I think Will might be right. Doc mixing metaphors might be him mixing up work and pleasure anecdotes. [This message has been edited by heypartner (edited January 27, 2001).]
Hmnnn. What would it take to shake loose that Chicago #1? Just Cato (+ Drew from earlier?) Does Chicago have another #1 this year from some other team? If it just cost us Cato, by God, then do it. But would we be dancing in the streets for a #1 pick? Maybe. Chicago's sucking hard and will have a top 5 pick. Of course, Vancouver might take that #1 pick in a 3-way that gives us SAR. When I hear talk about the team wanting to make the playoffs, that either means we make a real move for a real player or Rudy/CD/Les are BSing us or full of wishful thinking. Wishful thinking. BS. Sounds like me. ------------------
I'm not to good at riddles but what would really make me party. Well first off Hakeem being traded would not make me party. Getting the disgruntled Shaq would make me party but I bet that ain't gonna happen. So here is my stab. We trade the players like Walt, Cato, draft pick, and a few other throw-ins for Abdur-Rahim. That would definitely make me party. That still maintains our cap room. We get to re-sign Shandon and still have a chance at Webber or keep Mo. In a perfect world Webber would agree to play center and we could somehow firgure out how to sign Mo also. That gives you a line-up of Steve, Cat, SAR, Mo, Webber. Undersized yes but with Mo often in foul trouble and not always in the game during crunch time Webber would still log plenty of minutes at the 4 position. Sign a defensive minded center that is not made of glass and draft someone like Loren Woods and I think you would havea pretty good situation. That would definitely make me party. Wow, dreamcasting really is fun. ------------------
im banking on a trade with the grizzlies for shareef abdur rahim, and i think kelvin cato is involved because of "band of sunshine" and "IR". but there has to be more players involved. ------------------ http://www.democrats.com
Cato/Walt/KT?/Drew pick owed for Brand/Miller/Fizer would be worth partying for. I'm sorry, I have no control over myself. I know it's not going to happen, but with Doc & Clutch in hiding at the moment, stupid ideas are bound to happen. ------------------
Shareef seems like the best "party in the streets" kind-of acquisition (feel free to disagree, HeyPartner). The Grizz want picks. We got'em. Part of me is hoping Hakeem actually wants to retire and wouldn't mind a quiet exit to Vancouver (doesn't his brother live there?) I keep hoping for real info, too. As Hottoddie says, stupid speculation (I take a bow for my own) replaces facts. Guess we have to wait until the Giants and Ravens are done. ------------------
(( January 2, 2001 Escrow Set to Hit Players and Teams By Tony Farr With thanks to Andy Stein February 1, 2002 will be a bleak day for NBA players. That’s the first day players will make a payment into an escrow fund designed to control player salaries. The concept is that players put up to 10 percent of their salary plus benefits into an escrow account. If salaries are below a certain level, they put in less. Perhaps none. The bad news is that current projections show the players will pony up the full amount. RealGM projections show that the players will contribute about $171 million to the Escrow account. All players will receive about 10.5 percent less salary than the contract they signed. Since the escrow deduction isn’t taken until the players’ sixth paycheck, the players will see about an 18 percent reduction for their last seven checks of the 2001/02 season. Get the soup kitchens ready for next February 1. Why Escrow? When the salary cap was first put in place by David Stern and Larry Fleisher (then head of the Players Association) over ten years ago, the goal was to limit the total of all player salaries to near 55 percent of all basketball revenues. When the cap itself (with all the various exceptions to the cap) did not serve to accomplish this goal, David Stern forced the players and the owners to accept a system that penalized first the players and then the teams if the players got more than 55 percent of what the League refers to as Basketball Related Income (BRI). You can take a look at how the Escrow arrangement works. How about the Teams? We’ve seen that the players are taking a significant hit. The situation for some teams may not be much better. If league salaries are more than the amount covered by the players’ 10 percent, then teams with big payrolls start to make payments to the League. The initial indication from NBA information is that the total league salary limit before high-payroll teams start paying is just under $1.6 billion. That works out to a limit of about $55.1 million per team. Teams over the limit pay $1 to the NBA for every $1 their salary exceeds the limit. RealGM projections show that the total team salaries are about $3 million over the threshold for Escrow payments being made. If this was a public opinion poll, a variance of $3 million would be considered "too close to call." If it was a weather forecast, they’d be saying, "50 percent probability of measurable precipitation." But that "precipitation" would be truly measurable. (By the way … Have you ever heard them say, "51 percent chance of precipitation"?) RealGM projections show that should the teams be over the threshold, about 10 teams will be over the limit. These teams would contribute approximately $148 million to league coffers. Will they or Won’t they? There are several reasons why these projections could go either way. For starters, the league-wide salary increase being projected is about 8.0 percent, compared to 13.6 percent for the current year. The increase should be less since there is a relatively weak free agent group this year, plus there is no group of players ‘graduating’ from rookie contracts. However, this low salary increase figure also indicates that RealGM’s projections are conservative. The most likely way the League can stay under the Escrow limit is if no high-priced free agents near retirement re-sign. If all of the following players retire after the current season, teams probably will be under the threshold for paying escrow. Ages on August 1 are in parentheses: John Stockton (39) Hakeem Olajuwon (38) Patrick Ewing (38) Arvydas Sabonis (36) Horace Grant (36) These players received $59.25 million this season. Since some of them probably will retire, RealGM is projecting a total of $30 million for the five of them this coming season. This year sees