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Lakers restricted free agent guard Sasha Vujacic has changed agents and in the process has slowed things down.

His last agent, Bill Duffy, said in a text Thursday that Vujacic "went back to Rob Pelinka."

Vujacic was with Pelinka, who has Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher as clients, last season.

http://www.pe.com/sports/basketball/lak ... 22c7d.html

Sounds like he wants to stay.

I'm surprised he's received no offers, at least that we know of. Are we overrating him? 6-7 can play three positions is tough, above average defender sans C's series, above average 3 shooter, has great confidence, yet no one wants him? I thought he'd get more offers than Ronnie did, guess not.

Well, Posey played the field for awhile until he finally signed with the Hornets - surprisingly, to many people.

Just because Vujacic hasn't signed a contract doesn't mean he's gotten offers. I'm not sure if the fact that he changed to Kobe and Fisher's agent is relevant to his future as a Laker. Rob Pelinka doesn't work for the Lakers, he represents his clients, and I'm sure it's in his interest to try to get the highest offer. I wouldn't be surprised if Kobe and/or Fish recommended Rob to Sasha.

After all, Pelinka secured the larger-than-expected contract that Maggette got from the Warriors.

That offer a pretty good incentive to want to be represented by that guy.

milesfides wrote:Well, Posey played the field for awhile until he finally signed with the Hornets - surprisingly, to many people.

Just because Vujacic hasn't signed a contract doesn't mean he's gotten offers. I'm not sure if the fact that he changed to Kobe and Fisher's agent is relevant to his future as a Laker. Rob Pelinka doesn't work for the Lakers, he represents his clients, and I'm sure it's in his interest to try to get the highest offer. I wouldn't be surprised if Kobe and/or Fish recommended Rob to Sasha.

After all, Pelinka secured the larger-than-expected contract that Maggette got from the Warriors.That offer a pretty good incentive to want to be represented by that guy.

Im not ready to give Pelinka the credit for that. The Warriors are desperate. They are over paying for everyone. The highest contract that was being offered for Maggette was full MLE money and the Warriors came up with a wopping 10 per year. Horrible, just horrible.

iamworthy wrote:

milesfides wrote:Well, Posey played the field for awhile until he finally signed with the Hornets - surprisingly, to many people.

Just because Vujacic hasn't signed a contract doesn't mean he's gotten offers. I'm not sure if the fact that he changed to Kobe and Fisher's agent is relevant to his future as a Laker. Rob Pelinka doesn't work for the Lakers, he represents his clients, and I'm sure it's in his interest to try to get the highest offer. I wouldn't be surprised if Kobe and/or Fish recommended Rob to Sasha.

After all, Pelinka secured the larger-than-expected contract that Maggette got from the Warriors.That offer a pretty good incentive to want to be represented by that guy.

Im not ready to give Pelinka the credit for that. The Warriors are desperate. They are over paying for everyone. The highest contract that was being offered for Maggette was full MLE money and the Warriors came up with a wopping 10 per year. Horrible, just horrible.

it seems like they had two options

a. spend a lot of money of FA's
b. take sacks full of money and go burn it

sasha switching agents huh? that would explain the slow negotiations
who wants to bet this time he doesn't want 5.8 million a year

iamworthy wrote:

milesfides wrote:Well, Posey played the field for awhile until he finally signed with the Hornets - surprisingly, to many people.

Just because Vujacic hasn't signed a contract doesn't mean he's gotten offers. I'm not sure if the fact that he changed to Kobe and Fisher's agent is relevant to his future as a Laker. Rob Pelinka doesn't work for the Lakers, he represents his clients, and I'm sure it's in his interest to try to get the highest offer. I wouldn't be surprised if Kobe and/or Fish recommended Rob to Sasha.

After all, Pelinka secured the larger-than-expected contract that Maggette got from the Warriors.That offer a pretty good incentive to want to be represented by that guy.

Im not ready to give Pelinka the credit for that. The Warriors are desperate. They are over paying for everyone. The highest contract that was being offered for Maggette was full MLE money and the Warriors came up with a wopping 10 per year. Horrible, just horrible.

Overpaying for everyone? I believe 4m a year for Turiaf for a the next 4 years is a great deal. Some would say not for the Lakers, but it sure as heck is a pretty good investment for the Warriors.

It's Maggette's deal that's fairly surprising, which I attribute to his agent.

But let's not get carried away and call Maggette's contract "horrible." 10m a year for a guy who averages 20+, 6 boards, 3 assists, and gets to the line better than anybody else in the league is hardly a "horrible" deal.

10m a year is far from "horrible" for a guy with a PER approaching Paul Pierce's, better than Tracy McGrady and Iguodala's, and is right at the prime of his career at 28 years old.

Jason Richardson is making 12, 13m a year, is he really any better than Maggette? Richard Jefferson is making 13-14m, is he any better than Maggette? Shoot, Bobby Simmons is getting 10m a year. So is Antoine Walker.

