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In the NBA world of crooked deals, one sided trades, and money = rings, they're already talking about Z. Ilgauskas being bought out by the Wizards...Most feel that he'd return to CLE, which is something that I hate that has started to happen frequently in the NBA these days. However, in this article, it says that he has received interest from other teams (other good teams) like DEN and DAL...

So do you guys think that Sund should reach to pick a very solid big man that could really help clog the paint in the playoffs for us?

He has size galore which allows him to block shots and rebound, plus the added bonus would that he can knock down shots and score inside....ATL vs ORL would look a lot different then, right?

It would look a lot different, but you gotta think that Z went to the Wizards with the intention on being brought back by Ferry.
If the Wizards do eventually decide to let him go, which he will probably do on his own in the offseason, I don't see him going to any other Eastern Conf team for the playoff run.
I see a West team trying to get some mileage out of him for the short stretch, and quite possibly San Antonio could be that team. Someone that doesn't have a lot of size going into the playoffs or needs depth help.

The Hawks getting him? Just wishful for the fans here.

Not sure how it would affect our bigs, but I'm all for public pursuit of him like Dallas is already starting. If he gets bought out I would want to make it clear that he had to turn down more money and sit out a month before returning to Cleveland. While it may not land him I have 2 agendas. #1 is to get the rule changed so every year a team like Cleveland isn't able to sell a veteran for a talent influx from a dreg team and get that veteran back. #2 is to convince other free agents that Atlanta is a potential buyer that has its sights set high.

The only way to get the rules changes at this point is to get the media talking about how he must have already had a wink-wink deal in place to return to Cleveland before the trade. Because it is almost impossible to prove such a thing you have to pressure Stern through public perception of impropriety. You don't do that by showing that all things were equal and Big Z choose the familiarity of Cleveland, you have to show he walked away from extra cash to do it.

Could not agree more with you, evildallas.

This should be about leveling the playing field.

mrhonline wrote:Could not agree more with you, evildallas.

This should be about leveling the playing field.

evil, where i lost respect for Stern was our protest for the Cleveland game. I didn't see anything that doesn't justify replaying those last 2 min. He simply didn't rain on LeBron's b-day, and while it doesn't affect the overall W-L, it puts a stain on the equal treatment that doesn't exist in the NBA.
That goes along with this waiver rule that simply benefits the team to match salaries and ' deals behind closed doors' provisions.

I would say to any team in this league; Do not ignore an opportunity to prevent Cleveland from benefitting from a rule that is not closely detailed.

The rule should simply state a player cannot return to his traded/waived team within the same season or for a potential playoff run. That would kabash this unwritten loophole.

I agree that it's easy to plug the loophole, but in the meantime the only way to force that is in the court of public opinion. They have already got similar rules in place for other situations. For instance, if a team matches an offer sheet they can't turn around and trade that player to the team that made the offer. They do that to prevent a team from exploiting the right to match to extract a trade bounty.

michael cunningham tweeted that atlanta would be one of the suiters for Z if he were bought out by the wizards.

hey, it could happen...

lunarblues wrote:michael cunningham tweeted that atlanta would be one of the suiters for Z if he were bought out by the wizards.

hey, it could happen...

Even his agent will say that they will look at all the offer, but in the end, everybody knows he won't look and he will get back to CLE.
But even if it's the case, I hope Sund will try it as we are certainly one of the few teams being a good team with all the MLE left.

This was one of the most feared Cav. players that the Hawks had to face.
He killed us so many times. We should sign him.

If he simply waits and goes back to Cleveland, everyone should raise a stink!

Gray Mule

The trick, in my mind, is HOW can we get him? I didn't know we had any extra space in the cap to sign anyone of his quality. Even if it's a minimal contract through the rest of the season, it will probably still be expensive. I would love to see us get a true starting C. He would help us a great deal. We'll just have to see if ATL Spirit is willing to shell out for a major piece to help us keep pace in the East.

The Hawks can offer up to $3M more than the Cavs because Sund never used the MLE. I don't see the Spirit footing that bill, though.

At the very least, I'd like to force the Cavs to re-sign him to a two-year deal at the BAE.

Money is probably not an issue since Zydrunas Ilgauskas has made over $120 million off the NBA. I bet he goes back to Cleveland to make a strong run at the NBA finals.

HMFFL wrote:Money is probably not an issue since Zydrunas Ilgauskas has made over $120 million off the NBA. I bet he goes back to Cleveland to make a strong run at the NBA finals.

