RE: One that got away

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

At 11:55 AM 8/17/01, Berry, Mark  S wrote:
>I don't recall any scheming at all. It appeared he wouldn't be able to get
>out of his contract, and that scared some teams away. The Suns took a chance
>and worked out the contract buyout. Would have made sense for them
>regardless, because he obviously would have been worth the wait (considering
>he's only the 25th pick-that's great value). But as I remember, the Suns
>went through some difficult negotiations to get him over here. There was no
>secret deal to have him drop to 25-think about it; why would an agent make
>that kind of deal when he would have been picked much earlier?

I think you're right here, now that I think about it. I remember there was 
some speculation about Pheonix having some sort of inside knowledge or an 
under-the-table agreement with his Greek team, but then afterwards they 
were fighting in an arbitration case so that was clearly not the case.

>Let's hope a 7-1, 275-pound talented European center with a bad contract
>slides to where the Sixers pick next year.

There's usually talent down there, but it's much more of a gamble than the 
higher picks. Either a foreigner, or someone with little or low-quality 
college experience but an NBA body and NBA athleticism, or an injury 
history, or weight problems, etc. That's what Wallace and Papile are paid 
to find, value with lower picks.

Alex