I know it doen't sound like me but I am trusting Morey on this one!!!! The price for LEWIS is climbing steadily. It was a great move to beat the Seattle Team Reps to the home of Lewis and leave a Rockets Vest "LEWIS" presumably.+Articles on major Basketball Internet sites. Right from the set go, the Sonics and Magic are forced to consider more factors, especially money. Since this first move another 18 teams have contacted Lewis's Manager, again the price goes up. Lewis shouldn't be too happy now that the sonics are grooming his replacement with their new draft selection. Orlando coverts Lewis just as much as the rockets pretend to and will have to give Lewis a BIG pay day and will be reluctant to pay Darco the MLE which Houston will offer him. We then get our young tall athletic Power Forward not a Small Forward pretending to be a Power Forward.
This is all Feigan's fantasy that has nothing to with reality. Darko's qualifying offer is ABOVE the MLE. If Rashard signs for max money with Orlando, this won't keep them from signing Darko to a qualifying offer contract. It may prevent them from matching an offer that is higher than the qualifying offer, however, the MLE is out of the question, unless the Magic rescinds their qualifying offer, which is highly unlikely.
Just having some fun with it. Calm down....and I bet with cash only. I can't sacrifice my membership here. How else would I pass time at work?
I really think he wil go after money. Orlando can offer him about 15-16 millions and his agents said Orlando would be a perfect fit for him. But I also hope that there is small chance that he would sing with Houston
I was all aboard the Lewis bandwagon, wanted him even before the season ended but now am some what hesitant. It's obvious he wants the money, but is he really worth it? He can be a bit soft at times, and a huge liability on the defensive end which can be hurtful in the future and in the playoffs to McGrady. I'd actually prefer Nocioni if we could acquire him for the MLE and some other things, better defensively, great attitude for the game and does everything to win. Also a great offensive player, then that makes Battier expendable for a power forward like David Lee...
I believe that Darko's cap hold is more than what the qualifying offer is. Since he's coming off the fourth year of his rookie contract, and since he made at least the average salary last year, his cap hold on the Magic should be 250% of his previous years salary, which I think was about $5.3MM, giving a cap figure of $13.25MM. Since this exceeds the maximum salary of a player with 4 years of service, this reduces to $9MM, still enough to prevent the Magic from offering a max deal to Rashard Lewis as long as Milicic is a restricted free agent. The moment they sign him to a deal, however, his cap figure adjusts to whatever his first year salary is. Therefore, the Magic are in kind of a tough spot. In a perfect world, they can match an MLE contract offered early in free agency, then sign Lewis. However, if the Magic need extra ammo for a bidding war, they might renounce Darko's rights, freeing up his money to make a run at Rashard. However, then they lose the right of first refusal, and likely lose Milicic. It doesn't look like Darko wants to make it easy for the Magic, and probably won't agree to a deal starting at less than the qualifying offer, and will probably sign the QO if he doesn't get a better offer. Michael Olowokandi and Stromile Swift got a MLE deal a year after playing for the qualifying offer, and both were less talented than Darko, so there's little incentive for him to sign a contract smaller than $6.8MM, unless the qualifying offer is recinded to make room for Shard.
