http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlo...@texpat.com&KRD_RM=0gjhninpgogggggggggglklnmg|m+r+|Y Bobcats to deal for pair of Clippers Future 2nd-round picks traded for big man Ely, guard House RICK BONNELL Staff Writer The Charlotte Bobcats and Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to a trade that will bring Melvin Ely and Eddie House to Charlotte, the Observer has learned. The deal, which couldn't be consummated before today's end of the NBA signing moratorium, sends a big man (Ely) and a point guard (House) to the new franchise. In return, the Clippers get future second-round picks and additional salary-cap room to pursue free agents such as Kobe Bryant. Ely will make about $1.7 million this season and House $825,000, and neither has a contract guarantee for the following season. That's important because the Bobcats want to maximize their own cap flexibility for the summers of 2005 and 2006. The Bobcats' only long-term obligations will be three-season contracts for first-round pick Emeka Okafor and for Jason Hart, whose signing is anticpated today. Though neither Ely nor House has done much in the NBA, both should help the Bobcats. Ely will join a rotation of at least five big men, along with Okafor, Jahidi White, Jamal Sampson and Primoz Brezec. At worst, House can be a backup point guard, a position where the Bobcats need help. A 6-foot-10 forward-center, Ely was chosen 12th overall from Fresno State by the Clippers in 2002, but he's played little because of that team's overload at power forward. He played behind former top-10 picks Elton Brand and Chris Wilcox last season, averaging 12.1 minutes, 3.7 points and 2.4 rebounds a game. The Clippers' logjam at power forward was a factor in their trading the No. 2 pick to the Bobcats last month. The top two players in the draft, Dwight Howard and Okafor, were both power forwards, and the Clippers instead wanted point guard Shaun Livingston, whom they got with the No. 4 pick. Ely lobbied the Clippers to make him available in the expansion draft. In April, he told the Los Angeles Times: "I just want to play, so if that means going to another team, that's what I want to do. Obviously I'm not a fit here." The Clippers didn't leave Ely unprotected, instead unloading the contract of Predrag Drobnjak as part of the deal that allowed Charlotte to draft Okafor. The Clippers have been generally considered the Lakers' toughest competition to sign Bryant, since he'd prefer to continue living in Southern California. Dropping Drobnjak, Ely and House without taking back guaranteed contracts allows the Clippers to clear about $5 million in additional cap space. They can offer Bryant a deal worth approximately $100 million over six years, the Associated Press reported. House has played four NBA seasons, three with the Miami Heat. He's not so much a playmaker as a long-range shooter with a 34 percent career average from three-point range. But at 6-foot-1, House, a former Arizona State star, has had to adapt to the point to be an NBA player.
Bobs also add Hart, the FA who beat out the Heisman Trophy winner: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/basketball/nba/charlotte_bobcats/9148652.htm Bobcats, Hart reach agreement Free-agent Jason Hart has come to terms with the Charlotte Bobcats on a deal that could make him the team's first starting point guard. Hart's agent, Bill Neff, said the deal came together quickly Tuesday, after Hart visited the team. Neff said the chance for extensive playing time was key to Hart's decision. "From the moment that Bernie (Bickerstaff, the Bobcats coach/general manager) expressed interest, it was love at first sight," Neff said. "He turned down more money from another team for the potential to start in Charlotte." Neff declined to provide contract details, but a source close to the situation said Hart would get a three-year contract starting at about $1.5 million next season. Hart will have the option to terminate the contract after the 2005-06 season. Hart spent the past two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, as a backup to Tony Parker. He averaged 12 minutes, 3.2 points and 1.5 assists a game last season, starting five games.
