih played much better in his first two seasons than he did a year ago, and one suspects he'll bounce back some next season. That said, the Spurs are in an interesting spot with him. He's in the last year of his contract heading into restricted free agency, but the Spurs don't seem to have a role for him. At any rate there's no point in paying good money for somebody to play 10 minutes a night behind Tony Parker.
For all those reasons, Udrih is prime trade bait heading into this season. He's 25, he's cheap, and he's shown he can score, so for teams with a hole in the backcourt this seems like a worthwhile gamble. If nobody takes the plunge, he can look forward to another year of being the third point guard in a two-man rotation.
Most similar at age: LaBradford Smith
Player Analysis on Calderon
Hollinger Player Profile | Stats Key
SEASON FG% FT% P/40 R/40 A/40 TS% Ast TO Usg Reb PER
2005-06 .423 .848 9.4 3.8 7.7 49.5 38.8 13.6 14.7 5.8 11.44
2006-07 .521 .818 16.5 3.3 9.6 58.8 36.3 10.3 19.9 4.9 19.19
2007-08 .519 .908 14.8 3.8 10.9 60.7 43.4 8.1 18.3 5.6 20.51
2007-08 (projected) .488 .829 14.8 3.4 8.9 56.08 36.28 11.46 18.67 5.1 17.14
2007-08 season: The key to the Raptors' success was the rather remarkable success they had at the point guard position, as both T.J. Ford and Calderon blew away their previous career norms in a manner that was almost totally unexpected. While Ford was the starter and garnered more of the attention, Calderon's improvement was even more spectacular.
Calderon looked like a decent backup point guard during his rookie season in 2005-06; since he was already 25 nobody was expecting much more than that a season ago. Instead he played like a borderline All-Star, finishing with the eighth-best player efficiency rating among point guards. Calderon shot 52.1 percent from the floor, ranked fifth in the league in pure point ratio, and was seventh among point guards in true shooting percentage.
Overall, his PER improved from 11.44 to 19.19, a staggering 7.75-point improvement that was easily the league's greatest last season among players who played at least 1,000 minutes in both 2005-06 and 2006-07. You'll notice that Ford was pretty high on the same list (see chart), giving Toronto the two most improved point guards and two of the five most improved players overall in basketball.
Biggest PER improvement, 2006-07 (1,000 minutes minimum)
PLAYER TEAM 2005-06 PER 2006-07 PER DIFFERENCE
Jose Calderon Tor 11.44 19.19 7.75
Zach Randolph Por 16.94 22.81 5.87
Kevin Martin Sac 14.90 20.12 5.22
Emeka Okafor Cha 14.94 20.15 5.21
TJ Ford Tor 13.16 18.30 5.14
Calderon has been a very good shooter on long jumpers in both of his pro seasons, shooting 47.0 percent as a rookie and 47.6 percent last season. The difference last season was that he shot so much better around the bucket -- a scorching 63.8 percent in the immediate basket area, which is ridiculously good for a point guard. The next step is to add 3-point range to the mix -- he made 33.3 percent while only attempting one a game.
Scouting report: Calderon is a quick guard who has pass-first instincts but has developed a steady mid-range jumper. The slender, long-armed guard is very quick going to his right and protects the ball despite a high dribble.
Stylistically, the biggest difference between him and Ford is that Ford is a high-volume, middling efficiency player, while Calderon is a high-efficiency, middling-volume one -- he ranked 30th at his position in usage rate last season, and sometimes had trouble freeing himself to create plays at the end of the clock.
Defensively, Calderon did a good job despite his lack of strength. He's a fairly active help defender and is good at back-tapping the ball from behind. Plus, at 6-3, he's an obstacle for many point guards to shoot over.
2007-08 outlook: I have grave doubts that Calderon will repeat his breakout season of 2006-07, mostly because that shooting percentage in the basket area screams out fluke from the hilltops. The more interesting debate is whether he can be better than Ford. Though the backup all season long, Calderon outplayed Ford last season, and even if his numbers drop off, Ford's are nearly as likely to do the same, which means he could outplay his overstudy again.
If so, the Raptors face a very tough decision this summer. Calderon is a free-agent-to-be, and if he produces anywhere close to his level of a season ago, he's vastly underpaid at $2.3 million. That could make him a trade target if another team covets his Bird rights this summer, especially if the Raps sink back to the Eastern pack this season (a fairly realistic possibility). Alternatively, Toronto needs to decide if it makes sense to break the bank for two point guards, at a position that's customarily the league's least well-compensated.
Most similar at age: Vinny Del Negro |
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JamFan
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Post subject: RE: Latest on Udrih and Calderon
Posted: Jun 27, 2008 - 12:00 PM PST
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Clipper All-Star
Joined: Jul 26, 2005
Posts: 1044
votes: 13
Status: Offline
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| I rate Calderon a little higher than Udrih but they are both find PG's. However, now that TJ Ford has been traded away, I think Calderon stays. Maybe not, but I think we have a much better chance of getting Udrih because his agent says he will sign for the mid level exemption. If we extend Maggette and Brand, and I think we will, getting a true PG who can start, who can shoot, and who can run the team will be a priority with the mid level exemption. We will be capped out. And I think Calderon will want more than 6 Mil. So, pray for a Udrih deal. We can get him without trading any of our core players, so our roster stays deep. |
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