I'm wrong in the body of yesterday's post "Mobley is NOT a restricted FA", although the topic was right...which is about all I can salvage from that. I corrected myself earlier today, and have now deleted it in hopes of stopping more misinformation. aelliott enlightened me. last week he gave a GYHAS attempt but i guess my thick-headedness didn't warrant further clarification, so I went off the deep end of worry-induced speculation, without his clear head. Without explaining my error ad nauseum, let's just say, Mobley is staying in Houston, because the Rockets can bid freely all the way up to their limit, as I'm sure most the board already figured. I especially apologize to anyone that took me at my word and repeated the misinformation to someone else. Clutch,,,you should get an egg-face smiley for the board. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited April 25, 2000).]
Now you really confusing me... Without explaining my error ad nauseum, let's just say, Mobley is staying in Houston, because the Rockets can bid freely all the way up to their limit, as I'm sure most the board already figured. Let me see if I can comprehend this, meaning the question now comes down to whether or not Mobley would take 3.8 mil with us or more money from another team? Is that right? I also assume, same case with Lewis? ------------------ Now that the NBA season is over, check out the premiere source for draft info. Draftsource.net
I hesitate to even answer this question, after such a gross error. Ignore everything you heard me say before about restricted FAs. Basically, Mobley will negotiate with us first. Our ceiling is 108% of the ave salary, which according to Jonathan Feigan is 108% times $3.8 = $4.1. This must be at least a two year and can include up to 12.5% raise the 2nd year for a total top contract of $8.7m for 2 years. The ceiling on one year contracts is the Middle Class exception, but he gets to Big Bird status faster. As a 0-6 year vet, Mobley's maximum salary is $9m. Any team with caproom can bid up to that with 10% raises. The downside is Mobley's bird rights start all over again. IMO Mobley is a lock to stay. He gets more money here in the long run because of his Bird rights, and the increasing valuation of his game under Rudy...meaning he'll be worth even more next year than this, when we can bid all the way to $9m to keep him. Better bargaining situation for him. Sorry, again for the confusion...I've learned it is best to read between the lines when reading the CBA Faq, but this time I didn't see the forest through the trees, when becoming worried about losing Mobley.
Ok, heyPartner, I've gotta ask, what's GYHAS? rocketsfan34, Here's the difference between the Mobley and Lewis situations (at least from the view of a Rockets fan). - We believe that Mobley wants to play in Houston and will take less money next year to do so. - We also like to believe that Lewis wants to play in Houston and would take less money to do so. - Mobley is a restricted free agent and Houston has right of first refusal on him. If he wants to accept whatever the Rockets offer then it's a done deal. - Lewis, however is a restricted free agent and Seattle has right of first refusal on him. He's not allowed to sign for less money with Houston if Seattle is able and willing to match the offer. So, the only way that we could sign Lewis as a free agent is to bid higher than what Seattle could offer. The problem arises due to the fact that we're capped out. The most we can offer Lewis is the middle class exception. Since everybody has a middle class exception regardless of their cap status, Seattle could match the offer by offering Lewis their middle class exception. Assuming that Seattle would be willing to pay Lewis $2.3M, then it's impossible for us to outbid them for Rashard unless we free up serious cap room. Does that make sense? Lewis and Mobley's situations overall are identical. But, from a Rocket's point of view it's the difference between trying to hang on to your own restricted free agent vs. trying to sign another team's restricted free agent. [This message has been edited by aelliott (edited April 26, 2000).]
This reminds me why I love this place so much. Thanks for the clarification, aelliott. Even though you screwed up at the beginning, thanks for starting the talk, heypartner. aelliott, what do you mean by ... . Am I reading too much into it. [This message has been edited by MoonBus (edited April 26, 2000).]
Aelliott, GYHAS is the acronym for our cc.net member Give Your Head A Shake. I use his acronym sometimes to imply someone is shaking their head at someone else's misunderstanding. In your case, the chat we had last week regarding this subject.
Moonbus, I was replying to both heyPartner and rocketsfan34 in my previous post. The heyPartner reference was intentional and correct. As far as the Assuming that Seattle would be willing to pay Lewis $2.3M comment, there's nothing implied there. I was just covering all bases. If we offer Lewis our $2.3M Middle class exception, Seattle has the right to match, but they don't have to match. I think it's a certainty that they would but I just wanted to cover all possibilities. ------------------
aelliott- Lewis would play here for less? Is that a gut feeling or do you have some inside info on him? Just curious.
aelliott- Lewis would play here for less? Is that a gut feeling or do you have some inside info on him? Just curious. What I said was: "We also like to believe that Lewis wants to play in Houston and would take less money to do so." That's just what many cc.net posters seem to believe, not what I neccessarily believe. Personally, my gut feeling is that Lewis will resign in Seattle. ------------------ [This message has been edited by aelliott (edited April 26, 2000).]
The only power Lewis and Cat have is negotiating with teams under the salary cap. Does anybody want to venture a guess if the big names (Duncan, Hill etc) will get their deals done early or drag into September? If they are slow to get new contracts, then will everybody else be put on hold? Mango ------------------ The Serious Police are watching Donate Blood [This message has been edited by Mango (edited April 26, 2000).]
What is the likelihood that Seattle uses their middle class exemption on Lewis. if they use it on him they certainly can't bring in any other free agents. I imagine they would save their exemption for Lewis, but what is the possibility they sign someone else first and then we could offer a 2.3 salary for him that Seattle could not match? Or would they still be able to use an Early Bird late int he ball game to keep him from us while also picking up another 2.3 Mil FA player. I guess what I am asking is does Lewis have any power whatsoever (short of holding out) by waiting and not signing anything early in the offseason with the Sonics? [This message has been edited by sir scarvajal (edited April 26, 2000).]
