Don't the Rockets have to choose which eight players they will protect from the expansion team? When does that choice have to be made -- this summer or next and by what date? Can the list include restricted free agents?
top 8 Francis Yao Posey Mobley Rice Cato Griffin Nachbar But I doubt Charlotte's GM would stupid enough to take Norris or MoT.
Isn't the expansion draft next year? How could the team be locked into choosing which players to protect when there's months and months of possible trading time ahead? By the way- everyone seems so sure Posey is going to re-sign with the team. Is there something I missed, or is it still just an assumption?
From USA Today: Expansion draft: At the conclusion of the 2003-04 season, each team will be allowed to protect eight players from those under contract for the 2004-05 season. Charlotte will have to take at least 14 players from the other teams but can't take more than one player from any team. Teams also can make other deals that are workable under the salary cap, such as financial inducements to take certain players or acquiring players from Charlotte's expansion roster in trades. The types of players teams usually don't protect in the expansion draft are older players or players with long-term contracts the team wants to dump. The Portland Trail Blazers' Damon Stoudamire, who has lost his starting job and going into the 2004-05 season will be entering the final year of his contract being owed $15.8 million, is a prime example. I couldn't find an exact date other than June 2004 and I have to assume it would be after the 2004 draft.
I was sort of thinking it'd be before the draft, or would there be some sort of protection on newly drafted players? Seems like the expansion draft would impact how teams would be drafting, although I suppose you could say the converse is true, that the regular draft would impact who teams would protect and who Charlotte would pick. I have a short memory, how did it work last expansion?
Steve Francis Yao Ming Cuttino Mobley Maurice Taylor Bostjan Nachbar Eddie Griffin Okay...really after that....our team sucks. Posey is all right....but not sure if he is coming back. Man.....there ain't nothin to protect. They can take Cato and Rice.....even though this is after 2003-2004. So Rice will be gone anyways. They can take Moochie. Maybe Eddie will be gone.
What if less than 14 teams have nine or more players under contract? What if only 14 teams have nine or more players under contract? This may be a good opportunity for the Rockets. Start planning now to have exactly nine players under contract for 2004-05, one of them named Moochie.
JBC - It's interesting that the Rox have exactly 8 2004-05 contracts right now: Taylor Cato Mobley Francis Yao Griffin (t-opt) Nachbar Norris However, I believe the Rockets must have at least 12 players on their roster for the coming 2003-04 season. They will probably re-sign Posey (or an equivalent length contract) and trade Rice for at least one contract lasting into 04-05. It's way to early to think about this too seriously (remember Doc Rocket hinted at Moochie being waived ala Matt Maloney) but surely Moochie would be a candidate. And there is a quirck in the way the new Charlotte expansion draft is being conducted which may allow the new team to use a different strategy. From the Charlotte Observer: "The NBA has ruled that any team with a restricted free agent in the summer of 2004 would have to count him among the eight veterans protected from the Charlotte expansion draft, or risk losing him. Forcing teams to protect restricted free agents figures to improve the talent pool from which Charlotte will pick. But think about the opposite scenario: What happens if a restricted free agent in 2004 -- a player such as Chicago's Jamal Crawford or Cleveland's Chris Mihm -- is left unprotected in the expansion draft? Under the rules, if Charlotte drafts that player, he immediately becomes an unrestricted free agent. You might ask why Charlotte would draft such a player -- who, by definition, has no obligation to play in Charlotte. But in fact, that could be a great strategy for managing the new team's salary cap. Think about it: Teams are going to load up the unprotected list with their worst contracts -- overpriced bench-warmers such as Boston's Vin Baker, Portland's Damon Stoudamire and Indiana's Austin Croshere. Charlotte will be obligated to draft 14 veterans off 14 teams. Under the expansion rules, the Charlotte franchise will have a salary cap two-thirds as large as that of established teams. So 14 high-priced contracts could easily exceed that cap, estimated at about $30 million that first season, and make it virtually impossible for the new team to sign free agents or make trades." So you can see from this that the new Charlotte team has a salary cap of only around $30m to field a team of 12 (actually 11 since they get the 4th pick in the draft). Players like Moochie (3 years @ $11.9m) may have a great appeal. FYI - In their first season, the Charlotte Hornets had on their roster - Robert Reid, Earl Cureton, Kelly Tripucka, Rex Chapman, Muggsy Bogues, Kurt Rambis, Dell Curry, Rickey Green, Sidney Lowe, Greg Kite and Tom Tolbert.
