Rookies coming off of one- or two-year contracts are limited to what they're allowed to sign for; basically, other teams can only offer them a deal starting at the MLE in their first two years. This basically means that so long as we keep our MLE, we can match an offer for Walker.
See here for all of the details.
This stuff right here is why ROy Hobbs has over 1200 TPs, and another on the way. Although, maybe Larry Coon deserves a lot of those...
Anyway, I did not know about that loophole and am happy to see it. Good to know we can match any offer for Davis and Powe this summer (to resign Powe, we need not use the MLE, we have Bird rights with him because he will have played 3 years) as long as we don't use the MLE on anybody else.
I thought the same thing. Either way, this new walker should be sent to europe to tone his skills before we throw him into the rotation in hopes of him filling our posey void. Miles would be a better fit for us this year as he wants to work for the min
Bill should be sent to Europe IF we have a better option. I'd personally like to see Walker spend time in training camp with our players, rehabbing for a few months, playings some D-League ball, and possibly being ready to contribute later in the season. If he's not gonna crack the rotation, then, yes, I agree, he should go to Europe.
Question (probably for Roy): can we sign a player, then make an agreement for him to go to Europe? Would he count against our cap in that case, but not against our roster space requirement? Or would we be unable to sign him - i.e., we just have to let him go to Europe and then sign him after the year? Can he play a season in Euroleague and then come over in time to join our team later in the season? Can he leave in the middle of the Euro season if we decide we want him?
I assume we would negotiate with the European team to ensure there's no buyout in his contract (from the Euro team's perspective, I'm sure they'd want a buyout if we can bring him to the NBA in the middle of the season). But another issue to think about - by all accounts, Bill Walker has NBA talent, his issue is injuries. If he has a great season in Europe (which is very very possible), is there anything to stop another Euroleague team from offering him a $3-4 million contract, thus creating a risk that he won't come back to the States until we're willing to give him that kind of money? If anybody can help with those questions, thanks.
Personally, my hope is that he is healthy enough to earn a roster spot. The kid's amazingly talented, and by all accounts, an extremely mature young man (I feel old just writing that) - draftexpress talked about how much he loves studying game film. Seeing that he was back working on his game just two weeks out from knee surgery tells me this kid wants to succeed and will do everything it takes to do so. The only thing standing in his way is his body. I see no reason not to give him a chance to earn a spot.
Another reason I'd like to see him stick around - I can't imagine how much the influence of Paul Pierce will help him out. Pierce, when you look at the whole of his career, is a player who has absolutely maximized his game by understanding what he can do better than anybody else. He knows he's not super-athletic and isn't going to run up for alley-oops, but he also knows he can get to the basket against almost anybody in this league. That's Walker's game, and having Pierce to learn the nuances from - man, if this kid can stay healthy, he can be a force in the NBA.
Obviously, Walker can't replace Posey as the Sixth Man in the short term, but I think he can be a solid bench player by the end of the season. My optimism sort of makes me want to resign TA and stick with TA, Giddens and Walker as our bench wings, hope Powe can be a real Sixth Man, sign a backup point and leave a roster spot open in case Davis and O'Bryant really can't fill the backup center roles (I think we need to see if Davis can play with Powe to decide whether to trade one this year - if they both are limited to power forward, where we already have KG, one should go). I feel like we're going cheap, so why not use that rationale as a way to develop young guys to be the support for our veterans? If it doesn't work, trades and inseason acquisitions can help fill out the roster heading to the playoffs.
