31 July-8 August 1996
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Well, thanks to Mark Asher of the Washington Post for putting together a table showing how the Bullets wind up only $100,000 below the salary cap for this season. It tells a big story.

Player                 Salary
Chris Webber         $8,000,000
Harvey Grant         $4,111,250
Calbert Cheaney      $3.200,000
Rod Strickland       $3,036,000
Gheorghe Muresan     $2,362,500
Tracy Murray         $1,700,000
Lorenzo Williams       $940,000
Tim Legler             $450,000
Chris Whitney          $400,000
Total               $24,199,750
A couple of notes go with these numbers. The NBA salary cap for the 1996-97 season is $24.3M. Muresan's cap number includes $400k in "likely bonuses" (i.e., his real salary is $1,962,000). The new collective bargaining agreement defines a "likely bonus" as a performance level the player achieved or surpassed the previous season. Whitney's cap number does not include $300k in "unlikely bonuses" (which was originally included in the $700k one-year contract). The agreement defines an "unlikely bonus" as an incentive bonus for reaching or surpassing a level of performance the player did not achieve the previous season.

The Bullets now have 9 veteran players under contract for next season; however, Tim Legler will more than likely begin the season on IR. The Bullets second round draft pick, Ronnie Henderson, will not count against the cap because he is a rookie. With Legler on IR, plus Henderson, the Bullets only have 9 players that should be on the roster on opening day. That leaves three openings to be filled. The minimum salary for veteran players is $247,500, and the Bullets can exceed the cap if they pay the minimum.

The one factor that isn't included in this equation is that a team is allowed a $1M exception to exceed the cap. I don't know what restrictions there are on the exception; I believe it was only for re-signing your own players. And I don't think Strickland falls in that category. Plus, the Bullets have renounced their rights to all of their other free agents, including McCann and Eackles, so they cannot re-sign those players until mid-January.

Where does that leave the Bullets? Praying for no injuries, among other things. I see the Bullets signing two more front court power players, to provide some needed depth (Harvey Grant really isn't meant to play power forward, unlike his twin brother--their styles have sufficiently diverged in the pros), and possibly another outside shooting PG, probably from the CBA, as added insurance. That's how I would do it, at least. Unseld said that he is "very close" to signing another free agent veteran, but declined to name the position.

Stay tuned for added news in this area.

wtf 31 July 1996
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This is a late breaking story which I'm just getting off of ESPNet, so bear with me. I hope to have more details tomorrow.

Juwan Howard, who became the NBA's first $100 million man when he signed with the Miami Heat earlier this month, had his contract voided by the league Monday. The NBA said the contract exceeded the room available to the Heat under the salary cap.

In a statement released Wednesday, the league indicated the Heat was careless and did not follow protocol in signing Howard. The team had no comment and the matter will be resolved by an arbitrator. In addition to Howard, Miami also has signed free agent forward P.J. Brown and re-signed center Alonzo Mourning and guard Tim Hardaway. All three of those deals have impacted the voiding of Howard's contract.

According to NBA chief legal officer Jeff Mishkin: "First, the Heat incorrectly calculated their avaliable cap room because they excluded performance bonuses provided for in contracts previously submitted for Tim Hardaway and P.J. Brown that should have been included. Second, Miami had already reached a deal with Alonzo Mourning prior to the signing of Howard, thereby further reducing the amount of cap room available for the Howard contract."

Mourning's 1996-97 salary would not have counted against the cap had he signed his deal after the Heat reached the limit. But -- as the NBA alleges -- because he signed his deal before Howard came to terms, Mourning's salary counts against the cap, leaving less available money to sign Howard. Both Howard and Mourning are clients of agent David Falk, who is on vacation and unavailable for comment.

More info will be provided as it becomes available.

wtf 31 July 1996
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We have finally discovered who that other big man is: Adrian Caldwell. Caldwell played 51 games last season for the Indiana Pacers. Caldwell is a 6'8" 265 pound pivot player. Hardly a great player, but he's insurance when there are foul problems. That's assuming he accepts the offer (which may change with the latest Juwan Howard situation).

wtf 5 August 1996
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Now we have more details in the voiding of Howard's contract with the Heat. If I weren't a fan the Bullets, this would probably look comedic. One of the issues is the timing of all offers and roster moves. Clearly, the Heat and Howard reached an agreement in principle on July 13. Two days later, the Bullets renounced their rights to Juwan Howard in order to sign Tracy Murray and trade for Rod Strickland and Harvey Grant. On July 17, Howard formally signed with the Heat.

What is confusing me is why Juwan's contract was voided. Supposedly, it was voided because they failed, among other things, to take into account the performance bonuses for PJ Brown and Tim Hardaway. But, last I checked, those players signed AFTER Juwan, so I would've figured one of those contracts would be voided.

I think the NBA league offices are trying to get back at Heat GM Pat Riley (and indirectly at "nemesis" David Falk). The Heat continue to claim that they haven't signed Alonzo Mourning, but they have reached an agreement in principle with him. And that's part of their argument for being allowed to sign Howard. But the Heat are not taking this situation lying down.

First, the Heat want this issue to go to arbitration. The Heat and the NBA will each select an arbitrator for the panel that should hear the case in the next week or two. One of the arbitrators will decide whether the bonuses in Hardaway's and Brown's contracts (which the NBA contends were signed before Howard's) should count against the cap. The other arbitrator willl decide whether the Heat and Mourning reached a contract agreement before the club signed Howard. I believe the arbitration will be binding. And Juwan Howard could still remain a Heat, once everything is done.

