Frank Hughes of the news Tribune reports that the Supersonics and free agent Rashard Lewis are not seeing eye-to-eye. Sources say that Lewis is extremely unhappy with the team’s efforts to re-sign him and is considering leaving for another team. According to one source, the Sonics offered Lewis $49 million, less than half of the $102 million contract he is seeking. Lewis recently learned that the most the Sonics can offer him without going over the luxury tax limit is about $56 million. One source said that this fact has him considering the option of signing a short-term deal with another team for their mid-level exception. Lewis believes the Sonics are being disloyal to him after he proved his loyalty two years ago. At that time, Lewis turned down a 6-year, $46 million offer from the Toronto Raptors because he believed the Sonics indicated that he would be rewarded in the future. He settled for a 3-year, $13.2 million contract with the Sonics, which had an opt-out this summer. Lewis chose to opt out of the contract and is expecting to get paid. The Sonics’ approach to the negotiations hinges on the fact that no other team can offer as much they can. It appears as if they willing to chance that Lewis will make the sound financial decision instead of a decision based on emotion. Lewis is asking for a contract that is roughly equivalent to that of Vin Bakers’ $86 million deal. He feels that since he contributes more than Baker, this shouldn’t be a problem. He is further disappointed by the fact that the Sonics’ proposed deal would only pay him about $500,000 more than Jerome James. Lewis averaged 17 points and 7 rebounds a game. James averaged 6 and 4. If Lewis does not re-sign with the Sonics, he has several options. He could take a three-year, $15 million deal from another team to earn his Larry Bird rights, which would enable him to re-sign with that team for any amount. Or, he could sign a one-year, $4.5 million contract and go back into free agency next summer, when six teams will have substantial money under the salary cap to pursue a list of free agents that include Jason Kidd, Tim Duncan, Alonzo Mourning and Jermaine O'Neal. If we are able to sign Lewis for the mid-level contract, should we do it or not?
Although others will jump in here and say, "Not another Rashard thread!" I'd say, sure, sign him to the MCE. But will he take it? And whither Glen Rice? Buyout? AND only if Rashard, after taking the MCE (fat chance, but nice to dream) won't demand the max again. Too many if's...and if is the longest two-letter word in the dictionary.
OF COURSE! If he actually settles for the mid-level, and this is not a pure negotiation ploy, and he really wants to be here, we should be able to get him. He knows that we can't offer him anything more, and Houston has a lot more potential ahead of us than Seattle, so there would be nothing personal about us not offering him more, and if he develops like he thinks he will, then he will be worth the max contract in 1 to 3 years, when it comes time to renegotiate. If he doesn't develop, then Nachbar and Morris will be ready to step up to the plate. The only difficulty this causes us, though, is what to do with Rice. Would he be willing to let us start Rice, until he learns our system, and so we can demonstrate Rice has trade value... The more quality pieces we have, the easier it will be to make some good trades ahead. Up until now, we didn't have many tradeable options. I have to admit a team of Ming/Griffin/Lewis/Mobely/Francis looks pretty good! And with all the back to backs this year, having Cato/Taylor/Thomas/Rice/Morris/Nachbar/Norris come off the bench looks pretty good too.
I like that 3yr 15mil deal and then we could go over the luxury tax w/o being penalized to keep him down the line. the MCE sounds good as well. With the new TV contract forcing everyone to play a lot of back-to-backs (we have 22! ), the more skilled players we have the better.
yeah we could sing him untill rice's contract is over than we can give him him a bigger raise. Like the mo taylor contract.
