ESPN: Donatas Motiejunas won't report to Rockets cause of $6M difference

Fixed it for you.

 

I don't blame D-Mo ONE BIT for throwing a fit at the stupid chess game between agent and GM that's costing himself millions.

You finally get your sweet deal signed after months, then a big chunk gets yanked out.D-Mo is a culprit yes, and a bit victim of circumstances too.

 

I feel bad for DMO even if I'm supremely annoyed with what's going on. He trusted BJ to know this stuff. This makes DMO look bad. It's DMO holding out not BJ. DMO suffering for BJ incompetence and Morey's understandable shrewdness.

 

Ugh. I respect you fins. But you're not getting it either. BJ has found a seam in the CBA and he's playing it. This offer sheet with the incentives and the staggered guarantee dates is classic genius. This will be a landmark case and may even keep the players union from ratifying the new CBA if restricted free agency is not better defined to prevent the teams from manipulating restricted free agents. I'm anxiously waiting to see the changes to the new CBA especially those covering RFA. You need to study what is happening here and consider what I'm saying.

 

Let this be a lesson to DMO: Know the rules.

 

Rockets would be dumb to match an incentive that will pay him more for making the playoffs.

And @basketballholic Rockets have the leverage. This is basically an NBA player being "locked out". Can't get paid. Except he's the only one. The offer expiring on March 1st doesn't work out well for Dmo either since its after the trade deadline. The Nets can't make him another offer and there is no guarantee that by March 1st Utah will still be interested or need him. Teams aren't going to NOT make a deal come the deadline because they think Dmo will be joining their team after March with no guarantee Rockets don't match. Teams still have concerns about his health, obviously. There is no way in hell Dmo is getting $12- 15 million. That is insane.

The Rockets should not match those incentives. Morey shouldn't be criticized and punished for being smart.

 

Not sure if the deadline is determined by Dmo or Rockets but rather the CBA.

 

It's $6m. And $2m are Unlikely Incentives. They are either "Generally Recognized League Honors" which DMo has never come close to getting, or Team Performance that the league deems Unlikely.

So, really the literally "Likely" number is $4m.

 

Ok so to try to wrap things up. The issue seems to be with the incentive base bonuses that are deemed outside of the 'principle terms' per the CBA. Roughly $6MM.

Seems to me that one of two things happened.
1) BJ Armstrong was not aware of the rules and thought if the rockets match, they have to match the incentives.
2) BJ knew the rules but just expected the rockets to match the Nets incentives package.

Not sure which option is more stupid. Either way, DMo should replace him with a competent agent so that he can have a reasonable discussion with the front office about incentives. Not sure what he gains from holding out.

Please let me know if I'm missing something.

 

Fire your agent and sue for malpractice, report to the Rockets and play hard to show you are still a good basketball player on a good team - these are your best options right now DMO. We want you to succeed. You are acting in the worst possible way right now.

 

what's more puzzling is that even if Armstrong missed these details, presumably the agency he heads has at least one in-house attorney who specializes in contracts who should have caught the problems with the incentives. Truly a mess all the way around.

 

Dangg.. this Dmo drama is getting to errbody.. Now we got guys asking other guys out on dates. What is happening here!?

 

Confirmedddddddd! Bobbythegreat is in fact NOT bbhollic or jopat!!! Praise the lord!!!#makebobbygreatagain

 

If I'm the Rockets, I'm not budging. They hold all the leverage here. So what if the agent is willing to accept new offers? Who cares? DMo signed the damn thing and now it's binding. Accept all the new offers you want but it won't change a thing. I hope Morey does not budge here.

 

At the end of the day, it's D-Mo's decision on which agent he chooses to represent him - that's on D-Mo. He took horrible advice from BJ to reject the qualifying ($4.4 mil), and reject the $7 mil offer, and now after signing a deal, not showing up?

Cant blame Morey/Rox for playing chess against a scrub who thinks he's playing shoots n' ladders.

 

Looks like another misguided person put their trust in BJ too.

 

Man, if Dmo gets this deal done and he is not an impact player he is going to get roasted.

 

Yesterday I wrote that as a typo, and you asked me if it was a true statement. And I said no, it was a typo. And now you're using that as a true statement?

Keep in mind, many incentives MUST be matched. So, you're not really "honoring" something the your are must do. We are talking about ones that don't have to be matched.

Do you have any historical info about that or new confirmation from the media or something that you can share? I'm interested in knowing how often incentives are matched *when* they don't have to be?

 

Well, I was wrong. @DaDakota was right. He speculated this was the case yesterday.

Here's to hoping we settle on $3 million and get the damn deal done.