NBA extends deadline for contract extensions to Monday

campybatman · Post #1 » by **campybatman** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:50 am

Ideally, Ainge will schedule talks with Ray at some point during the regular season as well. But the priority right now is to extend Rondo.

A league source said the Celtics plan to hold talks with Rondo before the start of training camp later this month. Rondo has one year and an option remaining on his contract.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... ks_to.html

Al-Haqq · Post #2 » by **Al-Haqq** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:54 am

I don't think this is any kind of indication that Rondo will be a Celtic for the long term. Ainge could be negotiating the right deal to make trading him easier.

LongTimeFan · Post #3 » by **LongTimeFan** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:34 am

Knowledge is power.

What does Rondo want? What is his long term vision?

GuyClinch · Post #4 » by **GuyClinch** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:55 am

This disappoints me. I don't want to go into a season watching this guy sulk if he doesn't get his money or watching him throw up bricks and hearing the fans grip about his new 11 million dollar deal. I don't see what good can come of this..

vct33 · Post #5 » by **vct33** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:12 pm

Any chance at all we could lock him up for 5 years $45M?

Dave_From_NB · Post #6 » by **Dave_From_NB** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:36 pm

vct33 wrote:Any chance at all we could lock him up for 5 years $45M?

Yes, but not high.

These guys are athletes, they know that they're a knee injury away from mediocre (in their terms) offers. I thought it was smart for Perk to sign early to set himself up for life. And his next contract he can become fithy rich. I hope Rondo takes the same approach, but I'm not very optimistic about it.

Post #7 » by **UGA Hayes** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 12:57 pm

Yeah I have mixed feelins about this. It sounds like we are trying to preempt a big year from Rondo. On the other hand a looming lock out might be a decent bargaining chip.

vct33 · Post #8 » by **vct33** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:10 pm

I figure at 5 for $45m he is making slightly more than Devin Harris and Mo Williams. That seems reasonable. I love Rondo more than anybody but I'm not ready to give him a Tony Parker contract.

cloverleaf · Post #9 » by **cloverleaf** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:20 pm

If Rondo were to pout through the year I wouldn't want him on big money long-term anyway. But I think it's in both groups' interest to get something done--and so it will likely get done. The only thing I was disappointed in was Rondo leading by pointing out that his stats start anew with the new season. Plays too much into the truism that young guys play for stats and too much into that ding on his reputation already.

GuyClinch · Post #10 » by **GuyClinch** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:25 pm

Don't we have him for this year and one more option year? So the 5 years would get topped onto that? Would that mean Rondo would be here for seven more years? Not sure I like the sound of that.. I like short contracts - they keep a guy motivated. And motivation is something Rondo needs. The guy doesn't strike me a self motivated kind of person from what I have read and seen of him.

vct33 · Post #11 » by **vct33** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:36 pm

No, we only have him for this year. He's a RFA at the end of the season.

hairybyrd · Post #12 » by **hairybyrd** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:24 pm

In 2009:

Chris Paul - $13.5 million
Deron Williams - $13.5
Tony Parker - $11.5
Monta Ellis - $11
Mo Williams - $8.9
Devin Harris - $8.4
Jameer Nelson - $8.1

Based on these numbers, Ainge will probably begin negotiations with a 5 year/$50 million deal but, I think that number goes up since Ellis' ridiculous contract should hurt Ainge's leverage. I'll guess it's 5 years @ $55 million. Definitely worth it from where I'm sitting.

humblebum · Post #13 » by **humblebum** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:06 pm

I agree with hairbyrd... if the Celtics want to lock Rondo up they're going to have to start at the very least $9 million per... and given the size of Rondo's ego I'm assuming that he's thinking more along the lines of $11.5-$13 million per. Thus, I think that nothing will get done prior to the season as Rondo will want to prove himself worthy of that type of contract and start to guage his value on the market next offseason as a RFA. That is, unless Ainge is willing to get closer to $12 million per, which I don't think he will.

