Contract negotiations with Dikembe Mutombo will likely be on hold until Mutombo and Rockets general manager Daryl Morey return from the Olympics, but Mutombo’s agent, David Falk, said Thursday that he doubted that Mutombo would play another season if the Rockets offer only the veteran’s minimum. “It would surprise me if they thought he would come back for the veteran’s minimum,” Falk said. “I’ve know (Rockets owner) Leslie Alexander for a long time. Dikembe has a very good relationship with Les. We’ll get together when we get back and see if there can be a situation for Dikembe to consider playing another season.” Rockets general manager Daryl Morey did not say what sort of offer he planned to make. The minimum for a veteran with Mutombo’s experience is roughly $1.3 million. If he was paid the minimum, however, the Rockets would only pay $ $797,581 of that amount (with the NBA subsidizing the difference) and only the amount the Rockets pay would count when calculating whether their payroll exceeds the luxury tax threshold. “That’s all stuff we need to negotiate with him,” Morey said. “I don’t know if what we’re doing has been decided. We’re planning to sit down with Dikembe, it looks like after the Olympics. We hope to convince him to return.” Mutombo, 42, played for the minimum last season, but Falk pointed out that after he agreed to that contract the Rockets signed Steve Francis. “I am as aware as anyone of the tax situation,” Falk said. “I don’t know it would be up to one guy to prevent them from facing a tax situation. He is an important building block and significant piece of the puzzle.” http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5918575.html
I thought Deke would be a lot more humble about this. The Rockets organization as a whole has donated millions of dollars to his foundation. I'm not saying that we should low-ball him but I feel as an organization we have done a lot for Deke as he has done for us. I don't think he should get more than the vet's min.
I love Deke, but I hope we don't burn much more than the vet minimum on him. We are in title contention with the guys we have and if we can re-up Landry at a reasonable price we still have something leftover which could come in handy down the track.
Why doesn't China give him a shoe contract and Les will donate another million to Mutumbo's charity. Hell, give him 2 million. It's a write-off
Deke's been playing for near the min salary the past three seasons solely bec. of the promise of a championship run. The Rockets should give him a portion of the MLE, just to make up for his past sacrifices.
Mutumbo: No vet minimum. Les: How about vet minimum and 1.5 million donation to your charity? Mutumbo: Done deal.
they'll sign deke for like 1.5 and then les will donate another 1-2mil to the mutombo foundation. edit: posts 8, 9, and 10 (this one) are all basically the same
I think what happened last year was more of an act out of goodwill that Deke decided to take the vet's minimum. That's what I've been saying all along, I don't think Deke is worth just the vet's minimum nor do I think he will settle for just that. I'm not sure how much he's willing to settle for, but I bet it should be similar to what Barry is getting. This makes settling the Landry affair ASAP even more important.
Just sign him for Vet Min. and donate 1-2 millions to his charity. Giving to his charity is almost same as giving to him and vice versa.
While perhaps not a building block, he is a significant piece. If he can come in and play about ten minutes a game, with others contributing Yao can be at around 30-35 minutes a game and decrease the injury risk. I bet Deke would still have close to 2 blocks a game in that time. If he's (Deke) playing those minutes he should be able to stretch his career a little longer. We need to hurry and sign Carl, then Deke, then get in the gym and get some practices in. Damn am I psyched!
I hope we can sign Carl first so we can give deke an extra million dollars. The man deserves it and he has been valuable. Just don't overpay, but for his pride alone a little more cannot hurt. Of course, make sure it doesn't affect our ability to match Landry.
He's playing for less than what he's worth for a while. Put it this way, last year he was more effective than Diop and he got an MLE deal. Its not selfish of him to want more money. Especially, when he's still one of the better post defenders in the league.
yeah, if we resign landry, maybe we can afford to give a bit more to him. i would really like deke to win a ring next year with artest now on board.
