catbert

Originally posted by shaqkobe at 2005-7-4 12:11 PM:

而係喎！查過資料E.jones今年係自由...

That's different from what I read.  I don't think Eddie Jones is a FA this year, unfortunately.  Rather, he has the option to terminate his $13m contract with the Heat, and I don't think he'll exercise it.  So, it is highly likely that Eddie Jones will still be in Heat uniform next year.

However, there is a chance that Miami might simply waive Eddie Jones or package him in a trade.  There is a provision in the new CBA (which will be signed in July 22) allows teams to waive a player and and therefore be relieved of the player's luxury-tax burden.  While the team still needs to pay the remaining balance of the player's salary, the team will not need to pay the luxury-tax.    This is a one-off provision and a lot of teams are exploring this as a salary reliver.  Miami might be able to get rid of Eddie Jones through this proviosn.  

catbert

Originally posted by shaqkobe at 2005-7-13 02:34 PM:

yes~我都覺得Nets係薪金上唔夠其他球隊爭。

Actually, Shareef Abdur-Rahim is not that expensive.  It is expected that teams can sign him with their mid-level exception, which is approximately US$5m only.  I think this is a great deal for a player like him.

In addition, Nets has a US$4.9m trade exception and they are planning to use it to sign Shareef Abdur-Rahim.  So technically speaking, the Nets has already budgetted for his salary and Nets will not need to pay more taxes by signing him.

catbert

Originally posted by shaqkobe at 2005-7-13 11:08 PM:

Abdur-Rahim 好似仲係羅梗千萬元既大約。會唔會降價降得咁勁？？

Yes, but his contract just expired and he understands that there will be no team willing to pay him at that level.  Besides, at this stage of his career, the most important thing to him is a championship ring, especially since he has already made a lot of money.