NBA's Best Remaining Free Agents

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Aug 20, 2007

NBA's Best Remaining Free Agents

Anderson Varejao

The Cavs are in control because he's a restricted free agent and the teams that had significant salary-cap space used it elsewhere. General manager Danny Ferry figures to be able to keep the 6-10 Brazilian, who played a key role in the Cavs' Finals run with his energy, rebounding and willingness to take charges.

Mickael Pietrus

While Miami is among the teams that has shown interest in the 25-year-old swingman, the San Jose Mercury News reported July 25 that Pietrus is poised to re-sign with the Warriors for one or two years. Pietrus averaged 11.1 points on a career-best 48.8 percent from the field last season, a previously unseen show of offensive teeth for this active defender. Although a scout worried about Pietrus' lack of consistency, he added that ''as Pietrus matures ... he could be a cross between Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley.''

Chris Webber

The 34-year-old, who rejuvenated his career somewhat with the Pistons last season, appears to be in no rush to decide his next move. The Mavs are said to be interested, just as they were when Webber became a free agent in the middle of last season after agreeing to a buyout with the 76ers.

Ruben Patterson

Patterson is coming off the most productive season of his nine-year career. Granted, those statistics came on a Bucks team desperate for warm bodies, and the swingman's shooting range has always been limited, but Patterson has long been a solid dirty-work sort of player. He might find a winning team willing to take a chance on a player whose legal troubles and sharp tongue have never made him easy to slot into a rotation.

Charlie Bell

After re-signing point guard Mo Williams and bringing back swingman Desmond Mason, the Bucks have set their sights on retaining Bell, the only Milwaukee player to play every game last season. The 6-3 shooting guard averaged 13.5 points and scored at least 20 points 20 times last season, his second full year in the NBA.

Sasha Pavlovic

The four-year veteran swingman enjoyed a career year last season, which included an average of 12.7 points on 47.7 percent shooting in his 28 regular-season starts. Pavlovic also demonstrated a willingness to play tough, physical defense at times, quite a change of approach for a player who once claimed his ''offense is his defense.'' Despite his improvement, an Eastern Conference scout warns: ''He seems to just want to blend in, which isn't bad, but over and over I've seen a play in which LeBron [James] would kick the ball to him, and he looked like that was the last thing he wanted to have happen.''

Earl Boykins

The 5-5 guard declined his $3 million option with the Bucks for next season to test the market. A shoot-first, pass-second type, the well-traveled Boykins has crafted a career out of providing an offensive spark off the bench, and he's improved his scoring average each of the last five seasons.