Expansion Draft

The eligible players must have gained at least 20 pounds over the last 24 months. I know that sounds bizarre, but they don't call it expansion for nothing.

So...
Vin Baker would be available.
Shaq actually would have been available last year! (That's one reason the Lakers were so ticked off about his weight).
Shawn Keep changed teams twice through this process when he gained so much weight.

 

Every team picks 8 players which they wish to retain. Everyone else is fair game.

That being the case, it's technically impossible to compile a list of available players right now. All you can do is make educated guesses about who each team will retain.

 

There are other rules than the 8 man thing. For example, every team MUST have a player available. In other words, even if a team only has 7 guys signed, they have to leave one of those 7 exposed.

 

Also IIRC, the list can only include players with 2004-2005 contracts. IOW, if the Rockets only had 7 contracts (they don't it's an "if") they could not use Glen Rice as an unprotected since his Rox contract would have expired pre-2004 season.

My memory also serves me that the Charlotte team is only allowed a salary cap of $30M for year 1. That's not much for a 10-12 man roster. Barring any early trades, it will be a "hard" cap since they have no Bird Rights.

If I were the Rockets, I would not protect Cato or MoT. There is no way Charlotte will tie up nearly 25% of their cap in 1 player.

 

The Rockets had the following players on their roster last season:

Kelvin Cato, Jason Collier, Steve Francis, Eddie Griffin, Juaquin Hawkins, Tito Maddox, Yao Ming, Cuttino Mobley, Terence Morris, Bostjean Nachbar, Moochie Norris, James Posey, Glen Rice, Maurice Taylor.

Of these players, the Rockets could designate 8 of them as "protected". An expansion team could then have their choice of any of the "unprotected" players.

eg.
Protected: Francis, Griffin, Yao, Mobley, Nachbar, Posey, Hawkins, Rice.
Available: Cato, Collier, Maddox, Morris, Norris, Taylor.

You would protect people that you do not want to lose because of their abilities (Francis, Yao, Mobley) or their contract (Rice).

Hope that helps Cpt. Oink

 

Every team sends in a list of 8 players they want to "protect" or, not expose to the expansion draft.

Let's say the rockets choose to protect Francis, Mobes, Yao, MoTay, Cato, Eddie Griff, Nachbar, Pike.

That would leave Mooch, Adrian Griff and other crap "unprotected" or, exposed to the expansion draft.

Most likely if the Bobcat's would pick a player off the rockets, the rockets would have the option of protecting the remaining unprotected players if they so chose.

Say the bobcats decide to select Moochie ( ). The rocks could say, "kay, we'll keep adrian griff then".

 

Disagree, Gater. Having gone through this with the Raptors I can tell you that if someone like Cato was available the expansion team would draft him...and trade him. The Raps 1st ever pick was B.J. Armstrong, who commanded more salary than the Raps could afford to pay for him, but who was a recognized commodity which they already had a trade worked out for come draft night.

 

MacBeth -
With this, you are directly equating BJ and Cato and calling Cato a "recognized commodity". No offense but IMO that's a stretch. But beyond pointlessly debating Cato's value with you I must ask this.

When the Raptors came into the league, did they also have the severity of $12+m less cap room than the other teams? I think not because 1) I have bever heard this anywhere and 2) it was the old CBA (which had O'Neal, Garnet, Malone, Juwon and Mourning among others) making absurdly escalating amounts of money. If the Raptors had the same cap $ as the other NBA teams, then Cato's value is an apples and oranges comparison with Charlotte's.

But beyond the aforementioned, part of the actual answer is embedded in whether or not Cato's last season was a fluke or a trend (and how well he responds to that MF JVG ). And we'll all know that well in advance of the time to protect the Elite 8.

 

You've made this point in this past and I am glad that you keep reinforcing it. I wholeheartedly agree.

Cato has never proven to be a quality starter (2-3 seasons). Cato has proven he is a quality backup at less than 20 mins (1 season). One season as a quality backup does not offset his 2-3 seasons as an average/below average starter nor does it. If this is true (which I believe it is), then another team that wishes to aquire Cato is taking a gamble by having him start and hoping that, as a starter, he earns his starter like contract.

