With the offseason looming, I've been thinking about our strategy in negotiations with Cuttino Mobley. Cuttino is coming of a 2 year "minimum" contract of $301,875 (not sure if this is exactly correct, but for the sake of this argument it is close enough). Since he has only been playing for 2 years, he does not qualify for the full bird rights, and as such the Rockets (being over the salary cap) cannot sign him to a maximum contract. The options are: A. Renounce and sign: By renouncing Mobley immediately, he will count nothing towards the salary cap and would potentially give the Rockets the ability to chase other free agents. The Rockets could then sign Mobley after signing other free agents using another exception (most likely the Mid Level exception for $2.25mil). Since the Rockets will be over the cap even if they do renounce Mobley, this option makes little sense, and is unlikely. Also, by renouncing Mobley, the Rockets would not be able to use any Bird contract to re-sign him (see below).(Thanks to heypartner for coming up with this option originally) B. Sign to the Mid Level Exception This would allow the Rockets to sign Cuttino for $2.25 mil. It would allow them to sign him to a one year deal and the use full bird rights the following year. I think this would have to be part of a "gentleman's agreement" that the Rockets would have to honor with a big contract the following year. If Cuttino gets offered bigger bucks elsewhere, he would be crazy to accept a 1 year $2.25mil deal without the guarantee of a full bird contract the following year. C. Sign using the Early Bird Exception This is the most likely option in my view. The Early bird contract allows you to sign a qualifying Free agent to a salary equal to 120% of his previous salary or equal to the "Average NBA salary". As luck would have for Cuttino, and thanks to the new CBA, the average NBA salary in 1999/2000 rose to around $4.2mil. Unlike the Mid Level Exception which is capped at $2.25mil in 2000/2001, an early bird contract is equal to the ACTUAL average salary of the previous year. D. Qualifying offer/Right of first refusal This option is referred to as "Restricted Free Agency" and allows the Rockets to submit an offer to Cuttino (which would have to be in line with the above options). If another team offers Mobley a contract, the Rockets can match it and retain him. HOWEVER, the rockets can only match it up to the levels outlined in the above options. For instance, the Rockets submit a qualifying offer of $4.2mil (see C above) and Orlando in turn offer him $6 mil, the Rockets cannot match it, and Cuttino is free to go. My opinion is that we will see option C. Barring some radical moves in the coming offseason, the Rockets will not be under the cap and not in a position to sign free agents using cap room, so there is no real benefit in pursuing option A. The rockets would probably love to sign Cuttino to option B, as it is only $2.2 mil but I'm thinking that he is worth and will want more money). Option D has little value as well. Unless the Rockets are sure Cuttino is valued at less than $4.2 mil around the league, I don't think they will submit an offer sheet in the hope of using their right of first refusal. That leaves Option C, which works out pretty well for both parties. If they sign a 1 year deal, it will mean that a) Mobley will then qualify for full bird rights after the 2000/2001 season, and b) The rockets can delay signing him in 2001 until after they have pursued other free agents that year and hence leaving some extra cap room free. Of course,the million dollar question is do the Rockets think Mobley is worth $4.2mil?(and since they valued Cato at over $5mil I think Cuttino is a shoe in) If his market value is around $4-5mil, we may, just ,may see him sign a three year early bird contract. ------------------ http://rocketdavo.tripod.com
davo -- Great analysis... have to tab you the on-site salary cap expert. One question though: If we sign Mobley to the "Early Bird" doesn't that contract have to be for a term of 2 years minimum? I thought that was part of the problem ... ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
Yes - sorry guys and thanks Clutch. An early bird must be signed for 2 years. If the Rockets could sign him to a 2 year early bird contract, that would be even better (for the free agent market of 2001). Its just a matter of convincing Cuttino to wait another year for a bigger payout. They may give him a choice of a two year early bird at $4.2mil/year or a 1 year Mid Level at $2.2mil, both followed by potential full bird contracts. ------------------ http://rocketdavo.tripod.com
Davo, I had previously posted my answer to this question ( http://bbs.clutchcity.net/ubb/Forum3/HTML/005886.html ), but I somehow missed the average salary clause in the Early Bird rules. So, I think you're right there, that the Early bird would pay him the most next season. I think it will be up to Mobley if he wants 1 year for $2.25 million or 2 years for $9 million before signing his Bird Contract. Since I don't think he'd get more than, say $6 (or maybe 7, given Les' generosity) million/season, he'd be better of with the Early Bird. One other thing. I think you don't have a clear understanding of the Right of First Refusal (correct me if I'm wrong). It is another exception (like the mid-level) calculated from the player's previous salary that is automatically carved out for the team to sign that player with. I had to go to considerable trouble talking with Mr. Coon about how it works and I detailed the specifics he gave me in the thread I linked to above. Note that the exception is not very big at all in Mobley's case, so it is fairly worthless for us. ------------------
