[HVC] 2006/7 End of Season Contracts Review

From HumanVictoryCigar.com

With the Pistons season coming to an abrupt end, fans are in the streets, shouting for change.

Fire the coach. Release/trade players.

Here is a quick and dirty primer on the Pistons current roster, contracts and salaries and what this means going forward to next season. So before you propose trading Jason Maxiell and Flip Murray for KG, you might want to check this out.

At Pistonsforum.com, we have an up-to-date contract listing for this season.

The listing is from information gathered by Sports Illustrated and despite the fact it may read differently than other salary websites, does conform to the Collective Bargaining Agreement and should be considered to be a very reputable source for information.

I have tried to keep this information as general and accurate as possible, which isn’t always easy considering the many loopholes and nuances of the NBA’s CBA. As always, I recommend that fans should use a trade checker (such as at RealGM or ESPN) and/or consult the Collective Bargaining Agreement FAQ. If you still have questions, I am happy to help readers find answers. Just reply to this thread.

Unrestricted Free Agents

• Dale Davis
• Chris Webber

Unrestricted Free Agents are players that the Pistons are able to sign or simply let go. Their contracts are up and the franchise is under no obligation to bring them back however they can do so if they choose. This requires the player’s approval when signing a new contract.

Dale Davis is an Early Bird Free Agent under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Pistons can sign him for the minimum $1.2 million up to $6.1 million. A minimum contract can be for one year, any larger deal must be for at least 2 years and no longer than 5 years with 10.5% raises.

Chris Webber is Non-Bird Exception player. The Pistons can offer him a minimum contract or a minimum contract with a 20% raise (based off of one year of service in Detroit). The Pistons will also have the Mid-Level Exception and can use this to sign Webber for the League average salary, projected in 2007/8 to be between $5.5 and $6 million to start. The Pistons can only use the Mid-Level Exception once this offseason and may want to reserve it for a free agent.

Restricted Free Agents

Alex Acker and Amir Johnson

Alex Acker spent the last season playing with Piraeus Olympiacos of Greece in the Euroleague. He is rumoured to have a second year option that would pay him more than Detroit can offer, as well as provide starter minutes to build his value for his next contract. European contracts can also feature free lodging, lower taxes and other fringe benefits that are not allowed under the NBA CBA. As much as he might be able to help the team as a slashing shooting guard, the team would have to commit to him in a significant manner. With at least 3 incoming draft picks, this does not seem likely on a team which will be investing money into developing more prospects.


Amir Johnson will be a restricted free agent until he is able to re-sign in Detroit. I have no doubt that the Pistons will match any incoming offers for his services, and can do so as he is an Early Bird Free Agent and falls under the so-called Gilbert Arenas provision of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Johnson has shown tremendous upside and the patience to wait for his opportunity. Look for a deal signed this summer that will establish him as an important piece of the franchise.

Players with Player initiated options

All player options must be taken no later than July 1st. These players are in the driver’s seat with their contracts. The team must negotiate a trade, or cut them and take a hit against the salary cap to remove them if they take their options.

Ronald Dupree - One year option for the 2007/8 season.

Flip Murray - One year option for the 2007/8 season.

Antonio McDyess - One year option for the 2007/8 season.

Chauncey Billups - Has an early termination option but for all intents and purposes to this post, is the same as a player option.


Ronald Dupree is likely to return, if only because his lack of playing time has not increased his value around the league and the option year is guaranteed.

Flip Murray is in a similar position to Dupree, with less playing time than the previous year he was a free agent. Strategically, Murray might be wise to take his option to see how the Chauncey Billups negotiations work out. With a strong showing next year, he would be able to get more money on the free agent market in 2008/9 either from Detroit or another team.

Antonio McDyess is slated to earn $6.3 million next year. I see him taking the option because he won’t get more in free agency and based on his performance will not lose any value in 2008/9 when he would become a free agent again. The man has at least one more contract in him if he choses to play longer or one well paying year if he choses to retire after this deal.

Chauncey Billups will take his early termination option without a doubt. There is too much risk at his age of playing out the remaining year on his deal and possibly losing a lot of future earnings in the event of injury. Billups will be looking for a nice raise and a lot more years of guaranteed money, however the teams who can afford to pay him more than he makes now are not very good. This puts the Pistons in the driver’s seat, as Billups’ agent (Andy Miller) will have to find a better offer than Detroit’s to have a position to negotiate from.


A sign & trade is a possibility if a Western Conference team is hot for Billups and Joe Dumars can get a variety of player assets, disposable contracts and draft picks in return. However, a S&T is difficult to pull off for a franchise as cost conscious as the Pistons. Joe Dumars will not accept garbage in return for moving an All-Star unless his back is up against the wall (Grant Hill). Perhaps he can get lucky again (Ben Wallace) if that is the case.

It has been rumoured that Lindsey Hunter has an option in 2007/8 to opt out of his contract and join the Pistons front office in some capacity. If this is true then it is highly likely Hunter will make the move away from the court given his age, effectiveness and the recent diet pill fiasco.

Players with Team initiated options

Will Blalock - Rookie point guard, has a minimum contract option for next year. Unless the Pistons have absolutely zero belief in any upside for this player, he will be back simply because he is 1) cheap and 2) already indoctrinated into the Pistons culture.

