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thoughts? I think he will play out this year and sign with a different team next season and DJ will be given the reins...

CatNation wrote:thoughts? I think he will play out this year and sign with a different team next season and DJ will be given the reins...

Very likely. It will be a shame to lose him for nothing, but it seems likely.

...yay.

Hard worker. Loves the game.

Looking forward to another season of Felton vs the World debates!!!

And I cannot blame him at all for taking the QO. It was the smart move on his part. I just hate the prospect of losing him next season and getting nothing in return execpt cap space. And if DJ steps up and shows he can play the PG position and be effective, no way the Cats pay Ray what he wants or deserves to be a starting PG. You want to have 2 quality PGs, but you cant pay 2 different PGs each starting PG money. Just cant do it financially.

I guess we don't get a home team discount after all..............

Thank you, Larry Brown.

We must trade for Diop!!!! We must trade for Radmanovic!!!!

I just don't know if DJ has what it takes to be a great starting guard. He's decent for 6th man but he's just small and real bad defender..

Sadly, I also believe that this might be our last season seeing Raymond in a BobCats uniform. I do believe DJ is going to be a pretty good player, but I hate to lose Raymond!

Felton will most likely make more money by doing this.

The only ways we get to keep him is if he:

a.) gets injured and misses the season, his value will drop and we could probably sign him for what we offered next summer
b.) DJ ends up sucking to the point where we couldn't risk not having Felton
c.) Felton has a down year and gets moved behind DJ to be the backup PG
d.) We change ownership to someone who's willing to pay to keep the right players (and prevent dumbass trades that cost money for bush league players)

I'd say our chances are pretty good Felton is getting 8-10m/year on some other team like the Knicks next season.

Good luck to Felton finding a team to spare their cap space on him.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9031
So, let's break into a few categories. First up, let's start with the stars whose contracts expire following the 2009-2010 season and will then become honest-to-goodness free agents:

Joe Johnson
Ray Allen
Manu Ginobili
Marcus Camby
Tracey McGrady
Shaquille O'Neal
Brad Miller
Stephen Jackson
Jermaine O'Neal
Mike Miller
Rip Hamilton

The next grouping is those players that are signed thru 2011, but can opt out in 2010 if they so choose:

Yao Ming (owed 17.7 million in 10/11)
Amare Stoudamire (owed 17.7 million in 10/11)
LeBron James (owed 17.2 million in 10/11)
Dwayne Wade (owed 17.0 million in 10/11)
Chris Bosh (owed 17.1 million in 10/11)
Dirk Nowitzki (owed $21.5 million in 10/11)
Josh Howard (owed $11.8 million in 10/11)
Mike Redd (owed $18.3 million in 10/11)
Tyson Chandler (owed $12.8 million in 10/11)

This next list consists of contracts that are set to expire in 2010, but the player may choose to opt-out following the 2008-2009 season:
Steve Nash (owed $13.1 million in 09-10)
Carlos Boozer (owed $12.7 million in 09-10)
Chris Paul (owed $6 million in 09-10 / almost certain to sign an extension before becoming unrestricted)
Memo Okur (owed $9.0 million in 09-10)
Hedo Turkoglu (owed $7.4 million in 09-10)


In addition to the superstars listed above, these 'second-tier' players are set to hit the open market as well:
Ben Wallace
Larry Hughes
Zydrunas Ilgauskas (option to opt-out after 09/10 season)
Anderson Varejao (option to opt-out after 09/10 season)
Al Harrington
Darko Milicic
Udonis Haslem
Jamal Crawford (option to opt-out after 09/10 season)
Eddy Curry (option to opt-out after 09/10 season)
Amir Johnson
Derek Fisher
Raja Bell
T.J. Ford (player option - owed $8.5 million in 10/11)
Travis Outlaw
Bruce Bowen
Earl Watson
Luke Ridnour
Matt Harpring
Quentin Richardson
Damien Wilkins

We also must include the list of players that will actually eventually have value due solely to the fact their contracts come off the books in the summer of 2010:
Jerome James (proof that Isiah Thomas knew what he was doing all along!)
Cuttino Mobley
Brendan Haywood
Tim Thomas
Brian Cardinal
Antonio Davis
Mark Blount
Bobby Simmons
Troy Hudson
Darius Miles
Kenny Thomas
Shareef Abdul-Rahim
Matt Bonner
Etan Thomas

Last, but not least, we have the 2006 Draft Class. These players will all be restricted free-agents in 2010, if they haven't already been inked to extensions:
Brandon Roy
Rudy Gay
LaMarcus Aldridge
Andrea Bargnani
Rajon Rondo
Tyrus Thomas
Kyle Lowry
Randy Foye
Marcus Williams
Josh Boone
Renaldo Balkman
Sergio Rodriguez
Ronnie Brewer

Relax this doesn't mean anything other than us having to not make a ridiculous long term commitment BEFORE Felton actually deserves it. Lets see him earn the money first before we commit long term at big money. If he plays well and chooses to sign somewhere else, it's not the end of the world. But chances are he will want to return because he's from this area.

And DJ could outperform Ray, so you never know. Lets just focus on this season and worry about next year when the season ends. But one thing is for sure, Ray will have to be focused all season if he wants a fat contract next summer.

Agreed totally Battery. So far weve seen little improvement from Ray, and this is the last year I think it's at all plausible to expect. Don't overpay when you don't have to.

