[Feigen] And they’re off: Free agent talks begin for NBA, Rockets, but players still

H-TOWNSFINEST · Nov 30, 2011

From Feigen's Blog:

After five months of waiting for this day, Kevin McHale can keep waiting.

The end is in sight, but the NBA took a step toward sanity by allowing front office personnel to begin talking today with agents. This made sense because there was little doubt that they already were.

They can’t reach agreement, proving that the league is still capable of fooling itself, but they can talk.

The problem for the Rockets would be that teams are still not permitted to talk to players. Forget working with players. They can’t do that either, even when they can open their practice court and training room doors to them tomorrow under the supervision of a trainer. They can’t talk to free agent players as they would in any normal free agent negotiation.

For the Rockets, this could be a tough break. McHale can be very persuasive and could be an especially important part of trying to land a center. If the Rockets were to try to bring in Nene, for example, a major selling point would have to be the opportunity to work with McHale.

Rick Adelman and Jeff Van Gundy were of course a part of the presentations to free agents, but were not as front and center as McHale could have been or Rudy Tomjanovich was. Daryl Morey would of course talk about his new coach, but he would be talking to agents. As with the coaching search itself, McHale is most persuasive in the room, one-on-one.

My thought that the Rockets are unlikely to get the center they want was based on a feeling that someone will offer him the max and the Rockets will not. If the talks must be entirely with agents until Dec. 9, deals are even more likely to be about the contracts.

It makes sense for the NBA to let talks begin. It probably would not mind to have deals done before the doors officially open so that players can be in town to sign contracts and start training camps with their new teammates. Having trades beginning that day could be especially awkward, with players potentially yanked off the practice court to head out of town.

This entire season will be about making the best of a bad situation. The answer to anything from playing three games in three nights to the run up to the start of roster moves will be that it is all better than no season at all. But if McHale had a sale pitch to make, he might have to keep it to himself. It will likely be more important next summer anyway.
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http://blog.chron.com/nba/2011/11/a...nba-rockets-but-players-still-off-limits-but/

dobro1229 · Nov 30, 2011

Good points. Having McHale not being able to give free agents a more personal pitch will def. hurt the process.

But Feigan is right that Nene will not get offered a max deal from the Rockets like other teams might offer, and will not be offered a no trade clause in his deal.

If money is an issue, Houston will not be his first or second option. If its playing on a contending team, Houston is at least not the first option. If its being able to be the focal point of a team with potential, Houston is his #1 option, but your best salesperson cant pitch this to Nene.

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[Feigen] And they’re off: Free agent talks begin for NBA, Rockets, but players still

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