The Randolph Morris NBA/College Situation (Interesting)

[MylesKnight]

UK Big Man Randolph Morris is actually a NBA Free Agent at this very moment while still playing for the Wildcats.

And the NBA is interested....

Very intriguing situation here...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AtffnoBxwNEHMwyNl0bZMJTevbYF?slug=aw-morris121106&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

[albionmoonlight]

The sense among the Kentucky bloggers is that he isn't going to leave because he gave his word that he would stay through his junior season when they let him back on the team.

Now, I could see 20 or so contracts being faxed to his agent minutes after Kentucky is eliminated from NCAA play--but it does not sound like it is going to happen before.

http://www.kentuckysportsradio.com/

[Samdari]

So, he did not withdraw, but was not drafted?

And the NCAA still considers him eligible? I thought they had to withdraw formally to retain eligibility?

[MylesKnight]

The rule has been changed since, but at that time a player could keep his name in the draft and still be eligible to go back to his college team so long as he did not hire a agent. Any school missed in working out for the draft would have to be made up though, prior to the player being eligible for his college team.

The rule now is that once a player goes through the draft, he is not eligible to play college ball.

Although Morris may very well stay the entire season at UK, this is definitely a very interesting situation. What if UK goes in a funk and drops six or seven straight, or something else along those lines??

[albionmoonlight]

So, he did not withdraw, but was not drafted?

And the NCAA still considers him eligible? I thought they had to withdraw formally to retain eligibility?

I forget (read: never quite understood) all of the details of his case, but there were a lot of strange facts surrounding his situation.

Basically, the NCAA let him back in, but it was through an appeals process of some sort. It definitely was not routine.

Wikipedia probably has more details about it.

[albionmoonlight]

dola--

If everything breaks the right way for him, he could be the only guy to win a NCAA championship and an NBA title in the same year.

[stevew]

Since he's a true "free" free agent, I would suspect that he will most likely get a quite nice package from someone. A team with an exception may decide that he's worth around 12 million over 4 years, essentially the guy is a free #1 pick. Look for someone like the Lakers, Bobcats, or Hawks to make him a nice offer.

[Young Drachma]

I hope he maximizes the situation in his favor.

[John Galt]

Since he's a true "free" free agent, I would suspect that he will most likely get a quite nice package from someone. A team with an exception may decide that he's worth around 12 million over 4 years, essentially the guy is a free #1 pick. Look for someone like the Lakers, Bobcats, or Hawks to make him a nice offer.

One would think that King Stern would do everything possible to stop that. If Morris gets a contract in excess of what rookies in the draft make, it would help make an antitrust suit against the draft MUCH stronger.

[Samdari]

One would think that King Stern would do everything possible to stop that. If Morris gets a contract in excess of what rookies in the draft make, it would help make an antitrust suit against the draft MUCH stronger.

Since the rules preclude him from entering the draft, it is impossible to project his draft position, and impossible to determine that he gets in excess of what rookies in the draft get. He'll likely get more as an FA than he would at the middle/end of the first round (where he'd likely be drafted) he won't get more than a #1 pick.

And besides, didn't the Clarett/Williams case clearly re-establish (re-emphasize? reinforce?) that current members of the union can bargain away the rights of future/non members? Since the draft is collectively bargained, wouldn't a lawsuit against it merely be swatted away by a judge paying attention?

[John Galt]

Since the rules preclude him from entering the draft, it is impossible to project his draft position, and impossible to determine that he gets in excess of what rookies in the draft get. He'll likely get more as an FA than he would at the middle/end of the first round (where he'd likely be drafted) he won't get more than a #1 pick.

And besides, didn't the Clarett/Williams case clearly re-establish (re-emphasize? reinforce?) that current members of the union can bargain away the rights of future/non members? Since the draft is collectively bargained, wouldn't a lawsuit against it merely be swatted away by a judge paying attention?

I'm not sure I would say the Clarett case stands for that proposition (but I could be wrong). I think the league had an arguably legitimate reason for restricting age, but if their sole purpose is to supress wages, then that's a problem. Of course, you are right that a lawsuit would never succeed if the union sided with the league because of the general proposition that unions can screw non-members. The Morris case, however, would provide an important piece of data that a draft inherently depreciates value (since Morris is as close an analogue as you can find to any other college athlete). But, in the real world, I guess everyone knows such a challenge to the draft would never actually succeed.

[stevew]

One would think that King Stern would do everything possible to stop that. If Morris gets a contract in excess of what rookies in the draft make, it would help make an antitrust suit against the draft MUCH stronger.

12 million for 4 years is equivalent to about the 7th pick in the draft I believe, just as a frame of reference.

[kcchief19]

One would think that King Stern would do everything possible to stop that. If Morris gets a contract in excess of what rookies in the draft make, it would help make an antitrust suit against the draft MUCH stronger.
Conversely, you argue that if Morris does get an excessive contract, it wasn't him that teams were bidding on but rather the "free" draft pick, since they would be able to get him and keep their first rounder. Also, the reason he's getting the interest now is that he's better than he was in 2005 when no one wanted him. But I agree with the others -- I imagine if he wanted he could get good money, but not lottery money.

