KissaBoo

I was there when he somehow fell out of the first round and the thought that night was it could be a blessing because of this exact scenario. Now he'll make his big money before the rest of his draft class.

And let's not pretend Cleveland was completely generous and innocent in this scenario. For some reason, I can't find the NBA second round contract rules at this moment, but I imagine Boozer would have been an unrestricted free agent next year. Do you think he'd be jumping at the chance to play for a team that just grossly underpaid him? Really who is to blame is the other NBA teams that had all that money burning in their pockets with no one to spend it on and thus totally pumping up the market. I'm looking at you Warriors and Jazz.

Also I want to see this quote where Boozer claims to love the Cleveland area so much. I imagine some reporter ran up to him after a game and asked him this. What is he suppose to say? "No, I hate it here. Any place would be better, even Salt Lake City..."

Why do you doubt me?

I should also point out that someone on this board isn't being a good future citizen of C-town. Shouldn't you be outraged? Or will you not support your hometown teams?

I don't understand why people are upset with Boozer here--it's only the bumbling, incompetent Jim Paxson who's gotten the Cavs into this mess. Spence hit the nail on the head. It's not that the Cavs wanted to be "nice" by waiving and resigning Boozer this year--it's that they were trying to save money by signing him before he's an unrestricted free agent next year. All this stuff about Boozer "keeping his word" is just garbage... what obligation is he under to accept an offer that's 50% less than what Utah is offering? None whatsoever, and I would have done exactly the same thing in his situation.

How could have Jim Paxson not seen this coming? Exactly the same thing happened last year with Gilbert Arenas (2nd round pick, signed with the Wizards after they gave him a much higher offer than Golden State's mid-level exemption). Plus, the market for forwards was already ridiculously hot--a guy who averaged 3 pts a night just signed a similar contract to Boozer's. How could Paxson delude himself that a 22 year old, soon to be all star forward would not get a higher offer?

The Cavs still have 15 days to get enough cap room to match Utah's offer. It will take some doing, but it's definitely in the Cavs best interests to do so. Paxson said last season that the only untouchables on the Cavs roster were LeBron and Boozer... now he needs to put his money where his mouth is.

According to cleveland.com, the players the Cavs would need to release to creat cap room to re-sign Boozer would be DeSagana Diop, Dajuan Wagner, and Tony Battie. Diop is worthless, so I wouldn't bat an eyelash dumping him. I'd feel bad losing Wagner, but he's injured most of the time, and it's not clear where he fits on the team with LeBron. Battie is a good veteran roll player; again, a shame to lose, but very replaceable.

Jim Paxson needs to dump those guys and resign Boozer ASAP.

To qualify, I'm only upset if he went against his word(option 2 above)...nobody likes a liar. If there was no agreement, then Paxson is just a complete idiot (option 1 above), stupid is as stupid does, and he has 15 days to save his job.

Here's an even better idea: Dump Z off on some unsuspecting team and start Tony Battie at Center instead. Then, pick some scrub off waivers, back Battie up, and draft a center next year.

First, that quote by Boozer is worthless. The strongest thing he says about Cleveland is that he "likes it here". A truly glowing review. I doubt saying "this place is a hell-hole. I should be paid double for playing here" would go over really well. Plus millionaires and their wives should be happy about anywhere.

The Cavalier's management putting the blame on Boozer for this is a bad strategy. Will this really help them to sign other people (or keep Boozer happy if they do the right thing and PAY HIM)? I know this plays into the underdog / nobody loves us mentality of Cleveland, but this won't help build a better basketball team.

Additionally, I highly doubt Boozer told anyone I'm definitely reupping at the mid-level exception. His agent may have implied that, but I'd bet Boozer only said his intentions were to resign with Cleveland. Which is still possible if they just PAY HIM WHAT HE IS WORTH!

I really don't blame Paxon for this. It really was the only chance the Cavs had to keep him past this season.

Cutting Wagner to keep Boozer would be really ironic (though I don't think it would happen) since if they just drafted Boozer in the first round instead of Wagner none of this would be happenening!

