Cavaliers turn their attention to re-signing Delonte West
Brian Dulik | The Chronicle-Telegram
CLEVELAND — One restricted free agent down, one to go for the Cavaliers.
With Daniel “Boobie” Gibson having signed a long-term contract Wednesday, Cleveland’s attention has shifted to getting Delonte West to do the same.
“Obviously, Delonte is a guy that we have clearly expressed interest with,” Cavs general manager Danny Ferry said. “I’m not going to comment on the state of the negotiations as it goes through the process, but if we make progress and we get to an agreement, we’ll let everyone know.
“We continue to talk to Delonte.”
West was the Cavs’ starting point guard in the final 39 games last season, including 13 playoff games, and blossomed into their third best player. He averaged 10.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists in helping the team reach the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Following the playoffs, Cleveland tendered the fifth-year pro a $2.76 million qualifying contract offer, which made West a restricted free agent and guaranteed the Cavs the right to match any offer sheet he signs.
None appear to be forthcoming from another NBA team, but the market for RFAs is undeniably heating up after Lakers center Ronny Turiaf (Warriors) and Warriors guard Kelenna Azubuike (Clippers) both put their teams on the clock by signing elsewhere.
“We like what we saw from Delonte last year,” Ferry said. “We think he and the team will benefit from having an offseason together, so hopefully, we can get moving forward with his contract situation as well.”
West, who made $1.89 million last season, was traded by Seattle to Cleveland in a three-team, 11-player blockbuster on Feb. 21. The other talents acquired by the Cavs (Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak and Joe Smith) arrived with multi-year contracts, while West only had the option year of his entry-level pact remaining.
With fellow guard Gibson now signed for five more years at roughly $20 million, it’s believed West is asking for slightly more money per season, but not necessarily as long of a deal.
The more time that elapses, the more both parties stand to lose as Cleveland will not stand for a repeat of the holdouts staged by Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic in the same situation last fall.
“We want to give ourselves the best chance and the best window to win a championship this year, and to have sustainable success,” Ferry said. “We’ve talked to other free agents and we’ve talked about trades, just like every other team has done.”
The Cavs currently have 14 players signed or under their control for next season: LeBron James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Eric Snow, Damon Jones, J.J. Hickson, Lance Allred, Darnell Jackson, West, Gibson, Wallace, Szczerbiak, Smith, Varejao and Pavlovic.
Barring an injury, they plan on adding veteran big man Robert “Tractor” Traylor, who is playing on Cleveland’s summer league team on a tryout basis. The NBA regular-season roster limit is 15.
Contact Brian Dulik at 329-7135 or sports@ohio.net.
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Filed by Brian Dulik | The Chronicle-Telegram July 19th, 2008 in Sports. Popularity: 4% |
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