Cuban will sign anyone who is good enough to be in the league not good enough to demand more than a minimum, 1 yr deal. Complete reversal from about a decade ago.
James and Sam (Presti) both said they had been negotiating for months. It just seems like they picked Ibaka first, because Ibaka agreed first (and left some on the table off full max which is assumed to be his market value). They didn't value him first IMO either, they offered James more. You're talking about 1mil less a yr over the max 4 year term OKC could offer. He just flat out didn't want to be here IMO and was just giving company talk lip service with all the "sacrifice...dynasty... brothers" stuff. Get that money though, obviously Sam already had spoken to Morey and had a deal in mind that could give us some picks, an expiring in KMart as a stopgap + potential future asset, and we got Lamb out of it and even cared enough to make sure it was somewhere who could give James the designated player 5 yr max. Basically, we got 2 guys who would have been top 6 last yr had there not been fear of a lockout forcing them back to school. Again, my dream deal would have gotten us Thompson and Rush, 2 40% 3pt shooters who aren't shy and both big and can play D. But this is probably the next best deal out there, don't know if Presti talked to Utah about AlJeffs.
Presti gave James the ultimatum, we were'nt going to have a Dwightmare situation hanging over our head all season, nor let him just walk in the offseason and get nothing.
The real mistake was extended Perkins right away before he ever even played a game. He has regresssed in every way since and been injured the entire time. He is living off his reputation. He turns the ball over on a record 25%+ of possessions. I won't deny his impact though, we don't beat the Lakers without him pushing Bynum out, I just wish he was doing it for 6=7mil instead of 9
Troy Murphy 
