I live in Seattle and have been reading and listening to everything aboaut Rashard's contract, trying to figure what is a sincere statement and what is contract posturing and bluffing. It looks to me that Rashard is sincerely pissed off, to the point where he may do something stupid such as signing for the MCE for 3 years to get new Bird rights. What ticks him most is that the offer he got from the Sonics is close to what he turned down from Toronto a couple of years ago. Also, now that is obvious that the $102M demand was a bluff, the $90M looks more like a line in the sand. Can Seattle give him the $90M? Well, this will push them over the lux-tax next year, but the year after that Kenny Anderson's contract expires, so they should be OK. Or shoud they? It is a misperception that the SS traded Baker to sign Lewis. Baker was just not the solution at 4, but neither is Lewis. With Barry at SG, they could play Radmanovich or Mason at 3, but they got absolutely nobody at 4. Potapenko is out until December and a question mark after that. Air Drobnjak is good for selling 200 tickets to his cult followers but that's about it. Suppose this year they can patch things up with playing Radmanovich/Lewis at 4. Next year, Gary will sign up for the max (you can't lowball him, after you paid that much to Rashard) and then with Kenny Anderson's money Seattle will have to find a legit PF and a backup PG, and pay for Lewis's contract. I think they should do it, I really like Rashard, but it's just not the no-brainer that Chad Ford and others make it look like.
Well if you need a power forward, we seem to have an extra. Would you work a sign and trade around Mo Taylor. Perhaps we throw in a three as we will overflowing there if Lewis becomes a Rocket.
