Here's the article: LINK And this is the portion I was talking about: Overall it was a great article on Olshey and really got me excited when he was still a prospect for the job.
Crawford can only be traded if he picks up his player option. As such, extending the deadline gives the Blazers the opportunity, if they find a trade partner whom Crawford is willing to play for (and for $5.2 million) to make a deal on/near draft day. It doesn't put the Blazers on the hook for anything they don't want. Either Crawford opts out on June 29 and becomes a FA, or he opts in to facilitate a trade to a team he finds appealing. Extending the deadline keeps the option of trading him open. A good strategic move, IMO. BTW, it's true that the rule is that you cannot trade players with options for next season - however, you can trade a player once he picks up the option (thus making it a guaranteed contract and not an option any longer).
Again, thanks for the answer. Some poster who didn't know what they were talking about made it about Ray Felton, and I knew that couldn't have been factual.
Are you just slow? Felton example was in response to you saying draft day deals aren't finalized until July. That us false and I provided you an example. sorry if it went too fast for you
"Jamal Crawford has opted out of his contract with the Trail Blazers and entered free agency. Teams said to be on his radar include the Heat, Clippers, Kings, Knicks and Cavaliers. Crawford, 32, averaged 14.0 points per game last season. He was originally drafted by the Cavs with the No. 8 pick in 2000, then quickly shipped to the Bulls for Chris Mihm. FOXSportsOhio" So did he opt out and Olshey thought he would not, or is this article from hoopshype this morning correct?
Amico wrote that article yesterday ... so I'm going to go out on a limb and say he doesn't quite have it right since Olshey said they were extending the deadline ... also yesterday.
There's no listing about Jamaal opting out on NBA.com's transactions page, so I think you're safe on your limb. This is good news, IMO. Can't help but note that his contract matches nicely with Kyle Lowry's.
This http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/i...r_the_blazers_jamal_crawford_on_deadline.html explains what is going on: "It was a win-win situation for the Trail Blazers and veteran guard Jamal Crawford on Friday when the sides agreed to extend his deadline to opt in to his 2012-13 contract from June 15 to June 29. The move allows the Blazers to use Crawford in a potential trade on draft night, which in turn, would award Crawford his Bird Rights, which will help him in his next contract. Immediately after this season, Crawford indicated he would opt out of the contract, which would have paid him around $5 million next season, making him a free agent this summer. If the Blazers trade him on draft night, Crawford would first need to sign paperwork indicating he was opting in to his contract. If they do not trade him, Crawford will opt out of the contract the next day, and become a free agent."
Although it still doesn't make a lot of sense; presumably this means the trade would have to be to a team that Crawford approves of; and since Blazers will be under the cap this doesn't really help to make trades match up money-wise, does it? Or are they not under the cap until July 1? so it makes a draft day trade possible?
The NBA must have made a ruling on these guys and them opting out. Jameer Nelson was just granted the exact same extension.
Since Crawford would have to approve of the trade, here are a couple of options that I would be OK with: Miami - Haslem + #24? Clippers - None.... Possibly Buttler, but not likely. Sac - Tyreke Evans Knicks - None..... Cavs - Side show Bob or Casspi or if I understand the trade rules - #6+Crawford for #4 (since they are under the cap by about $5-mill). If I had to rank the options, Evans would be #1, Side show Bob #2, then the #6/#4 swap as third choice (although I view that as being most likely).
How doesn't this make sense? This makes perfect sense. If a deal turns up on draft day that works out, you have a trade chip in Crawford to use, and Crawford gets to utilize his bird rights allowing him to make more money or to potentially be an expiring contract. If a deal doesn't turn up, Crawford opts out the next day he becomes a FA. It's pretty cut and dry. If he opts out now, you get nada.
Any trade involving Crawford would be done by draft day so the Blazers would be on this year's team salary. They're over the cap, so any deal would have to fit within salary matching requirements of the CBA. If they make a trade, the incoming player's contract would add to team salary for next year. If they don't make a deal, then Crawford will opt out and his salary will come off the books.
I'd be ecstatic if Crawford moved us from 6 to 4. We could probably move to 2 and get Robinson. Or stay at 4 and take Barnes/MKG/Beal.
Cleveland will have cap space, so no reason for them to move down 2 spots to acquire a player they can just sign outright. Same with Sacramento.
they could sign outright but most likely at a higher salary then the roughly 5 million crawford is due next year. they could look at it as saving a few million to move down two spots. at this point it sounds like the odds of a deal involving Crawford are extremely low, but always nice to have more chips to trade.
I guess it doesn't hurt. I can't see Crawford choosing to accept the 1 year 5 million dollar deal over whatever longer deal he can sign this offseason, but maybe the right team, without the full MLE he would be intrigued by? I dunno.
