Fwd: [Celtics' Stuff Stunned... and sick

[CeltsSteve@xxxxxxx]

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Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2002 13:46:59 -0400
From: CeltsSteve
To: Celticsstuffgroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Celtics' Stuff Stunned... and sick
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In a message dated Mon, 22 Jul 2002 9:36:37 AM Eastern Standard Time, lancejacob@attbi.com writes:

> Obie seems to put the nail in the Watson idea when he says he wants PGs who can shoot the three.  Shammond isn't much better. . doesn't take a lot and he's under 40%.  Why are we accepting garbage?  We'll have no playmakers on the squad 
> except Twan who should be RECEIVING the ball



Here's an explanation on Watson's status from today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer and why he's gone to Memphis and why the Sonics can't match the Griz offer/re-sign him in the first place. 

As I said previously, it was shrewd move on Jerry West's part to drive up the price for Jerome James and then to turn around and offer Watson a three year deal knowing the most Seattle could offer was 2 years if they planned on using their $1.4 M exception because the entire amount of the mid-level exception was all spent on jerome James:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/79505_sonx22.shtml



WATSON GONE: The Sonics never faced a choice between re-signing Earl Watson or Jerome James because team executives believed they could bring back both free agents.

But when James re-signed on Thursday, the team was taking a chance with Watson. Now the Sonics have no choice after Watson signed an offer sheet from the Memphis Grizzlies for three years and $4 million. The salary starts at $1.215 million next season.

The Sonics can't match it unless they move beneath the salary cap, which won't happen. The Sonics have 15 days to match the terms of the offer and retain Watson, but that's a formality because the financial terms aren't feasible for the Sonics.

"Earl's a very good kid, and we're very happy for him," Sonics general manager Rick Sund said.

The Sonics used their mid-level exception to sign James at about $4.5 million per year. They planned to use a different exception to sign Watson for as much as $1.4 million. But that exception can not be used for a contract longer than two years, so Seattle can't use it to match Memphis' offer, which is for three.

"We have rules and regulations and you try to juggle them to get all of your players re-signed," Sund said. "Once we signed Jerome, we knew there was a chance we could lose Earl."

Memphis was a surprise suitor for Watson since the Grizzlies already have Jason Williams and Brevin Knight under contract. Watson knows Jerry West -- Memphis' new general manager -- which may have factored into the decision.

Watson, a rookie last season, was chosen in the second round of the draft. He showed a toughness at the point-guard position the Sonics liked, but was left off the playoff roster as the Sonics chose Randy Livingston ahead of him.

The offer from Memphis gives him a higher salary next season than Tony Parker and Jamaal Tinsley, both point guards chosen in the first round of last year's draft.

Watson was one of three free agents, along with James and Rashard Lewis, the Sonics set as a priority to re-sign. The salary-cap exception the Sonics planned to use for Watson can now go toward another player, but that's not the team's focus.

"Right now our priority is Rashard," Sund said.

Lewis started the offseason reportedly hoping for a maximum-level contract, which would be seven years and about $102 million. 

That has made negotiations slow since the league-wide economic environment is not one in which players are receiving maximum-level contracts with the same frequency of the past. Raef LaFrentz is proof as he reportedly has agreed to re-sign with Dallas for $60 million over seven years, about $30 million less than the maximum salary he sought while in Denver.

                             (end)