I admit that Ilgauskas is a poor place to make a stand. He probably doesn't need the money. He's played his entire career with Cleveland. It's almost a slam dunk that he'd go back to Cleveland. It's aggravating that the media doesn't seem to even question the system that allows his return to Cleveland. Minnesota lost 4 1st round picks for trying to circumvent the salary cap, yet this loophole essential invalidates the cap for some teams and can drastically sway competitive balance. You couldn't do this sort of a maneuver in a fantasy league (without destroying the league), but its okay in the NBA. That's just wrong.

The other thing making a public play for Z does is that it signals the fan base that ownership thinks we can win. That they aren't just going to sit back quietly and crown the Cavs. Make it so that people know the Hawks were willing to spend to get better. It might help change perceptions of the organization.

Make a run at this man. He would be a huge asset against the bigger teams we face.

Make it happen Damn it, the guy would be a obvious pick n pop dream for Bibby. It just seems like it could work. Go for it.

I had no idea we still had the MLE. I think we should definitely nab him then. He will want to come to a playoff team at the very least, and we are right there. Sure, he's spent all his time in CLE, but maybe he might be open to a move. Especially since he's had to take a back seat to Shaq and make room for Varejao too. He would do so much to push this team over the top towards a chance at the Eastern Conference Finals. BOS and ORL didn't make any moves, so with this one move, we would push ourselves to #2 in the East. We already own BOS (with or without Nate), and we would have another big to throw at Howard. We have to at least try.

With Joe Smith and Jason Collins counting as a 2 years veteran (the remaining part is reimbursed by the league and don't count for tax purpose), we are set at $65,055,041 now.

The tax threshold is at 69.92M, so we have almost $4.865M to offer without paying any tax (if I'm not wrong).

evildallas wrote:It's aggravating that the media doesn't seem to even question the system that allows his return to Cleveland. Minnesota lost 4 1st round picks for trying to circumvent the salary cap, yet this loophole essential invalidates the cap for some teams and can drastically sway competitive balance

It's just unbelievable, unless they want to wait until Big Z is really bought-out.
But it was already embarrassing when the Spurs uses this loophole to get Kurt Thomas for Brent Barry, and getting back Barry after one month, but here, we are talking about one major player of the best team in the league.

It's just unbelievable that nobody is talking about that, unless other owners and GM prefer not saying anything because they think that they could use it too.

There should be something like that when you get a player back :
- you loose your MLE for the next season (at least in case like that where it's not a minimum salary player).
- his last salary ( $11,541,074 for Big Z) is back in the total for Luxury Tax purpose.

Or one simple change:
- when you trade for an expiring (like WAS did), you are not allowed to buy him out.
Simple, and no more loophole.
You can trade him again if you want, but no buy-out.

It would prevent some big abuse like that.
If CLE wanted to finish the season with Big Z, they have to trade other players than him, and if they could not find other players, then they did not have to trade for Jamison.

From AJC: (Link

"Veteran center Zydrunas Ilgauskas is high on the Hawks’ wish list if he receives a buyout from the Wizards, the people said Thursday. And his agent, Herb Rudoy, said the Hawks are among the teams Ilgauskas would consider"...
"“If he decides to leave Cleveland, once he gets the buyout -- and we hope we will have several options -- he will only go to a team that can win a championship, period,” Rudoy said. “He will not be on a team that has no chance. He wants to play for one of the top teams, and Atlanta certainly is one of those teams.”

Micheal Cunningham is wrong on one point:

The Hawks are over the salary cap and have no exceptions available, so they would be limited to signing Ilgauskas to a prorated veteran's minimum contract.

We did not use any part of the MLE last summer.

Phil Jackson has started to publicly question the rule. Not very strong words, but coaches can get fined so I understand trending lightly.

Lakers Coach Phil Jackson wondered aloud why league rules would allow the Cavaliers to reacquire center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who was sent to Washington as part of the Jamison deal. But he probably will be waived by the Wizards in a month and then re-signed by Cleveland.

"I don't know what that does for the league," Jackson said. "I think that's kind of a weird situation."

link here

Hawks, Ilgauskas Share Mutual Interest
http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/64909/20100221/hawks_ilgauskas_share_mutual_interest/

i like this news

This definitely feels like Big Z's agent is using the Hawks to get more money from the Cavs. The Hawks are probably the only team that directly competes with the Cavs that has a legit interest in Big Z. Would definitely be a nice pick up for you guys if it does happen though.