[2016-2017] Donatas Motiejunas as a New Orleans Pelican

Tonight he will play 7 minutes get 2 points (off free throws) and 1 rebound

 

It didn't end well with us, but I mostly blame that idiot BJ Armstrong. D-Mo has a lot of passion. Hoping for the best for him. Good luck Donatas!

 

He will make Dwight obsolete tonight.

 

He is out tonight will make his debut on the 5 game road trip.

DD

 

There's a lot that hasn't leaked when it comes to the league stepping in. I still buy the theory that the league/Nets didn't like when the Rockets revised a contract for DMo and told them to honor the original match or set DMo back to un-restricted/restricted. To avoid bad blood with not just DMo but potentially other agencies out there, Rox made DMo unrestricted.

Given that DMo has passed both Nets and Pels physicals, and the Rockets allowed DMo to set foot on the court after failing Detroit's makes it a tough sell to say DMo failed the Rockets this time around.

If, DMo does look fine when he's on the court soon, then what? Either the Rockets medical team were too conservative in their evaluation (especially on that extremely team friendly contract), DMo miraculously heals his body after truly failing a physical, or something to the tune of my theory.

 

From reading Donuts article, could the league involvement simply be that Houston was looking for a way to trade him to Brooklyn??
Match, fail physical, Brooklyn wants him anyway,.Rockets seek league help in how to make this work. League 'steps in' with a sorry no.

 

I don't see any motivation by the Nets to pursue this theory. They could have haulted the renegotiation when it was first announced and they still had an opportunity to reverse Houstons match. Instead there was nothing until DMo takes his Rockets physical days after the Rockets and DMo renegotiated his contract. Pursuing action when they did only hurts DMo, and it hurts him bad. For what reason would the Nets do this knowing they couldn't get him either way?

Also if the Nets did this, you better believe DMo, BJ, and the NBPA would be raising hell. We would surely be hearing about that. The Nets and the NBA's "late whistle" cost his client in excess of 7 million dollars just this year.

If the NBA didn't call a "late whistle" on the Nets behalf, DMo still gets matched and gets paid if the league steps in immediately and says no you can't revise this offer sheet. You have to match existing or DMo is awarded to the Nets.

This Theory just makes no sense to me and would be a major point of contention now with the NBAPA who would be making this public.

 

Here's how I see it.

The Nets were below the cap floor so they HAD to spend their money somewhere. They figured the relationship between DMo and the Rox were done, so they tried to get a RFA on the cheap. Although the Rockets are rolling, Morey can't pass up on such a team friendly deal, so he matches on Dec 5th - but only on the principal amount. DMo gets upset and doesn't report to the physical as a way to figure out how to get Rockets to pay up more. A revised contract is announced roughly Dec 9th, but I didn't hear much news of a re-negotiation. Only cryptic messages by BJ as to "We have our rights", that's nothing the Nets can take as proof of any re-negotiating taking place.

There were maybe 2 days between the re-negotiated contract, DMo reporting for his physical, and then DMo reporting that he was told to go home when he showed up for practice. During that time is when I believe either the Nets, or the League stepped in. If it were the Nets to raised the issue to the league, with the intention of having DMo turned over to them on the original offer he had signed. After all, if RFAs can just re-negotiate with their original team after an outside team makes an offer and is matched, how does any team ever pouch a sought after RFA? The league agrees, but in an effort to be impartial to both sides, they re-neg both the Rox revised contract and disallow the Nets from obtaining DMo for a year.

So yes, I do believe the Nets raised the issue, not with the intention of hurting DMo, but definitely hurting the Rockets and getting DMo for themselves. Yes, it ended up hurting DMo in the end after the league's ruling, but the Nets aren't responsible for his well-being and in fact even tried to appeal the ruling to no avail.

Either way, I find the theory of DMo being given the okay to play in the playoffs last year, given the okay to play by the Nets and the Pelicans this season, much more convincing that he also in all likelihood passed the Rockets physical. In the end, I believe the Pistons hurt DMo and caused unnecessary turmoil for the Rockets more than any other party.

 

Yep, exactly my thoughts as well.

DD

 

That's a great explanation of that theory, and makes more sense that what else I've heard.

There is still the question I have of why the Nets would care enough to damage D-Mo as much as they did here, and why the NBAPA isn't raising hell? But I get your point that the Nets might not have known it would have that affect at the time. For all they knew, they still had a chance for the league to award him back to the Nets at their original offer.

Still clear as mud, but thanks for offering a detailed explanation & timeline for how this might have happened. All we know for sure is that D-Mo got F-ED royally.

 

This theory falls apart if you believe feigen. He doesn't report much but he does not outright lie. He expressly reported that the rockets retained the right to keep dmo as an RFA or they could waive him and make him UFA. They chose to just renounce their rights, when it would have cost them NOTHING to hold him as an RFA to see if they wanted to match any future deals. They didn't even want that. And after all this, the best contract he could get fell from $8/yr to min vet? And it took him a month afterwards and the lakers passed too when they suck so much and used the excuse that Tarik black would lose time if they signed dmo? Makes no sense. Maybe he didn't fail the test, but no one believes in the long term stability of his back anymore. I think the rockets decided to back out, tried to give him to the nets and the league said no. Then the rockets said we don't want to pay you no $8m, no $7m no $6m no why don't we go our separate ways? We don't want a 7 footer with low post skills for any amount? When he would be a nice fit with our team and provide depth? He's damaged goods is my bet. All they had to do was wait until someone offered the min and matched him and he would be ours again. They didn't even care to do that anymore.

 

Yeah I the theory is solid but I gotta agree with this dude, the proof of the pudding is in the eating as they say. There are 30 teams starved for talent in the league, even contenders like the Cavs or SaS or GSW would like a big man who can defend, pass, score in the post and stretch the court. Why'd it take 1 mo and why is the amount 1.5M just for 1 year? That's not a contract you give someone who think is really healthy, obv other teams think his back is messed up too.

As for BJ Armstrong F that dude what a fail. Demanding for his rights on a 4.4M contract ends up with 1.5M after one month, and went from a top team to a loser team. And a team that needs a big man to a team that has one of the best big men in the league. What a dumbass!

And where the hell is Holic? Let this be a lesson, when the entire board thinks you're wrong,you're probably wrong. Everybody and their troll account kept telling you Armstrong was being stupid, you're the one who kept saying every athlete is paying attention to him. Well guess what, they did and he ended up costing DMo 300% of his income due to his antics.

Maybe next time you think twice before you keep insisting Rubio would be a good fit for the Rox, and that Harden is one of the most selfish bball players despite being the assist leader, and how the Rox need a different ball handler over everything else to win a ring. Ok?

 

Feigen is a nice guy but the next time he does any real reporting journalism will be the first time, he is deep in the Rockets pocket.

DD

 

DMo/Jones frontcourt on the court for the Pelicans...

 

He is looking very good, running the floor, back passes, high energy miss him man

 

3 mo by dmo!!!

 

DMo looks good. What a shame BJ had to screw things up for everyone.

 

Seven points in ten minutes, including a three pointer. And it's only halftime. Pretty good start I would say.