EARLY BIRD EXCEPTION -- This is a weaker form of the Larry Bird exception, and is also a component of the Veteran Free Agent exception. Players who qualify for this exception are called "Early Qualifying Veteran Free Agents" in the CBA. A player qualifies for this exception after playing two seasons without being waived or changing teams as a free agent. Using this exception, a team may re-sign its own free agent for 175% of his salary the previous season or the average player salary, whichever is greater (see question number 24 for the definition of "average salary." Also note that for 2005-06 they used a defined figure of $5 million)

As a question, wouldn't this apply to Memo?

Merc you are absolutely right, I was crying all summer for Joe to make a run at Antonio Daniels. Daniels would have been absolutely perfect as the third guard, Tough, strong and can play either spot, and he did his time under Pop in SanAnton so he knows how to play at a high level. After Daniels was signed in Washington, I begged for Joe to make a run at Earl Watson via Sign and Trade (Arroyo +Delfino=Earl) that would have still left us with the MLE to go and get DD, it also wouldn't have created the Mo or Delfino dilemma.

I don't know if Joe could have signed any of these guys, but I was disappointed that we did not try to make a legit run at either guy. In Joe's mind there is no way in heck he's paying a backup over $4mill to sit for 35+ mpg. Arroyo was decent but overpaid for a guy that only plays 12mpg. In short while it's clear we really need a backup G, with the type of season CB had, that player was only going to have an extremely limited role.

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Play hard, Play smart, Play together, share the ball, have fun....Play the right way!!!!!!

kgreg, your post succeeds in clearing up the point I was trying to make. The Pistons shied away from making potential improvements because they kept their eye too much on the $$, I didn't mean to get into discussions about MLE/Bird rights, who was available, trade possibilities etc. Joe is the one cutting the deals and I am sure there are many ways to get over the exceptions if the desire to sign someone exists. Instead we are talking about Larry, Moe and Curly coming off the bench.

This is my opinion: I think Joe Dumars makes moves that will help the Pistons win championships. I don't think he would shy away from a move solely for financial reasons.

I'll put some of the blame on LB... he really wanted Arroyo after being torched by him in the Olympics.
It still comes down to the players choice... go where he will only play 12-15 minutes?... it would've taken some serious arm twisting to convince Danials/Watson otherwise

Memo was in the same boat as Arenas the year before.... when you are under the cap you have to make a choice...use your MLE (still an option under the cap) or use your cap space and forego all exceptions... we went the cap route... it was not possible to match what Utah had to offer cause we could only spend up to the soft cap.

This year the new CBA addressed teams losing their two year players (2nd round picks)... by allowing them to match any and all offers as long as they owned the full MLE.... they could go over the MLE as long as they didn't use any of the MLE on a different player.

This is where it became interesting for the Pistons this year because they drafted two players in the 2nd round (not having a guaranteed rookie contract).... Joe had to consider resigning them down the road... so here's what he did:
Went ahead and signed Amir to the two year deal... but held off and only signed Acker to one year... why?... because if their contracts came up in the same year he would potentially lose one of them (once you start using your MLE on player #1 you can't match offers on player #2)...
This way he could keep Acker on the low this year and sign him to a longer term contract next year.... this may backfire if another team really liked what they saw in Fayetteville... but it gives Joe a fighting chance to keep both Amir & Acker.

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With politicians the future lies ahead

Merc - good observation on Amir and Acker. I did not realize that before and it makes a lot of sense.

This post is a classic example of playing monday morning quarterback. You take the results of the season and say what should have and could have been done.

Going back to last summer Delfino was supposed to play heavy mins at backup 2/3, Arroyo was the backup PG, Darko was supposed to play at least 5-10 MPG, and Davis/Evans were brought in as insurance. Hunters status was in question. He almost retired and his return back date from his injury was unknown. We also had Maxiel who was also supposed to be given a shot since his DNA was so Piston-like. It was the general concensious on all Piston chat boards that going "homegrown" over getting someone like Finley was the way to go.

As it turned out Darko/Delfino did not have a breakout season like they were supposed to have and Arroyo was trade fodder in the Orlando deal. If you want to knock Dumars for anything then perhaps its not waiting until the summer to pull the Darko/Arroyo deal as we could have used Arroyos offense at times this post-season. We don't know the specifics of why it was done. Perhaps it was the best deal that came across his desk all year and he took the opportunity to get a potential lottery pick.

1. Ronald Murray - delk is better AND we acquired him
2. Troy Bell - who?
3. Steve Blake - who?
4. Chris Duhon - perhaps...
5. Antonion Daniels ******** (favorite) - i'll give you that one
6. Marko Jaric - this guy sucks
7. Earl Watson********** (favorite) - not bad but lindsey plays this role just fine
8. Brevin Knight - little chance of signing, he shoots as bad or worse than lindsey and can't play defense
9. Ty Lue - delk fits this role fine
10. Damon Stodamire? - please no
11. Keyon Dooling - not a great player

We get so tied up in "this payer was horrible when he played for so & so, therefore, he will play like crap here. Different players excel in certain systems. Chauncey sucked when he played for teams X, Y & Z. He came to the Pistons and exceled. Would have never thought that Ben Wallace would be the beast that he is today when he was with washington. Boris Diaw is another one. Steve Blake & Juan Dixon are the only two consistent players on the portland team. Granted the team is horrible, but living in D.C. there was so much potential with both these guys.

So we have to be careful when we label a player, Earl Watson & Lindsay Max, whatever you are smoking I will take a double.

Anyway, the whole isssue is this:

We cannot move forward if we can't look at past mistakes. Even Joe Dumars learned from what he coulda, shoulda and woulda done I gaurantee you that.

I will continue to believe that bench strength is essential to winning a championship. You may may take home one trophy, but don't bring that weak stuff back in here next year and try and win it again.

Love Dumars, I am stone cold detroit, native baby, nothing but the best for my team, nothing but the best.

Like my commander said yesterday when I told him I wanted to take leave, the first thing he asked was: "Is your backup locked, cocked and a squared away soldier? if the answer is no, then you may as well take it to the house? " Translation: if the answer is no then leave denied. My bench isn't that strong, so until the Command can find a backup, I won't be going on leave for awhile.