13m a year for Larry Hughes is a horrible contract.

10m for Maggette isn't horrible at all.

It's surprising in a tight market, consummated so early in free agency, but it's far from a horrible deal.

But I credit Rob Pelinka for getting fair value in somewhat unfair market conditions.

That's a good agent.

With this does that mean Kobe and FIsh can convince Sasha just to resign with us? i hope so, i do not think we can let another one get away. We really cannot afford to lose him, we are losing a good backup.

^I doubt it, I think you'll find most players encourage their teammates to take care of their family, to do what's best for them.

That's what Lebron James even said to Carlos Boozer, during Boozergate.

Despite his relationship with Sasha, I don't think Kobe, sitting on his 20m a year contract, would exhort Sasha to take a paycut to stay with the Lakers.

milesfides wrote:

iamworthy wrote:

milesfides wrote:Well, Posey played the field for awhile until he finally signed with the Hornets - surprisingly, to many people.

Just because Vujacic hasn't signed a contract doesn't mean he's gotten offers. I'm not sure if the fact that he changed to Kobe and Fisher's agent is relevant to his future as a Laker. Rob Pelinka doesn't work for the Lakers, he represents his clients, and I'm sure it's in his interest to try to get the highest offer. I wouldn't be surprised if Kobe and/or Fish recommended Rob to Sasha.

After all, Pelinka secured the larger-than-expected contract that Maggette got from the Warriors.That offer a pretty good incentive to want to be represented by that guy.

Im not ready to give Pelinka the credit for that. The Warriors are desperate. They are over paying for everyone. The highest contract that was being offered for Maggette was full MLE money and the Warriors came up with a wopping 10 per year. Horrible, just horrible.

Overpaying for everyone? I believe 4m a year for Turiaf for a the next 4 years is a great deal. Some would say not for the Lakers, but it sure as heck is a pretty good investment for the Warriors.

It's Maggette's deal that's fairly surprising, which I attribute to his agent.

But let's not get carried away and call Maggette's contract "horrible." 10m a year for a guy who averages 20+, 6 boards, 3 assists, and gets to the line better than anybody else in the league is hardly a "horrible" deal.

10m a year is far from "horrible" for a guy with a PER approaching Paul Pierce's, better than Tracy McGrady and Iguodala's, and is right at the prime of his career at 28 years old.

Jason Richardson is making 12, 13m a year, is he really any better than Maggette? Richard Jefferson is making 13-14m, is he any better than Maggette? Shoot, Bobby Simmons is getting 10m a year. So is Antoine Walker.

13m a year for Larry Hughes is a horrible contract.

10m for Maggette isn't horrible at all.

It's surprising in a tight market, consummated so early in free agency, but it's far from a horrible deal.

But I credit Rob Pelinka for getting fair value in somewhat unfair market conditions.

That's a good agent.

Stats and player comparisons means nothing in this situatution. Nobody was offering more than the MLE and the Warriors went 4 mill higher. Thats just stupid business. Its almost like Orlando paying a extra year for Rashard Lewis when they were negotiatiating against themselves.

You're assuming all things being equal, that Maggette would have signed with the Warriors if they offered the MLE. You'd be wrong - Maggette was willing to take a paycut to sign with Boston. He could have gone to a number of contenders for the MLE - maybe short term in order to raise his profile and play for another contract.

The Warriors offered the amount that was sufficient for Maggette to sign with them. Was it overpriced? For the market, yes. For his caliber of player, no.

You're seeing this from a free-market perspective but the NBA isn't a free market, and teams and players don't behave that way.

Why did Washington offer such a large contract to Arenas when all they had to do was beat the market? Well, Arenas threatened to accept less money and play for a contender. That was enough for the Wizards to offer a deal that wasn't market-driven.

You cited Rashard Lewis, but he's a different story. The contract was ridiculous not so much because of the market at the time but because he wasn't worth that money. If a legit franchise player opted out and signed for that much money, nobody would have batted an eye.

So it does come down to what kind of player Maggette is. Is he worth 10m? He's a solid second banana with some unique attributes, and looking around the league, 10m is a fair price.

And if the market was too tight this year, Maggette could have signed a one-year-deal and hit next year's free agent market. Signing a one-year deal would give teams seeking a swingman a heads up to clear some salary space.

One reason why the market might have been so tight this summer is that not many teams expected Baron Davis, Elton Brand, Maggette to opt out. There's a reason why Artest's agent advised him not to opt out - this year's big free agents were all restricted, the biggest unrestricted free agent was James Posey. Teams were just not prepared for these big names opting out.

Everyone wants to get paid

They wanna get paid over winning a ring.

Milesfides you're on fire in this thread. Reading your posts actually made me feel a little bit better about the Maggette signing even though I hated the terms.