If he wasn't waived by yesterday, the rest of the year became guaranteed. I guess you can look at it in a couple of ways... 1- it was either a stricly financial move - maybe set off in part by having to pay Hill an increased salary and continue paying Weiss, or... 2 - we are fairly close, or have decided upon a deal that will bring in another PG I would hope its #2 considering Mateen made so little money, it would be pretty stupid I would think to dump such a hard working, fan favorite who had played well in his limited stints thus far - all for what amounted to a hundred thousand dollars or so. I would understand if Watson was close to coming here - it renders Mateen totally useless and redundant - but man, still ticks me off in a way, how could you not like that guy? I just hope he can get picked up for the rest of the season somewhere...
My mistake, apparently the sonics save $600,000 by waiving Mateen - makes it possible it was purely a financial decision I suppose... Vitaly also asked to be traded - and I'm voting to give him what he wants... Source
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting M_Cage89:</div><div class="quote_post">My mistake, apparently the sonics save $600,000 by waiving Mateen - makes it possible it was purely a financial decision I suppose... Vitaly also asked to be traded - and I'm voting to give him what he wants... Source</div> Nice, we get rid of Vitaly and somehow find some team to take Craig Ehlo and I'm happy. Hard to believe but he's actually worse this year. Also, I heard Bob Hill say something about how nice it was to finally see some rebounds being grabbed above the rim
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting odde23:</div><div class="quote_post">Why? I don't get it.</div> I don't either, Cleaves has shown that he's solid when he actually gets minutes. How much money is Rick Brunson making? He's only played in one game this year, we should have waived him instead or as well. Apparently they think that Damien is good enough at pg that we don't need Cleaves.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Bobcats:</div><div class="quote_post">The Sonics just killed their playoff chances.</div> How could you make a statement like that and not elaborate? He was a good player, but we can easily replace him. How does this kill our playoff chances? They obviously wanted to get rid of him so that they can bring in someone else by getting rid of his salary and roster spot. To me that means that there is a trade in the works.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting P.A.P.:</div><div class="quote_post">Jurassic, meet Sarcasm. Sarcasm, meet Jurassic.</div> Haha, well you'd be surprised how many people on JBB make statements like that in the team forums. I have no idea what that guys credibility is as a poster. Still, point taken.
Like MrJ suggested in the Knicks forum, Pacers Waived Samaki Walker, Seattle Waived Cleaves and Golden State Waived Aaron Williams, could this be because of a three way trade brewing?
Last year Cleaves and Wilkins kept their jobs b/c we were 16 games over .500 when partially guaranteed contracts became fully guaranteed. Both Cleaves and Wilkins served as good guys to boost team morale and Ray and Sweet Lew went to Howard Schultz on behalf of both of them. Given our start this season I can see why we'd like to dump payroll. Cleaves was a phenominal teammate, but when push came to shove he will always be a fringe NBA player. I wish that he could have stayed on the team but I'm guessing that Rick Brunson is close to returning and if that is the case then it doesn't make sense to carry two marginal point guards on the roster. I hope that the kid lands on his feet though. And I hope that we can move Vitaly, but I'm not sure of what we can get in return for a slow footed center in the twilight of his career.
^^Thanks for that response, but I still don't understand why we'd keep a guy who we use less often. Does anyone know how much Brunson is making? It can't be all that much more or less than Cleaves, so why not just drop Brunson who we don't use?
Brunson had an existing guarantee (though I don't think it was fully guaranteed), and has a better track record in the NBA than does Cleaves. Give Brunson a break, he played pretty well the last two years in both reserve and starting roles on NBA teams. He got injured in camp and hasn't yet played, why are you jumping all over him? Plantar Fascitis ranges from annoying (a la Rashard and Ridnour last season) to serious impact. Players have missed major portions of seasons over it in the past. Brunson popped his, which actually means it will heal and he will come back...that is WAY better than having it stick around and never knowing how well he will be able to play.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting M_Cage89:</div><div class="quote_post"> Vitaly also asked to be traded - and I'm voting to give him what he wants... </div> YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! And Hopefully M_Cages theory is right..Hopefully!
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't either, Cleaves has shown that he's solid when he actually gets minutes. How much money is Rick Brunson making? He's only played in one game this year, we should have waived him instead or as well.</div> Well Brunson is guaranteed for the season, Cleaves wasn't. Hence by waiving Cleaves we save 600K, but if we waived Brunson we'd still have to pay him out the million he's set to earn this season. Financially, it's a no brainer, and it's not like we have cash to throw around. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Apparently they think that Damien is good enough at pg that we don't need Cleaves.</div> That's why my first reaction was that this Watson deal may be close.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting P.A.P.:</div><div class="quote_post">Jurassic, meet Sarcasm. Sarcasm, meet Jurassic.</div> Lol, no kidding. Nobody else seems to have a sense of humor. In regards to Cleaves, I really feel sorry the guy. He was one of the best college PG's of all time, but he has done pretty much nothing in the NBA. I think people expected a lot more out of him when he got drafted.
