OKC treating players like assets

No he still wouldn't be a UFA. First, he must go a year without playing professional ball. If he plays pro ball, then Thunder maintain his draft rights. If he actually stops playing ball, then he still isn't a UFA, he is merely eligible to enter the subsequent draft. He has to then reject any offers and wait a second year before he becomes a UFA.

In short, it takes one year of not signing any pro contracts to get out of the Thunders draft rights. But you enter the next draft. It takes two years without playing ball to become a UFA. So, basically, only BYU players would do the two year mission to gain UFA.

 

The fact that huestis agreed to this does not mean the player's association should not be upset. The likely explanation for huestis's action is that OKC made a pre-draft arrangement to draft him higher than they (or any other team) would have otherwise on the condition that Huestis except the D-league stash arrangement. This is OKC's way of trying to ameliorate the supposed disadvantages of a late first-round pick relative to a high second-round pick.

Which is to say the player's association should not take up huestis' cause but that of K.J. McDaniels--someone who might have gone in the first round by talent but for this kind of gamesmanship. Preemptive measures are necessary to prevent this kind of move from occurring routinely for picks 25-30 (I don't think it would occur for picks later than that because the guaranteed contract is the main point of leverage for OKC).

And the Eurostash comparison doesn't fly. You don't see marginal foreign prospects go in the first (except for Toronto's bizarre freakout this year, which seemed genuine). In fact, over the past couple years, it seems that if Euro prospects pass the 25 pick or so, teams prefer to wait for the start of the second round to grab them, because the guaranteed scale in the first round could actually deter the player from coming over (less flexibility in salary negotiation if the player blows up overseas).

I find OKC's conduct here far more objectionable than Morey's supposed treatment of players as "assets." The Morey mentality is really just a matter of psychology--the players are still being paid properly. See the Capela contract for example. Rookie-scale contracts are already the best bang for the buck out there, and it's ridiculous that some jerk like Clay Bennett could use the only aspect of that arrangement that is slightly unfavorable to ownership (guarantees on late firsts) to cajole lesser talents into cheaper deals (when the poverty-wage D-league contract is included) and wash out the distinction between the first and the second round.

 

there really is nothing the player's union can do. By CBA rules, OKC must offer Huestis a Required Tender at 80% of Rookie Scale, or they lose his draft rights. Huestis can sign it anytime him wants. He does not have to go to the dleague.

 

But, if he goes along with this and then has a serious injury, OKC can withdraw the tender offer and renounce their rights to him. Huestis would lose more guaranteed money than he's likely to earn in a lifetime of work. Maybe he figures the chance of injury is remote, so it's a small risk to take in exchange for a 1st round draft position (if that indeed was the deal), but if it becomes a trend in the league, some player is going to lose on this gambit. At least with the Eurostash, the player is getting a good wage, but dleague hardly pays anything. I think the union should be concerned.

 

+1, you said it best.

Mark Deeks goes pretty in depth into why this shouldn't be allowed/encouraged

http://www.hoop365.com/nba/western-...-league-adventure-misplaced-exercise-loyalty/

 

What do you think would happen to OKC from a PR standpoint with agents and players if Huestis gets injured and they rescind the offer?

Zach Lowe on the matter.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/o...josh-huestis-d-league-first-round-draft-pick/

Union supports it. Huestis and his agent came up with it to get drafted.

 

^ Veeeerry interesting. If his agent came up with the deal, he has a bright future.

 

That's almost the very opposite of treating players like assets. Crafty/shady manipulation of the the CBA? Perhaps. But the drafting of Huestis in the late first round has no place in Morey's stupid monopoly game. This is actually about OKC taking a very bold bet that Huestis will develop into a good player in the long term which may well prove foolish as Huestis is a total scrub at this moment in time when he is expected to be quite polished after 4 years in college. On the other hand, it also show that OKC is a trusted organisation which is expected to make good on its promises with no ulterior/hidden motive since Huestis actually agreed to such a deal. This contrast with the mercenary image projected by the Rockets Front Office.

 

Lol You're trumpeting what OKC as a genius move but slap what the Rockets do as being mercenary-like?

This kid will get $25,000 for all his trouble and his agent is hedging bets that he will turn into a decent player and will "subsidize" his spending. Meanwhile, the Rockets sign 2nd Rounders to guaranteed contracts that gives them money up front without any long term restrictions.

There's nothing devious or evil that Morey and the Rockets are doing with their 2nd Rounders.

 

I totally disagree with Lowe on this one. This is exploitation--not of Huestis (who indeed does OK in this scenario) but of legitimate low first round picks who stand to get forced into the second round and lose considerable guaranteed money. I have no doubt that OKC's draft board did not have Huestis at the top at that time on the basis of talent alone. It had Huestis + 1 year on the d-league's dime.

It is laughable for the player's union to think that this example of "flexibility" with regard to late-first round picks will transfer to picks at the top of the first round. The stakes are so much higher at the top. Anthony Davis would likely have fetched double the rookie scale or more out of college, if only for the rate to retain that first stretch of RFA and Bird Rights. If this practice becomes widespread, the owner's will AT MOST agree to discontinue the practice as to late firsts and dig in against further change on the ground that the CBA wasn't technically violated in the first place.

 

I would be all for this if I thought that it actually meant that the league was one step closer to a minor league. That would entail prospects doing this directly out of high school. But to me it looks more like another phase of vassalage after the NCAA has finally loosed its grip.

 

Why couldn't a first rounder get a job in Europe for more money than Dleague?

Everything benefits the first rounder. The rookie scale and all the guaranteed years is like one of the great achievements of the Player's Union. The 1st Rounder can sign for 80% Scale or go to Europe....and he can also sit out a year and reenter the draft. I'm not getting why we should feel sorry for someone who opts out of those three choices and takes Door #4 for $25k in the dleague.

How many options do you expect the Union to demand and win? Best they can do is advise the players not to go to the dleague. Or they should push to increase the Cap on DLeague salaries. I suppose they could demand to increase the Required Tender.

 

All the players have to do is renege on any deal and sign the 80% Tender offer with three guaranteed years. That is more than a second rounder will get.

So, if the player wasn't really first round material, he just suckered a team into paying him more money than he should have gotten.

That only has to happen once or twice before teams realize they better pick the best player on the board, or trade down, and stop getting cute with wink wink deals.

 

I thought for a second, you mean Houston treating players like assets. Houston is #1 in treating players like assets, unfortunately.