Using the words “absurd,” “ridiculous,” and “preposterous,” Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace refuted an assertion on HoopsWorld.com today that the Grizzlies are interested in trading Javaris Crittenton to the Orlando Magic for the rights to Spanish forward Fran Vasquez in what would essentially be a cost-cutting move.
Wallace talked to Beyond the Arc via cell phone from the Athens airport, where he landed today for a vacation, and characterized the HoopsWorld report as “reaching for straws.”
“We’ve never had a conversation with Orlando about Fran Vasquez and we have no interest in Fran Vasquez,” Wallace said.
The Hoops World piece read, in part:
Quote:
The Grizzlies have been exploring ways to get even further below the minimum salary number; such as trading Javaris Crittenton to Orlando for Fran Vasquez's rights and a future draft pick. Vasquez counts against the cap and the NBA minimum, but no dollars have to be paid out. The Grizz were also said to be exploring ways to get a hold of Nenad Krstic before he opted for Europe in a similar cost cutting move, get his rights let him walk to Europe, get an additional $2 million off the books.
Wallace also denied the core allegation of the piece, that the Grizzlies are seeking a way to bring their salary obligations for the coming season to the league minimum.
“That is not a concept for us,” Wallace said. “We don’t have a goal to be at the minimum.”
Wallace further commented on the possibility of exercising a trade for Crittenton or Kyle Lowry this summer. “If we make a trade for one of these guards, people may disagree with what we do, but we would want [basketball] value back,” Wallace said.
As for me, I'm still trying to figure out if all of the assertions in this HoopsWorld piece are at least theoretically solid in regards to the league’s collective bargaining agreement and will try to post more in the near future on this subject and on the general discussion about the very real tension between the team’s competitive and financial goals.
But, there are at least a couple of relevant points about this alleged potential trade that the HoopsWorld writer doesn’t address:
1. Orlando is over the cap and could not trade Vasquez and a pick for Crittenton without a trade exception of some kind to fit Crittenton’s salary into. Does Orlando have an exception? I’m not sure. But, barring that, a player under contract — like the widely mentioned Keith Bogans or J.J. Reddick — would have to be included.
2. The Grizzlies currently have 12 players on their roster (including Antoine Walker) with the league minimum set at 13. Trading Crittenton (or Kyle Lowry) for a player that wouldn’t be part of next year’s team would necessitate signing an additional player to fill the roster spot. Even if that’s just a minimum-salary free agent, it still cuts into the savings this article alleges would be the goal of the trade.
More later.
Hoops World writer Steve Kyler responded this afternoon to my report this morning, in which Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace commented on Kyler’s note this morning about the team, and also, it seems, to a lot of e-mails from Grizzlies fans.
I think there’s a lot of good material in Kyler’s latest piece, including rational things about the future of the franchise that a lot of fans don't want to hear, but I have to take issue with a few things.
In making several direct references to my earlier blog post without ever specifying the work he’s referring to, Mr. Kyler shows the same stellar attribution skills as in his initial report, where he claimed the Grizzlies were discussing a trade with Orlando for Fran Vasquez while providing no sourcing whatsoever for the report.
Maybe standard Internet reporting etiquette hasn’t reached the offices(?) of Hoops World, but it is good form to source someone else’s work when you quote it (instead of just citing "others"), as well as to provide a link to that work, as I did to Mr. Kyler’s initial report when I referenced it this morning and as I am to his newer piece here. Perhaps the HTML work is too difficult.
I find Mr. Kyler’s refusal to directly acknowledge my work while repeatedly referencing it to be oddly juvenile.
Let me be clear: I am not a fan blogger. I’m a credentialed media person who covers the Grizzlies, with full access to games, practices, and other team events and with multiple sources with the team. It is true that covering the team is only a portion of my job and is not something to which I can devote as much time as I’d like, but it is something I do professionally. It would be nice if Mr. Kyler had accorded my work the same respect I accorded his.
Mr. Kyler complains about my attributing words such as “ridiculous” and “absurd” to Chris Wallace “out of context.” Okay, then let me offer some context.
When I spoke to Wallace this morning, I asked if he’d read the Hoops World piece. His immediate response was, “Yes and it’s ridiculous. You can quote me on that.”
Wallace used the words “absurd” and “preposterous” later in the conversation in direct reference to the claim that the Grizzlies would trade for Vasquez and would do so in a scheme to get team payroll down to the league minimum. Is that clear enough?
I will say that I never got the sense that Wallace was trying to denigrate the writer of the story, only responding strongly to the content.
Mr. Kyler’s references to my earlier post are quite snide, so I’m returning the favor here. However, my earlier post was not meant to be an attack on Mr. Kyler’s work. His story was something that Grizzlies fans were talking about. It seemed worthy of seeking a response from a team-decision maker, which is what I did.
Chris Wallace may have refuted the veracity of Mr. Kyler’s claims, but I did not. I did raise a few questions about relevant details either ignored or not fully explained in Mr. Kyler’s report. Perhaps Mr. Kyler should take his own advice and refrain from shooting the messenger.
To wit:
In his initial post, Mr. Kyler makes the following claim:
Quote:
The Grizzlies have been exploring ways to get even further below the minimum salary number; such as trading Javaris Crittenton to Orlando for Fran Vasquez's rights and a future draft pick. Vasquez counts against the cap and the NBA minimum, but no dollars have to be paid out.
In his update, he says this:
Quote:
As clarified this morning to me, by an informed NBA source, NBA teams are required to "spend" $44.1 million this year as a minimum, if that is not spent there is a penalty assessed to the team. The Grizzlies cannot consume space, through obtaining rights, unless those rights have contracts assigned to them. Rights do consume cap space, but do not count against the NBA minimum, any more than rights count towards Luxury Tax.
Essentially, Mr. Kyler is refuting his own earlier report, but declines to admit that. If obtaining the rights the Vasquez but not signing him to a contract would not help the Grizzlies get “even further below the minimum salary number,” then doesn’t this undercut the entire point of the initial post?
Mr. Kyler also still neglects to address that the Grizzlies currently have 12 players on the roster, with a minimum of 13 required by the league. Trading a player currently under contract and not getting such a player in return would require the Grizzlies to sign two additional players to get up to 13, which would significantly cut into any “savings” from trading Crittenton or Lowry, especially since both of those players have relatively small contracts.
After providing no sourcing for his Vasquez rumor this morning, Mr. Kyler updates with this:
Quote:
An informed source said this morning that Memphis' stance was a Javaris Crittenton trade was "squarely in Orlando's court"; another source indicated Vasquez was the latest package being discussed, apparently not with Chris Wallace.
Well, I guess that’s a little better, but still awfully vague. “Another source”? How do we know this isn’t just another media person talking? Is it a source within the Magic’s basketball operations organization? Is it an agent? A player? Good lord, man, give us something better than “another source.”
Finally, next time you quote me, don’t refer to me as “others.” I’m only one person. My name is Chris Herrington. My employer is The Memphis Flyer. This blog is called Beyond the Arc. I’m not “another source.” I’m on the record.