On Friday, they went to a Dade County judge to get an injunction to prevent Howard from signing with any other team unless that contract recognizes "the prior validity and superiority" of the Heat's original deal. Because Howard can sign with any other team now, the new negotiation can begin with any other team. Of course, virtually no team left has any cap room left to sign him, including the Bullets.

Except the NBA will grant a waiver to the Bullets to allow them to exceed the salary cap. Now, the Bullets have to step up and sign Howard. GM Wes Unseld has said that the Bullets would make an offer, and recent news suggests that the Bullets and Howard's representatives are talking. Any question what the offer should be? Like they should have the first time around, match the Heat's offer--dollar for dollar, clause for clause.

But the Bullets may have to release one or both of their free agent signings (Tracy Murray and Lorenzo Williams) to date. That has yet to be sorted out. Because the market money is essentially gone for quality players like Murran and Williams, the league may pay the difference between the final offer for any player cut and the deal they signed with the Bullets. Stay tuned on this front.

Does this make any sense? Suffice it to say, Juwan will be either a Heat (what the hell is a 'heat'?) or a Bullet. Someone will have to give up something to sign Juwan (the Heat in terms of a penalty--either a player or a pick--or the Bullets). And Juwan should still walk away with his $100M.

wtf 5 August 1996
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Juwan Howard inked a deal with the Washington Bullets on August 5, reportedly in the neighborhood of $100M over 7 years (very similar to the Heat deal). Some reports say it's more than the Heat deal. Either way, it's what I thought the Bullets should do, and for once they seemed to do the right thing. David Falk is reportedly still on vacation in Europe, so FAME president Curtis Polk handled much of the negotiations. But you can guarantee that Falk had much to say during the process, probably on the phone daily (hourly?) from Europe. The contract does contain the "prior validity and superiority" clause.

Now, we wait on the arbitration case. Which is more loaded than originally thought. According to Bullets legal counsel David Osnos: "The agreement with Howard will not be fully effective until certain legal issues regarding the arrangement between Howard and the Miami Heat have been resolved." The Heat have no comment on the situation.

Lawyers for the NBA have filed documents on August 5 to have the case moved to federal court in Miami, from the state court, in an attempt to have the Heat's restraining order lifted. It has also been determined that a third arbitrator will consider another part of the case; the actual area has not been identified. Also, the first arbitrator has been named--Daniel Collins, a New York University law professor. He will hear the issue of "allowable amendments" in the contract of free agent signee P.J. Brown. The other two arbitrators have not been named.

Best for the Bullets was the ruling by David Stern, at the behest of the NBA Players Union, that if the Bullets wind up signing Juwan, they must forgo their first round pick in 1997 rather than waiving Tracy Murray or Lorenzo Williams. (Having already traded away their pick in 1998 for Chris Webber, they won't have a first round pick until 1999.) According to NBA chief legal officer Jeffrey Mishkin: "The whole point was trying to put Washington back in the position they would have been in if they had not mistakenly renounced Howard, and that was hard to do--in fact impossible to do. We couldn't unscramble all the eggs. They had a signed contract [with Murray and Williams]; there was no way we could void those contracts." Mishkin is very confident that Juwan will remain a Bullet.

It is unclear what is going to happen to that pick, although I don't believe that it will be given to the Miami Heat. (Why reward the transgressor?) The pick will be given up if the Bullets keep Howard, because they were within $100K of the salary cap and didn't have room to make an unrestricted offer to Howard, like they would have had at the beginning of free agency. (His cap number would've been around $2.5M, the qualifying offer the Bullets made at the start of free agency, even though the starting salary is closer to $9M.)

There may be only 28 first round picks next season. And the Bullets would give up a mid-first round pick for two players who started in the NBA last season. Not a bad exchange, eh? If Howard returns (looking more likely by the day), that's a solid starting five (Muresan, Webber, Howard, Strickland, Cheaney), two bench players who started in the NBA last year (Murray, Williams), and two offensive/defensive threats off the bench (Grant, Whitney). And that doesn't include Legler (who will start the season on IR) and the rookie Ronnie Henderson, who has lottery pick-level talent (IMO) and has been impressive thus far this summer.

wtf 8 August 1996
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It's being reported everywhere, so take it for granted. The Heat are backing away from arbitration, hoping to cut their losses now. Those potential losses include a $5M fine and a 1-year suspension of Coach Pat Riley. Why? Well, there is a pattern of abuse, starting with the tampering in the hiring of Riley last year. Also, the league believes the Heat reached an agreement with center Alonzo Mourning to re-sign him for what sources said was $112M before it signed Howard on July 17. Such an agreement, whether written or oral, would violate the league's rules. They also added that they believe that the Heat and Mourning's agent, David Falk, had agreed to a specific dollar amount for the contract and did not notify the league; Falk's colleagues deny that.

There has not been an official announcement, but the Heat are trying now just to get the rights back to negotiate with a couple players they renounced (Walt Williams, Rex Chapman). And the settlement isn't necessarily close to being finished yet. More details when they become available, but it looks like Juwan will soon be a Bullet for the next 7 years. And this is one community that would actually welcome him back.

That's the funny thing about this situation. As noted by columnist Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post, 90% of Orlando fans responded to a newspaper poll saying that they would rather Shaquille O'Neal, a man who helped his team to the NBA Finals, take a hike than see the Magic pay him $120M. But in Washington, he guesstimates that 99% of the Bullets fans want Howard, a man who has yet to see the playoffs, back at any price. This town will forgive Howard in a BIG way. I will be one of them.

wtf 8 August 1996
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