According to the newspaper la opiniòn de Malaga, Chad Buchanan gave to Freeland and his agent the 2012 Off season to join the Blazers. Quoting CB, "The combination of the money he makes in Unicaja (malaga's sponsor) - one million $ a year - and the lack of guarantees about his playing time are a significant hurdle. If his contractual situation was to allow it, we would have brought him here already". The article mentions victor claver, but in his case it looks like the sense of emergency is not the same (CB precising that the player could play another year in Spain). About what that deadline means, no idea. But it could be a "dude, either you come here, either we trade your rights". Either way, it is quite interesting when you are thinking about Oden's situation (and future negociations). http://www.laopiniondemalaga.es/uni...-llegada-freeland-nba-verano-2012/434242.html
I don't think Joel Freeland's existence will ever have any effect on Oden's situation or future negotiations. You're probably confusing him with Joel Przybilla, or some other NBA caliber player.
Freeland's in the power position, not us. He's not scared of some deadline. Pritchard blew this by refusing to let him join us, the first two years in a row after he was drafted. When you draft someone, you bring him in as soon as you can. You "season" your salad.
I think its the complete opposite. The most money he will make is in the NBA, his dream is to play in the NBA. We hold the keys to that, we hold his draft rights. If he plays hardball he may never make it into the NBA.
How would he make more money being a McMillan scrub? And then there are the nonmonetary reasons for staying in Europe... http://sportstwo.com/threads/190574-Mavs-Rudy-Fernandez-to-Madrid?p=2638327&viewfull=1#post2638327
I was thinking that it would be pretty cool if somehow Nolan Smith ended up playing either for Unicaja or Valencia next year, in the event that the lockout drags on. Then I'd have TWO reasons to watch each team.