Ford: Who's left? And who's still shopping? Insider's Chad Ford takes a ... Ford: Free agent watch http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&id=1839455 Clips scrambling to make room for Kobe By Chad Ford ESPN Insider Midnight came and went Tuesday, and Kobe Bryant remained uncommitted to anyone but himself. Kenyon Martin, meanwhile, was holding a $23.5 million lottery ticket. The Pistons and Rasheed Wallace were inching toward an agreement (despite earlier reports elsewhere that they already had agreed). The nefarious Carlos Boozer quietly signed his six-year, $68 million offer sheet with the Jazz. But the two most important players in the news were Melvin Ely and Eddie House, hurriedly traded from the Clippers to the Bobcats once the NBA's salary cap was set a few million dollars lower than anticipated. Here's a quick look at what did (and didn't) go down as Tuesday rolled into Wednesday ... Kobe a Clipper? Neither the Lakers nor the Clippers announced the signing of Kobe Bryant last night. However a small, seemingly meaningless trade raised more than a few eyebrows among folks searching for signs of which way Kobe might be leaning. The Clippers quietly agreed to trade forward Melvin Ely and guard Eddie House to the expansion Charlotte Bobcats for future second-round draft picks last night. Insider reported earlier Tuesday that, given the lower than expected salary cap, the Clippers would have to move Ely and House's salaries to get far enough under the cap to offer Bryant a six-year, $106.3 million deal -- the most any team (other than the Lakers) can offer. The fact they did it so quickly has to make you wonder -- do they know something we don't? Neither Ely nor House were essential players for the Clippers, meaning the team could be moving them just as a precaution. What's the real loss here? But look at it this way: Ely is a former lottery pick who stands 6-foot-11 and can play center; you have to believe he could bring a lot more on the open market than a second-round pick. Did the Clippers need to unload Ely and House in a hurry? There is only one free agent who could command more than the $11.6 million in cap room the team already had. There were other signs early Wednesday that the Clippers could be close to landing Kobe. Two league sources, one affiliated with the Clips, claimed to be confident, after Monday night's tryst with Kobe, that the team was the favorite to land him. Two, another league source was very confident the Clippers weren't going to match the Suns' offer sheet to Quentin Richardson. Given the smaller-than-expected salary cap, the Suns aren't going to be able to offer much more than the mid-level to Richardson. Why wouldn't the Clippers match? Unless, perhaps, Kobe would be taking up L.A.'s cap room ... Unfortunately, all we have now are signs and speculation. Kobe is not talking, and his agent declined comment Tuesday night. The Clippers aren't talking, nor are the Lakers, who also are privately confident Kobe will pick them. And despite all those signs, you've got to believe that all the Lakers' maneuverings and contortions to keep Kobe have them in the lead. There's also the little issue of money -- the Lakers can offer an additional year and $30 million more in guaranteed money than can their Staples Center rival. What happened to the Shaq trade Did the Shaq-to-Miami deal really hit a snag? According to sources, all of the commotion Tuesday night about Lamar Odom's trade kicker is pretty trivial. He's due $7.5 million in a lump sum once he's traded. Every NBA team has access to every NBA player's contract, and given how common trade kickers are these days, it's just not a show-stopper. The Heat can kick in $3 million to cover some of the cost. They'll sell that in season tickets in the first five minutes the minute Shaq comes aboard, if they haven't already. Both teams were progressing toward making an announcement on the trade as early as today. However, there is an interesting conspiracy theory floating around the league. Did the Lakers leak the "news" of the Odom trade kicker in an effort to stall the deal long enough to see what Kobe plans to do? Obviously the Heat-Shaq trade makes much less sense if Kobe leaves the Lakers. We had all assumed it was Kobe, wearing his GM hat, who lobbied for, and approved, the Shaq trade to Miami. But with owner Jerry Buss claiming he didn't consult Kobe on the trade, maybe we all assumed incorrectly that Kobe was on board. If Buss didn't talk to Kobe first, he's crazier than Shaq and Kobe combined. Boozer signs with Utah Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor slept like a baby Tuesday night. League sources told Insider that Boozer was in Utah on Tuesday night and officially signed the Jazz's six-year, $68 million offer sheet. With all the rhetoric flying around the Boozer situation, there had been some concern he could change his mind and head back to Cleveland. Now that he has signed the offer, the Cavs have until July 29 to match it. Will they? Sources in Cleveland say it's very unlikely. Owner Gordon Gund and GM Jim Paxson made a late push to convince Boozer to stay but seem resigned to the fact he's gone. A statement claiming the team has moved on could come as early as Wednesday. Kenyon's $15 million bonus Sign-and-trade talks between the Nuggets and Nets broke down Tuesday afternoon, and Denver essentially was forced to take it's "last resort" position -- sign Kenyon Martin to an offer sheet. It came as no surprise their offer was front-loaded with