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Updated: July 19, 2009, 4:45 PM ET
Cavs ink Moon to offer sheet
By Marc Stein
The Cleveland Cavaliers have continued their offseason remodeling by signing restricted free agent Jamario Moon to an offer sheet.
Full details of the offer sheet are unlikely to be known until Monday, when the contract is submitted to the league office. But sources said that the deal signed Friday which Heat officials confirmed after an ESPN.com report earlier Sunday -- spans two guaranteed years.
The Miami Heat will have seven days to match the offer once it's formally processed, but Cleveland would appear to have a good chance of landing Moon given Miami's well-chronicled desire to avoid new contracts longer than one year to protect its 2010 salary-cap space.
There are exceptions to that policy, as evidenced by Miami's well-chronicled attempts to sign Lamar Odom away from the Los Angeles Lakers. The Heat, though, have multiple players at Moon's position -- Daequan Cook, James Jones and Yakhouba Diawara -- even if they don't land Odom, raising doubts about their ability to keep him.
After trading for Shaquille O'Neal and signing Anthony Parker to take their payroll beyond the $80 million mark, Cleveland has spent the past week looking for free-agent bargains as it tries to add depth at the wing positions and find a power forward that can stretch the floor with his jumper. The Cavs had been linked in recent days to forwards such as Rob Kurz and Sean May before signing Moon.
It's believed that the Cavs were hooked on Moon's ability to guard mobile forwards after their struggles to contain Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis in the Eastern Conference finals against Orlando.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Cavs have about $3.2 million left of their $5.9 million mid-level exception that they can use in whole or part to sign Moon.
Moon, 29, is a 6-foot-8 late bloomer with career averages of 7.8 points and 5.4 rebounds since breaking into the NBA with the Toronto Raptors in 2007-08. Miami acquired him in February in the Shawn Marion-Jermaine O'Neal trade.
According to the Plain Dealer, Cavaliers general manager Danny Ferry typically avoids players who are restricted free agents, as evidenced by the fact that this is the first such offer sheet he has extended in his four years running Cleveland's front office.
The Cavs, however, are clearly hoping that Miami's focus on Odom and the potential trade pursuit of Carlos Boozer will enhance their chances of landing Moon, while an offer sheet also prevents Miami from including Moon in sign-and-trade proposals for the next week.
Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.
From Yahoo Sports:
Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:25 pm EDT
Who wants Jamario Moon?
By Kelly Dwyer
I don't think teams are coveting Jamario Moon(notes) at a rate concurrent with his skill set.
This has been, more or less, the story of the summer for me. Whether we're overrating Hedo, underrating Lamar Odom, or sleeping on the Magic, I've seemed to be at odds with the way things have gone down during this offseason.
I'm OK with that. I've been at odds before, and the odds eventually proved me right, or something. I think they were traded for Drew Gooden(notes) and Larry Hughes(notes).
And though the Heat tendered Jamario Moon a qualifying offer, it was a miniscule one worth a fraction of his 2008-09 salary. I can understand Miami not wanting to complicate cap matters beyond 2009-10 as they divine a way to surround Dwyane Wade(notes) with a winner.
The rest of the league? I'm disappointed in you.
Perhaps it has to do with the way Toronto Raptor fans would groan as Moon lined up his three-pointers before he was traded to the Heat last year. Sure, he got a little shot happy, and his overall three-point percentage (35.5) is right in line with the NBA average.
But the groans just got out of hand, almost as if they were just a way for Raptor fans to keep themselves entertained. You could do a lot worse than an average three-point shooter lining up for a 24-footer. Someone needs to send tape of those groans to whoever runs the scoreboard during Clipper games. Then they'd be doing some good.
The rest of his game? Come on!
He's 29, in his prime. The very definition of solid. The very definition of average, because while his offense may fall a little short of the mark, his defense on small forwards works, [Swearing is not permitted at Club Pistons. You must edit this post prior to submitting.]. It works!
He starts breaks, because his rebounding is very good for a small forward. The man is a tremendous defensive rebounder, he doesn't turn the ball over, and he's quite good at finishing on the fast break. A team desperate for easy buckets, even if this guy isn't going to be confused with Chris Mullin any time soon, would do well to plug Moon in at the start of the second quarter.
And take him off a team that isn't in love with the three-pointer, and his attitude toward the shot could change. It's kind of hard to tell a player to lay off the 25-footers when your starting center or Daequan Cook(notes) (5.3 attempts per game last year, in 24 minutes!) are chucking away.
I just don't think, even in this economy, that this is someone barely worth the bi-annual exception. This guy can play, he should retain his skill set for a few more years, and he could make a team that knows what it's doing very, very happy.
