Submitted by Randall Levin, Dec 7, 2007 03:31

Well, there are two sides to every story, but as usual, Tucker, you are hysterical. You are right though, that this was not a complete victory for the Cavs. But nor was it much of victory for Fegan or Varejao. "Consolation prize" is the best description. Despite what Ric Bucher (does he really not understand that the only one year deal that ANY team would sign in this circumstance would be the qualifying offer?) reports, we have no good reason to believe that Fegan didn't originally ask for over $50 million. Why wouldn't he? It's hard to imagine that the name Nene wouldn't have rolled off his tongue at least once during negotiations. In any case, Fegan would have certainly liked a long term deal in the $9-10 million range, and probabaly would have preferred a 5 year deal at that price. A three year deal for $7-$8 was his second best offer. And he was very close to either playing this game again next year, or taking the Cavs' "best" offer at $20 million over three years. Ideally the Cavs were most keen on signing Varejao to a five year deal for just above the midlevel exception. The reasoning, one would think, is that Varejao is not only Ilgauskas's backup, but potentially his succesor. Under the collective bargaining agreement they should have had the leverage to sign the longer term deal, especially since no team was willing or able to sign Varejao in the $8-10 million range on a long OR short term deal. I personally believe this would have been the case had Varejao been unrestricted as well. But, as they say, it only takes one dumb GM willing to overpay . . . Given his complete miscalculation of the free agent market, Fegan wormed his way out of this one reasonably well, although it took a completely unethical and/or depserate GM in Higgins to make it happen. Varejao's interests could certainly have been served better. Varejao obviously left significant money on the table. It turns out that the third year is not guaranteed, which basically means that it doesn't exist. So, it is not true that Varjao has $17 million worth of security riding against his impending free agency (or the $20+ million that the Cavs offered over three years OR the $30+ offered over 5 years). But he does have $11 miillion, which is clearly better than the 1.2 he was entitled to. If he's lucky he won't get injured. And only time will tell whether his basketballs skills will allow him to become a $10 million per year type of player. In any case, the Cavs will be in position to judge for themselves and in fine position to bid for his services at that time. Here is where you're really wrong though, Tucker. Charlotte and Higgins will be the pariahs after this debacle, not Ferry. Charlotte knew they had no hope of getting Varejao, yet they made a move whose only logical outcome was to thwart the Cavaliers and the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Higgins and Fegan should both be banned from the league for this stunt. This episode was conducted strictly as a ploy by Fegan to challenge the CBA (which, by the way was agreed upon by the owners AND the players union). The restricted free agency system was preferred by the union over a "hard cap" system. And, under the current system, teams are SUPPOSED to be rewarded for drafting and/or developing talent by a) having a slight edge over other teams in retaining said talent and b) being in a position to retain that talent over an extended period for a somewhat reasonable fortune. But the system is not completely hostile to players who feel they are underpaid: They may a) receive offers from other teams who feel their services are worth more or b) accept a one-year qualifying offer (which relates to their original contract) and basically buy their free agency the following season. So in the end, the Cavs lost a tradeable asset this year for no good reason. Varejao's contract might be very tradeable over the summer though, when teams will be looking to clear cap space for the 2009 offseason. Marshall, Jones, Snow and Gooden will also be available for such purposes at that time, by the way, ahem. Lebron will still have one full season under contract that summer. They had wanted Pavlovic, Varejao, and possibly Gibson to bridge the gap between this team and the next big free agent summer, but Fegan decided to pusue his own interests instead of his client's. Varejao left at the very least $9 million in guaranteed money on the table just to get his free agency one year sooner. He could have had a bigger contract now, plus three years worth of security, and STILL signed a huge free agent contract in the summer of 2010. But best of all, he just screwed the team that holds his Bird Rights, a.k.a. "the team that would be in the best position to offer him that big contract." Had Fegan been pusuing his client's interests instead of his own, perhaps he would have considered the Cavaliers' cap situation as integral to the long term financial well-being of his client.

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