Btw, I will buy that Boozer jersey for 99 cents.... Not a dollar, but 99 cents. I will wear it instead of the Gerald Wallace Bobcat's jersey I'm contemplating (since until Okafor is destined for the Hall of Fame none of his paraphernalia will appear on my person) when I watch the Bobcats defeat the Cavs next year at the Gund.

Also, there is conjecture on local sports radio that Boozer was offered the options of the mid-level exemption now or a max contract after next season and picked the former. Does anyone believe this? There is no way Cleveland should or would pay Boozer max money. Is everybody worth max money nowadays? I believe the opposite rumor that the Cavs wouldn't be willing to pay Boozer Utah's contract even if they were under the cap.

To answer your question: Yes, everyone is apparently worth max money nowadays. To wit:

Mehmet Okur (9.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg with Detroit): 6 years, $50 mil from the Jazz
Gordon Giricek(11.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 1.7 apg with Orlando and Utah): 4 years, $16 mil from the Jazz
Adonal Foyle (3.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.0 bpg with the Warriors): 5 years, $41.6 mil from the Warriors.
Hedo Turkoglu (9.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg with the Spurs): 6 years, $39 mil from the Magic
Mark Blount (10.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg with the Celtics): 6 years, $41 mil from the Celtics

I could go on, but you get the point. None of these people is worth that much--for instance, there is no f@$#ing way that Adonal Foyle is worth $8 million a year, even if Feinstein wrote a damn book about him. However, common sense has been abandoned in the GM circle. In fact, I'd venture to say that only Q's contract with the Suns (unknown duration, $48-$50 mil) and Steve Nash's contract with the Suns (5 years, $65 mil) are for true FMV--and even that Nash deal is a little sketchy.

Why Gerald Wallace? Why not Trepagnier or Theron Smith (who lit Duke up in Maui a couple of years ago)?

First, thanks for expanding on links/points in the first comment.

Apparently, Gerald Wallace has been the main reason for the Bobcat's 2-0 start in the summer league - yes, something truly meaningless. However, I wouldn't find it unbelievable if Wallace is the leading scorer for the Bobcats, aka Kelly Tripucka.

Gordon Gund just posted a letter to the Cavs' website where he admits that while they didn't have an agreement with Boozer (which would be forbidden under the collective bargaining agreement), they did "trust one another's intentions." Carlos's stated intention was to get financial security, so was it any surprise that he took an offer that was substantially higher than Cleveland's? No, not at all.

Gund just comes off as an imbecile. He should have never made Boozer a free agent in the first place--that was the first mistake. But worse than that, there was no need to trash Boozer's reputation. By Gund's own admission, Boozer didn't break any agreement that they had; if Gordon's upset with anyone, he should be upset with himself for making such a collasal mistake.

Boozer's agent resigns
Cavs won't match

When I first heard of Boozer signing for the mid-level exception, I assumed it was going to be a one year deal. To offer him at the end what they should have offered in the beginning is just insane. Who the hell would want to sign with the Cavs now?

Gund doesn't come off as imbecile and he's not trashing boozer's reputation. the purpose of his letter is to let the people of cleveland know what openly and honestly happened so that he could take responsibility for the situation and move forward. Boozer is clearly a jerk. In the article Gund and Paxson stated they told boozer he could make more money in a year. If it was about money, he could make the most by waiting a year.

In short, i don't think gund deserves to be trashed for the situation. Boozer's agent did resign, you have to admit that that atleast implies SOME guilt. I just hope someone in Utah introduces Boozer to a motorcycle hobby and i'm sure in some time he'll go the way of every other dook bred professional basketball player, b/c as Coach K said after he declined the laker offer after he teased the nation for an entire extended holiday weekend, he molds not just good players, but good people. Thumbs up for this one, K.

Well, in the letter Gund says to blame him for what has happened, and what has happened is that the Cavs lost a near All-Star forward in return for nothing so in the final analysis - Gund is an imbecile.

The Cavs obviously did not respect Boozer - if they respected him they would have not picked up their option and then OFFERED HIM A REASONABLE CONTRACT!! - say a 1 year deal at the mid-level exception. No where was it implied that he would take way less to stay in Cleveland.