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It's true. Almost no one has salary-cap space, and there isn't a single current All-Star on the list of available free agents.
Summer, though, has arrived regardless, and teams in every division have summer projects. To Dos for the Midwest Seven follow below, with a reminder that trades -- OK, a plea for them -- can always liven up proceedings, as just seen on draft day.
Dallas Mavericks
Just read the sign. If Mavericks players aren't sure what has to change next season, it's literally there for them now in black and white. A new poster hanging in a prominent spot on the club's underground practice floor at American Airlines Center recounts the most gory details of Dallas' second-round crash against Sacramento: "207 FIELD GOALS WITH 115 LAYUPS AND DUNKS!" For emphasis, the last four words -- addressing those 115 layups and dunks, an average of 23 per game in the 4-1 series defeat -- are in bigger block letters than the rest. The sign alone, of course, isn't going to change anything, but it's a start, mainly because there aren't a slew of defensive stoppers just waiting to be signed by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. A teamwide dedication to defensive improvement has to develop internally if Dallas intends to join Sacramento as a real threat to the Lakers.
Re-sign Raef LaFrentz and Eduardo Najera. The Mavericks have unofficially severed ties with Wang Zhizhi, their 7-foot free agent, until Wang resurfaces in the good graces of China's basketball authorities. The in-house priorities are retaining LaFrentz and Najera, two restricted free agents who figure to return without a hitch. Cuban and coach/GM Don Nelson want to keep their core together and keep adding to it after swinging blockbuster trades the past two Februarys. So they plan to sign LaFrentz to a healthy deal in the $60 million range and let him grow with the rest of the group. Dallas doesn't want to lose the gritty Najera, either, and will careen further into luxury-tax territory to keep him, too.
See what they can scrounge from a pretty barren marketplace. Danny Manning has already been waived and Johnny Newman will almost certainly not be invited back. Free-agent swingman Greg Buckner might also have to relocate, with Tariq Abdul-Wahad scheduled to return from a lengthy injury absence to join Najera and Adrian Griffin in the scrum for small-forward minutes. If Buckner goes, too, that's potentially three roster openings for Cuban and Nelson to offer to the power forwards who are out there -- in a summer where the Mavericks' salary-cap exceptions should have some good buying power, with actual cap space almost non-existent. Keon Clark? Charles Oakley? Knowing Cuban and Nelson, they will explore every option, trades included. Just remember that Cuban especially prefers to have the last shot at a player he likes, which is why none of 2002's free agents was taking a call from the Mavericks at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
Denver Nuggets
Hire a coach. After a bold draft that won the admiration of many peers, Kiki Vandeweghe
gets no respite. He wants to have his new coaching hire secured by mid-July, when the
Nuggets start summer-league practices. It's pretty clear he also wanted to
get through the draft without worrying about a coaching search, or what the
new hire might have to say about the GM's draft plan. That way, he could
jettison Antonio McDyess for a couple of enticing 19-year-olds -- Nikoloz
Tskitishvili and Maybyner "Nene" Hilario -- without interference. Now,
though, if Vandeweghe sticks to the original timetable, he'll have to move
pretty quickly, unless he already knows the coach he wants. Meaning someone
besides the unavailable Larry Brown. New Jersey assistant Eddie Jordan and
Dallas aides Del Harris and Donnie Nelson were generally regarded as the
consensus top candidates, but Nelson pulled out Monday when the
process was just getting serious. Utah assistant Phil Johnson and
Milwaukee's Terry Stotts should also get a look. For all the instruction and
guidance his new (re: baby-faced) team needs, Vandeweghe figures to favor
Harris, except that Del won't be any easier to pry away from Dallas than
Nelson. So make Jordan the favorite.
Work with the kids. The Nuggets have to hope they get some extended access to Nik and Nene this summer, when Vandeweghe has the most freedom to teach. The downside to Vandeweghe's new front-office career is that he doesn't get as much court time as he used to, thereby limiting his opportunities to pass on the 20-odd years of Pete Newell footwork gospel he has accumulated.
Learn to be patient. The obvious negative tied to Vandeweghe's blow-it-up approach is that the Nuggets, initially, are going to be even worse than they have been lately. Like Chicago in the East, where Jerry Krause might actually have something if Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry continue to develop, the Nuggets aren't going to know what they have for a while. Fan apathy in Denver is such that Vandeweghe probably won't be subjected to any "FI-RE KI-KI" chants, but the waiting will be painful enough. Another potential complication comes in February, when the Nuggets will undoubtedly be presented with numerous trade scenarios going into the summer of '03 and their oodles of cap space. At that point, having only seen Nik and Nene for a half-season, Vandeweghe will have to decide whether to take on a well-paid established name in trade and whether that guy can mesh with the kiddies. Or he'll have to take his chances and wait for free agency, knowing it might be tough to convince a starry veteran to sign on for some serious waiting.
