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AW contract and CBA




Hi everyone,

This is a Great list and the people here knows BB and the C's.  Thank you
for you guys.

I have some things to get off my chest:


1. Antoine Walker and his contract
We don't get much NBA on our national TV. My wife and I had a glimpse of AW
when the highlights of the All-Star game was shown (it was a 1-hour show,
incorporating the 3-pt contest, you can imagine what short highlights was
shown!!)
We were exited to see AW in action but nearly THROW UP with what we really
saw!!

There was this part where he got the rebound on the defensive end and
started the fast break. MJ and some  other players were on the wings but he
decided to take it all the way himself. Great dunk! and then comes the
wiggle! And AW was acting as if saying "hey, that was what I came here for,
people has got to see I can dunk, carry the ball, do-it-all, let me show up
MJ and the rest." MJ and the rest just did not seem so excited about his
dunk (in fact they were expressionless)



I feel the C's should not sign AW for 100mil becos:

a) 14mil or less
14mil is the max Gaston wants to pay, (i think this is way too much too)
I remember the time when Pitino was saying he can pull the trigger if the
price is <10mil per and then a month later he said <14mil per. I think this
is the final price and Jackie Mcmullan rumor about AW >> Mashburn via
Sprewell is true, even though Pitino said he did not shop AW around.

My wife said AW should be paid only 8mil per and I agree.

b) Money first?
AW is playing for money FIRST, not for the C's. If he is for Team Celtics
(or even for basketball), he should be asking only for Hakeem, D. Robinson,
Barkley numbers, not Garnet money. These veterans paid their dues and they
deserve their salaries.

c) AW's attitude
AW's attitude and character is not suitable for Team Celtics basketball at
least not for now. He is not a Team player. He doesn't pass when needed.
(he says he need to shoot all those shots becos he is carrying the team,
that's an excuse. He just wants to exhibit his skills/potential to get the
100 mill contract. You can see how selfish he really is during the ALL-STAR
game becos he didn't pass but took all those unnecessary shots, does he
need to carry an All-Star team really?)
Yeah, I agree he needs time to grow up but you don't pay 20mil per for 7
years to see somebody grow up. You pay them now to produce and nobody is
able to produce alone (even MJ needs Pippen and others).

d) Mercer and Pierce
OK you've got AW 20mill per. How're the C's gonna sign Mercer (120mil),
Pierce (140mil)?

It's definitely a money losing biz and Gaston has to sell out. If Gaston is
not able to find a buyer (sucker) in Boston, they've got to move the
franchise (to Chicago? to LA a third team??!!) Hey, it's economics man, not
about tradition, or loyalty, not anymore! You can blame it on Glen Taylor
or  Garnet or our very own AW.

You guys who wants to sign AW to 100mil can glimpse into the Celtics future
now by looking at the present Minnesota.

Garnet alone will never bring any Championship to the Wolves and they need
Marbury and Googs to contend. And because of Garnet's contract, it will be
so expensive to sign Marbury and Googs, Glen Taylor will have to have a
firesale or sell out. (like the Florida Marlins). If they want to save
money and not sign Marbury and Googs, then it will be years of mediocrity
and 1st round playoffs  only.

e) You are paying for POTENTIAL.
What if after getting the fat contract, his motivation is gone (becos his
100mill is garanteed) and he doesn't care if we are able to sign Mercer or
Pierce long term? "Hey, I've got my 100mil and I am putting up 25-10
everynite I am doing my job man. If they want a Championship, I can't do it
alone, I need help. Pay them the money Gaston! (but don't touch my money
man! I will not restructure my contract!)"

f) AW unhappy about C's not drafting Nazr
Can you see it yet? He's not MJ (yet) and he's already acting like one! So
he wants his friends to be on the C's? He's the Coach and President now?
(What if his friends is Chris Webber, Camby, Van Exel??) And this is before
getting the 100mil contract. What about AFTER getting the 100mil contract?

