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KoriEllis
08-24-2004, 02:38 PM
Sonics, Allen enter uncertain future over extension

By DANNY O'NEIL

The Seattle Post Intelligencer


USA - The first contract extension of Ray Allen's NBA career was a matter of a few conversations and a handshake with the owner.

It was 1999. A new collective-bargaining agreement had just taken effect, and it made Allen's extension with the Milwaukee Bucks a fill-in-the-blanks arrangement so straightforward (six years, $70.9 million) that the first thing he did before negotiating was fire his agent.

It won't be so simple this time.

That was true even before Allen hired Lon Babby as his agent earlier this summer. The Sonics had already told Allen things had changed in the league since his last contract. Translation: The team won't be handing over a blank check to write out a maximum-contract offer, which in Allen's case would be five years, $100 million.

What's left is the gray area of negotiations, which are under way following a season in which Allen averaged a career-high 23 points.

"It's a top priority because he's an All-Star-caliber player," Sonics general manager Rick Sund said of Allen's extension. "We'd love to have him signed, and be part of helping us move forward to the future."

But how much money will it take to convince Allen not to test free agency next summer? How much are the Sonics willing to spend to keep Allen, knowing they could have more than $20 million in salary-cap space next summer if he leaves?

Each side has incentives to reach an agreement this summer, and both have reasons for waiting to see what's available next year. If there isn't an extension, the likelihood Allen would be traded during the season increases.

There won't be an answer anytime soon.

"There's going to be no timetable to this," Sund said. "There's no artificial deadlines. Both Lon and I have agreed that we're not going to give periodic updates."

Allen just turned 29 and is the third-oldest player on a team that missed the playoffs the past two years. He has stated he wants to stay in Seattle and will point to Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury -- drafted the same year as him -- as the salary standard that has been set.

"It's always obvious when a team wants to keep a player and a player wants to be there," Allen said April 15, the day after the regular season ended. "Negotiations, we've talked about it on and off, but when you officially go into negotiations, they shouldn't take long."

But here's why these negotiations might.


Cornerstone or complement?

In strictly economic terms, the Sonics' position for negotiating an extension with Allen is solid.

They have salary-cap space should Allen not re-sign. They don't face the prospect of seeing him walk away for nothing. If he leaves, they can spend the money elsewhere.

But players will be watching to see if the Sonics' commitment to Allen is as strong as their bargaining position.

"Who is this team loyal to? Who is it built around?"

That's a question one NBA player asked this summer. It wasn't accusatory. It wasn't rhetorical, either. And to be clear: It wasn't Allen, who did not respond to interview requests for this story. His fiancee has been waiting to give birth, and he wanted to lay low with no new developments. The Sonics said both sides have agreed not to talk about the negotiations.

Players are watching to see what happens with Allen. After all, he arrived in the trade for Gary Payton, the franchise's career-leading scorer whose request for a contract extension was not granted in 2002.

Brent Barry wasn't a franchise player, but he was a clubhouse cornerstone. He sought an extension last summer. He didn't get it, and left for San Antonio this summer despite a competitive financial offer from the Sonics.

The Sonics have six players under contract past this season. Of those six, only Rashard Lewis is signed for significantly more than the league average.


Class of '96

Allen was the fifth player selected in the deepest draft of the decade.

The class wasn't just noteworthy because it produced 10 All-Stars. It also was the first draft class to graduate to free agency under rules imposed by the agreement to end the 1999 lockout, which turned top-dollar contracts into a paint-by-number scenario. A player's maximum salary was predicated on how many years he had played in the league.

In 1999, the largest extension allowed for a player drafted in '96 was six years, $70.9 million. Seven first-round picks from the '96 draft -- including Allen -- signed that cookie-cutter contract before they became free agents. Six were signed in a 20-day span.

The paths have diverged this time.

Iverson and Marbury signed extensions before training camp last fall to the tune of four years and $76.6 million, deals that will kick in next fall. Kobe Bryant's contract included an opt-out clause, which he exercised this summer and signed a seven-year deal.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Antoine Walker didn't get extensions. Both have been traded in the past year.

During the first week of the Sonics' training camp last October, Allen was asked if he would be open to signing an extension.

"The ball is in their court," he said.

The team's behind-the-scenes response was it wasn't the right time, given Barry had sought an extension the previous summer and it wasn't granted.

Barry signed with San Antonio for four years at about $19 million. That wasn't much more than Seattle indicated it guaranteed over three years.

