Not only do players not want to play for Gilbert, they also don't want to play for a team that has to wait a while to even think about competing for a 'ship.
Financial issues may slow Barnes deal By Marc Stein ESPN.com Veteran swingman Matt Barnes, one of the most coveted free agents left on the open market, announced Monday night that he is headed to the Toronto Raptors. But the limited sign-and-trade options available to Orlando -- Barnes' last team -- could scuttle the deal, according to sources close to the situation. Under the impression that he would be receiving a two-year contract in the $10 million range, Barnes thanked Magic fans via his Twitter feed and said that he'll be "playing for the Toronto Raptors" next season. Sources told ESPN.com that the teams will resume discussions Tuesday, as planned all along, with the intent of landing Barnes with the Raptors via sign-and-trade. Yet no such deal could be assured as of midnight, raising the possibility that Barnes would have to accept new terms to sign with the Raptors or that other teams that have been chasing Barnes will get another shot at him if the deal collapses. Since Toronto recently spent the bulk of its $5.8 million mid-level exception to sign Linas Kleiza, it doesn't have the available funds to sign Barnes outright to a deal that starts in the neighborhood of $4 million. The Magic, though, are prevented by salary-cap rules from starting a sign-and-trade deal for Barnes at higher than $2 million, because Orlando doesn't have Barnes' full Bird rights after employing him for only one season. A sign-and-trade deal would also have to span at least three years, although only the first year is required to be guaranteed. Barnes was initially believed to be on the verge of signing with a title contender late last week -- such as Miami, Boston or the Los Angeles Lakers -- when the Raptors made an aggressive late rush to join the bidding. Barnes also gave serious consideration in recent days to the Cleveland Cavaliers before talks with Toronto got serious. Barnes started 58 games last year for Orlando in his only season with the Magic after a hard recruiting push from center Dwight Howard. The 30-year-old averaged 8.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in Orlando and had originally signed a two-year deal with the team. But Barnes exercised his option to become a free agent after playing for $1.6 million in 2009-10. With salary-cap rules limiting the raise the Magic could offer unless it cut into its own mid-level exception, Magic general manager Otis Smith said last week that matching Chicago's offer sheet to sharpshooter J.J. Redick and signing Quentin Richardson were budget priorities. If Toronto does not become Barnes' eighth stop in a career that began with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2003, it will be the second high-profile deal to unravel unexpectedly at the Raptors' expense this offseason. Earlier this month, Charlotte agreed to participate in a trade originally hatched by Toronto and the Phoenix Suns, which would have brought Tyson Chandler and Boris Diaw to the Raptors. But the Bobcats pulled out and traded Chandler to Dallas one day later.
Damn, the Raptors can't do anything right. First the Diaw and Chandler trade fell through and now this? LOL.
http://twitter.com/wojyahoonba Looks like he won't be going to the Raptors because the only way for him to get more money was through sign and trade. The Raptors used most of their MLE on Kleiza and can only offer 1-2 million per year rather than the 10 mill. The reason why he signed with the Raps because they offered the most money. Looks like he might go to Cleveland or somewhere else.
Don't the Raptors have a huge trade exception from the S&T with Miami? Why can't they use some of that on Barnes? Not a cap expert so perhaps someone can clarify.
This is absolutely, freakin' AMAZING that two NBA front offices didn't realize that a sign-and-trade could not conceivably work under the salary cap. I caught this within two minutes of reading the story, and I'm by no means on par with most NBA GMs. Or am I??? I'm actually a little disappointed in Marc Stein on not catching this. To his credit, John Hollinger tweeted last night that he didn't understand how a sign-and-trade was possible and that he didn't see how it could work under the salary cap. Sloppy management by Toronto and Orlando, and sloppy reporting by Stein not to call them out on it.
You have a point. Amazingly, I think Turkoglu was "dumped" into one of the best situations for him. A spread offense where he has room to operate. He got the contract he wanted and was eventually moved to a team where he can (and most likely will) succeed. He should count his blessings.
As far as the cap management part goes, anyone that passed basic math can be an NBA GM. I think Barnes was exaggerating the terms of his deal or his agent exaggerated to him the terms of the deal. Why would any team pay Barnes that much money anyway? Who does he think he is, Brad Miller?
