a question about draft picks

[Biggems]

How does "Owning their rights" work? I know this is a vague question, but I do not really know how to ask the question properly.

Basically, do we own the rights of all draft picks, or just first rounders? if we fail to sign a player that we drafted, is he eligible to be signed by another team or does he belong to us for a certain period of time? If he does belong to us, how long do we keep the rights?

I undertand that we have the rights of several European players....but I still do not understand this process. I am hoping someone in the know can educate me.

The main reason I ask this, is because of Richards. I would prefer to keep Ian on the roster, but if we do, chances are we won't sign Richards. I do not want to lose him.

[ducks]

spurs think forum!

[Chieflion]

How does "Owning their rights" work? I know this is a vague question, but I do not really know how to ask the question properly.

Basically, do we own the rights of all draft picks, or just first rounders? if we fail to sign a player that we drafted, is he eligible to be signed by another team or does he belong to us for a certain period of time? If he does belong to us, how long do we keep the rights?

I undertand that we have the rights of several European players....but I still do not understand this process. I am hoping someone in the know can educate me.

The main reason I ask this, is because of Richards. I would prefer to keep Ian on the roster, but if we do, chances are we won't sign Richards. I do not want to lose him.

We don't lose rights unless we trade them. A first round pick's rights have a cap hold of the exact salary the player should be owed on his 1st year. The difference between a 2nd rounder's draft rights and a 1st rounders, is that the rights to a 2nd round draft pick does not count against the cap. If we have the draft rights to a player, he cannot be signed by another team.

[Shastafarian]

spurs think forum!

/ducks'd

[Kori Ellis]

The only way to lose the rights (as far as I know) is if a player sits out a year. For example, if a Spurs draft pick signed in Europe for the year, then the following season didn't play basketball for a whole year (and obviously the Spurs didn't sign him either) - then the Spurs would lose his rights.

[bluebellmaniac]

This is just a quick and dirty response, to get to the heart of your question. "Owning the rights" means that for any player drafted by a team (first or second round), only that team can sign that player. So drafted players can play overseas, but they can not come back to the NBA and sign with a team that did not draft them.... ever. Splitter is a great example of the "draft and stash" methodology the Spurs employ to allow draft picks to mature before signing them. There are obvious drawbacks to this methodology.... Namely, these players may have/sign a contract with a Euro Team that prevents them from playing in the NBA.

Richards can not sign with any other NBA team unless the Spurs trade those rights to another team. That means "ever". However, he is not expected to be a "draft and stash" player and has apparently stated such. He's expected be signed and by most ST comments is expected to spend most of his time playing for the Toros in Austin until he develops to Pop's satisfaction.

Please don't hold your breath for Ian either. As Bruno explained after Ian's option was not picked up by the Spurs.... That ship has sailed. There is just no way financially and otherwise that the Spurs re-sign Ian. The Spurs could have had him for cheap this year if they picked up his option year, however they have at this point given up on Ian. I was very hopeful for Ian, but after Bruno explained the financial aspect... uh yeah, that ship has sailed.

Hope that helped. A more detailed explanation is in the Spurs Think Tank section.

[coyotes_geek]

You also have to make the required tender offer to your draft picks every year. If you don't make the tender offer you lose their rights. For 1st rounders the tender offer is rookie scale. For 2nd rounders all it has to be is a 1 year, league minimum, unguaranteed contract.

Specific to Richards, the Spurs will have to offer him the tender offer whether they want Richards on the team this year or not. If the Spurs want to keep him in europe for a year or more to develop they're going to need him to agree to it. If Richards wanted to, he could just accept the Spurs tender offer and force the Spurs to either keep him on the roster this year or cut him (with the Spurs not being on the hook for any money since the tender would likely be fully unguaranteed). The latter is how the Spurs lost Jack McClinton last year.

[Biggems]

thanks for the knowledge

it is greatly appreciated