Faced with competitive financial offers from San Antonio and Seattle, Barry opted to play elsewhere, but that gets past the fact Seattle could have avoided a free agency bidding war by signing Barry to an extension last summer or during the season.

And now comes Allen, a four-time All-Star and one of the top four shooting guards in the league. Only Tracy McGrady and Bryant are indisputably better than Allen at the position.

"For me not to sign an extension this summer, it's going to be on the organization," he said in April.


Maximum velocity

The Sonics won't be pointing to Marbury, Iverson or anyone else from the '96 draft as a starting point for negotiations with Allen.

It's going to be Rasheed Wallace's five-year, $57 million deal with Detroit this summer. The starting salary is about $9.1 million, a hefty pay cut from the $17 million he made last season and went from Portland to Atlanta to Detroit, where he won a championship.

Of course, Wallace hasn't been an All-Star in three years and he was only the team's third-leading scorer in the playoffs.

But this is the NBA, where taller players clear taller checks, and Wallace isn't alone in taking a pay cut.

Kevin Garnett -- the 2004 MVP -- made $28 million last season, but will see his salary decline to $16 million when his extension kicks in this season. That pay cut came with the understanding the Wolves would take the money they were saving and put it into other players. Sure enough, Minnesota put the pieces around Garnett and had the West's best regular-season record last season.

But that's part of an overall decline in top-drawer salaries. In 2002-03, there were six players making more than $19 million: Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal ($23.6 million), Alonzo Mourning ($20.6 million), Juwan Howard ($20.2 million), Scottie Pippen ($19.7 million) and Karl Malone ($19.3 million). This season there will be one: O'Neal.

Would Allen be willing to take a pay cut?

Depends on what it brought the Sonics, he said last April before the season finale in Los Angeles.

"If they ask me to take a pay cut based on some sort of beast they're going to bring in here, that's going to help us win a championship," Allen said. "I would have to look at that. For the benefit of the team."

Teams opened their wallets in free agency this summer, a spree that saw a middle-of-the-road talent such as Adonal Foyle sign for $42 million and Brian Cardinal get more than $35 million.

But high-end deals remained rare. Bryant was the only $100 million deal -- he re-signed with the Lakers for seven years, $136.4 million. Kenyon Martin got a seven-year, $92 million deal to go to Denver, and the buzz circulating now is the Nuggets overpaid.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban watched free agent guard Steve Nash walk away this summer, signing with Phoenix. Nash was 30, the same age Allen will be next summer. Phoenix signed Nash for $65 million over six years, though not all is guaranteed.

Cuban already has two players playing on maximum-level salaries: Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley.

"You are hard pressed giving out max contracts to anyone except someone you can build a franchise around and (who) will put butts in seats," Cuban wrote.

"Three years ago, I wanted to reward players for their commitment to the Mavs, knowing if it didn't work out, I could trade the player. That is no longer the case."

The more miles on a player's odometer, the bigger the risk the team is taking.

Just look at Jason Kidd, who was the premier free agent on the market when he re-signed with New Jersey for $103.6 million over six years. Now, the Nets are being gutted, Kidd is coming off knee surgery and NBA people are worried he might be overpaid.

Chris Webber was the premier free agent in 2001. The Maloof brothers had a billboard offering to mow his lawn if he would re-sign. New York celebrities pleaded with Webber on scoreboard messages to consider the Knicks.

Three years later, Webber is considering his second knee surgery in 12 months. With four years and $80 million remaining on his contract, one general manager said the Webber deal is "the worst in the league."

Allen expressed no anxiety about the summer's negotiations when he left the Sonics' training facility the day after Seattle's season ended.

"I can go into the whole next year and be working to a contract extension," he said. "It's not the 12th hour."

KoriEllis
08-24-2004, 02:58 PM
Barry signed with San Antonio for four years at about $19 million

The amount Barry signed for fluctuates so much. It's been reported from $18-23M.

Weird.

T Park Num 9
08-24-2004, 03:07 PM
The problem is Kori, with the Spurs, they are so CIA, well NEVER probobly HONESTLY know the true contract.

DuffMcCartney
08-24-2004, 03:26 PM
The problem is Kori, with the Spurs, they are so CIA, well NEVER probobly HONESTLY know the true contract.

Why is that a problem?


Kevin Garnett -- the 2004 MVP -- made $28 million last season, but will see his salary decline to $16 million when his extension kicks in this season.

Man talk about overpaid, I wouldn't pay KG $28 million any day of the week. For all the 1st round exits he had that motherfucker was ROBBING the Timberwolves.