Re: Re: No Love from Wal-TUH!

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think Walter's fooling himself. Hometown discount last year? Are you
kidding me? I'd love to know what team out there offered him more than the
veteran's minimum. And even coming off his best season, I'll be surprised if
he gets more than the veteran's minimum this season. He just had a career
year and averaged 6 points and 3 rebounds a game as a 6-11 3-point shooter.
Good luck initiating a bidding war for those services. He's a nice guy to
have at the end of the bench because of his versatility, but teams just
aren't going to pay much more than the minimum for those types of players.

These guys are pieces of work. Here are some of my real pet peeves from this
time of year:

1.	Alonzo Mourning, whose illness crippled the Heat's team and cap for
several seasons, finally gets "healthy" when his $20 million annual contract
runs out and promptly announces that he's most likely leaving the Heat for a
bigger contract and a better chance at a championship.
2.	Karl Malone being lauded for taking less to sign with the Lakers
(maybe) in order to "win a ring." This one drives me nuts. Do you think Bird
or Magic would have done that? Those kinds of guys who spend their career
with a franchise would earn more respect in my eyes if they said "I'm a Utah
Jazz. I want to win a championship for the Jazz. I'll keep fighting for the
Jazz until they tear the uniform off me." That's what Bird would have done.
If you're fighting with and for something, is it really admirable to jump to
the other side just because that side has a better chance to win? Thank
goodness the George Washingtons of the world didn't feel that way. Paul
Molitor started this crap in baseball, when he left the Brewers after all
those years to sign with a ready-made World Series team in Toronto. Do you
think that championship really meant as much to him as it would have if he'd
done it in Milwaukee? Will it mean as much to Malone if he wins one with the
Lakers? These aren't individual sports. These are team sports. What happened
to winning a championship for your TEAM? For your city? By the way... I
don't count Gary Payton in this because he didn't have a home team once
Seattle traded him.
3.	Kevin Garnett complaining about a lack of a supporting cast and
hinting that he might leave when his contract expires. Instead of leaving,
how about signing with the T-Wolves for the veteran's minimum when your
contract comes up? Why do you think they've struggled to give you a
supporting cast? Your salary is crippling the team. You've made enough money
to support your family for a dozen lifetimes. Sign for pennies and let the
team go out and get more players.

Those are just a few. I'd add a few more, but I'm already in a bad mood from
just thinking about it.

Mark


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You wrote:

   Chalk it up to the seemingly mandatory hype that is labor relations.  One

cannot merely choose to go elsewhere - one must rant about "insults" and the

dreaded "lack of respect."  I wish Walter well.  He has made the very best
of 
his skils and has grown as a player every year., and it seems to me that you

can't ask much more out of anyone.   He's dead on right when he says that he

probably could have done better moneywise last year, and he is definitely
right 
when he says he should do better this year.