The Pistons have no intention of buying out Rip Hamilton, a league source confirmed. Rip blew his chance at free agency haggling with CLE http://twitter.com/#!/ChrisMannixSI/status/40872569724870656
Somehow I think you'll get over it. I read a lot of opinions on this from several venues. No one, but no one was more dismissive of this than you were.
I don't think anyone I read on any other venues argued so strenuously as Denny and FJ that it was somehow likely or a good idea from the Pistons perspective. I don't think I was any more dismissive of it than many others, I was just more willing to point out how crazy it was. Speaking of crazy, apparently the Pistons have mutinied against their coach and called a sick out. Reportedly the Pistons had a deal with the Cavs lined up for him, but he didn't want to go to the Cavs and didn't want to give back any significant money in a buyout. I doubt leading a team revolt, no matter how horrible the coach is, is going to soften anyone's positions. If anything, it's probably a means of the Pistons suspending him without pay if they choose to. Pretty crazy stuff, although I will say that it's getting crazy enough so that most anything could happen, even things that would be idiotic under normal circumstances.
Sounds like someone finally got the scoop on what happened and Kuester might be the worst NBA coach since Jim Boylan. Remember when even Aaron Gray was sassing him? That being said, the Pistons simply can't fire him at this point, just like the Bulls couldn't fire Boylan even though pretty much the entire team (I remember instances with Tyrus, Hinrich, Gordon, Noc, and Gray off the top of my head) hated him. Even if their hate is justified, a the players' behavior here is not justified and can't be tolerated by a winning team. Sit them, fire the coach the minute the season ends, and start looking for ways to get things going in the right direction.
Mike, on the dismissive thing I meant it as a compliment. I thought you analyzed the reality of the situation better than anyone else I read. As for the Pistons practice boycott, when I first heard about it my first thought was "How dumb can those guys be?" I'll take your word for Kuester sucking as a coach (I know zero about the guy) and I realize that most of the boycotters are on their last NBA legs, but what on earth did they think they could accomplish? As you point out, if anything, they guaranteed Kuester's employment through the end of the season. I really hate stupid.
DC's post makes it clear that FJ's prediction nearly came true. Rip's guys did discuss a buyout to join the Bulls. Detroit tried to force him to go to Cleveland.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=6161438 http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AlzbHJtxdA5Pt90DKaDB6.e8vLYF?slug=aw-hamiltonpistons022611 Why the hell would Cleveland trade for Hamilton and then buy him out? That article mentions a $18M buyout amount. Just to get a lottery-protected 2012 first-round draft pick and a second-round draft pick. If true, that is the dumbest thing that I have every heard. I don't believe it. I think Detroit mgmt is blowing smoke on this one.
http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2011/02/scribbles_on_the_nba_trade_dea.html Maybe it's true. If so, the cost of absorbing $$$ has gone way down. I'm surprised the Cavs didn't pick up a big expiring to get someone under the lux tax and pick up a goodie or two. That's a much better deal that having $8M a year of dead money for Rip on your salary cap for the next 2 years. What are the cavs thinking?
Heh, thanks. Yeah, they were incredibly dumb.Every year we see bad teams, with veterans even, playing out the string. It's not every year, or really ever, that I can remember something like this happening. I take Kuester to be a bad coach simply because he seems to have driven a whole team full of veteran players to act so stupidly. I can't imagine what they were thinking, but generally when I see people doing such obviously counterproductive stuff, it's a matter of frustration boiling over past the point of reason.
As a HR guy, I remember counseling many frustrated folks and telling them to "keep their powder dry," that is, don't do anything stupid. Someone needed to tell these guys to keep their powder dry.
They're not. Gilbert's trying to show he'll spend to rebuild on the fly. Which is great, except that it's not enough to spend, you also have to spend well. I guess Baron is a little better, and more exciting than Mo Williams even him plus a late lotto pick in what's supposed to be a weak draft isn't worth $12M. Well, maybe... late 1st rounders seem to go for $3M or so, so I guess it's feasible. The article says they actually wanted Rip to play for them, and then offered the buyout after he said he wouldn't. So they would have been paying $16M or so for a somewhat protected 2012 pick. That's pretty steep, ain't it? It sort of made sense if the Cavs could have convinced him to play. With Baron, Rip, Parker, Jamison, and Varejao, it's not a great team by any stretch, but maybe at least a respectable team to field while you get those extra lottery picks and your own developed. As to whether "FJ's prediction nearly came true"... I suppose it's a matter of perspective. My perspective is that saying it "nearly came true" is like, if I offer to shoot you in the face, and then you say no, I go around saying you nearly allowed me to shoot you in the face. Perhaps Rip will have a change of heart come the off-season, but I wouldn't bet on a guy at the end of his career willingly giving up several million dollars. Nor would I bet on the Pistons paying him to go away, and then having to pay another few million to crappy players to replace him. The way I look at it, it's very simple for the Pistons. If they buy him out, they have to pay him, plus they have to go pay another guy to take his spot. Even if they trade him for a couple of marginal players on slightly better contracts, they manage to fill out their roster without additional expense beyond the cost they've already committed.
DC, True, but as it is now, they're paying him $25M to be a malcontent and don't have a roster spot to give to even a D-Leaguer. I'm not following your logic, entirely. If they bought him out for $15M, like FJ suggested, then paid 2 guys $5M each, they're break even dollar-wise and have 2 guys they might actually want to play.
Yup. Thanks Denny. I had his Fair Market Value buyout at $15M. But to turn down $18M is insane ( IMO ) And then the icing on the cake is the Friday rubbish which just damages his reputation further and limits options and money ....and leaves him in a toxic situation which is he likely to do further damage to himself and more than likely leave the Pistons with no viable options with him and where they are locked in with him at 100 cents in the buck. A boneheaded situation all around
At the risk of getting in the middle of this crossfire, I'm not sure where DC is wrong. He thought that the Pistons buying out Rip's contract was kinda ridiculous. Then a trade mighta been proposed to the Cavs where they mighta bought him out for $18MM. According to the rumor, Rip rejected the $18MM buyout. Net, the Pistons had no interest in losing a lot of money to buy Rip out of his contract...which is pretty much why Rip is still a Piston. Isn't this in line with what DC was saying? The fact that the Cavs wanted to trade for Hamilton and then buy him out for less than Rip would accept doesn't really change what Mike originally said, does it? I mean sure, any buy-out is possible if a player is willing to forfeit ridiculous amounts of money, but you can't take this scenario seriously. In any case, Rip is still a Piston as expected. Though some continue to have him on their buyout lists, I'm with DC...it's a pipe dream.
Well yah. They effectively paid $12M ish for the Clippers pick in the Mo/Baron swap which is a 7 to 10 They would have paid $18M for this pick in what is a mid first round pick then perhaps a lottery pick at ssome future point in time if the PIstons are in the lottery. My take is is that the Cavs are absorbing salary in refuse for the next few years which is what they overpay for to buy lottery picks from other teams like the Clips and PIstons that will combine with their own lottery picks. I guess they are figuring that no one is going to sign in free agency there for a long while and they may as well overpay for poop to get draft picks on the rationale that once all their poop clears in say 3 years they will have a boatload of young developing lottery talent. That's the only rationale that makes sense to me - paying top buck for young lotttery talent so that the nominal cost of their payroll is back at something sensble within 2 to 3 years
