Rockets will hold DMo to contract

Is BJ the worst "agent" in sports history? Im almost positive he was unaware of the rules about matching the incentives of the offer sheet.

There is no way he gets new clients after this...

 

Seam?

 

yall fools are creative

 

Sorry, no link. I picked up the notion that 2/5 of the incentives were almost unattainable by reading it somewhere on this board (too many damn threads!). The info might have been Coon or one of those connected experts.

 

I know something the Rockets can offer D-Mo that the Nets can't....

Playoff Checks.
And playoff experience.

C'mon D-Mo. Aren't you even a little bit curious what it's like to play in a playoff game? That's still a big unchecked box for you.

 

He played last year against the Warriors. Lol
But agree on the playoffs check front.

 

I'll bet you Elvis Dumervil's former agent Marty Magid is happy to hear about all of this, because BJ Armstrong has now replaced him as the worst agent of all time. Magid is the guy who didn't fax Dumervil's letter of intent to resign with Denver on time awhile back.

 

This is hilarious. Absolutely hilarious. Get rekt DMO and BJ. Dmo's only option is to fire his agent to throw him under the bus. Has to happen. Smart move by Morey, of course.

 

Well that's not entirely his fault. McHale going with TJones against Portland, and last year he played, but it was just a mess.

 

whoops. you're right.

 

So is there any chance DMo is playing this year or no more?

 

He is definitely playing this year.

In fact I just saw him yesterday playing,

in Dave and Busters.

 

Glad to see him in shape at least.

 

I'm getting something like $793K / yr in NY state income taxes off $9.25M / year. Is that right? Or are they taxed per state per game that's being played in that state?

 

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Spoiler: [ESPN Insider article] Kevin Pelton / Larry Coon

What's going on with Donatas Motiejunas and Houston Rockets? - Larry Coon and Kevin Pelton
by Kevin Pelton & Larry Coon

Donatas Motiejunas and the Houston Rockets are at an impasse. After the Rockets matched the Brooklyn Nets' rare in-season offer sheet to the restricted free agent, Motiejunas has opted not to report for the physical necessary to complete his signing.

Why are Motiejunas and his agent, former NBA player B.J. Armstrong, so unhappy with Houston's matching the contract? And how might the situation play out?

NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) FAQ author Larry Coon and Insider's Kevin Pelton help provide answers to your questions.

How'd we get here?
Pelton: As ESPN's Calvin Watkins reported, the contention between Motiejunas and the Rockets stems from $6 million in bonuses that were part of Brooklyn's offer but don't have to be matched by Houston because they're not part of the "principal terms" of the offer sheet. Why does the CBA make this distinction?

Coon: There's always been a tug-of-war between players wanting more freedom of movement and teams wanting stability and the ability to retain star talent. Restricted free agency is part of the compromise between those two competing positions.

Players who have been in the league for a while get more freedom of movement -- unrestricted free agency. Players who are coming off their rookie deals, and players who have been in the league for three years or less, are subject to restricted free agency. They can go negotiate whatever contract they can, but their old team gets the first shot at keeping them. If that team matches the contract the player signs with any other team, it gets to keep him under those terms.

As with everything else, the devil's in the details. The first problem you come to is with incentives. A bottom-dwelling team might try to sign a restricted free agent with an incentive that pays the player extra money if the team wins 50 games. That team's not winning 50 games this season, so what does it care?

But the matching team cares -- if it wins 50 games, it'll have to give the player the money. So the league levels the playing field by making the player's old team match just the principal terms of the contract. The principal terms include things like years, salaries, guarantees, etc., but they don't include incentive compensation unless they are based on league honors (such as making the All-Star team) or are classified as "likely" bonuses for both teams.

Here's where we get into trouble with D-Mo. The Nets included incentives in their offer that weren't considered likely for both teams. This meant that Houston wasn't responsible for matching those terms. D-Mo's contract with the Rockets is effectively smaller than what in theory should have been the same contract he signed with Brooklyn. I can see why he's upset, but them's the rules.

