The Blogfather weighs in on RLEC and "Stupid" GMs

[Nikolokolus]

Henry Abbott gives his take on the speculation that GMs might chose to shut Portland out.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-104/Taking-Your-Toys-and-Going-Home--Really-.html?post=true

Excerpt

The Best Expiring Contract
ESPN's Chad Ford has just been reviewing the big men who are on the market this trade season. This is what he had to say about the injured LaFrentz:

LaFrentz has what NBA GMs are calling a "super-expiring contract." Not only does his $12.7 million salary come off the books this summer, but insurance is paying 80 percent of it. Add in that the Blazers have other young players like Sergio Rodriguez, Channing Frye and Travis Outlaw whom they could throw in a deal, and a team looking to clear some cap space and develop young talent would have to take a hard look at a deal with Portland.

Wow. Good deal huh?

OK, OK, OK ... so you are a hypothetical GM, running a company with cash worries. What are your options? You can start firing office staff (it has been happening), you can sell draft picks for cash (it has been happening), you can piss off vendors and the like by haggling over every little detail (this has been happening too) and all of that will save you a few beans here and there.

Or you can make a deal for Raef LaFrentz, pay him just 20% of his remaining salary, and then kiss goodbye to a large canned ham's worth of player salary now and forever more. And you might get some cap space, young talent, and luxury tax protection out of the deal. What could be better?

Cranky General Managers
Ford continues:

The biggest question surrounding a Blazers deal at the moment: Does any GM in the league really want to do Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard any favors after his team threatened to sue all the owners in the league over the Darius Miles fiasco? More than one GM has told me no.

Oh. No. Nope. Not you. You're not that kind of GM. You're not going to help your team by getting Raef LaFrentz ... because that Kevin Pritchard makes you feel icky, and that Larry Miller sent you a nasty e-mail.

So no franchise-saving cost-cutting for you. You'll just make your trade somewhere else.

Even though you only compete against Portland a few times a season, to punish them, you'll hurt your own franchise 365 days a year.

Those thing they say about business and pleasure ... they apply to enmity too.

Meanwhile, in Portland, I'm not sure they'll actually be learning their lesson. Keeping LaFrentz would put the team that much more under the cap this summer, and they'll still have the deep-pocketed owner, the nice city, the roster headed for great things, and the ability to sign free agents or make lop-sided trades.

More good stuff inside.

 

[DaRizzle]

I dont think any GM can take things like the email POR sent out personal. Just like they say in the article, you would only be hurting your own team. GM's gotta swallow their pride and make the deal they think is right when they ignore the biases. Either that or get fired.

 

[Further]

Good article. I really liked the last paragraph.

But if I'm wrong, if Portland is desperate to trade LaFrentz, and teams want him but won't make the deal out of pride, or principle, or something, then at least those other 29 general managers can console themselves with this: "There is one way that cutting off trade with a partner could help you," Wolfers explains. "And that's if you're an idiot. If you used to trade a lot with one partner, and they always got the better of you because you don't know what you're doing, then you're right, you would be better off not trading with them any more."

 

[hasoos]

Owner: So let me get this right, you could have saved me 12 million dollars, but you didn't want to deal with their GM because of the previous letter?

GM: Yes sir.

Owner: Your fired.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Good to hear that RAEF's contract looks as atttractive to others as we have been saying on this board.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Good to hear that RAEF's contract looks as atttractive to others as we have been saying on this board.

That 80% insured contract makes him awfully appealing ... depending on when a trade is consummated he could end up costing a team a fairly paltry 1.5-2 million real dollars for the remainder of the season.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

That 80% insured contract makes him awfully appealing ... depending on when a trade is consummated he could end up costing a team a fairly paltry 1.5-2 million real dollars for the remainder of the season.

Less than that, even; he could actually cost less than $1M.

Let's say we trade him to Washington for Butler (dreaming, I know), and the deal goes down 2/18. They'll have 28 games left at that point 12,722,500 * 28/82 * 20% = $868,853. That's some cheap cap space.

 

[maxiep]

I think it is interesting how the GMs and the team owners can be at cross purposes. As a GM, you may dislike another colleague and not want to see him succeed. As an owner, you look at your bottom line. If you're not winning and you have a contract you believe to be inflated that is pushing you either over the cap or into the luxury tax, you take this deal and run to the hills, no matter with whom you're negotiating.

At some point, PA gets involved and makes some phone calls if a GM is being obstinate.

 

[Blaze01]

Someone had stated in another forum \thread that any GM who woudln't deal with POR b\c of "the letter"....is not a good GM....

and that is 100% correct...at the end of the day, you do what is best for your team, letters be dammed....

 

[1 Eye Jack]

That 80% insured contract makes him awfully appealing ... depending on when a trade is consummated he could end up costing a team a fairly paltry 1.5-2 million real dollars for the remainder of the season.

I would also assume PA will pick up the difference so the team we trade to won't pay one dollar of his contract.

 

[Further]

dealing for RLEC gets you several things that you likely don't get elsewhere all in combination, that can end up to a boatload of savings.
1) 12 mil off the books at the end of the season (here are other teams that have similar to offer). plus, the Blazers can take back up to 125% of the contract, so the other team could actually save 3 mil this year and have 15mil effectively come off their books next year.
2) savings of about 4mil as a direct result of Raef being injured and insurance covering %80 of his salary. (this one is unique to the Blazers)
3) PA is rich rich rich, and would have no problem adding 3mil in cash to get a deal done.

So right there, you get an imediate (4+3) 7mil this year in addition to the savings of the future.

Then you get into what the Blazers have to offer outside of financial benefits, and there are even more reasons to trade with the Blazers. The Blazers still own all their 1t round picks, a hefty load of second round picks, young and decent players like Outlaw, Sergio, Frye and more.

You add that together and weigh it against an email that teams must understand (it cost us 18mil to have miles back on the books) came out of a very frustrating situation, and if a team did not deal with us cause of the email, then they are fucking dumb as can be.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I would also assume PA will pick up the difference so the team we trade to won't pay one dollar of his contract.

That makes no sense. Any team we trade with will be trading a player's contract that roughly matches Lafrentz's salary so they stop having to pay their original player's salary and instead pick up the 80% insured contract saving them anywhere from 4-5 million dollars for the rest of the season -- that's generous enough.

 

[Natebishop3]

Well, hypothetically you could send money in a deal... I forget how much is the max.... 3 million?