Re: Griffin's contract status for next year

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

CeltsSteve wrote:

> So apparently, all the C's will need to do is make an offer to Old School by 
> June 30, 2000 and they will have the ability to match another team's offer. 
> Now I suppose if another team wants to take a risk and plant a "poison pill" 
> in the hopes of the C's not matching that second team's offer, they could end
> up over-paying. I wanted to point this out because this seems to be at odds 
> with earlier published reports that the C's offered Griffin a one-year deal 
> with the team's option for a second year. Technically, they do have the 
> option for the second year but that option is to match any counter offer so 
> long as they tender him a qualifying offer first by June 30th.

There are two possibilities:

1. The Celtics signed Griffin to a one-year contract and will have
right of first refusal like you said. This is what happened with Nesby
and the Clippers and Spurs.

2. They signed him to a one-year contract with an option for the
second year. At the end of the season, they just have to exercise the
option at the previously agreed salary.  Other teams will not be able
to make him an offer because he will never be a free agent. This is
what happened with Bruce Bowen after his first year with us.

I believe that the second possibility is actually the reality based on
media reports, and it fits in with what Pitino did with Bowen. By the
way, Pitino seems to get criticized for many of his personnel moves
but gets no praise for the ones that work out successfully. Anyone who
blames him for all the "bad" personnel moves should be giving him credit
for acquiring Griffin, for instance.

Alex