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Chronic: Maybe Rockets' Landry should say so long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Rockets34Legend, Jul 25, 2008.

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  1. Rockets34Legend

    Rockets34Legend Contributing Member

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    http://blogs.chron.com/stevecampbell/2008/07/maybe_rockets_landry_should_sa.html

    Maybe Rockets' Landry should say so long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen
    Carl Landry is caught between the Rockets and a hard place.

    Landry is a restricted free agent. He is finding that for various reasons — the most notable one being a troubling history of knee injuries — teams are not lining up to shower him with lucrative offers.

    The Rockets want Landry back and saved their veterans' mid-level exception money to keep him. Still, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey isn't willing to go beyond a qualifying offer until Landry submits to an examination of the right knee that slowed him during the stretch run of this past season.

    Landry has declined to do so. It doesn't take Gregory House to diagnose a lack of confidence in the Landry camp of what careful examination of his knee will reveal.

    His agent said that one of Landry's options is to field offers from overseas.

    Is it a desperate bluff of a player and agent with no leverage? Is it a clear and present danger sign for the Rockets?

    The Atlanta Hawks just lost 6-foot-8 swingman Josh Childress to a reported three-year, $32.5 million deal with the Greek powerhouse Olympiakos. The Greek team gave him a guaranteed contract that allows Childress, who has averaged 11.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in his NBA career, to opt out after each season. Childress, the No. 6 overall pick of the 2004 draft, is the first American player of any note to forsake the NBA for an overseas team during the prime of his career.

    "I've talked to a few guys, and it could become a trend," Childress said. "I'm not so sure it won't. It's different. We thought out of the box a little on this one."

    Landry's agent, Buddy Baker, has given no indication there is any firm offer from any team overseas. Given Landry's circumstances, he would be wise to strongly consider any offer outside the NBA that he may get. The European leagues' schedule is considerably less taking than the NBA grind that sometimes demands four or even five games in a week. If Landry's knee is as fragile as the Rockets fear, he may not have long to earn a living playing basketball.

    Sure, the NBA is the world's premier league — by far. But a player in Landry's high tops would be crazy not to consider Europe an option, unless he simply cannot bear the thought of leaving his home country for a few years.

    Landry could extend his playing days and improve his earning power by leaps and bounds by forsaking the NBA. That's assuming, of course, there is a team out there willing to offer the kind of money that Dynamo Moscow gave Bostjan Nachbar (three years, $14.3 million, with affordable buyout clauses) to leave the New Jersey Nets).

    If one of those teams makes that kind of offer without requiring Landry to submit to a thorough exam on the knee, then the Rockets should shake his hand and wish him well. There are no bad guys here. It's just business.

    Landry is a promising player, and he truly energized the team when he was healthy last season. But it would be general managerial malpractice for Morey to make a significant financial commitment unless the Rockets get a better look at his knee. If the Rockets can't work out a deal, it just might give rookies Donte Greene and Joey Dorsey the sort of opportunity that injuries gave Landry this past season.

    Congratulations, NBA commissioner David Stern. You wanted the NBA to be a global game. You got it.
     
    #1 Rockets34Legend, Jul 25, 2008
  2. MONON

    MONON Member

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    Let's see now. More money, less games, longer career! It doesn't take a "Rocket scientist" to figure that one out! :D

    However I hope things can be worked out here!
     
    #2 MONON, Jul 25, 2008
  3. finalsbound

    finalsbound Contributing Member

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    If he can get that kind of money in Europe without having them require his knee scoped, well...congratulations and good luck.
     
    #3 finalsbound, Jul 25, 2008
  4. xiki

    xiki Contributing Member

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    I don't understand why a deal cannot be negotiated pending the passing of a physical?
     
    #4 xiki, Jul 25, 2008
  5. room4rentsf

    room4rentsf Contributing Member

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    Does the NBA need to start incorporating a buy-out clause of some sort to keep RFA from signing with non-NBA teams?

    It seems whenever we want a player from another country we need to buy them out or something.

    Other countries should have to do the same dont you think?

    UFA are totally free but RFA should have a buy out clause.
     
    #5 room4rentsf, Jul 25, 2008
  6. Bandwagoner

    Bandwagoner Contributing Member

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    a physical is not surgery.
     
