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

LOL...I viewed that as a 100% win, virtually a no way to lose bet. I just wanted him to stop posting until the playoffs. But I knew he wouldn't take the offer.

 

Pay me what you owe me.

 

Huh?

 

If these asshats want incentives, let's give them some. Ten million. One mil for MVP, one for FMVP, one to avg. a trip dub, etc etc.

 

So these are just calculated moves from BJ. Brilliant.
This will be a landmark case for exposing an agent falling asleep when the deal was signed.

 

BBH - There is no seam here. All of the CBA experts have chimed in and found BJ/Wasserman guilty.

Wasserman is probably trying to cover its hide with DMo and the players now. They stand to lose more than even DMo himself. Think about it - if BJ got this wrong on a technical detail, the very reason you hire a professional consultant, then this has the potential to shred their credibility among players.

I work in what I will broadly call "high finance". You can bet our clients hold us to insanely high standards, and when we fall short, we get fired. Thankfully we've never been sued. Our reputation is everything, and if we lost it, it wouldn't be just one client at stake.

I enjoy a lot of your posts BBH, but I think you're plain wrong on this one.

 

Gett'rr done Morey.

 

Keep in mind, it is literally only $4m in "Likely" bonuses. Then $2m is "Unlikely" to achieve. Those are likely Generally Recognized League Honors that are deemed Unlikely for him, or Team Performance that is deemed "Unlikely" by the league.

So, he's fighting over $4m, in all reality. Plus, that's the only cap hit part, anyhow, so Morey probably doesn't care about the $2m, and is more than likely offering to put that back in.

 

Wait - are bballholic and BJ Armstrong one and the same person?

 

That's the best analogy I've read to date.

 

BJ is dumb as ****. If we ever come to terms with Dmo, i hope Rockets, Morey, Dmo hold a press conference where BJ is invited so he can own up to his mishandling of Dmo's entire RFA situation.

 

How's this for an incentive?
Come to work or don't get payed this year.

 

Will joine wih beer.

 

That is some real weird situation-twisting right there.

It is clear that BJ Armstrong didn't realize the incentives as the Nets structured it do not need to be matched. Once he realized this he panicked and told DMo to hold out. Rockets are simply doing what they are entitled to do under the CBA. DMo has so much more to lose than the Rockets here.

As far as "losing DMo as an asset", ignoring the fact that DMo may or may not be good, players switch teams all the time. Did Morey lose Howard "as an asset for nothing" this summer? No, he gained cap space to sign other players and allowed Capela to develop into a bigger role. Same concept if DMo ends up walking and his contracts come off the books.

 

BJ is playing 7373884d chess and Morey is playing checkers.

Btw I'm BBH's 7th account

 

Since this error appears to be on BJ's part and DMo is at risk of losing out on significant salary, could BJ be sued for damages? Do sports agents usually carry errors and omissions insurance coverage?

 

I really can't tell who is the biggest ass is in this scenario. I think naturally we side with our team against D-Mo, but Morey has been known to be cut-throat and could easily be doing D-Mo dirty based on how the rules work. I don't mind it - Morey is an asset maximizer and will do anything in his power to work the rules to gain an edge - yet the flip side of that is players feel like assets and walk away unhappy. We saw this with K-Mart and Dragic, and this is just one of the drawbacks of using such an analytical approach (for the record, I think the pro's of Morey's approach far outway the cons).

Players are expected to be loyal even though the teams they pledge their 'loyalty' too often screw them when they outlive their usefulness, so I kind of see where D-Mo is coming from. That being said, sitting out is definitely not helping his career, and Armstrong seems like a prototypical headass.

 

That seems very doubtful. I see what you're saying, its a compromise of guaranteed money this year and possible money next year. ("You get your $8mil this year, we'll give you $5mil more guaranteed, just move that date forward, win-win: Deal?")

I just don't see how Morey is even close to approaching it at that price point, unless its some front loaded contract with lesser option years heads (if that's permissable). Morey only offered $7mil first year, Nets only offered $8 and with around $16 mil guaranteed in 1st two years.

How does it spike up to $12 and $15 for one year then? (And D-Mo could get let go this summer and still pocket more money as an unrestricted free agent?) Morey does NOT have to honor the March 1st trigger date for next season salary, so its not some weight hanging on his neck that requires $5-8mil more to get out of. He can just waive him in January for $5mil and say get out of here

 

Yeah exactly what I'm thinking. Now its kind of a power play by Morey, "we will match and even exceed the $6m in incentives but we want the added flexibility of that trigger date to be in July."

I'll be interested if a report from feigen or stein doesn't come out in a matter of time that says something along the lines of "rockets willing to match $6m incentives + in order to bring dmo back, but still waiting on physical, which dmo and agent are refusing"

Negotiating thru the media, where it continues to paint dmo and bj as villain and rocks as good guys willing to budge in order for deal.

 

BJ is not exploiting a loophole. Skipping the physical is not a loophole that the player can exploit, because it is a condition subsequent for the benefit of the TEAM, not the player. Therefore, if that condition is not fulfilled, it is in the team's power to determine what to do with the contract, NOT the player. There is no way to see this where BJ is doing his client justice. If the report is true, then BJ should have either written the incentives in a way that once Rockets matched they were included, or at least announced after signing that Dmo hoped the Rockets won't match. As a Rockets fan, the latter scenario would have been a tough pill to swallow, but I couldn't fault Dmo for wanting a chance at earning more money, as remote as that chance may be. The Houston contract and the New Jersey contract aren't the same, and it's his prerogative to prefer one to the other. Either way, BJ badly has screwed Dmo over and if I were Dmo I would not only fire him, but also follow up with an attorney to see if he has any causes of actions against BJ. My guess is probably not, but it's bad enough that it's worth looking.