Uncontested Shots: The Latest on Sessions, Baby, Casspi, and Odom

Deadline for Jazz and Millsap Approaching

Paul Millsap is widely considered the next big shoe to drop before the rest of this summer’s free agency starts to take shape. The Portland Trailblazers signed Millsap to an offer sheet last Friday night and the deadline for the Utah Jazz to match the offer is steadily approaching.

If the Jazz, as expected, match the offer sheet then the Blazers will have to decide if they want to use their available cap space to either go after Lamar Odom or New York Knicks free agent, David Lee. While the Knicks have tried to create the impression that they’ll match any competitive offer for Lee there is a growing contingent who think the Knicks are just trying to scare away potential suitors.

The Blazers could also use their available cap space to go after Glen Davis as well as another of the many free agents, both restricted and unrestricted, still available.

Hindsight is 20/20

While the Lakers have taken their two offers to Odom off the table, things are becoming more clear as to what the Lakers have to work with if Odom decides to flee to Portland, Miami, or Dallas.

While I was under the assumption that the Lakers still had their biannual exemption The Los Angeles Times pointed out that the Lakers used it to re-sign Shannon Brown.

So all the Lakers would have left to work with to replace Odom with, excluding a trade, is a minimum contract.

In hindsight, the Lakers are probably wishing they’d worked out a sign-and-trade for Ron Artest instead of using their mid-level exemption. As a result, whatever leverage Odom has is a direct result of the Lakers limiting their options. Had the Lakers retained their mid-level, they would have at least had the threat of offering a contract to Glen Davis or Chris Wilcox to hang over Odom’s head. Instead, Odom is using the threat of leaving to get more money.

Besides a minimum contract the Lakers would have the expiring contracts of Adam Morrison

Baby Talk

Besides the Blazers, the Mavericks and Pistons have also been mentioned in various reports as potential suitors for Big Baby Davis. The Mavericks still have their mid-level exemption after missing out on Marcin Gortat and owner Mark Cuban will surely have to do something to save face after losing Brandon Bass to the Magic as well.

While Cuban has admitted to reaching out to Odom’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, it’s highly unlikely that Odom would choose to sign a mid-level deal with the Mavericks over the Heat.

While some Mavs fans are excited about what the team has done despite missing out on Gortat, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram‘s Jennifer Floyd Engel wrote a scathing article disputing that notion. If you have a few minutes, it’s definitely worth checking out because she makes an awful lot of sense.

The more teams like the Mavs, Warriors, and Suns fool themselves into thinking they are just one or two pieces away from competing for a title the more you have to respect teams like Sacramento, Oklahoma City, and New Jersey for just blowing it up and saving their money for the perfect piece instead of spending money just to spend money.

Not Everybody Loves Ramon

It was widely believed after the Bucks chose not to giv a qualifying offer to Charlie Villanueva that it was to free up the money to re-sign Ramon Sessions. Yet there isn’t a top-25 free agent out there who has received less attention than the guard from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

It’s obvious the Bucks are waiting for the other 29 teams to wrap up their summer spending before opening up negotiations with Sessions.

But while the Bucks are playing the waiting game, the more appealing Sessions will become to teams like the Clippers who might turn their attention to  Sessions if they can’t convince Allen Iverson to sign for their mid-level exemption and come off the bench.

Who Ordered the Kosher Pre-Game Meal?

Ailene Voisin wrote a cool little blog Q&A in the Sacramento Bee about Omri Casspi and the excitement in Sacramento and in Israel for Casspi being the first Israeli-born player in the NBA.

As a fellow Jew and the son of an Israeli father, I’m excited for Casspi. People in the United States have no idea how big the NBA is in Israel where die-hards wake up at the crack of dawn to watch NBA games on their satellite dishes.

While the Heat are owned by Israeli Micky Arison, other Israeli’s like Yotam Halperin and Lior Eliyahu and UCONN’s Nadav Henefeld and Doron Sheffer were all drafted, Casspi is the first to sign an NBA contract and make the jump.

Mazel Mazel, homey!

Bonus Babies

Dave D’Allesandro wrote one of the best pieces in a while in yesterday’s Newark Star-Ledger on contract incentives and bonus clauses in NBA contracts.

Here are a couple that couldn’t keep me straight-faced during negotiations even if you paid me:

• Nick Collison gets $100,000 if he wins the MVP (not Summer League but the real one)
• Adonal Foyle gets $500,000 if he wins MVP and another $500,000 if he wins Finals MVP
• Luke Ridnour gets $1,500,000 if he wins Defensive Player of the Year

Those are only three. I suggest you give it a read if you’ve got a couple minutes.

Uncontested Shots will run every Tuesday and Friday from now until at least the start of the season. For up to the minute updates on all free agent happenings and random brilliant thoughts and observations follow Andrew Ungvari on Twitter.