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Can't tell your players without a
program by Scott Candage The NBA of today is changing in dramatic fashion. Players are changing teams faster than you can say "salary cap exception", and the NBA we once knew may be over. Free agency has created mega-contract players who may or may not be worth all the money given to them. Let's take a look around the NBA to see which team did what, and what they still might do. The Phrase of the Year in the NBA is “cap room”. General managers around the league calculated that the 2000 free agent class would include Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Jalen Rose, Eddie Jones, and Tracy McGrady. Due to this boon of potentially available free agents, general managers created room under the salary cap, typically by having retained marginal, but expensive players, then timing their releases, in order to woo players with scads of dosh. Two teams who attempted to manoeuver themselves into such a position are the Orlando Magic and the Chicago Bulls. Orlando’s GM, John Gabriel, played this game fairly well. Everyone and their grandmother knew that the Magic had plenty of cap room, rumored to be enough to land Tim Duncan, Grant Hill AND Tracy McGrady. Alas, they had to ‘settle’ for Hill and McGrady, shedding themselves of Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins (to Detroit) and a conditional draft pick (to Toronto). Later, the Magic picked up valuable veteran free agent point guard Dee Brown, and traded Matt Harpring to Cleveland for backup center Andrew DeClerc. You can’t tell your players without a program…. Chicago’s GM, Jerry Krause, has failed miserably at the cap room game. The Bulls recently had a bit of savings from their salary cap. They stopped paying this guy named Michael, then traded another guy named Scottie – I can’t seem to remember their last names right now. Having populated the roster of the Bulls with rookies and CBA rejects for two years, the Bulls, like the Magic, have lots of money to give to free agents. However, a funny thing happened on the way to the United Center. Jerry Krause cannot give money away. Duncan, McGrady, and Tim Thomas of the Bucks rejected Krause’s overtures. Eddie Jones actually prayed with his mother that the Miami Heat would trade for him instead of HAVING to take a $67 million, 7-year deal from Chicago! I am not making this up. I can source it. Jones, poor guy, finally forced a trade to Miami, with Charlotte getting Jamal Mashburn and P.J. Brown. However, as always with the Bulls, there might be a story behind the story. In the heyday of the Bulls, Krause was notoriously cheap with his stars. At a time when the NBA allowed teams to pay one time “bonuses” to its star players, Jordan received zero, while Bird, Magic, Ewing, et al, were enjoying their bonuses. When MJ finally did get a mega-contract, Krause, in front of God and everyone at the signing ceremony, said to Michael, “I hope I don’t regret giving you all this money.” That is not a typo. Krause is also rumored to have uttered the now infamous (in Chicago) statement ‘Players don’t win championships; organizations win championships.’ Imagine being MJ hearing that for the first time. Michael Jordan is now a part-owner/President of the Washington Wizards, another struggling team in the Eastern Division. It being reported in hushed tones that Michael and Scottie have put the word out the no player should sign with Chicago as long as Jerry Krause is General Manager, and I for one, believe the rumors. Michael gets to sink the Bulls’ chances of getting quality free agents while looking like he’s doing his job, instead of looking like a petty ex-athlete, still fighting the battles of the past. Like Mike…if I could be like Mike. What’s actually more pathetic is the fact that the NBA also has a salary FLOOR: a team must spend $25 million on salaries. Some marginal players are going to get huge money in Chicago. When all is said and done, the teams who did the best in this revolving door summer of 2000 might be the Spurs, Pacers and Lakers. They stood pat, so far. The Spurs re-signed free agent, all-universe PF, and one hell of a nice guy, let’s give a huge Las Vegas welcome to…. Tim Duncan. He is irreplaceable to San Antonio, and the Admiral just loves the guy. Indiana was able to retain Austin Croshere and Jalen Rose, two invaluable parts to their playoff success last year. The Lakers? They’re ok for now, but watch this space. Long-time Laker Jerry West will resign his general manager’s post this week. Current Laker/ex-Bulls coach Phil Jackson hopes Jerry Krause stays right where he is. Well, the Lakers still have Shaq and Kobe. And the trophy. Copyright 2000, by sportscolumnists.net. Scott Candage owns and operates sportscolumnists.net, a sports website containing links to American sports writers on the internet, as well as global sports headlines and commentary. You may reach him at scott@sportscolumnists.net |
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