Jason Maxiell - Has an option for year 3 of his 4 year rookie deal. This is pretty much a no-brainer that the Pistons will take this option, because like Blalock he is very affordable and has Pistons DNA, and unlike Blalock, the Pistons know he has a lot of upside.

Stuff to remember

There are rumours floating around about Zach Randolph coming to Detroit and likely more players will be added to that list. Any player who is currently under contract to another team, must be acquired in a trade. Trades must be very close dollar to dollar and please keep in mind that no other GM wants lesser players from the Pistons for their superstar. So rule out KG right now even though Kevin McHale might be the worst GM in basketball.

You have to give something(s) up to get something in return. Big trades are never an easy process to complete.

A little bonus coverage to follow. This is the list of Pistons and their agents as best as I could discover. You will see some of these agent names in the news over the offseason so I have listed other players they also represent.

Player - Agent (other players represented by same agent)

Chauncey Billups - Andy Miller (Antonio McDyess, Kevin Garnett, Carlos Delfino)

Rip Hamilton - Leon Rose (LeBron James, Allen Iverson, Luol Deng)

Tayshaun Prince - Bill Duffy (Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Mike James)

Rasheed Wallace - Bill Strickland (Brevin Knight, Malik Allen)

Chris Webber - Aaron Goodwin (Dwight Howard, Gary Payton, Jamal Crawford)

Antonio McDyess - Andy Miller (Chauncey Billups, Kevin Garnett, Carlos Delfino)

Ronald “Flip” Murray - Thad Foucher (Eddie Griffin)

Lindsey Hunter - Mark Bartelstein (Ronald Dupree, Ron Artest, Antoine Walker)

Carlos Delfino - Andy Miller (Antonio McDyess, Kevin Garnett, Chauncey Billups)

Jason Maxiell - Richard Katz (Daniel Horton, Jose Berea, Vladimir Radmanovic)

Dale Davis - Chubby Wells (none known)

Nazr Mohammed - Mike Higgins (Louis Amundson, Marcus Banks, Tony Allen)

Amir Johnson - Arn Tellum (Ben Wallace, Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O’Neal)

Will Blalock - Charles Bonsignore (near as I can tell, he’s a real estate agent in Ventura, California)

Ronald Dupree - Mark Bartelstein (Lindsey Hunter, Ron Artest, Antoine Walker)

Thanks, Roscoe, for the info. That makes the whole discussion on Pistons future easy since we know what's what.

good work.

words to post by.

While we can't rule out league flotsam like Bonzi Wells, I can only hope that Joe already has.

Honestly right now, I have a million other things to take care of.

I make time for PF because I know you guys appreciate and make use of it.

Also, when crastinator reads this stuff, she wins arguments at the bar. So I like to make her look good.

Here is a sample scenario.

Detroit makes a qualifying offer to Amir, this makes him a restricted free agent (we get last right of refusal now).

Amir can take the 1 year qualifying offer and become unrestricted the next season, or he can negotiate a longer/better contract right now with either Detroit or another team.

Let's say his agent gets an offer from Memphis. The offer cannot be for more than the Mid-level Exception (which is set at the average player salary). Because Amir is an Early Bird Free Agent, we can offer him the average salary as well. So it is no problem to match any incoming offer because they are capped to an amount we can match regardless of our own salary cap position.

That's the quick dirty and simple.

If Amir was worth a 5 year $55 million contract (say like a Mehmet Okur), then we could still match, but take a big cap hit in the later years as the year 3~5 salaries get HUGE.

hth

A qualifying offer is a one year contract with a raise over the previous year. By tendering it to the player, he becomes restricted in free agency, which means the Pistons have the opportunity to match any offer sheets from other teams that his agent can drum up.

Without it, Amir could take any offer from any where, even if it was for less than the Pistons were willing to pay.

No. A qualifying offer is a one year contract. If Amir takes it, he "earns" his freedom to be unrestricted and sign anywhere the next season.

Order of operations

-Pistons tender Amir a qualifying offer.

-He takes it, plays one year in Detroit and then becomes an unrestricted free agent, free to go anywhere he wants.

-He doesn't take it, negotiates a new deal with Detroit or someone else for more money/greater length. If Detroit wants to match the incoming offer, they may do so.

A player who has one year without changing teams as a free agent qualifies for the Non-Bird Exception.

A player who has two years without changing teams as a free agent qualifies for the Early Bird Exception.

A player who has three years without changing teams as a free agent qualifies for the Bird Exception.

Amir is an Early Bird FA.

Early Bird means a raise of 120% over the last seasons' salary or the average player salary (same amount as the Mid-Level Exception), whichever is greater as the maximum of a first year deal.

So we do not need to use the MLE to match other offers in this case.

Alex Acker on the other hand only played one year in the NBA. He's a Non-Bird, and as such we would have to use our MLE to match other offers to him.

Joe will probably also tender a qualifying offer to Acker, just to keep his rights while he plays overseas. It costs us nothing to do so.

If Acker does not come to Detroit, we will have our MLE to spend in FA regardless of the outcome with Amir.