The Spurs would have been thrilled to let Popovich's mind control squeeze every ounce of potential out of Rudy. With the biggest three claiming they all want to be settled by the 5th, Gay's talks with either New Jersey or New York were coming sooner rather than later. And, yes, the market for Gay was beginning to look smaller with the Bulls not looking for a wing without the title of King and the Wizards taking on some salaries.Ī big market with lots of cash was still there, though. Yes, the Timberwolves did effectively kill their chances by signing Darko Milicic and Nikola Pekovic. Yes, the small forward market did get a boost with Paul Pierce and Richard Jefferson opting out and mixing things up. Ziller's got a point, like he always does, but I'm still supporting signing Rudy to a 5 year, $81 million dollar deal, as I have all along.
As Fanhouse's Tom Ziller put most pointedly, owner Michael Heisley, 'basically looked at his hand, saw the pair of kings, and folded.' It doesn't understand why the Memphis Grizzlies gave up their restricted free agency rights on Rudy Gay by extending him on the first day.