In the end, its not a given that Cato would be "one of the best starting Cs in the East" (popular BBS phrase).

 

I disagree with you gater. Teams may not be wanting to give up a whole lot for Cato, but I'm sure there would be some willing to at least offer up a 1st rounder + expiring contracts. Maybe more.

And Toronto and Vancouver both had a 19 million dollar cap because they were expansion teams.

 

They were also forbidden from having the first overall pick for a number of years. Not sure if that's the case for Charlotte.

 

Off topic, do we have to prefix "JVG" with "MF" from now on?

 

why not? since charlotte as an expansion team, not a relocating team, this rule will work! so no 1st overall picks for atleast 4 years!

 

Guys, I just don't see it the way the rest of you do. There are going to be players like Austin Croshere and Danny Fortson left unprotected...if taking on a big contract to trade the player is the goal, there will be many players available with superior talent. But don't take my word for it. Here's something from the Charlotte Observer:

"Bobcats executive vice president Ed Tapscott said the new team can't afford to be so loaded down with veteran contracts that it has no room to sign free agents in seasons 2, 3 and 4.

"We do not get a pass on cap management just because we're new," Tapscott said.

Tapscott won't be the Bobcats' day-to-day head of basketball operations, but he will be involved in basketball decisions. He said each player available in the expansion draft must be evaluated not just on ability, but also on that player's salary contract length. Bobcats owner Bob Johnson also has made character a key factor in choosing the team's roster."

And later from the same article:

"If the Bobcats choose to be frugal in the expansion draft, they can - particularly if a large number of restricted free agents are left unprotected. If the Bobcats draft a restricted free agent (a player whose team can match any other team's offer for him), that player immediately becomes an unrestricted free agent.

So the Bobcats could draft a handful of restricted free agents simply to eat up some of the minimum 14 selections in the expansion draft, without adding to their payroll."


Now before you arm wrestle with me, read the entire article. The Bobcats have many more options available to them than past expansion teams (not the least of which is they are the only expansion drafter). Personally, I just don't see them desiring to even mess with a Cato type situation.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/basketball/nba/charlotte_bobcats/6143689.htm

 

There wouldn't be many(if at all) centers available with superior talent. Croshere and Fortson have been on the block forever and no one has touched them. The Bobcats might pick them up, but it wouldn't be to trade them as there is no market for them.


Now before you arm wrestle with me, read the entire article. The Bobcats have many more options available to them than past expansion teams (not the least of which is they are the only expansion drafter). Personally, I just don't seem them desiring to even mess with a Cato type situation.

Read the article, and the rfa bit is very interesting. I'll have to look up who will be a rfa that year to see their options. But I digress, I still don't see how this proves your point. If you are saying that they wouldn't draft him to play for them, yes, I agree. But if you're saying there's no chance they would draft him? Nuh uh. If they're smart they would get on the phonelines and work a team like Dallas, NY, whoever. Ask for a draft pick and a sizeable expiring contract and Cha would draft Cato to trade. Just another option for them that I could very well see happening. Think Dallas wouldin't give up their 1st ronder, Mills, and Najera for Cato? Think the bobcats would give a crap about tying up a chunk of capspace for a year in which they do nothing? But of course they only draft him if they have a wink-wink deal in place, not to hold onto him to showcase for trades, thats just stupid.

 

Crisco -
And there is a market for Cato? Why haven't we dealt him for a starting SF? You can't have it both ways - if Charlotte can deal him that easily, why haven't we? We could find a quality backup C for less $ than we pay him.

The following "big's" will be RFA's or UFA's next summer:

Mark Blount / Loren Woods / Samaki Walker / Dalibar Bagaric / Bruno Sundov / Zelijko Rebraca / Jeff Foster / Sean Rooks / Ken Johnson / Greg Oestertag / Keon Clark / Peja Drobnjak

In addition, the following players have 2004-05 contracts but are dangerously close to the #8 bump spot on their respective teams - Elden Campbell, Joel Pryzbilla, Shawn Bradley and Lo Wright.

If you want to believe that Kelvin Cato will be the best value among next summer's unprotected bigs, we will just have to agree to disagee.