NBA Basketball Views 

Chicago Hits Bulls Eye

The Chicago Bulls hit the bulls eye Thursday, signing four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace to a reported four-year contract worth 52 million dollars with a starting salary of nearly 14 million dollars, ESPN.com reported.

Wallace was expected to be officially introduced by the Bulls later Thursday evening at a news conference.

For the past six years, Wallace has been the cornerstone of the signature Detroit Pistons' defence. However, the rugged but undersized 6-foot-9 centre decided to leave on July 3, when the Bulls reportedly offered him a five-year deal worth 60 million dollars.

The Pistons' initially offer Wallace a four-year pact worth 49.6 million dollars, which would have made him the highest-paid player on the team. But the league's 2006 defensive player of the year was unhappy with it. When they raised the overall value to 51.8 million dollars, he was still disappointed.

"I thought the offer would have been a bit better," Wallace, 31, told the Detroit News after leaving. "There are no hard feelings and this was nothing personal. This is all just part of the business.

"This is just one of those things. When you get a chance to sign a deal of a lifetime, it's tough to let it go."

With Wallace manning the defensive end, the Pistons advanced to the NBA Finals twice, winning the championship in 2004. However, they fell to the eventual champions Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals last month.

"I appreciate everything Detroit did for me and my family," Wallace said. "They gave me an opportunity to make a name for myself and we had an opportunity to win a championship together. This is always going to be a special place."

With Wallace leaving to free-agency, the Pistons lose their defensive end and got nothing in return. However, they scrambled to replace him by signing free-agent centre Nazr Mohammed, formerly of the San Antonio Spurs.

Though Detroit comes away empty-handed, Central Division rivals Chicago clearly inked the top prize in this summer's free agent market.

By adding Wallace to anchor the interior defence and run alongside a core of young Bulls stars that includes Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Argentine Andres Nocioni, Chicago instantly moves from a middling club to a contender in the weak Eastern Conference.

The Bulls didn't stop there, though. They continued to add pieces to their puzzle by acquiring veteran forward PJ Brown and versatile swingman JR Smith from New Orleans in exchange for centre Tyson Chandler.

They also picked up forward Vicktor Khryppa from Portland and rookies Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha in a draft day deal last month.

Young NBA Stars Staying Put

Fear not, fans in Cleveland and Miami. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade say they expect to be with your teams for a long time.

For now, though, four more years is all the superstars will commit to.

New deals for the class of 2003 players were announced yesterday, the first day allowed after the NBA's moratorium on deals ended. But they aren't the big-money packages originally expected.

Rather than choose the five-year extensions kicking in with the 2007-08 season that they were eligible for, they went for three years and an option for a fourth -- and the chance to become free agents sooner and potentially make even more money.

"It was a great business decision by me," Wade said. "As a young player, going for the three-year with a fourth year is the better option."

Chris Bosh of Toronto, also a top-five pick from the '03 draft, was considering a similar deal. Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony also thought about a shorter contract, but elected to sign an $80-million US, five-year deal yesterday that will keep him in Denver through 2010-11.

"I thought this was the best move for me as a young player and I'm looking forward to it," Wade said.

"I think with everything coming with LeBron and Carmelo and Chris, we all make our own decisions. Of course, we all talk, no question about it, because we're all friends. . . . But everyone makes a decision for themselves, thinking about their futures and their families."

Elsewhere, the draft-night deal sending Rudy Gay to Memphis was finally completed. New Orleans added Peja Stojakovic but lost Speedy Claxton. And the Los Angeles Clippers brought back Sam Cassell but watched Vladimir Radmanovic head down the Staples Center hallway to the Lakers.

But the biggest news, as usual, was made by James and Wade, the MVP of the NBA final.

The five-year deals would have been worth around $80 million, but James and Wade settled for some $20 million less.

"We did extensive research and with the way the CBA is set up, it makes the most business sense to sign this extension and then look at another new contract in four years," James said on the Cavaliers' website.

Teams were allowed to begin negotiating with free agents on July 1, but deals couldn't be signed until yesterday after the salary cap for the upcoming season was set at $53.135 million.

Let's Get Busy

Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo will be putting the finishing touches on a number of important deals, perhaps as early as today.

This is the day when NBA teams are able to sign free agents and pen contract extensions, and the Raptors are expected to do both (although deals cannot be announced until tomorrow).

Colangelo's first order of business will be to sign Chris Bosh to a maximum extension of five years, which will cost the Raptors approximately $80 million US.

Bosh already has gone on record as saying he is ready, willing and able to commit to the Raps for the next six years (the extension begins in the 2007-08 season).

After that, Colangelo will nail down some bench help and is said to being going after veteran swingman Anthony Parker, who has been outstanding the past few seasons for Maccabi Tel Aviv.


Parker is said to be asking for upwards of $12 million over three years.

The Raptors GM is also said to be ready to sign Spanish forward Jorge Garbajosa.

The Raptors also are looking at Phoenix Suns guard Eddie House.

Mike James, who set career highs last season for the Raptors in points (20.3) and assists (5.8), met with Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson last night in Las Vegas and will commit today to either the Mavs, Minnesota Timberwolves or Houston Rockets.

Meanwhile, at the NBA Summer League at the campus of UNLV, Raptors rookie Andrea Bargnani put together a second strong game.

After scoring 20 points against the Washington Wizards squad last Thursday, Bargnani followed that up on the weekend with 12 in a 86-79 loss to the Sacramento Kings Summer League team.

Bargnani also picked up a Summer League maximum 10 fouls.

Toronto newcomer Kris Humphries, whom the Raptors acquired this off-season from the Utah Jazz, posted a double-double against the Kings, with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Third-year forward Pape Sow, who underwent neck surgery on Thursday at a Las Vegas hospital after falling hard in training, is out of the hospital and is staying with the Summer League team until doctors determine that he can travel home.

Sow is expected to miss at least the early part of the 2006-07 season.