Boozer to Jazz! Can Rockets make TE deal with Cavs?

LOOOOOOOOOL,

Okay we're taking it to extremes now.

We're going to the point where they'd be better off letting Boozer walk. Wagner/McInnis/Illgauskas? It's a bit much.

I do want them to take MoT off our hands though. MoT and Pike for Illgauskas. That's 2M.

Good enough for me.

They can work out a deal with Denver, Atlanta or the Clippers which would send Diop to them in exchange for future considerations (1st rounder, 2nd rounder, whatever they negotiate).

We'd need to follow up and sign a PF (McDyess) but this would put us in great shape short term, and give Yao a GREAT backup for a year, our bench would be EXCELLENT. Half-way into the season, I'm sure teams would be glad to take Illgauskas off our hands for some great pieces. Portland, San Antonio, Dallas. The Lakers would love to replace Shaq, so in a 3-way, if Shaq goes East, we could send LA Illgauskas and get something from the 3rd team. Big Z will be a huge asset. Especially since he'll have come off the bench for half a season, is expiring, and is a damn good player anyway. It would keep Yao fresh for the end of the season and playoffs as well.

Good stuff.

 

Anyone know exactly how the matching an offer sheet works? Do the Cavs need to match the total package or the 1st year only? I don't think this frontloaded thing make any sense. If I can give someone the same amount of money in a package, isn't it better than only match the first year and give less total amount? The deal is a total package, not a 1st year offer.

This frontloaded thing must be some Jazz fans wet dream fantasy.

 

166.70.44.66/2004/Jul/07092004/sports/182188.asp

It won't be easy for Cavs to pay price for Boozer

By Phil Miller
The Salt Lake Tribune

The next 20 days will seem like 20 years to the Jazz, because Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur cannot sign the contracts they have agreed to until July 29 at the earliest.
Those three weeks -- 15 days beyond the end of the NBA's signing moratorium on July 14 -- give Cleveland and Detroit plenty of time to wrestle with their rosters, in hopes of finding a way to keep their restricted free agents.
The Pistons are believed to be all but resigned to losing Okur, who agreed to sign a $50-million offer sheet with the Jazz on Monday.
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, probably will explore several avenues toward matching the $68-million, six-year pact that Boozer has accepted from the Jazz. The question they must answer: At what point does the cure do more damage than the injury?
Since he has not yet played three NBA seasons, Boozer is a so-called "early-Bird" restricted free agent, meaning Cleveland has the right to use any available space under the projected $45 million salary cap to keep him. If they do not have sufficient space, Cleveland only can pay the league's average salary (which is equal to, though technically not the same as, the mid-level exception) of about $5 million.
In this case, the rule means Cleveland general manager Jim Paxson has 20 days to pare his payroll enough so Boozer's 2004-05 salary -- expected to be more than $10 million, because the Jazz more than likely front-loaded his contract to make it more difficult -- fits within the $45 million limit.
That won't be easy. The Cavaliers have $43.2 million in salaries committed to next season, according to the Akron Beacon-Journal, but only one -- center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, in the last year of a maximum-salary contract -- would create enough room by itself.
Even if a playoff contender like the up-and-coming Cavs was willing to shed its starting center for little in return, it's questionable whether Cleveland could find a new home for him. Atlanta, Denver and Charlotte are the only teams with enough salary-cap room to take on such a large contract, and those teams seem to have other targets in mind.
Another complication for Cleveland: The Cavs cannot use draft picks to convince one of the abundant-space teams to accept Ilgauskas. Under a trade engineered seven years ago, the Cavs have agreed to send their first-round pick to Phoenix the next time Cleveland makes the playoffs. Because NBA rules prohibit trading back-to-back first-rounders -- a rule instituted, coincidentally, after the Cavs kept trading away picks in the 1980s -- Cleveland cannot trade its pick until that conditional choice is conveyed.
That leaves the Cavs to try to move some collection of their other players -- again, receiving little in salaries in return -- to clear space. Confronted with that choice, would Paxson conclude that the harm being done, particularly to retain a player so willing to walk away from Cleveland, wasn't worth it?
The Jazz, who lost Corey Maggette and Jason Terry last summer to the free-agent rules, are banking on it.
pmiller@sltrib.com

 

BTW, why should all the dreams be wet these days? The joke is kinda getting old and sick.