He's also a loophole player that likely won't come up again -- he made himself eligible for the draft but wasn't selected, which normally would make him a free agent. Since he went back to school but was ineligible for the next NBA draft because of the new age requirement, he maintained his free agent status.

It looks like he can get the best of both worlds -- finish out the season, then sign a contract in March or April. Teams wouldn't be signing him for this season anyway -- they would be signing him for the future. But he could become an answer to a trivia question by becoming the first player to play in the NCAA tournament and the NBA playoffs in the same season. :)

[Leonidas]

Red Grange went on his pro football barnstorming tour that presumably saved the NFL just days after playing his last college football game.

During the AFL/NFL college player signing wars the NFL routinely signed guys under the table to contracts before even playing their bowl games. Bud Adams got smart and went after Billy Canon, who presumably had such a deal in the NFL (I think with Pete Rozelle and the Rams of all people) and waited for him under the goal post of the Sugar Bowl and signed him immediately after the game ended. The NFL threatened a law suit, which they had to back down from when Adams politely reminded them their signing was technically in violation of NCAA rules and it was not in the NFLs best interest to go screwing with the NCAA just as they were going to war with the AFL over luring NCAA players into their league.

So this is really nothing new, just different for this era.

[Young Drachma]

And he'd nice to sign because if he went to a team that needed him off the bench, he's already in good form to finish out a year, because he hasn't been sitting on the bench all year or playing in D-League games that no one cares about.

[Young Drachma]

ESPN is reporting that Randolph Morris has signed a two-year deal with the Knicks.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2809958

[MylesKnight]

I don't have any info on this in front of me, but I'm wondering, what kind of money would a Late First Round Pick get? I believe that even the last pick of Round One gets at least $1 Million Per Season for the term of the initial contract (which is three years I believe).

So did Morris "settle" for less here possibly?

Here's the other question I have though.... Is a 2-Year Deal for Morris actually covering only the rest of this season (less than 20 Games to go) and next season? Under that scenario, Morris actually would be pulling in more than $1 Million Per Season, as he'd be making about $300K or so for the rest of this NBA Season.

Thanks for pulling this thread back up D.C.

[adubroff]

I don't have any info on this in front of me, but I'm wondering, what kind of money would a Late First Round Pick get? I believe that even the last pick of Round One gets at least $1 Million Per Season for the term of the initial contract (which is three years I believe).

So did Morris "settle" for less here possibly?

Here's the other question I have though.... Is a 2-Year Deal for Morris actually covering only the rest of this season (less than 20 Games to go) and next season? Under that scenario, Morris actually would be pulling in more than $1 Million Per Season, as he'd be making about $300K or so for the rest of this NBA Season.

Thanks for pulling this thread back up D.C.


I would imagine you are right. I also believe he will be a total free agent again after the 2 years, in which case if he's good, he'll make great money.

Mardy Collins was the 30th pick last year (also to the Knicks). He makes $867k and $932k, so Morris is actually a tad lower. But, he's got 3rd and 4th year team options. Morris doesn't have to deal with that.

[Young Drachma]

I don't have any info on this in front of me, but I'm wondering, what kind of money would a Late First Round Pick get? I believe that even the last pick of Round One gets at least $1 Million Per Season for the term of the initial contract (which is three years I believe).

So did Morris "settle" for less here possibly?

Here's the other question I have though.... Is a 2-Year Deal for Morris actually covering only the rest of this season (less than 20 Games to go) and next season? Under that scenario, Morris actually would be pulling in more than $1 Million Per Season, as he'd be making about $300K or so for the rest of this NBA Season.

Thanks for pulling this thread back up D.C.

Yeah, it's essentially a one-year deal. That's probably how they talked him into coming there. He figures he goes to New York, who essentially get a first-round pick without wasting a pick at all, who has been playing with fresh legs all year on a tournament-ish team and he's ready to make an impact.

This is a great situation for them and a low risk for a team that doesn't exactly a ton of options.

I think he probably would've waited to do this had Tubby hung around, but once Tubby left, it didn't leave him much doubt about what he'd do.

It'll be interesting to see how it works out for both sides.

[Young Drachma]

I just read one site that said the deal was non-guaranteed, too.

So he's gotta put up or he's outta there. Less risk than a first-rounder.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/basketball/4657255.html

Here's another story.

[Young Drachma]

And apparently, Kentucky didn't know he was going to do it. And I bet that was probably on purpose, once Morris heard Tubby was out. I think this is going to make getting someone into that job even harder than before.

[stevew]

I would imagine you are right. I also believe he will be a total free agent again after the 2 years, in which case if he's good, he'll make great money.

Mardy Collins was the 30th pick last year (also to the Knicks). He makes $867k and $932k, so Morris is actually a tad lower. But, he's got 3rd and 4th year team options. Morris doesn't have to deal with that.

He'll be a restricted free agent after next season. If he's good he can make a lot more than he would have being a first round pick. I don't imagine he'll play much this season, but he's got a solid chance to earn good money with a solid season next year.

[General Mike]

He'll be a restricted free agent after next season. If he's good he can make a lot more than he would have being a first round pick. I don't imagine he'll play much this season, but he's got a solid chance to earn good money with a solid season next year.

Being a restricted free agent for the Knicks is just as good as being unrestricted.