Well, hopefully some team signs Brandon to a max contract, then. How that applies to the Blazers, I don't really understand. Roy didn't have an offer last year, and he could have had one. At best, he'll get a vet minimum deal, and even that is a risk for good teams. If Roy returns to being an All-Star, and some team pays him for being an All-Star right now, well, that's apparently the risk you take. Are you saying Roy deliberately sat out a year, from a team and city that adores him, to double-dip on some big new contract? That seems ridiculous to me. I see a 28 year-old man who is trying everything to do what he does best, and the fact he amicably agreed to amnesty with the Blazers, freeing up cap space for the team, is fantastic. Not that he had a choice, but Brandon could have said via the media that he wasn't done, and that the Blazers did him wrong. He's never said anything like it.
It kind of makes him sound fraudulent when he makes no pre-game announcement that he knew all along he wouldn't play, while fans travel hundreds of miles to buy tickets to see him one last time, when he plans to re-enter the NBA. 30 years ago, at their "Last Concert" tours, at least the Rolling Stones showed up and played. Like Roy, they lied they were retiring, but unlike him, they didn't disappoint the audience by not playing.
Why do you say that? It doesn't save the Blazers any money. Brandon would just make double the maximum amount until his contract with the Blazers runs out. I'm saying that Brandon and his agent knew prior to the start of this past season that whatever amount of time he might have left to play in the NBA, it wouldn't be long. His doctors were telling him that he should consider retiring. Brandon also knew that the upcoming compressed schedule of the shortened season would be awful for his knees. Given those factors, a smart agent certainly could have suggested to Brandon that the amnesty provisions offered a chance for him to maximize his income for whatever remaining amount of time he had left. Retire, get amnestied because it's the only smart play for the Blazers, and clear waivers before talking about a comeback. That may be pure fiction on my part, and probably is, I'm just saying it also would have been a pretty slick thing to do if you only look at the dollars. Nobody significant would have said anything bad about the Blazers amnestying Roy prior to him announcing his retirement. Most people were calling the amnesty the Roy provision because he was the most likely player for it to be used on. The Blazers had decided that they weren't going to use it until Brandon announced he was retiring. Look, I think you're probably right. I'm just saying it is also possible that Brandon pulled a pretty slick cross-over dribble on the Blazers.
Yeh, I think the Blazers knew there was a good chance he would be back; but they weren't sure when or exactly what Roy would be back, so they took the opportunity to clear cap space without the fans being angry about ditching Roy.
If any of this was planned, it was likely agreed between the Blazers and Roy. As was mentioned above, this benefits both Roy and the Blazers. Roy wasn't the man, but wants to play. Blazers can't move forward with him in that position. Best for both parties.
I don't doubt Roy considered that he might come back to the NBA when he "retired" in December. But I don't think he orcestrated all of these events to get more money, I think he did it so he was in control of dictating the team he went to and the amount of rest he could get away from basketball before returning. His knees are totally fucked up, he was never the same after the injury with Artest back when he was still on his rookie contract. He knew the short season would be just ludicrous for someone with his degenerative knee injuries to attempt to work through. When your thinking about not walking again, and not being able to play basketball again, and already have $80 million in the bank, the last thing on your mind is going to be double dipping for a mini-MLE! Before the lockout ended but when the amnesty rules were ironed out Roy was having discussions with the players union about his options. I remember one report where he was very concerned about being claimed off amnesty for some franchise he doesn't want to play for. Minnesota was specifically mentioned as a city he didn't want to go to. Its so shocking to hear he is now actually considering signing there outright!
No. Brandon didn't make the Blazers amnesty him. I hope things work out for him. I am really happy we moved on, and hopefully someday soo some of the fans can also
Brandon Roy didn't "game the system" after signing his massive contract. He Royally Screwed the team by signing it in the first place when he/the blazers/Roy's agent knew that he wouldn't be healthy enough to complete it. He even hit the airwaves a couple of times because the blazers didn't want to give him the max, and many of us wondered why the evil management didn't give it to him right away. Little did we know...
Like MM said, the Blazers were fully within their rights to walk away from the table and not extend him. Now maybe they felt like they were a little bit cornered, and KP kind of hamstrung the team with his public comments implying that he was on Roy's side, but if they were so convinced he was a bad gamble then they shouldn't have capitulated. Roy also didn't really screw the team; one way to look at it is this: he was woefully underpaid on his rookie scale contract and killed his knees, trying to carry a team back from the brink of the abyss. No Roy and likely there's still a half-full house most nights and less ticket revenue. Personally I think it's highly unlikely that Roy "gamed" the situation. Any way you slice it, his knees are fucking hamburger. That's not to say he and his agent haven't tried to optimize his situation and extend his career however they can, but that's not illegal, and frankly it's not even unethical. I wish him the best.
No double dip. http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q64 If another team signs a player who has cleared waivers, the player's original team is allowed to reduce the amount of money it still owes the player (and lower their team salary) by a commensurate amount. This is called the right of set-off. This is true if the player signs with any professional team -- it does not have to be an NBA team. The amount the original team gets to set off is limited to one-half the difference between the player's new salary and the minimum salary for a one-year veteran (if the player is a rookie, then the rookie minimum is used instead). For example, suppose a fifth-year player is waived with one guaranteed season remaining on his contract for $5 million. If this player signs a $1 million contract with another team for the 2011-12 season, his original team gets to set off $1 million minus $762,195 (the minimum salary for a one-year veteran in 2011-12), divided by two, or $118,902. The team is still responsible for paying $4,881,098 of the original $5 million. Note that between his prior team and new team the player will earn a combined $5,881,098, which was more than he earned prior to being waived.
An amazing point of view. The reality is that even the hardened critics on these forums just love Roy. Really, if this is one's point of view, then why would anyone ever bitch about Darius Miles. After all, "no one held the gun to the Blazers heads and made them offer (Darius) that contract." Darius played a lot more than Roy.
What are you talking about? Roy scored ZERO points for us last season on contract, ZERO points for us next season on contract, and ZERO points for us the following season on contract - Miles scored points in each of his contract years. End of Discussion, indeed - based on your own metric your are WRONG.
You're really wondering why people are willing to give Roy the benefit of the doubt compared to Darius Miles? Really???
When Roy was playing and healthy he was a top ten player in the league and lead the team to a lot of wins and playoff appearences, when Miles was healthy and playing he wildly underperformed and was seen as a lazy, dog. When both were unhealthy, Roy was seen as killing himself trying to play at all costs (even when he couldn't really go). Miles on the other hand was seen as a guy taking his sweet assed time. And no, Miles didn't score points in each of his contract seasons, or are we forgetting that whole sordid medical retirment fiasco?
Thanks, Denny, I missed that. However, while it's a reduced double dip, it's still a double dip. If Brandon gets a contract for $3M, the Blazers would get to reduce their payment to him by $1.12M.