the mid-level exception value jump from $2.25 million to over $4 million. This will give the limited number of free agents ‘in play’ additional leverage. Numerous teams will be willing to pay that amount for a player like Todd MacCulloch, Ruben Patterson or Jacque Vaughn. The amount individual free agents will get is obviously hard to project. You can check some current projections for the top 16 free agents, and for all players with an option. Since a free agent usually goes to the person willing to pay the most, our ‘reasonable’ projections are more often low than high. Another aggravating factor is league revenues. If league revenues don’t maintain compounded eight percent growth through this season and next season, the limit will be lower. If this happens – and attendance levels suggest it is a strong possibility -- teams will cross the threshold. Fortunately one of the largest contributors to league revenue – national television rights – is fixed through the 2001/02 season. If teams pay, How much will it be? How much will various teams pay? For starters, approximately 80 percent of next year’s payroll league-wide is already committed with existing contracts. Also, almost all high-price free agents either re-sign with their current team or are part of a sign-and-trade arrangement that results in a comparable amount of salary being traded back to their original team. So aside from the players mentioned elsewhere in this article who might retire, projections for most teams are probably accurate to within about $3 million. There may be movement of salary from team to team. For example, if Team A trades a player with a long-term contract at $3 million per year to Team B for a player with a $3 million contract that expires at the end of this season, that would represent a shift in salary of $3 million from Team A to Team B. Here are the teams that may be making a payment to the League in the spring of 2002. In addition Indiana, Sacramento, Cleveland, Vancouver, Milwaukee and Denver are on the bubble. Team Payroll(x $1M) Tax (x $1M) Portland 93.62 38.53 * New York 78.03 22.94 New Jersey 87.05 31.96 Miami 74.08 18.99 L.A. Lakers 65.24 10.15 * Phoenix 62.03 6.94 Washington 61.10 6.01 San Antonio 61.02 5.93 Utah 60.88 5.79 * Philadelphia 56.06 0.97 * If Arvydas Sabonis, Horace Grant or John Stockton retires, his respective team’s salary will be reduced. Check total team and league projections. Almost $320 Million up for Grabs? The arithmetic is simple. The players put in about $171 million. The teams put in either nothing or about $148 million. That could mean about $319 million in the League’s hands. There is no known plan in place concerning what happens to this money. Will most of it be distributed among some or all teams in the league based on a formula? Will the League keep a small or large amount for itself? Watching the owners and David Stern determine how the money will be used or allocated could be more tortuous than watching how the presidential ballots were counted in Florida. It’s going to be a lot of fun watching how this plays out over the next 18 months.)) I found this article in RealGM & thought it was interesting. Sorry if it's been posted already, but I thought it might have some relevance to trade speculation. Will it make teams less likely to pursue FA's as vigorously? Will it cause teams to dump big salaries? I can see now why Vancouver might purge their team & why the league might give their endorsement for moving the franchise. This also lends credibility to the argument for keeping Dream's expiring contract. There are some pretty good players on the teams that are over the escrow limit & might be available to a team with cap space. Who knows. ------------------
Clutch, Doc.........anyone with any REAL info????????? ------------------ Charles Barkley on TBS on the "fat track" poll: "What? 47% said I'd gain more.....why those.....they better be glad this is a family show."
win14me, you would dance in the streets if we got Marcus Fizer, what the hell are you smoking? he was a good college player, but is to small to play 4 in the NBA, and isn't a good enough shooter to play the 3. ------------------
This thread is getting very quiet... Eerie....... ------------------ "Kenny, The Basketball scientist, Whoo Hoo." Charley B, on TNT
I know, it's so hushed. The panic kind of quiet: like you're hiding in the underbrush and don't want to fart or sneeze while the enemy patrol passes by, it seems that Clutch and Doc and Oeilpere don't want to emit a peep about this impending deal lest "Toronto" occur again. Ironically, Miami is in town tomorrow, and A.C. Green (last-year contract) can be included in a trade at that time, making a big swing of players possible... Clutch? Doc? Pop---er, Oeilpere? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Test. 1, 2, 3, 4. Test... ------------------
Uhhhhh.... calm down Beavis. Trades fall apart all of the time. You don't even know the status of this trade, just that a conversation has occurred. ------------------ I've been reading movies since 3 o'clock..
umm...is there any chance of a trade happening now? It's quiet...eerily quiet...either the thing is dead or it's playing possum...anyone want to jab it with a stick to see if it moves? ------------------ "Jop tvai mat!" - Arvydas Sabonis after Steve Francis sat on his head after a dunk
Been almost 4 hours without a post in this thread, just moving it back to the top. (sorry Clutch) ------------------ "Knickerbocker Please!" visit www.swirve.com, coming January 20th, the top 10 films of 2000! http://www.geocities.com/clutch34_2000 for great Rocket insight by some of your fellow BBS posters!
I'm not saying anything's gonna happen. But one can hope. Just a step in the right direction that will help us compete in the West. ------------------
I was recently told, AC Green of Miami can be traded tomorrow. Not that i want him, but..... ------------------ A Chuck paraphrase: It was surreal! And I don't even know what that means! Charles after Eddie hit THE SHOT
Seeing as the trading deadline is less than a month away I would hope that whatever changes are going to happen, go down before the deadline. ------------------ "Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps." -- Tiger Woods
I read the deal as this. We get Swift, Fizer goes to Vancouver, and Cato goes to Chicago. I know this does not work cap wise, but these 3 are the main components to the deal IMHO. DaDakota ------------------ If Mankind evolved from monkeys and apes, then why are there still monkeys and apes?
