This was bound to happen sometime. In a trend story in the Sporting News about NBA restricted free agents threatening to go to Europe, Sasha Pavlovic’s agent, Marc Cornstein, makes a half-hearted threat that Sasha may go to Europe instead of taking a qualifying offer with the Cavs. Someone’s frustration with the current situation was going public and Sasha’s side was the first to blink.
I haven’t written here in awhile because, frankly, there was nothing to write about. There still isn’t a whole lot because this bluff by Cornstein — who is a good agent just trying to do his job — isn’t a very good one and the situation is still the same as it was. We’ll talk about that in a minute.
Restricted free agency often turns into a mess and for lots of different reasons. If teams pay the asking price they often are chided for overpaying and not letting the market play out. If a team signs a player to an offer sheet and it gets matched the team often looks like a fool. If the player waits until the end and takes the qualifying offer (as might very well happen with both Anderson Varejao and Pavlovic) there are angry vows made and plenty of hurt feelings. Sign-and-trades are very difficult to pull off and sometimes nullify the effectiveness of the entire signing. In fact, last summer’s seemingly fair resolution when Drew Gooden signed a market value contract for three years is a rarity.
This is also the time of year unsigned restricted free agents — the ones the market has passed by due to their status and sign-and-trade deals have gone by the wayside — get crazy with frustration. Which is why next week there could be fireworks one way or another with Andy and Sasha. Either you’re going to see smiling faces with 11th hour deals or you’re going to hear very tough talk and threats about walking if they are forced into signing one-year qualifying offers. There’s very little chance of it going another than those two directions.
In Sasha’s case, he’s not going to Europe. First off, his $2.8 million qualifying offer would be the most he’s ever made and he’s not going to get that overseas. Also, those training camps have already started and he’s never played at the top level of Eurobasket and he’s not been very good in international competition, either. Not to mention, if he wants to come back to the NBA, he’d still be restricted. The problem with him is the deals swingmen have signed this year are all over the board. Jason Kapono, a great guy for whom I couldn’t be happier, got a crazy contract with the Raptors for the full mid-level. Then there were guys like Morris Peterson and Desmond Mason, wing veterans who are more highly regarded than Kapono or Pavlovic, getting around half of that. Then there’s a guy like Ruben Patterson, who averaged more points and rebounds than Pavlovic and is a much better defender, and he signed for the NBA minimum. Plus, due to his status, the Cavs would be bidding against themselves for Sasha at this point. I am all for players getting paid, but just why would the Cavs increase whatever offer they have made? It isn’t because of the Cornstein threat, I’ll tell ya.
Even Charlie Bell, who was a good player in Europe and had a legit offer from a quality European team on the table, couldn’t convince the Bucks when he tried the same tactic. It wasn’t until his agent, Mark Bartelstein, shrewdly convinced Miami though a media blitz that Bell hated the entire state of Wisconsin, that he got an offer sheet from the Heat. Sasha has no such suitors. By the way, it’s been quite a summer for Bartelstein, who sold the Bucks that Mo Williams actually would leave tens of millions on the table to play in Miami rather than Milwaukee. The Bucks raised their offer and suddenly January on Lake Michigan didn’t seem so bad to Mo. Gotta love it. Now ask me if I believe Andrei Kirilenko is dropping $63 million (that’s um, $1.5 billion rubles by the way) on the table. Yeah, right.
As for Varejao, for him the stakes are higher. His qualifying offer is much lower, just over $1.2 million. If he plays for that my guess is he’ll be leaving at least $4 million on the table for this season alone. If he wants to prove his point and vows to walk next summer, the best he is probably going to get is the mid-level exception from a team (ask guys like Stromile Swift and Vlad Radmanovic). It’s likely the Cavs are offering him more than that now. So, if I were him, despite his strong desire to land a $50 million contract or whatever, I’d pay attention to what Gooden did and take a three-year deal that will likely increase his net worth by 10 times while still putting him in position to command a massive deal when he’s in his prime. But don’t ask me, I’m just trying to be objective.
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
That last sentence is a doozy!
Brian, thanks for the information. You are the voice of reason in a sea of discontent which includes Cavs restricted free agents and fans. Do you feel that there will be closure on this by opening day of training camp? Has this situation actually stopped Fery from signing free agents? Is there anything left on the free agent market that would help the Cavaliers?
Are we gonna see Big Z’s buddy in a Cavs uniform this season now that he got bought out by the Warriors?? I’d love to have another three point threat to match with LeBron and he can run an offense better than probably everyone on our team not named LeBron or Larry, and even Hughes has his moments.
Any chance we see Big Z’s boy in a Cav’s uniform this season now that GS bought out his contract?? I’d love to have another three point threat next to LeBron, and he can run an offense better than anyone on the team except the King and maybe Larry.
Jasikevicious has signed to play in Europe.
I guess his agent wasn’t bluffing.