    #6 Bandwagoner, Jul 25, 2008
  7. alexdapooh

    alexdapooh Contributing Member

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    Hopefully, Carl is a person with a Spanoulis-like attitude that doesn't like change and wants to stay here at HOME in the US.

    I'm sure these he'll take into consideration leaving his life, friends, and family here for 3-4+ possibly miserable years overseas. I know I wouldn't... I wouldn't even want to work in HK, Taiwan, or China... and I'm Chinese...
     
    #7 alexdapooh, Jul 25, 2008
  8. solid

    solid Contributing Member

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    Has it ever been established what the Rockets really want? Do they want another MRI or do they want something more intrusive like a surgical "scope?" This has been unclear.
     
    #8 solid, Jul 25, 2008
  9. A_3PO

    A_3PO Member

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    What if Landry and his agent have something to hide?

    The longer this drags on, the more I think Landry is damaged goods.
     
    #9 A_3PO, Jul 25, 2008
  10. Bandwagoner

    Bandwagoner Contributing Member

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    he has already had a MRI.

    they want to scope it.
     
    #10 Bandwagoner, Jul 25, 2008
  11. abc2007

    abc2007 Member

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    Even Landry stays here, I don't think he can get a contract that he wants. If he is unhappy here, the rockets should trade him in the middle of season.
     
    #11 abc2007, Jul 25, 2008
  12. BrooksBall

    BrooksBall Contributing Member

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    More money, great perks, hot women...

    I can see Landry laying in a big bed in a big house that was paid for by his Euro club surrounded by five beautiful Spanish women with a cigar in his mouth while he watches highlights of a game he just played where he dunked all over some Euro team knowing his next game won't be for another few days.

    I'm pretty sure Josh Childress will be doing something like this next season.

    Sounds pretty good to me.
     
    #12 BrooksBall, Jul 25, 2008
  13. SuperMarioBro

    SuperMarioBro Member

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    Good article, and spot on.

    I hope Landry stays for a reasonable amt of money.
     
    #13 SuperMarioBro, Jul 25, 2008
  14. SuperMarioBro

    SuperMarioBro Member

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    OK, you're right about the extra rest and all, but the difference in the amount of luxury they can afford with that money, and the kind of women that will be flocking to them, will not be that different.
     
    #14 SuperMarioBro, Jul 25, 2008
  15. tcadriel

    tcadriel Member

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    If that what you want Carl, sometimes you just gotta say what the hell. Good luck, hope the food is nice! :confused:
     
    #15 tcadriel, Jul 25, 2008
  16. Mooch

    Mooch Member

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    #16 Mooch, Jul 25, 2008
  17. Blurr#7

    Blurr#7 Contributing Member

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    You know the more I read into the way some of the Euro teams operate I don't think Landry or BB should be so sure he'll get more money. Some teams just flat out refuse to pay their players!
    http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?p=3588686
    Excerpt.......
    "As soon as the season was over it was like, 'We're not paying you nothing. See you later,' " Edwards said. He claims he was owed $150,000 by that point but never saw another dime.

    Neff said it wasn't as simple as reneging on a contract -- instead Roma tried to claim the contract didn't exist. He explained the club tried to avoid paying taxes by signing Edwards to two separate contracts: the league contract (a smaller amount) and the image contract (substantially more, payable to a company from which Neff disbursed checks to Edwards).

    Neff and Edwards took up Roma on a challenge to sue and won a judgment in an Italian court worth $230,000. The club declined to pay as it pursued appeals.

    "The thing that bothered me the most was they tried to contend the image contract did not exist," Neff said.
     
    #17 Blurr#7, Jul 25, 2008
  18. BrooksBall

    BrooksBall Contributing Member

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    European food vs American food?

    You're not serious, are you?
     
    #18 BrooksBall, Jul 25, 2008
  19. StaticC4

    StaticC4 Member

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    Good Bye Carl nice seeing you play have fun in Europe with all the groupies against weak competition
     
    #19 StaticC4, Jul 25, 2008
  20. Icehouse

    Icehouse Contributing Member

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    Hmmm, so am I the only one that thinks the Rockets are harping on this knee issue to drive his market value down? It's funny that we think Landry has something to hide...as if the team wouldn't resort to that kind of thing. I just don't like how none of this was required, at least not publicly, until it was time for him to hit the market.
     
    #20 Icehouse, Jul 25, 2008
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