Mezotarkus wrote:Good luck to Felton finding a team to spare their cap space on him.

http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9031
So, let's break into a few categories. First up, let's start with the stars whose contracts expire following the 2009-2010 season and will then become honest-to-goodness free agents:

Joe Johnson
Ray Allen
Manu Ginobili
Marcus Camby
Tracey McGrady
Shaquille O'Neal
Brad Miller
Stephen Jackson
Jermaine O'Neal
Mike Miller
Rip Hamilton

The next grouping is those players that are signed thru 2011, but can opt out in 2010 if they so choose:

Yao Ming (owed 17.7 million in 10/11)
Amare Stoudamire (owed 17.7 million in 10/11)
LeBron James (owed 17.2 million in 10/11)
Dwayne Wade (owed 17.0 million in 10/11)
Chris Bosh (owed 17.1 million in 10/11)
Dirk Nowitzki (owed $21.5 million in 10/11)
Josh Howard (owed $11.8 million in 10/11)
Mike Redd (owed $18.3 million in 10/11)
Tyson Chandler (owed $12.8 million in 10/11)

This next list consists of contracts that are set to expire in 2010, but the player may choose to opt-out following the 2008-2009 season:
Steve Nash (owed $13.1 million in 09-10)
Carlos Boozer (owed $12.7 million in 09-10)
Chris Paul (owed $6 million in 09-10 / almost certain to sign an extension before becoming unrestricted)
Memo Okur (owed $9.0 million in 09-10)
Hedo Turkoglu (owed $7.4 million in 09-10)


In addition to the superstars listed above, these 'second-tier' players are set to hit the open market as well:
Ben Wallace
Larry Hughes
Zydrunas Ilgauskas (option to opt-out after 09/10 season)
Anderson Varejao (option to opt-out after 09/10 season)
Al Harrington
Darko Milicic
Udonis Haslem
Jamal Crawford (option to opt-out after 09/10 season)
Eddy Curry (option to opt-out after 09/10 season)
Amir Johnson
Derek Fisher
Raja Bell
T.J. Ford (player option - owed $8.5 million in 10/11)
Travis Outlaw
Bruce Bowen
Earl Watson
Luke Ridnour
Matt Harpring
Quentin Richardson
Damien Wilkins

We also must include the list of players that will actually eventually have value due solely to the fact their contracts come off the books in the summer of 2010:
Jerome James (proof that Isiah Thomas knew what he was doing all along!)
Cuttino Mobley
Brendan Haywood
Tim Thomas
Brian Cardinal
Antonio Davis
Mark Blount
Bobby Simmons
Troy Hudson
Darius Miles
Kenny Thomas
Shareef Abdul-Rahim
Matt Bonner
Etan Thomas

Last, but not least, we have the 2006 Draft Class. These players will all be restricted free-agents in 2010, if they haven't already been inked to extensions:
Brandon Roy
Rudy Gay
LaMarcus Aldridge
Andrea Bargnani
Rajon Rondo
Tyrus Thomas
Kyle Lowry
Randy Foye
Marcus Williams
Josh Boone
Renaldo Balkman
Sergio Rodriguez
Ronnie Brewer

Where's the PG category?

Per Bonnell he was looking for a full MLE deal. Odds are out of the other 29 teams next year he'll get one to bite.

Probably Felton's best move. For us I'm not so sure.

ohara wrote:I just hate the prospect of losing him next season and getting nothing in return execpt cap space.

Sad thing is it doesn't even give us cap space next season...without him we're still over the cap.

Maybe we can use the MLE and overpay for someone else!

Paydro70 wrote:Agreed totally Battery. So far weve seen little improvement from Ray, and this is the last year I think it's at all plausible to expect. Don't overpay when you don't have to.

Well I wouldn't go as far as saying "little improvement," but I understand where you're coming from. You're either a solid starting point guard capable of leading your team to the playoffs or you're not. Right now Ray has shown to be very inconsistent, which IMO, is the biggest hurdle he has to overcome if we're going to make a long term commitment.

But I also feel the circumstances have in some way dictated his inconsistent play. BB wasn't exactly an offensive guru, Sam was awful and now he has LB who has had to reteach Ray how to play the point the right way. It takes time, especially at the point. Now with a year under his belt playing in LB's system, there should be no more excuses. Come ready to play from DAY 1, not day 2, 10, or 20. Day 1. And that goes for the rest of the team too.

I am confident Ray will be ready, but I'm also confident DJ will be just as ready. Competition is good.

Good post Battery.

We took a bigger risk with letting Crash get to FA and that turned out fine. Hopefully we did the right thing here too.

CatNation wrote:thoughts? I think he will play out this year and sign with a different team next season and DJ will be given the reins...

Be still my heart.

LOL

now what i really want to happen is for DJ to play so well next season that the idea of signing felton to starter money is the last thing on our mind because DJ is firmly entrenched as the starter. i'm not saying that because i dont want felton here but i am saying that knowing that felton is a middle of the road pg with little chance of becoming much better than he is now. DJ, on the other hand, is still young and could potentially still develop into an elite pg, at least offensively.

but, until then, i am so happy to see felton return. i love what he brings to the team in terms of heart, effort, toughness and teamwork. and if dj proves that he doesnt have the ability to be the long term solution at pg, then i think there is a great chance we sign felton next summer.

I reckon it was a good decision by both parties, Felton wasn't going to get paid what he wanted in the FA market this year, Bobcats new that, it just wouldn't have been smart business to sign him to a large contract now which would appear to be over the market value.

The QO is signed and they put it off till next year when Felt's market value can be reassessed.

Felt's value might not go up much next year and he won't have the QO to fall back on so we could get him cheaper.

My only concern is that a team like the Knicks who have cleared cap space for Lebron etc might throw a lot of cash at a guy like Felton if they miss out on the big names.
Like the Bulls when they were going for Hill and McGrady that year, they missed out, but to try and minimise the embarrassment they started overpaying for other FA's.