NEW YORK TIMES - June 12, 2004 The Charlotte Bobcats yesterday received the official list of players who will be available to them in the expansion draft on June 22 or 23. National Basketball Association rules prohibit the list from being disclosed, so the expansion Bobcats, who will play next season, could not comment on the players. "We have a number of directions we can take, and over the course of the next 10 days we will thoroughly explore all of our options," Bernie Bickerstaff, the Bobcats' coach and general manager, said in a statement. The Bobcats received the names of available players from every team except the Lakers and the Pistons. Those two teams will send their unprotected lists to the Bobcats within 24 hours of the conclusion of the N.B.A. finals. The expectation was that most teams would try to fill the unprotected list with overpriced and underachieving players. Some of the names that leaked out yesterday from various sources indicated that that was the case. One Western Conference team executive said that the Dallas Mavericks left Antoine Walker and his $14.6 million contract unprotected. Washington left Jerry Stackhouse exposed with three years and $22.5 million remaining on his contract. Still, the most striking names were those not on the list. Reggie Miller, who has spent his entire career with the Indiana Pacers and who was rumored to be on the list, was not, according to an N.B.A. executive. Others who were expected to be on the list but were protected included Portland's Damon Stoudamire, who is entering the final year of his contract and will earn $15.7 million, as well as the Blazers' Dale Davis, who will earn $9 million next season. One source familiar with the Knicks' plans confirmed that Allan Houston, Penny Hardaway, Shandon Anderson, Moochie Norris and Cezary Trybanski were left unprotected. The Nets left Kittles, Rodney Rogers, Alonzo Mourning and Tamar Slay unprotected, a source familiar with the Nets' plans said.
undersized, fat. cant contend with the legit 4s of the west. has shot .400 or .410 the last two years...
How about Kittles? I haven't seen him play much, would he be an upgrade over Mobley? He seems to be a very efficient player.
Everyone on Charlotte's list either: A) Sucks B) Overpaid C) Both I don't think you'll see more than one or two big name guys get picked up. It's just not the right way to build a young team.
with the mavericks leaving antoine walker unprotected, a couple of thoughts surfaced. tell me what you think... if charlotte were to pick up walker (which I think is highly likely), the mavericks will have a nice little trade exception coming back. I think that this trade exception will make them leaders in the McGrady bidding. They could package Finley the T.E. and baggage (maybe even the coveted Daniels) and get McGrady and baggage back. While this trade may not be as profitable to the Magic, McGrady will be the one making the call. As much as I love the rox, I'm pretty sure that McGrady would rather play on the Mav's than the rox. Just in case anyone questions the premise of the bobcats taking Walker.... It will be a smart move on many levels. First, they get a legit scorer/point forward to help generate fans interest. Second, he is an expiring contract which could prove lucrative in two different instances a)they could make a midseason trade for a player they feel fits their team better b)just let the contract go and have room to make a run at next seasons free agents. Third, they could get some xtra picks from the mav's for picking up the contract.
Protecting their own The Rockets put together their list of players protected from the expansion draft, employing as many strategies as nearly any team. The Rockets might have wanted to leave their big contracts exposed, but the Charlotte Bobcats are not likely to take anyone featured on Cribs unless it is for another team. They could have exposed players who don't play, hoping to limit the on-court damage. In the end, the Rockets likely did a bit of both. They protected Steve Francis, Yao Ming, Jim Jackson and Cuttino Mobley. They would like to give Mike Wilks another low-cost shot, and Bostjan Nachbar is worth another look at a relatively good price. That leaves two more players to be protected. Adrian Griffin, who barely played last season and might struggle to ever regain his form, is certain to have been left unprotected. But now it gets tougher. Eric Piatkowski fell almost out of the rotation and is likely to be unprotected. If he is unprotected, the Rockets would have to choose one of three frontcourt players — Maurice Taylor, Kelvin Cato and Clarence Weatherspoon — to protect. Cato makes the most money but was a starter and has just two years remaining on his contract. The Bobcats are not looking for contracts like Taylor and Weatherspoon's, and they are not expansion-team players, making them the next most likely to be exposed. The Bobcats must select 14 players, and league teams can lose no more than one player. For the Rockets, that most likely will be Griffin http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2624594
it's an interesting idea but there would have to be more incentive than just recieving Antoine Walker for the Bobcats to pick him. They've said many times they don't want a max contract player. Isn't there salary cap this season 30 million? Antoine Walker makes half that? I think the Mavs would have to entice them into taking him somehow if they wanted to pursue such a plan.
They will turn around and trade Walker EASILY. He only has one year left on his deal. I hate his game, but he does have value. Charlotte would be stupid not to pick him and trade him somewhere. What I'd be worried about is Charlotte picking him, then trading him for Juwan Howard, Pat Garritty, Tyronne Lue, and one more throw in. Then McGrady has a star player, decides to re-sign, and we're completely screwed. I wouldn't worry about McGrady going to Dallas though. He has mentioned 4 teams seriously so far (Houston, LA, San Antonio, Indiana), and clearly these are the teams with the 4 best big men in the league. If he wanted to go to Dallas, he'd just say so. Orlando would be more than happy to deal with Dallas since Dallas can offer lots of good players in return. For example, Walker and Marquis Daniels for McGrady. After a year, Walker's contract is up, and Hill opts out, that's -30M of capspace, which should put them WELL below the cap. They begin their rebuilding effort with Marquis Daniels, Emeka Okafor, and a boatload of capspace. However, I don't think McGrady WANTS to go to Dallas, although this would be very good: Nowitzki Jamison T-Mac/Josh Howard Finley/T-Mac Nash
There's just so many ways for Charlotte to go. With the flebility they have any major deals i.e. Walker is going to have a domino effect for every team out there looking to make major deals. I wish the Finals were over.
Ah Alonzo Mourning still collecting a paycheck. Thank God for good agents. Talking about bad contracts, how many do we have left on our bad-contract friendly payroll?