 

That would not hold water with me. This is unbelievable cruel of Boozer, and I sure hope he gets his for it. It's just not right...

Didn't some sports agent say that it would be unthinkable to work for someone who backed out of a verbal agreement?

Money talks, sure. But no one will trust Boozer after this. I think he'll be on every GMs s***list now. I sure lost a lot of respect for him.

 

Exactly! The Cavs should be desperate now! And now is the time to FLEECE them if one can! Dont just settle for Battie. Look into McInnis or Wagner or a 1st Round Pick! Stuff like that.

 

Cavs need our TE. Here is a decision tree for what it will cost them :
--------------------------------------------------------
Who do we want to dump most ?

Spoon or Mo T? ---- > Mo T.
--------------------------------------------------------
How much money do they need to come up with ?

5 mil Cleveland mce + TE 6.9 mil more = 11.9 mil > 10,11 mil from Utah.

They need all the TE. All of it, and maybe a little more.
--------------------------------------------------------
How do we dump Mo T and give Cleveland the full TE?

We need two deals :

1 deal for the TE for Cleveland players - salary match.

1 deal for Mo T (+ other Rockets) for a matching Cleveland salary pack.

------------------------------------------------------
This sounds like TE for Wagner, Brown, whatever = 6.9 to cavs.

and Mo T + Pike for Z. = extra 2. mil for cavs.

-------------------------------------------------------
1.) Z is attractive to the Rockets as noted in the Utah article : "The Cavaliers have $43.2 million in salaries committed to next season, according to the Akron Beacon-Journal, but only one -- center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, in the last year of a maximum-salary contract -- would create enough room by itself" as Sane notes, we could then trade that contract later this season to a team than needs an expiring max for cap room, while using Z as a good backup in the meantime. Potential problem - Atlanta, Charlotte also may have interest in renting Z to trade for players later. Probably only Atlanta. Denver and Utah and SA don't have the free cash to gamble on a risk like that.

2.) The players we pick up with the TE should have some potential but not be essential to the Cavs. We also don't want to lock in any long contracts - we already have too many players and not enough roster spots. So 1 larger contract and 1 small one is enough.

Cavs come out keeping Boozer and losing Z and some youth

Battie
Boozer/Mo T
LBJ/Luke Jackson
Pavlovic/Pike
Mc Innis/Ollie

This post is much like SJC's - credit to him - I just wanted to flesh it out a little more. I don't think we can demand Mc Innis. They need a starting point. They don't need Z - they tried to move him last season and he doens't fit with them running. If anything - if they were really desperate - I'd try to steal Luke Jackson, instead of Brown or Wagner . Those guys are all spare parts to Cle. so they can justify the move.

Personally, I'd also like to dump some more of our guys that won't play - like Wilks and AG, to make some more roster spots for vet minumum guys.

p

 

This may be true, but there's a big difference between getting SOME sort of compensation for letting Boozer go and getting absolutely NOTHING in return. See the Tracy McGrady situation in Orlando for reference.

Because Paxson is going to lose their prize PF and get nothing in return, plus the fact that Boozer isn't even a UFA to boot (this situation never should have happened), means loss of job IMO. And rightfully so. Never take an agent's word as truth. Here's hoping Paxson has learned that lesson now and will continue to think about it when he's bagging groceries next year.

I guarantee that the people here defending Paxson would be calling for CD's head on a silver platter if he was put into this exact same situation.

 

Does anyone know what teams will potentially be competing with the Rockets for Battie, Wagner, Z, etc? (ie. what teams have cap space?)

There are so many teams out there throwing these ridiculous sums of money at free agents because they have cap space that if they get the chance at getting a player like Battie for only 5 mil. or a player like Wagner for cheap, they are going to jump at it.