Houston Rockets
Actually get Yao to Houston. After all the fretting and nailbiting, the draft couldn't have unfolded any more smoothly for Houston's problem children. In the end, they scored Yao Ming and the small forward they wanted (Bostjan Nachbar) and an intriguing guard prospect from the second round (Tito Maddox) as a bonus. The challenge now is sweating out the summer, even harder than usual in Clutch City, praying Yao doesn't get hurt playing for China in the World Championships and then coming to an agreement with the Chinese authorities on an October arrival date for the 7-foot-5 giant. China's national team (or its many regional all-star teams) always has some sort of October competition to conflict with training camp. So Yao will almost certainly miss part of his first training camp, if not all of it, and he obviously needs the first one badly given the sort of scrutiny he'll be shouldering as a rookie. Which doesn't even begin to address how fresh Yao will be when he gets here, after playing all summer.
Get Steve Francis healthy … and signed, too. For the immediate future, in their quest to get back to the playoffs, this one could probably stand as 1A for the Rockettes. Francis' "minor" shoulder surgery on May 30 turned out to be considerably more major than expected, with Houston doctors now forecasting a rehabilitation period of 14 to 16 weeks instead of the expected four to six. Which naturally isn't what the Rockets hoped to hear after migraines and plantar fasciitis dribbled all over Francis' season, in which he made his All-Star breakthrough -- but on the strength of the fans' vote. Just when changes in his diet had begun to cut into the frequency of the migraines, and when the foot had started to cooperate, Francis injured the shoulder trying to dunk over Golden State's Erick Dampier on March 8. He insisted on playing in pain for the rest of the season because he missed so much of the first half, but the only thing the Rockets want to see from Francis this summer is his signature on a long-term contract extension.
Get Mo Taylor in shape. Taylor will miss the first five games of the season serving out a drug suspension, but the Rockets will deal with it if his torn Achilles' has sufficiently healed by that point. Hopes to have him at least practicing with Houston's summer-league team in early July have been endangered by Taylor's struggles shedding weight. At last report, Taylor was down to 290 pounds, roughly 20 pounds away from being cleared to join the summer fun. The Rockets are counting on a full-strength Taylor and a more experienced Eddie Griffin -- and, yes, even some good minutes from Kelvin Cato -- to lessen the first-year burden on Yao.
Memphis Grizzlies
Let Jerry West be Jerry West. The Grizzlies believe -- no matter what happened before and during the draft or what happens now -- that they've already made the most monumental acquisition of the offseason by getting West to sign on as team president. West's maiden non-Laker draft wasn't as splashy as anticipated, with no major deals and the rather safe selection of Drew Gooden at No. 4, but the Grizz is still exploring all trade options. Word is everyone on the roster is available, apart from Pau Gasol and Shane Battier. Better yet, the Grizz head now for the first free-agency summer in franchise history where free agents will actually take their phone calls. West's credibility is such that, on top of getting better players to at least consider Memphis, owner Michael Heisley is a lot more open to spending now that it's The Logo reaching for the checkbook as opposed to Dick Versace.
Hope Jerry West can get through to the other West Virginian in the organization. Very quietly, West has already had a couple reaching-out conversations with Jason Williams, whose first season in Memphis didn't exactly live up to the $40-odd million contract extension JThrill signed in October. Can't hurt that West has always been a fan of his state mate. Not until the season actually starts will we know if West had any luck, but he probably has a better chance than anyone to get Williams' best.
Get the most they can for Stromile Swift. With a more focused effort, Swift still has time to develop into a nice NBA player. It just doesn't look like it's going to happen with the Grizz. Doubts about Michael Dickerson's return from a freakish groin/knee problem (and Dickerson's hefty contract) make Swift much more likely to go, especially since he now ranks fourth in stature among Memphis forwards. With Gasol summoning the Grizzlies' strength coach to Spain recently to work on his lean physique, and Gooden expected to participate in the team's summer-league program, the Grizz figure they can fill a hole elsewhere by moving Swift.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Get a point guard, or maybe even two. The Wolves tried hard to acquire a first-round pick last week because they know it'll be tough to hold on in the 50-Win Club without fortifying the backcourt or getting that move to the East. Terrell Brandon's return from knee surgery is far from guaranteed, and the recently opted-out Chauncey Billups is already drawing free-agent interest from Miami, Denver and (gasp) the Lakers. Behind those two, late-season signee Robert Pack won't be retained, and second-round draftee Marcus Taylor of Michigan State is hardly ready for a major role.