Ferry bid against himself for Ilgauskas, so why should anybody expect any different from him now?
To think that Ferry nearly gifted Jasikevicius the contract that Damon Jones eventually was gifted. If nothing else, at least the man is consistent.
larry, along the same lines of your “critically edgy” amusing first comment, I also smiled at a Will Leitch sentence I read tonight, the guy who edits my favorite sports blog (hey, and Keith Olbermann’s favorite sports blog, too!), Deadspin: “We usually don’t include blogs that are affiliated with newspapers, but Brian Windhorst succeeds in bringing a devoted fan’s touch to this effort.”
“Deadspin.” That’s the perfect name for a Danny Ferry fan blog. How many links does Leitch provide?
Ferry is either the dumbest GM in the league or a genius. We’ll find when Lebron deal runs out in 09. Personally I think he’s in way over his baldhead.
danny is doing what he suppose to be doing and that’s waiting for next year, with all that free agents thats gonna be available and all the money we’re gonna have , then we can get real quality people around james and win it all for awhile. Sasha and Andy , they should get smart and stop listening to thir greedy agents and sign a three years deal with the team thats gonna get them the ring and lots of money in comming years.
You need to sign players to reasonable contracts, as they become assets for trade when all the pieces don’t fit. I’d sign Andy and Sasha to 2-3 year deals. They are young and there are teams that will want these players if we can’t make it work…just don’t let them walk for nothing. As well, the amount of TV exposure that Andy and Sasha will receive over the next few years because of LeBron cannot compare to any other team. LeBron is the shining star for the NBA.
You constantly have to be looking at how to improve the team for LeBron. If he doesn’t like our make-up in 2-3 years, he’s out after 2009.
Is this the most ridiculous ploy by an agent in the history of sports? Would the Brady Quinn deal have gotten done faster if his agent had “threatened” to sign his client to a deal with the Toronto Argonauts? I’m sure Boatshoes is quaking in his, well, boatshoes. Sasha isn’t going anywhere. His harem of east side croatian women wouldn’t stand for it.
$ = the dollar sign. It’s not used with rubles.
“in awhile” should be “in a while”.
Johnny B, who gives an aardvark’s a-hole how somebody posts in a blog? It’s not English 850 at Harvard, it’s the Akron Beacon Journal. I haven’t read anything that patronizing since Terry Pluto last told everybody how we’re all supposed to feel.
Oh, and you really may want to take a closer look at your second sentence.
Johnny B doesn’t know his ass from a ruble!!$
I just read that Shawn Marion wants out of Phoenix. With all due respect to the recent calls for Juwan Howard and Eddie Jones, this is actually a guy worth pursuing. Can this happen? Is there no chance on the planet of getting Marion? When I think of LeBron & Marion together, I think of a team that at last could legitimately challenge the West’s top dogs.
Wow! I’ve been starving for ANY Cavs news and I stumble on gem. Where’s my bookmark?!
Are Ferry’s negotiating skills this incredibly pathetic? He’s totally clueless on how to go about negotiating with Pavlovic’s agent, so what’s this guy do? He goes out and tries to find a Pavlovic clone simply to get Pavlovic’s agent to lower himself to Ferry’s children’s table level. This latest move is reason enough to put Ferry’s head through his shiny new office walls.
Devin Brown, the Cavaliers’ latest career vagabond touring his way through the NBA, is going to give the roster exactly what it needs when it slices, dices and ultimately crushes the Western Conference’s best, won’t it? Who cares if it doesn’t fill a need in any way, shape or form? At least it’ll make Ferry’s job easier.
Unbelievable.
I wonder who will be taking Verajao’s place? With training camp starting next week, are there even any former Spurs end-of-benchers available at this point?
Funny you should ask that question, larry. I believe former Spurs end-of-the-bench guy Kevin Willis is available and looking for a team. The looming threat of a wily 45-year-old veteran to fill the gap is Ferry’s ace in the hole. It will bring Varejao’s agent to his knees.
The only reason that Ferry bid against himself for Z is because the Cavs had already alienated Z. They treated him as though that had no interest in him until Ferry came on board and LeBron mentioned that he wanted Z back. Then they actually had to pony up a bit more money to get him back. While LeBron has mentioned that we need both Sasha and Varejao back this time as well, they have far less leverage than Z did as an unrestricted free agent
They only ponied up a “bit more money?” Try five million a year more than he could have gotten anywhere else. Only a few teams could have offered more than the midlevel exception, but none of those teams wanted Ilgauskas. The Hawks and Knicks had other plans. So why did Ferry bid against himself? It made no sense then, it makes no sense now.
And who says that James wanted Ilgauskas back? I mean, other than Z’s biggest fans, the local sportswriters. Don’t you find it ironic that James always complains about the speed of the offense, but Ilgauskas is one of the very reasons that Mike Brown has been forced to run an offense that makes Mike Fratello’s offense look like the Indianapolis Speedway?