Boozer speaks!

NOBODY can prove that he lied, it's Boozer's word versus the Cavs, one says he never promised anything, the other says he did. David Aldridge in a chat today was asked if he has any insider info on the deal and he said... "I think he made a commitment to them that was unambiguous. I don't think he came out and said "I will sign with you."" And the fact of the matter is he CAN'T do that before July 1st, and he says he DIDN'T do that, the Cavs say he did so they won't look like an even more pathetic organization. Jim Rome said, "Boozer probably did stab the Cavs in the back, but the Cavs are the only team stupid enough to give him a knife, so they deserve it."

Is it hard to figure out that a 6 year 41 million dollar deal DOES indeed save the Cavs money in the long run? Is it not in the realm of possibilities that the Cavs knew that Boozer would get a much bigger deal in a year and that they would be forced to match a deal that would almost DOUBLE their offer?

Even Lebron James backs Boozer, wasn't he stabbed in the back as well? According to most on here he was, yet James and Boozer are still cool with each other, hmm...

 

JUMPMAN,

NOBODY can prove that he lied, yet, you agree with Rome, who basically said, Boozer stabbed them in the back??

And if he DiDN't like, why did his agent fire him and give up millions of dollars in commission??

 

Exactly my point. Per CBA, Boozer CANNOT has an agreement with Cavs before July 1st. It's ILLEGAL. Even if Boozer lied and did have an agreement, is it <b>this</b> challenging to figure Cavs were try to low-balling Boozer as well? By not picking up Boozer's last year, Cavs gave up the oppurtunity of Boozer's service for one year at 600K. That's a value between $4-$9M, depending on who you ask. But Cavs proposal to Boozer is $41M for 6 years, a saving apparently around $27M. You don't call that low-balling? 27M vs 4-9M? If Cavs offered something closer, like $55-60M range, then you can say Cavs truely did all this for Boozer and saved a little for themselves and its a fair deal. But 27M vs 4-9M is plain robbery to me.

 

Look,

If the Cavs were truly concerned about Boozer, they would have offered him a contract for 40 million with an OPT out player option after year one !!

This way they would have given Boozer the chance to test the market, and have his Bird Rights.

However, by giving him a 40 million dollar deal THIS YEAR instead of a 90 million dollar deal next year, they saved 50 million dollars on a budding star PF.

Seems that Clevland knew EXACTLY what they were doing...and so did Boozer.

Both of them had their own interests at heart......

I don't believe for ONE second that anyone was doing the right thing for anyone other than themselves.

DD

 

Blah! How did I get sucked back into this conversation? Anyway, I quoted Rome because he agrees that Boozer isn't the only one to blame in this mess. Besides Rome said probably, and said some other things I agreed with but I can't remember them, HA!

His agent is as ruthless as they come, he's just bringing too much heat to the company he works for this time and was going to be fired himself, he distanced himself from Boozer to save his own butt!

 

I cannot believe this. Why on Earth would the Cavs let Boozer out of his contract when they could pick up his option and have Bird Rights next year??? Think about that for a second. The only reason is that Boozer asked them to do it. That's it folks. Boozer asked them to do it and then he screwed the entired franchise and their fans. I don't see why this is so hard to understand.

 

Because NEXT year a young PF that is a 15 and 11 guy is going to command a LOT more than the MLE.

They thought they could lock him up this year, and look Magnanimous at the same time.

They knew what they were doing, and obviously so did Carlos.

DD

 

Obviously, cuz he asked them to do it.

 

Good God. Please tell us you don't really believe that. Why would the Cavs risk losing Boozer this year when they knew there were many teams who could offer him more money???? Hello! What, they thought they could save a little money? Come on. You don't believe that do you? There is a chance the market could be even less next year without the same number of teams below the cap. Everything about this points to Boozer being a gritbag.

 

Here's what I think really happened. Boozer meets with Cavs management multiple times after the season. All he ever says is that he loves playing for the team, is loyal to them for believing in him, has no desire to play for anyone else, and that all he wants financially is security for his future. He wants to be let out of his contract so he can resign. I think he was being genuinely honest at this point. The Cavs take this as a declaration that he will take whatever money they give him. They figure its better to release him now and give him the full MLE than to wait a year and have to give him FA money. Boozer on the other hand, all along expected them to pick up the team option. When they do finally tell him that they're not going to pick it up, he's shocked but initially pleased that they would make this concession for him. The agent, knowing that he can go out in the market and make much more, shakes his head in agreement without letting Boozer know his own intentions. He ensures that Carlos does not verbally agree at that meeting but lets him go on about his commitment to the team. When July 1 rolls around, his agent starts fielding offers for Carlos. He convinces him that the organization let him out of the contract, not to help him out, but to lowball him and take advantage of his loyalty to the team. He provides evidence from the Utah offer. A 27 million dollar difference! Carlos brings this to his wife and she and the agent convince him of that point of view. His agent then reminds him that he had never agreed to anything. He had just restated his commitment to the organization (the Cavs). He accepts the Utah offer and all the fallout ensues. The Cavs say he agreed (which he basically did but not legally binding) and he says he didn't (which is technically true because his agent prevented it). Anyways, the Cavs go on to trash Boozer's rep. The agency wants to distance itself from the publicity and forces the agent to resign (even though the agent was fine with the whole thing the whole time) or else get fired. And the only reason he still has a job is because he's Kobe's agent. So I think Carlos never intentionally misled the Cavs. He's always seemed very committed to the team. But when he hit the open market and saw the disparity between the Jazz and the Cavs offer, he let his wife and agent convince him that his loyalty was being used against him.

 

I give up. So you think that Boozer didn't know a head of time how much the Cavs could offer him right now? Unbelievable.

 

Where did I ever say that???? All I did was imply that he didn't know his own market value at the time. Who got the full MLE last year? Only Juwan Howard. So Boozer would use this as an estimate for himself. He could possibly get a little more but that wouldn't affect his decision. His agent probably never let on that he could be worth much much more. When he does get the Utah offer, he's convinced that it was unfair and done to take advantage of him. That's just my theory.

 

Should Silas absorb share of Cavs' woes?

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/1089804622266960.xml

wow, look at this!

 

Sun,

GOOD FIND !!

People please take note of the "HOMETOWN DISCOUNT" deal that is referenced for Boozer.

THAT is what we are talking about.

DD

 

I may not be a CBA expert like NIKE, but I know how MLE works. But that's not the point. Boozer tried to get Cavs to not to pick up his option for his financial security. Cavs tried to use Boozer's assumed loyalty/word and their cap situation to sign Boozer dirty cheap. As simple as that. Both know exactly what they are doing. If Boozer were real loyal, he would just play out his remaining contract. If Cavs were sincere to help Boozer, they would offer him a one-year MLE deal or move roster to get more capspace.

 

They did offer him a one year deal. As for getting cap space, they would virtually have to gut their team/bench to retain Boozer. To the Cavs, the cost of dumping salary just to keep Boozer may be too much as no one will take their big contracts for nothing.

 

Clutch,

There has been no crushing, but if you want to declare victory...go ahead.

Nothing has been decided.

Nothing proven, nothing air tight.

If you don't agree, fine.

DD