QO only gives us the right to match offers. Bird rights is something different. For example, we have bird rights for Ray Allen.
yeah but Ray is different. we're not denying any options on Ray. His contract is just over.
anyway, I will definitely concede to you on this because:
A) I really don't know.
B) I like your version better.
If we still have Leon's Bird Rights, then I'm not sure why Leon thinks he won't be back.
Bird rights simply mean that we can spend on a player who's been in our team for 3 years while still over the cap (we can offer Powe a max contract if we wanted to, or whatever it is the max he can make).
QO is what makes a player a restricted free-agent when they finish up their rookie contract, giving the team who gives the player a QO the right to first refusal (enables them to match an offer).
So, while Powe is no longer a restricted free-agent, we still retain his bird rights and can pay him whatever we want basically without using our other exceptions.
Ray next year won't be a restricted free-agent... we can't extend a QO to him, but we still have his bird rights so we can pay him even though we're over the cap.