Get the Kevins together for more than contract talks. The elder Kevin (McHale) says the Wolves plan to pursue long-term extensions for the younger Kevin (Garnett) and Wally Szczerbiak after sorting out the futures of Billups, Rasho Nesterovic and Loren Woods. It'd be even better if the Kevins spent some significant time in the gym together, because Garnett needs to add something new to his game down low -- especially since it's so unlikely that the roster is going to look drastically different. The Wolves are already teetering near luxury-tax territory (more likely they're already in it) even without re-signing Billups or Nesterovic. Free-agent upgrades, as a result, would be doubly costly. So Minnesota will be relying on internal improvement to simply maintain its current standing in the West, and thus the onus is on Garnett, after a postseason in which he was widely criticized for the first time in his career. Thing is, Garnett is said to be in a less-than-agreeable mood these days, and not simply because he's smarting from Minnesota's second-half fade (20-22) and sixth straight first-round playoff ouster. Billups is Garnett's best friend on the team this side of Joe Smith, and now he might be leaving. Ditto for veteran forward Sam Mitchell, another KG ally whose return is questionable at nearly 40.
Hang onto Rasho … tightly. Nesterovic is a restricted free agent, so the Wolves can't lose him unless they want to let him walk. Problem is, it's getting more expensive by the season just to keep intact this roster that still hasn't proven worthy of a visit to the second round. Still, Rasho is big and pretty serviceable as centers go, and still young, suggesting he'll get better. You can make the case that Nesterovic would be harder to replace than Szczerbiak, the newly minted All-Star, even though Wally is the lone Wolf who can consistently get shots for himself.
San Antonio Spurs
Keep Malik Rose away from the Lakers. Although the three-time champs haven't stated a public interest in Rose, the Spurs suspect that he's on LA's short list. Rose, though, doesn't want to leave and the Spurs aren't about to let him go, least of all to hated LA. San Antonio is apparently prepared to exceed the large cap exception if it has to -- if Rose is offered a full mid-level exception from a rival team -- to keep hold of Tim Duncan's frontline buddy.
Officially sign the Argentine -- and Bruce Bowen. No apparent worries here. Emanuel Ginobili, San Antonio's No. 57 pick in the 1999 draft, is expected to sign in July once free-agent acquisitions can be formalized. He'll even have a shot to supplant Steve Smith as the Spurs' starting shooting guard after Smith's all-too-quiet showing in the playoffs. To add to Ginobili's comfort level, intentionally or not, the Spurs drafted another Argentine (forward Luis Scola) with the 56th overall pick. Scola isn't likely to join the Spurs right away, but by the time he arrives from Tau Ceramica of the Spanish League, Ginobili should be a regular. As for Bowen, he'll certainly draw outside interest, but both sides are intent on extending the relationship.
Fast forward to 2003. That's the summer when they expect to re-sign Duncan, bid farewell to David Robinson and use the cap space created by Admiral's departure (among others) to sign a younger All-Star sidekick to their franchise player. That said, the Spurs are handling the waiting pretty well, having just won 58 games and the division title with Duncan and a rookie point guard from France (Tony Parker) largely carrying the team.
Utah Jazz
Sort out Stock's future. John Stockton is already under contract for next season at just under $8 million and expected to be right where he always is for his 19th season, zipping passes to Karl Malone. The Jazz won't know for sure until Stock calls owner Larry Miller to assure him that he won't be retiring, but, as team VP Kevin O'Connor recently noted, the 40-year-old could easily play two or three more seasons, good as he looked in 2001-02. Stockton is the only point guard in the West who can claim to have outplayed Sacramento's Mike Bibby head-to-head in the playoffs and should be physically sound after undergoing clandestine elbow surgery six weeks ago. Besides the obvious reasons for wanting Stockton to play on as long as he wants to, since he continues to play at an All-Star level, the Jazz expects Raul Lopez to be freed from his Real Madrid obligations before training camp. Who better to mentor the little Spaniard than a senior citizen?
Re-stock the roster. No bad puns intended. This is serious stuff, with eight of Utah's 14 roster players becoming free agents as of July. Donyell Marshall and Bryon Russell are the most prominent names, but Marshall's toughness has been questioned internally (by the holy trinity of Stockton, Malone and Jerry Sloan) and Russell's money demands could preclude his return. That makes Jarron Collins and Scott Padgett the leading contenders to be retained, with John Starks, Rusty LaRue, Quincy Lewis and John Crotty in danger or already gone. Stanford center Curtis Borchardt was the only player Utah added in the draft, so, yeah, they have a few openings. With Marshall or Russell, perhaps a sign-and-trade arrangement could help with the re-stocking.
Welcome back the "new" Greg Ostertag. After donating a kidney to his sister last week, Ostertag was told that he'd need up to two months to recuperate. Mostly, though, Ostertag has been hearing a lot of nice things for a change, having selflessly placed his career at risk to help an ailing sibling. If the recovery timetable holds, Tag will be cleared for contact (albeit with only one kidney, like only Sean Elliott before him) long before the start of training camp. The Jazz, not surprisingly, hope he returns with a new outlook, or simply prepared to keep doing things that elicit praise.
Marc Stein, who covers the NBA for The Dallas Morning News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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