I found in that same article you quoted in this thread this additional paragraph from a Sonics fan off of the ESPN Message Board that is pertinent to how Rashard feels about things in Seattle: http://boards.espn.go.com/cgi/nba/request.dll?MESSAGE&room=nba_sea&id=146307 "But what has Lewis nearly as frustrated with the Sonics' opening offer, a source said, is that the team agreed to a contract Wednesday with center Jerome James for three years and $15 million, with an opening salary of $4.5 million - only $500,000 less than Lewis's opening salary would be, despite James averaging 5.6 points and 4.1 rebounds. James and Lewis had been in contact talks for the past week, sources say, and when James called Lewis on Wednesday to tell him he had come to an agreement, James asked Lewis if he would accept a contract for $54 million. Lewis, the source said, was so upset that he had to end the conversation. If Lewis does not re-sign with the Sonics, he has several options. He could take a three-year, $15 million deal from another team to earn his Larry Bird rights, which would enable him to re-sign with that team for any amount. Or, he could sign a one-year, $4.5 million contract.
I don't think we should sign him for the exception. While we may win a few more games while he's with us, he will slow the development of Nachbar and will of course demand the max when his contract is up. In the long run, this does nothing for us except slow Nachbar's development.
I like Nachbar. But no way you give up an opportunity to sign Lewis to an exception. Nachbar and Lewis are the same age. One scored 17 pts in the NBA last year and the other played in Europe. This is a no-brainer.
I say who cares!! We don't need him...all players care about these days is money. I would love to get paid chump change(50,000-60,000) to play basketball but the idiots are crying because they can't get their 50 mill or 100 mill. It's kinda sickening and frankly we dont even need Mr. Lewis' contributions. I am sure we will do just fine without him.
Perhaps. But if a co-worker of yours who performed drastically less well was offered a salary minimally under yours, it might bother you. It *would* bother me. Eh? You mean, a team that lacks a single good spot-up shooter doesn't need one of the best spot-up shooters in the league? Especially when he's 6'10 and can board, too? When we have a starting 4 who can't? Put the pipe down.
if jerome james ever gives me a ring and asks me to sign a contract for 54 million, i'm pretty sure i won't be so upset i have to hang up. i can understand not liking it, but being really really upset about 54 million seems damn crazy. of course if he wants to sign for the MCE for 3 years, i say fine, get him. true it could slow nachbar's development, but lewis is a damn good player you don't pass up for the MCE. and if worst comes to worst and he wants the max and we don't wanna give it to him, well we had him for 3 years and by then nachbar is fully developed.
Actually I think signing Lewis HELPS Nachbar's development. It takes the pressure off of him, allows him time to grow, and also lets the Rockets experiment with his role, let him play some SF, 2-guard and maybe even PF. Nachbar could be a key player off the bench for a while. I say sign Lewis up! At worst, Lewis or Nachbar would be good trade bait in a year or 2 if Nachbar turns out to be the player the Rockets think he can be and we have to lose him.
I think the consensus is that to ensure Rudy's and Company's jobs we need to make the playoffs this year. Moreover, if we don't make the playoffs we are in a world of hurt since Memphis gets our lottery pick next year. Banking on 2 rookies to put you over the top is a huge gamble in that case. I think that Ming and Boki will both be outstanding players in this league, but I don't think that anyone (including Rudy) can guarantee that either or both will make signficant contributions this season. Rashard is on track to make the All Star team within a year or two. He can be the difference between a playoff run and a disasterous season. If he is willing to sign for the MLE, by all means grab him!
The Mid Level is perfect for the Rockets. They would get to see if Rashard fits in with the team, get a better estimate of what he is worth to us and remind Lewis that he is a native of Houston. Texas has good bargaining power because we have no state income tax either.
Lewis wants max (or at least close to max). Only two or three teams have cap available, and at least two of those three have no real need for Lewis. SEA doesn't want to spend close to the max for him (especially now, knowing no other teams want to either). Lewis and his agent start talking up HOU, hoping to drive up his value. HOU really doesn't hae the cap available to sign him, since we need to re-sign Franchise to the max and we have a few heavy contracts like MoT and Rice. So... unless SEA wants to take some of the heavy contracts from us, or consives some other team to do so, I really don't see much chance of Lewis coming here. And he doesn't seem the type willing to take a MLE contract...
if we just sign him, we will have no time for rice, even as a back-up. there will be NO time for nachbar let alone Tmo. we would have to move any combonation of rice, moT, and kt.