You can imagine AW saying these:

"Why didn't Coach give me the ball during that last time out, I should be
given the ball man.."
"Why did Mercer shoot the ball, he should have pass it to me, I was open...
"I did not want to play in the last 5 secounds, becos Coach designed that
play for Pierce,....

g) 1 year deal at 20 mil
If we really want to sign AW, I propose to do a deal similar to MJ's type ,
to a 1 year deal and judge him from there. We won't get hamstrung by the
cap and we can add other free agents. Of course, this depends on Mr AW if
he is willing to take such a contract and missed out on the POTENTIAL
millions of the other 6 years.


h) Team Chemistry
There will be times whAW shoots 5-25, 50%FT. Everyone of this team mates
looks at him and think "He's got the dough, he should not be having these
kind of numbers, why even my numbers are better than him tonite, how much
am I paid?? Why must I work so hard!"
There goes your team Chemistry.



2.Back up point guard
Why not look at Anthony Carter Hawaii (undrafted), Jeff Sheppard
(undrafted) Anthony Johnson (Kings) and Alvin Williams (Raptors)? Good size
(6'-3"?) and adaquate ball handling skills. I feel that the reason Utah had
such a hard time with the Bulls (this year and last) is becos of their
Guards. Stockton 6-1, Eisley 6-1, Hornecek 6-4 (but looks like 6-1) They
get smothered by Harper 6-6, Pippen 6-7, same thing happened to  Mark
Jackson Pacers. This is one need/reason why Pitino drafted Billups, and
waived Edney.

3. Center for Celtics
I don't think Gieger is needed by the C's. He's not a good enough shot
blocker and he's overpriced (7mill per!!) I feel the C's don't need a
scoring center. They need a 230-250lb, SHOT BLOCKER who is mobile and 6-10
at least (see Hakeem when he was younger). He must have a one track mind to
Want to block shots and Want to own the boards. Michael Stewart?


4. CBA
Owners (like companies) need to make profits and I think they are more than
fair to apportion at least 51% of revenue for players salaries.
(I understand from my business friends, if any company were to devote this
amount to employee salaries, the company would close down!!! I know of a
USD4billion - (turnover) -company and their salary payroll amounts to 23%
only.)

So in the NBA, I think the owners, in this aspect, is more than fair.

Things I like to see changed in the CBA:

a) Contracts should NOT be guaranteed.
This way, the players really play basketball instead of just being on the
court, throwing tantrums!
This also allows a team to erase mistakes it made in signing long term duds
or one-season wonders (like Ostertag (jazz), Howard (wizards), Bradley
(Mavs), Ike Austin? (maybe), Webber (off-court problems), Wallace (blazers,
what has he produced for 80mil?), Grant (blazers, Colon can do the same job
and he's cheaper), Sprewell (choke artist or BB player?) etc, etc

Believe me, if your paycheck is on the line, do you think you will not
listen to your Coach's instructions, or do you still want to choke him??

b) Rookie contracts
3 years is ok provided:
year 1 - gauranteed
year 2 - team option
year 3 - team option
End of contract - player becomes restricted free agent. Team has first
right of refusal on contract extention.
If team loses his rights, team is compensated (by cash of draft picks) from
opposing team.

5 years is ok if:
year 1 - gauranteed
year 2 - gauranteed
year 3 - team's option
year 4 - team's option (with possibility of extention up to 3 years max)
year 5 - player's option or be a restricted free agent

c) Salary cap
Since it has been agreed that 51% of the revenue/profits (something like
that?) generated the year before must go to setting of the salary cap, and
in this 97/98 season, the cap is 25mil per team. The meaning is that owners
must spend upto 25 mill on players salaries to be fair to the players.

Ok, why not make the players salary a percentage of the cap. So depending
on the importance/ability (supply and demand factors) of the players, you
may have something like:

Player 1 (your best player) - 12% of 25mil
Player 2 (next best player) - 10% of 25mil
Player 3 ....
Player 4 ... and so on

And the salary cap is dynamic because everyyear it changes (it can go up or
down depending on the popularity of NBA still).

In this way, :
owners definitely are spending the max 25mill on players salaries (this is
very fair to players)
Labour costs (player salaries) can be reduced if suddenly NBA is not
anymore popular (means TV revenue, merchandising, ticket sales all down).
With the Garnet contract, can you reduce the labour costs if NBA is down?
you can't.
It is fair becos if 97/98 is a good year, the cap will go up the next year,
and everybody will have more money.

Personnaly, I think the players will never accept this sort of idea.


Whew! I feel lighter already. Thanks for your time.

Kevin/Singapore