Vin Baker!

 

Vin Baker has spent the past two days in Miami meeting with Heat officials and is expected to visit Monday with the New York Knicks, ESPN.com has learned.

 

 

Baker, released by the Boston Celtics earlier this month, is being pursued by a clutch of Eastern Conference clubs that also includes Toronto, Philadelphia and Detroit. Sources told ESPN.com that Heat president Pat Riley is optimistic about beating out the competition for Baker.

 

 

Baker's agent, Aaron Goodwin, refused to discuss specific teams but said the veteran power forward hopes to have a new club "by Tuesday at the latest."

 

 

With $36 million left on his contract, Baker was released by the Celtics after he missed his 10th consecutive game. He missed those matchups while suspended, after failing to adhere to the guidelines of his alcohol rehabilitation program.

 

 

The NBA Players Association has since filed a grievance on Baker's behalf and will attempt to convince an independent arbitrator that the Celtics could not terminate the contract on the premise that Baker is unfit to play. To support its argument, the union points to the number of teams trying to sign Baker since he cleared waivers.

 

 

"We've made a decision that he can sign with another team without interfering with the grievance," Goodwin said. "Vin is absolutely fit to play."

 

 

The grievance is expected to be heard within the next month.

 

 

-espn

No F****** way. Screw that!

what b4prez said. the fact theyre thinking about this scares the s*** out of me

$36 million left on his contract

:mellow:

now that i think about it, will whoever picks him up have to pay him the rest of his contract? thats what freaked me out. if we can get him for the rest of the year and maybe keep him at a reasonable price than why not. the man can play, the problem is whether he will stay off the bottle and actually play

UH-OH i read bad,i told my cousin the heat were making a run at voshon lenard,lol...