cheezdoodle

Carter's shocking oversight may allow Heat to pursue major free-agency acquistions

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/b...la-sports-heat

By Ira Winderman
Staff Writer
Posted July 4 2003

"A shocking oversight by Anthony Carter suddenly has established the Heat as a major player in NBA free agency, one now with the salary-cap space to sign the likes of Jason Kidd, Jermaine O'Neal or Gilbert Arenas.

The staggering lapse by the veteran point guard effectively terminates the Heat's financial obligation and unexpectedly has it in position to spend as much as $11 million this summer on upgrades."

"Holding a player option on the third and final year of his contract for $4.1 million for the coming season, Carter merely had to inform the Heat by Monday's deadline that he would remain under contract.

Astonishingly, that deadline was allowed to pass without any communication to the Heat by Carter or his representatives. As of the close of business Thursday there still had not been any contact between the parties.

"Somebody just mentioned this to me," agent Bill Duffy said when contacted Thursday evening before abruptly ending the phone call. A call to Carter's South Florida home was answered and then hung up on. A return call was answered with a response that the guard had stepped out."

NCBullsFan: We do not allow entire articles to be posted here - just summaries of the article with quotes. But thanks for alerting us to the article. This could be a huge development for this free agent season.

Dan Rosenbaum

There are no quotes or references from the Heat organization about what they will do, but clearly someone in their organization must have tipped the writer off to this situation.

And at least one person in the organization must want to take advantage of Bill Duffy's and Anthony Carter's oversight. However, without quotes from top officials in the Heat organization, it is premature to assume that the Heat will take advantage of this situation.

If Anthony Carter's one-year $4 million player option is revoked because of this, the Heat will have about $9 million of space under a $41 million salary cap.

cheezdoodle

well the numbers that everyone is talking about right now in Miami is 10.7 million in cap space. That is assuming that the cap goes up to 42.3 million. If the cap stays exactly the same then we will have 8.7.

Since I'm an optomist I went ahead and figured out who the Heat might go after and how much we can offer them (with a 42.3 cap of course)

Tim Duncan (hey it can't hurt to ask)
Jermaine O'neal (the max we can offer these 3 guys is 6 years for 82 million)
Jason Kidd
Brad Miller (6 year deal worth 54 million and Miami would have 3.7 to sign a decent point guard)
Andre Miller (6 year deal worth 50 million and Miami would still have 4.2 million to spend on Zo)
Lamar Odom (6 year deal worth 46 million and Miami will have 4.7 to spend on Zo)

If it turns out that God isn't really a Heat fan then we would have to settle for:

Gary Payton (slightly more then the MLE and then give the rest to Zo or Kandi)
Jason Terry (Hawks would probably match and Miami might not have 2 weeks to wait and see)

anyone else Miami might decide to go after?

cheezdoodle

One more question:

Could what happened the past few days be grounds for one of the following guys to fire Duffy as an agent?

Yao Ming Houston Rockets
Carmelo Anthony Denver Nuggets
Mario Austin Chicago Bulls
Troy Bell Memphis Grizzlies
Terrell Brandon Minnesota Timberwolves
Zarko Cabarkapa Phoenix Suns
Anthony Carter Miami Heat
Speedy Claxton San Antonio Spurs
Antonio Davis Toronto Raptors
Jeff Foster Indiana Pacers
Drew Gooden Orlando Magic
Travis Hansen Atlanta Hawks
Nate Huffman Toronto Raptors
Marko Jaric Los Angeles Clippers
Freddie Jones Indiana Pacers
Dan Langhi Phoenix Suns
Steve Nash Dallas Mavericks
Rasho Nesterovic Minnesota Timberwolves
Michael Olowokandi Los Angeles Clippers
Milt Palacio Cleveland Cavaliers
Tayshaun Prince Detroit Pistons
Joel Przybilla Milwaukee Bucks
Zeljko Rebraca Detroit Pistons
Rick Rickert Minnesota Timberwolves
Kareem Rush Los Angeles Lakers
Nadzad Simanovic Portland Trailblazers
Michael Stewart Cleveland Cavaliers
Jay Williams Chicago Bulls
Shamond Williams Denver Nuggets

Dan Rosenbaum

Thanks for the list.

I can guess there are two players they won't be able to go after: Rasho Nesterovic and Michael Olowokandi, since they are Duffy clients.

My understanding is that players can fire their agent for any reason, so they don't need any "grounds." And yes, this situation certainly would have me thinking about firing Duffy, even if it does end up working out alright for Carter.

If Carter is negatively affected by all of this, it will be interesting to see what the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) does. At the very least, I think they should levy a fine on Duffy, if they have the power to do so.