a $15 million signing bonus. The Nuggets offered a similar bonus to Andre Miller last year in an effort to discourage the Clippers from matching. Kiki Vandeweghe has been stressing for days that if the Nuggets made an offer, they'd try to make it as difficult as possible for the Nets to match. With that said, Nuggets sources believe New Jersey is going to match the offer -- $15 million signing bonus or not. Believe it or not, Martin's cap number is unaffected by the bonus. Signing bonuses are pretty rare in the NBA, and they're fairly complicated to figure. Essentially NBA teams are allowed to give a player a one-time signing bonus of up to 25 percent of the total value of the contract. How did the Nuggets figure that into their offer to Martin? The maximum Martin can make on a six-year contract is $82.3 million. If there was no bonus, he could have a starting salary of up to $10.97 million next year. For simplicity's sake, let's just round up to $11 million. Factoring in the pro-rated portion of the the $15 million bonus ($2.5 million per year) however, reduces the actual salary figure to $8.5 million. Here's how the numbers would break down for cap purposes: Year 1: $8.5 million + $2.5 million = $11 million cap number Year 2: $9.35 million + $2.5 million = $11.85 million Year 3: $10.15 million + $2.5 million = $12.55 million Year 4: $10.9 million + $2.5 million = $13.4 million Year 5: $11.75 million + $2.5 million = $14.25 million Year 6: $12.6 million + $2.5 million = $15.1 million The downside of bonuses is that the total contract actually comes out a little lower than the max contract Martin could get without a signing bonus. In this example, Martin's deal is actually six years for $78.1 million. Why? Because the 10 percent annual increases are based only on the first-year salary. If that number is $8.5 million, he gets an $850,000 raise each year. Had Martin chosen to forego the bonus, his first-year salary would've been roughly $11 million, making the annual raises $1.1 million and bringing the total value to $82.3 million over six years. The trade off for Martin in taking a $78.1 million deal over an $82.3 million deal? While the bonus is pro-rated for cap purposes over six years, Martin gets the entire $15 million up front. That makes his total first-year compensation $23.5 million -- $8.5 million starting salary plus the $15 million bonus. In year two, however, Nets owner Bruce Ratner will owe Martin only $9.35 million. If a team can absorb the huge, up-front bonus payment, it actually saves money in year two and beyond. Nets GM Rod Thorn took a hard line in trade negotiations, indicating to the Nuggets he wasn't giving up Marting for nothing or very little in return. So why did the Nuggets sign Martin? Because he had an offer on the table from Atlanta, and they had to promise him they would make one, also, to get him to pass on Atlanta's bid. If Carlos Boozer or Rob Pelinka was running the Nuggets, they might have run for the hills, but the Nuggets chose to honor their commitment. Unfortunately for Denver, if the Nets do match K-Mart's offer, they won't do it before July 29. By then, all of the other top free agents will be off the market and the Nuggets will be forced to either stand pat for a year or try to add players via trades. Pistons, Sheed still talking Media reports Tuesday claiming Rasheed Wallace already had agreed to a contract with the Pistons were inaccurate. The two sides are still negotiating, but they haven't come to a deal yet. What's the hold-up? With salaries rising exponentially over the past two weeks, the Pistons had to revise their offer to 'Sheed to it more in line with what the open market has been dictating. Pistons sources claim they're "close" to a deal and are confident something will be done shortly.
That trade is one I've been expecting to happen since the expansion draft. It's a huge boost for the Cats, and that certainly makes me wonder if Kobe gave the Clips a nod and a wink. VERY interesting. I'll say this, if I'm Kobe and I'm looking at these two teams, regardless of past history, I go with Clips. The package from the Heat was anything if complimentary to Kobe. Two 3s and a 4? How does this fill the huge hole at center? Maybe if Kupchak can swing a S&T deal for Dampier it'll be different, but right now the roster looks bad. Cook/(Grant) Grant/Walton? Odom/Butler/George/(Fox?) Kobe/Rush Payton? Fisher? vs Kaman/Wilcox/Zhizhi Brand/Wilcox Maggette Kobe/QR? Jaric/Dooling? Evan
Proof once again that the Clippers are the worst run team in the NBA. Ely was the #12 overall pick a couple of years ago, and now he's 2nd round trade bait? Are they that desperate to get under the cap again?
If they end up with Kobe because of this, would you still say that? If they waited to do this deal until Kobe indicated he'd sign, it shows a smart managment that wouldn't pull crazy moves just on a wing and a prayer (Lakers). Where Kobe goes will define the value of this trade for LAC. Evan
That sucks that the Rockets couldn't pick up Ely or House for a little bit of the TE. Of course, I'm sure the Clipps would rather have second rounders from Charlotte than from Houston. And, if they're giving away guys for peanuts, I'm sure they'd rather send them to the other conference.
Wang is not with Clippers any more. QR won't be there if Kobe signs. They have no cap room left. That Clipper roster with Kobe does look pretty good.
Chopping a couple of million bucks off the payroll is a big deal for the Clippers. Remember who owns them...
