Okay, this has been bugging me since I heard that Brandon's planning on making a comeback this year. It occurs to me that Brandon and his agent may have intentionally played the system to make more money in whatever amount of career he may have left. As you'll recall, the discussion prior to the season was that the Blazers would likely use the amnesty provision on Roy because of his knees. Then we heard just prior to the start of camp that he was looking good and the Blazers were leaning towards keeping him. The next thing we hear, seemingly out of left field, is that Brandon is retiring on the advice of his doctors. This essentially forces the Blazers to use the amnesty provision in order to fill out the roster. A month or two later we hear that Brandon's getting some treatments, his knees are feeling great and he might consider a comeback. Now it sounds like almost a certainty that he'll be back and teams are lining up to use their MLE money to sign him. So, now, in addition to the rest of his existing max contract being paid by the Blazers, he'll probably get a 3 year deal for another $15-$16 million or so. Although I don't really want to believe it, it seems to me there's certainly a reasonable chance that Brandon and his agent decided that the best thing for him was to take off last year with its cramped schedule and play the system so Brandon could essentially double dip on salary. What say you? Do you think there's anything to this and would your opinion of Brandon be diminished if it were true?
Roy will only get paid his max contract amount until it ends. The difference is that whatever team picks him up will pay their portion of the max contract out of the contract (likely vet minimum) that he signs for. I thought that was how it worked, right?
That's correct. The only thing working to Roy's benefit is he is making max money and can go anywhere he wants to go.
That would have been the way it worked if he had been claimed off of waivers once the Blazers used the amnesty clause. However, because everybody thought he was really retiring, nobody claimed him. Now, as I understand it, he'll be able to double dip.
If this is true, this is not how some of the local media has explained it. But they (shockingly) could be wrong.
No, that's not the case as I understand it. Plus, how did Roy "game" the system? Portland didn't have to amnesty him.
I can't comment on whether it's true, but I don't think the litany of events you lay out clearly shows deviousness. I think Roy could very well legitimately have retired due to how he was feeling and what doctors were telling him and then, later, after some work decided he actually could give it another go. I mean, we see this from time to time with athletes who retire due to age, like Favre or Jordan. They figure it's time to hang it up and then suddenly decide later that actually they still have something left. It may work out to Roy's advantage to have a change of mind, but that doesn't mean he planned it that way.
Read FAQ #67: http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q67 Brandon cleared waivers, so none of the provisions about the Blazers having the amount of his salary reduced by the amount of his new contract is applicable. Intentional or not, Brandon will get to double dip.
I can't disagree with any of what you're saying, Minstrel. It could very well simply be that Brandon's going to be the fortunate recipient of a quirk in the system. OTOH, you have to admit it would be a pretty smooth move to play it that way intentionally. Announce you're retiring knowing that the Blazers will almost certainly waive you and that no other team is going to pick you up off of waivers. Take a year off, get some therapy and convince another team to pay you again for your services.
Will Conroy tweeted that Roy hasn't shown up to the last four charity games he committed to then he deleted his tweet. Kind of sounds like Roy's rehab might not be going as planned.
Roy's knees are a mess. I can understand how frustrating it would be at age 28 to be "retired" from a job that you're world class in, but hopefully somebody can talk some sense into him soon.
As I understood it, Roy met with the Blazers, they had a serious discussion about his future, and after that discussion, found it best to part ways. Of course, that doesn't fit into the 'greedy Roy' meme that many here seem to subscribe in. I'd be outraged if Roy was still worthy of a max contract, and if giving Roy the amnesty did give the Blazers cap space, but he'll be lucky to latch on for a vet minimum, and it won't be for more than next year. What team would tie up real money in Roy at this point? Hell, if somebody gives him the MLE, that's one less team with cap space to be concerned about.
Yeah, it would be quite clever if he planned it that way. Of course, if he really doesn't have anything left, it's not going victimize Portland in any way (I believe) as they were anyway going to be on the hook for the full salary. I wouldn't necessarily feel negatively to Roy...he was the victim of some bad luck which is going to cheat him out of most of his career, I can fully understand him wanting to make use of a quirk in his favor. If he has something left and tricked Portland into letting a useful player go to do this, then it's a lot more morally ambiguous.
Read the FAQ. It specifically addresses the amnesty situation. The compensation to the prior team only occurs if the player is picked up off of waivers. Nobody claimed Brandon off of waivers. He's a UFA and the Blazers won't see any offset from any contract he signs.
Check out my avatar. I've always been a huge Brandon fan. I don't think he's a greedy SOB and most likely what I'm suggesting is off target. I'm just saying that it's possible that Brandon played the system to his advantage.
Since Roy will make more than the max, he will be the highest-paid NBA player. He didn't "retire" in the conventional definition. That means he quit and would no longer be paid. He came to a friendly agreement with Allen to find a medical reason to leave, which meant Allen still had to pay him. So amnesty was an inevitable follow-on to his departure.