Juan, I had originally missed the "Average Salary" clause as well, and then remembered it when I read an article saying the average salary had increased to over $4mil. As far as the right of first refusal, once again, I was originally under the impression that the team with the "right" would have an exception to match the offer of another team, even If they didn't have the cap room available. However, In Larry Coons latest FAQ, he states the following:- An important thing to note is that the CBA considers this a LIMITED right of first refusal. A team gets an exception necessary to make a qualifying offer, but not to match the terms of a new contract. For example, if a new team signs a restricted free agent to a $9 million offer sheet, it may be impossible for the player's original team to match the offer sheet and keep the player. (from Question 31 of the FAQ) So Larry is saying that you get an exception to make the original (Qualifying)offer, but not to match another teams offer. What isn't clear to me is what exception you get to use on the qualifying offer. I have assumed that it is only one of the existing ones (early bird, mid level etc) ------------------ http://rocketdavo.tripod.com
What isn't clear to me is what exception you get to use on the qualifying offer. I have assumed that it is only one of the existing ones (early bird, mid level etc) I believe that means that the CBA provides a specific exception to allow teams to make qualifying offer to restricted free agents. This is an exception in addition to the ones that you listed. In other words, let's say Mobley's a restricted free agent and the Rockets are over the cap (that's a stretch,huh?). In order to make a qualifying offer to Mobley the Rockets have to offer him either a) 125% of his previous salary or b) the minimum for his experience level + $150K. In this case, the Rockets would be allowed to exceed the cap in order to make the qualifying offer. They wouldn't have to use any of the usual exceptions in order to make the qualifying offer. ------------------ [This message has been edited by aelliott (edited March 20, 2000).]
Thank you Aelliott, that is precisely it. And more succinct than I could have managed. ------------------
I'm still confused. Are you saying that a) the only exception we can use to make a qualifying offer is the 125% of previous salary or the experience level +$150k OR b) You can use either a) above or any other exception (bird mid level etc) if you want. I'm thinking it is b) but just wanted to make sure. Another interesting question is if we restrict Mobley, does that then preclude us from using one of the other exceptions to sign him? ------------------ http://rocketdavo.tripod.com
What is going to make this interesting is if Cat re-signs, if he signs a one or two year deal. Remember Shandon Anderson has an option to be a free agent after his second year, or could play out the three-year contract and have full Bird rights with the Rockets. Either way there's a good chance they'll be free agents at the same time. The Rockets in essence around that time will be paying huge dollars for two of their best players -- who play the same position. ------------------ NOTHING BUT .NET CLUTCHCITY.NET
Davo, that's right. You can resign a ROFR player anyway you want. The ROFR rules do not place any special restrictions on the player or team at all. If you got room under the cap, you can use that; or a mid-level exception, or a million-dollar exception, or early bird, or any other way you would sign a non-Bird player. What it does do is it creates another exception you can opt to use on that player. The exception is only big enough to make a qualifying offer. A qualifying offer here is 125% of his previous salary, or the minimum salary plus $150,000, whichever is greater. In Mobley's case, the minimum + $150,000 is the greater, which would mean $573,500 (if I've read the table right) for the first year. Obviously, this won't help us at all. And thinking about the rule and who falls into the ROFR category, I don't think it would be helpful for any team. ------------------
Juan Valdez, I agree that for non first round picks, the right of first refusal is pretty useless. I believe that the rule was really intended for first round picks. With them, it allows the teams an extra year before having to decide whether or not to give the player a long term contract at the max. I'll use Francis as an example, even though resigning him is a "no brainer". Under the old CBA, the Rockets would be forced to make a decision on giving Francis a long term deal prior to the last year of his contract (or risk losing him). Under the new rule, they can now wait until after his final year and make him a qualifying offer. Since they would have Bird rights on him, they would be guarenteed of being able to match any offer from another team. The problem with 2nd round picks is that you don't neccessarily have Bird rights, so you don't have the ability to match any offer. ------------------ [This message has been edited by aelliott (edited March 20, 2000).]
