Landry is undervalued? From what I seen, he is overvalued. Landry was nowhere near the same player after coming back from his knee injury. Sign and trade his ass before he has no value left.
If what Buddy says is true, then he should have no qualms about releasing the names of the teams interested in Landry. Becuase he didn't tell us the names of those teams, he is full of ****. You tell everyone who the teams are and start a bidding war to drive up the price. At least that is what I would do. But then again. I'm no lawyer, and therefore a sports agent.
That's what i was starting to think. He's probably more valuable if we S&T him than if we keep him at this point.
I think you guys are being pretty hard on Buddy Baker. I've met him on 2 occasions and thought he was a pretty nice guy. Perhaps you could read this story written about him in The Sporting News for a different perspective. http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=203286
the knee injury was because of a collision...not something chronic. luck had it that it was the same knee he injured in college. lets not make this knee injury sounds worse than it is. and if i remember correctly, he was somewhat of a force in the playoffs. a good summer's worth of rest here is fine for him.
ditto. I actually think Morey's comment about needing more medical info was a little slimy. Smart, shrewd, but slimy nonetheless.
I don't see how this is a move by Morey to undercut Landry's value on the FA market. For one thing, if a team wants to offer Landry the MLE, we have the right to match it. There aren't many teams (i.e. the 3-4 teams that suck) that can offer him more than the MLE due to 80% of the league being over the cap. So even if they offer him the MLE, we have the right to match or not. If we do match, we keep him. Simple as that. If we don't match, that team will STILL have to bring him in and have him checked out and pass a physical before Landry even touches a pen. Landry's agent is trying to paint Morey and the Rockets organization as a bad organization when, in fact, Morey and the Rockets are doing what ANY SANE professional team would do--kick the tires and check the dipstick before they throw millions of dollars at a guy that had a knee operation even before he played an NBA game.
I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think he's a bad guy. I just think he needs more experience. I don't want to see him use Landry as his NBA guinea pig and have it hurt the kid's contract negotiations. It may all be posturing on both sides anyway. I do think injury is a legit concern. Morey mentioned it in the Dorsey/Greene press conference. That they didn't feel deep at the bigs because of Yao.. and Landry's injury concerns. I don't think that his stock is so high that Morey can't match whatever offer he gets if he really wants him on the roster. I do think he was playing "the game" with Baker though by letting that bit about being concerned about Landry's knee out to the press the day he sends his qualifying offer. Obviously he wants a longer contract, but for the Rockets to make a long term investment they want confirmation that his knees aren't going to need surgery in the middle of a season. Looking back at when Chuck signed his contract, I think it helped that his agent is also... Yao's agent. Can't want to tick off the stars agent by dissing his other client. But then Duffy has a huge list of NBA names, so it's less of a big deal to the sports agency if Chuck doesn't get a contract than in Buddy's case, because he wants to use this contract to show he can handle NBA deals. All speculation of course... I am just guessing from the whole "put yourself in someone else's shoes" perspective.
To me it is a little bit of a problem that there has now been a few circumstances since Morey took over as GM with things being played out through the media. The whole JVG ordeal and now this with Carl. The problem as I see it is even if you get a good deal on Landry at this point, we're probably dealing with a guy that has a little bit of chip on his shoulder and not necessarily in a good way. IF he feels like the Rox were underhanded in cutting his market value no way does he lay it all on the line for the team and it may be better off if he does wear another uni next year. Assuming though that Morey asked for the test all along and this is a standard procedure for someone with a knee issue. Buddy is an idiot, I don't care how "Nice a guy" he is.
I think there is a gentelmans code. I mean is it a little funny how it came out at the start of fa? I think they should just offer him a 4yr 9m deal and if he take it or leave it. We don't want this to tie up the mle like varejo and the cavs.
Morey is representing the Rox, so he is doing things that are benefit to the team. Buddy is representing Landry, so he is doing things that are benefit to his client. There is nothing wrong with either part, it just depends on which perspective that you are looking at. Personally, I think Morey made an unclassy move to downplay Landry's value. If I am Landry, I would do what Yao did to Nike, but since I am just a normal Rocket fan, I would hope Landry could comes back to sign with us..
You guys that are bashing Landry's agent Buddy Baker are way off base. He's protecting his client, he works for Landry not the Rockets. An analogy might be if any of you got arrested and you hadn't done anything wrong, what would you think of your attorney if the police asked him to have you sign a waiver of your rights and he did it. Thats an incompetent attorney, doesn't matter if you have nothing to hide, your lawyer does not do that. What Baker is doing for Landry is exactly what I would expect from my agent. Look he's been cleared by an orthopedic surgeon and his exams have checked out, it's going to be DMs decision to sign the guy w/o the scope when those other teams make their offers.
Matt, Do you think you can get Buddy Baker on the radio for an interview? I know I'd be interested in listening.
Sounds to me like the guy is just doing his job. A lot of us thought Morey was just putting up a smokescreen and we were happy about it. Of course the parties who are going to potentially make less money because of it are unhappy... I just hope that teams don't offer him too much. Carl Landry at $5mm is a bit rich for my blood
Typical behavior by Morey and by the Agent.....it is just a callous reminder that this is a business. DD
If I remember correctly Buddy Baker is a family fried of Landry's. And seriously hwo is anyone surprised by this. A GM questions a players health what do you expect the agent to do? What I take for the article is Morey's quote saying the Rockets plan to match any offer he gets. In other words unless he gets a ridiculous offer above the MLE he's coming back.
It's tough to be in Landry's shoes. He is a restricted FA so he just cannot go out and get a contract offer because the threat of a match will deter most GMs. It's that simple. I don't care if he becomes the next Carlos Boozer or half year wonder. He will be signed to a Rockets contract because he is an asset. Now that bit about the extra exam is part concern and part shot across the bow to other GMs. Landry may be damaged goods. So buyers beware. I personally think he is fine but it's to the Rockets interest not to have to sing Landry to a large contract. Not because he is not worth it (that is determined by the market), but because the Rockets need the flexibility to sign other FAs.
I knew the injury would be used as a scare tactic to chase off other teams and even called it out hours before that article came out. The timing of the surgery was just to strange. This could really complicate negotiations very bad if Landry's agent believed he'd be offered a full MLE from another team. I posted my conspirecy theory below around 8:45 (7/1)
