The Bratwurst – Milwaukee Bucks Blog

With the news that the Bucks have offered Mo Williams a 5 year, $40 million contract, it appears that they are passing on Chauncey Billups and will certainly turn toward Gerald Wallace. Who are their competitors for Wallace?
The teams that have shown early interest in Wallace include Charlotte, Milwaukee, Dallas, Golden State, Memphis, Miami, Orlando and Portland. Since Orlando signed Rashard Lewis (max deal? Whew, don’t know about that.) they are out of the running. Besides Charlotte, only Milwaukee and Memphis can offer Wallace more than the midlevel exception, so any other deal would be a sign-and-trade in order for him to get a contract in the $10-$12 million range.
My list of potential destinations (in reverse order of likliehood):
Dallas: Why are they making overtures here? Last I saw, the Mav’s second best player is a 27-year-old all-star who already plays small forward. Clearly Josh Howard isn’t going anywhere, so why would Wallace want to go there? The immediate opportunity to win carries some weight, but Wallace would only get about 20 minutes a game, with much of that coming out of position. A sign-and-trade of Wallace for Josh Howard and Devin Harris would be way too much for Dallas to give up.
Miami: At first glance, the chance to play with Dwyane Wade and Shaq sounds great, but the Big Fella is close to the end and the rest of that team is a complete house of cards. The chance to win isn’t as great as it seems. Also, Miami really doesn’t have much to offer in a trade. Jason Williams is in the last year of his contract, but Charlotte already has a 35 mpg point guard and doesn’t need the expiring deal (plus that would leave Miami without anyone at the point). Everyone else on the Heat has a horrible contract (Antoine Walker) or isn’t terribly desirable (Dorell Wright).
Memphis: It makes some sense for Memphis to pursue Wallace since they are trying to get young, and since they are turning the reigns over to a rookie point guard, are probably a couple of years away from contending. But Memphis already has a young small forward in Rudy Gay, so I’m not quite sure why they have interest here. If Pau Gasol’s status with Memphis is up in the air, I think that Wallace would be wary. Memphis also has about $4 million less available salary cap space than the Bucks.
Golden State: The Warriors can offer Wallace a chance to win and an up-tempo style that fits his game well. What can they offer the Bobcats? Al Harrington and Sarunas Jasikevicius would fit under the cap and give Michael Jordan a starting power forward as well as making room for Adam Morrison to step in. Jordan would be an idiot for accepting that trade “¦ but he’s never done anything else as a GM to suggest he is anything otherwise.
Portland: A dark-horse contender here. They have completely remade their roster and can make a pitch to Wallace as the missing veteran piece to a rising contender. They can offer Raef LaFrentz (plus 800,000 shares of Microsoft to pay off his contract), and young players like Martell Webster and (a favorite of mine) Sergio Rodriguez. A starting lineup of Jarret Jack, Brandon Roy, Wallace, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden would be ready to go places now “¦ and maybe all the way in a couple of years.
Milwaukee: The Bucks offer the most salary cap room (probably up to $13 million) and a young, deep team that offers a pretty good chance to win now. Wallace can step right in ahead of Bobby Simmons, and he would be on a playoff-caliber team with 3 other starters under the age of 25. The Bucks also fit his playing style well, as they have plenty of other scorers and would allow Wallace to concentrate on what he does best: defense and picking up garbage points.
Charlotte: Assuming that Wallace doesn’t have any bad blood with the coaching staff or upper management (no reason to assume he does) then resigning with the Bobcats has to be considered the most likely option. They have no salary cap considerations, so could offer him a max-contract with ease. They do have a lot of young talent and just added a scorer in Jason Richardson. His one question with the Bobcats would have to be, what do they plan on doing with Adam Morrison? If it was me the answer would be “give up on him”, but Charlotte may be planning on moving him into the starting lineup. If that’s the truth then most likely Wallace will be in either Milwaukee or Portland next year.