Pelton: I can see why he's upset too, but I guess I don't understand quite how we got in this position. Armstrong and the Nets knew the rules going in, so why would they include incentives that made the contract more lucrative for Brooklyn than Houston? Isn't that the opposite of what you'd want to do in an offer sheet you're hoping won't be matched?

Coon: You're right. In a typical offer sheet, the signing team does everything it can to make matching a bitter pill to swallow, but in this case the Nets went the other way and made it easier for the Rockets.

Maybe there's some facet of this that I'm not considering, but I can't help but think that Armstrong blew it. He negotiated an offer sheet that that screams "match me," but pays D-Mo less if it's matched.

What's next?
Pelton: OK, so now that Motiejunas has decided not to report for his physical, what are Houston's options?

Coon: If a player doesn't report for a physical under this situation, the matching team still holds all the cards. It can simply wait the player out -- he can't play for anyone else in the meantime, including the team that signed him to the offer sheet. Or, it can withdraw its match. If this happens, the player goes back to being a restricted free agent, except he can no longer sign with the team that signed him to the offer sheet.

In that case, it would mean some other team would have to pony up an offer if Motiejunas is going to play this year. I don't think that's very likely -- only a couple teams have enough cap room to sign him, and they all know that an offer has to be bigger than Brooklyn's to have any chance of getting past the Rockets.

D-Mo would have until March 1 to sign an offer sheet with another team, or until the end of the regular season to sign with the Rockets. If he doesn't sign, Houston can simply give him another qualifying offer next summer, and he's right back in the same boat as a restricted free agent.

It's important to note that the rules are written the way they are in order to protect the spirit and intent of restricted free agency. It's a system that was agreed to by the league and the union, and the rules are spelled out the way they are to protect the system. A player can't decide on his own that he doesn't like the terms and conditions that the players collectively agreed to.

Pelton: All right, so now that you've outlined the Rockets' options, what would you do if you were in Daryl Morey's shoes?

Coon: I have mixed feelings on this one. First of all, these are the rules to which the players agreed, and they protect the spirit and intent of that agreement. We can't let players and agents decide that the rules don't apply to them when they don't like the outcome. So from that perspective, I'm for Morey saying, "Ball's in your court, D-Mo."

On the other hand, Morey is trying to win games, so if there's a reasonable compromise that gets Motiejunas on the team, maybe they seek one out. Principles and results are in conflict on this one.

Pelton: Withdrawing the match doesn't seem to make much sense for Houston right now. Now that we know the Rockets owe Motiejunas a maximum of $31 million over the next four years, this looks like a team-friendly contract, so if he decides to report for his physical that's great for Houston. In the meantime, the Rockets seem to be getting along just fine without Motiejunas. So unless they suffer severe injuries in the frontcourt, I don't see him gaining much leverage.

The only way I see Houston losing this standoff is if Motiejunas decides to report in late February, in which case he'd be credited with a full season played but the Rockets wouldn't get the benefit of his services for nearly a full season. That would be particularly problematic because Houston has to decide by that same March 1 date whether to waive Motiejunas before his 2017-18 salary becomes guaranteed.

If Motiejunas wants to negotiate a new deal that includes a later 2017-18 guarantee, as Watkins suggests the Rockets would like, I could see that happening. Otherwise, we're probably headed for a lengthy standoff.

 

Worth noting that DMo WAS on the official list of Rockets players that MDA signed off on before the Lakers game. He wasn't active, but he was definitely on the list.

I'll try to dig up the tweet showing this

Edit: Not the one I had in mind, but this is something

 

BJ has already thrown Dmo under the bus, smeared his name and about to ruin Dmo's career. Dmo better look out for himself cause his agent isn't getting the job done.

 

From what I recall during the Dwight sweepstakes, it's based upon where the game is played.

 

taxes in the state you played the game in I believe.