I wouldn’t get too greedy if I were the Rockets. If they can get Battie only, I’d settle for that. Hell, I’d settle for just Diop and Kedrick Brown. Diop could end up being another Cato for this team.

 

Make use of our TE

Trade TE for Cav's McInnis and Diop
Rox get a PG and backup C
Cav get a TE to match Calos Boozer

Would this be a good deal for both 2 teams?
It's not good for Rox to let Jazz get Boozer and Okur

 

lol...that would be sweet as hell

 

what history?

Rocket River

 

how so?
but in all honestly it i irrelevent
it is about how people react to them that is interesting

when SF said he was lied to . . people went
ho hum . . whatever . . its a business
now
we have people talking down on Boozer
cause he 'allegedly' lied to the Cavz

Rocket River

 

Hmm. Looking at Atlanta's roster, I think the most likely scenario would be that the cavs send them Big Z for Alan Henderson. They both have expiring contracts. And if K-Mart signs in Atlanta, then he would make a pretty good tandem with Z. This would give Cleveland about 8 million in cap space.

Not sure if that's enough to match boozer's offer, so maybe the Rox can also sneak in and grab Battie for Pike and the TE. I think that makes more sense than some other trades being thrown around.

 

I'm not really familiar with the East, so can someone give a brief rundown on what type of game each of these players bring to the table?

Z
Diop
Battie
Wagner
McInnis

It seems to me that Z would be the guy to press for, since he comes of the books next summer.

 

In my understanding, no one has screwed anyone here.

CLE did what they thought was the smart thing here. If they had waited until next year, then they would have had his Bird rights, and there is no doubt, he would have had a MAX contract. By renouncing him this summer, they had a chance at a Mobely type contract, where they could have locked him into a great deal, and said, "we gave you all we could." They know that they can match anything anyone else offers, and then they can look like winners there too, by doing whatever it takes to keep him. The market then set his value. CLE didn't get screwed here. Utah just called them on it, and offered him market value. Now CLE has to pay him what he's worth. They view him and Lebron as the backbones of the franchise. He ought to be getting max.

I would expect that an agent would have responded something like, "well, we're willing to do that, and sign for the MLE, if noone offers us a better contract." We will work with you however so that Boozer can sign with CLE, but you know we'll be looking at any offers that come our way." No agent would have promised to ignore a client's market value, and made the promise like some are claiming. He would have been derelect in his duties as an agent.

So, I bet that CLE finds a way to match, even if it means losing some key pieces, and that the team explains what happened, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Hopefully, we can sneak in with our TE and help them make this a reality. I'd love to get Diop and Wagner somehow. Forget Battie, Z, and all the other bad contracts. ATL, CHA, UTA, DEN ... none of them will be wanting to take on bad contracts. But, we're not the only ones who can offer them solutions here.

 

you cant get z with the trade exception, hes a max player.

z is really a taller motay. hes got a variety of post moves, and hits his jumpers. he has no defense, was benched many a time last year by silas for his refusal to play defense.

diop is like a poor mans ratliff. really really really poor. he is big and strong and can intimidate on the defensive end. but dont ask for anything on the other end. can be a great shot blocker.

battie was a big bust taken so high in the lottery when he entered the league. hes found a niche as a 4/5. hes not an impact player, but he wont hurt you. can hit jumpers. injury prone. cant be expected to log in heavy minutes at the 4 in the west. cant be expected to be a solid 4 in the west.

wagner is a wild card. he is either sitting on the injured list or crossing people over and driving to the basket. hes drawn comparisons to ai. the crossover? check. shooting gaurd in a point gaurds body? check. selfish? check. inability to shoot consistently? check. i wouldnt want him on the rockets. when he comes into the game, he has 1 intention. to score. and hes not that good at it.

 

Verbal agreements are a part of professional sports. Well they use to be, anyway. If the Cavs do indeed get screwed, it could have a major impact on trades and free agency in the future.

And not just for the NBA.