Inside/Outside · Post #14 » by **Inside/Outside** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:26 pm

I don't have a link or anything, but around draft time wasn't there a radio interview where Rondo said he'd sign a 5 year $50 million extension right away if it were offered to him?

TheOGJabroni · Post #15 » by **TheOGJabroni** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 3:54 pm

Inside/Outside wrote:I don't have a link or anything, but around draft time wasn't there a radio interview where Rondo said he'd sign a 5 year $50 million extension right away if it were offered to him?

I definitely remember that too. Big leverage for Ainge IMO. He should start low, but not too low too upset him and work his way into something even a little less than 5/50. That would be great.

Post #16 » by **sully00** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:25 pm

Al-Haqq wrote:I don't think this is any kind of indication that Rondo will be a Celtic for the long term. Ainge could be negotiating the right deal to make trading him easier.

Signing him to an extension makes him extremely difficult to trade, it is called the poison pill provision, it is an even more restricted version of Base Year Compensation he would only be able to go to a team with a large enough salary exception or cap space.

So if Rondo was to sign an extension now it would almost ensure he would not be traded.

There no reason for Boston to give Rondo even a 10 mil a year extension at this juncture, they have the leverage and the kid isn't a scorer so you can't compare him to a guy like Ellis who scores 20 a game, and frankly the Warriors are not what I would be using to base my business on. Prior to signing Wallace and Davis I felt that Ainge would restrict himself to an extension that started at Rondo's cap hold in the area of 6 mil, but that is no longer necessary.

One unique idea might be to approach both Ray and Rondo and essentially offer them matching contracts. 3 year deals along the lines of 8, 8.5, 9, maybe reverse Ray's deal so he is declining in salary and add a two year team option on Rondo in year 4 for 10 and 11 mil and he can opt out of the last year. Those numbers put Rondo at 46.5 mil for 5 years.

The list of PG's who make over 10 mil and score less than 18-20 a game is nonexistent. Obviously Rondo can hold out for more but look at Ben Gordon's situation he turned down 5 years 50 mil for two seasons, ends up signing for 55 mil but had to play for 6 mil instead of 10, he got nothing out of it and loses a year on the back end. Rondo would have to play for 2 mil instead of 8 to 10 and same as Gordon face losing a year on the back end when he is making the most money.

Post #17 » by **sully00** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 4:27 pm

Inside/Outside wrote:I don't have a link or anything, but around draft time wasn't there a radio interview where Rondo said he'd sign a 5 year $50 million extension right away if it were offered to him?

Cedric Maxwell said that this is what Rondo said to him. Max asked him "If Danny offered you 10 mil a season..." and Rondo interrupted him and said "Were is the pen?"

ryaningf · Post #18 » by **ryaningf** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 6:43 pm

One question, Sully:

How long does the BYC factor into any possible Rondo trades?

It's been my feeling all along that Ainge has designs on using Rondo like he used Al Jeff--as the centerpiece in a trade for an established superstar. I don't think that's he necessarily decided on that--but I do think he wants to maintain his flexibility until after 2010 free agent bonanza. Signing Rondo to an extension would put the kibosh on that--because of the BYC factor.

On the other hand, Rondo, because he makes so little, would need to packaged with a high salary player to make such a trade happen. Ray Allen is the obvious choice at this point, but KG and Pierce also fit that profile. Personally, I don't think ownership would trade Pierce or KG. So, that leaves Ray as the only big salary to pair with Rondo to bring back a superstar (like Wade, for example).

If we wanted until the summer of 2010 to trade Rondo for the established superstar, I'm not sure how willing Ray would be to be signed-and-traded to make that deal happen.

So, I guess what I'm saying is this: Ainge may want to wait until summer 2010 to extend or trade Rondo (if he can bring back a superstar like Wade), but I'm don't think the window extends that long. To me, you'd have to trade Ray + Rondo during the season, or else you run the risk of Ray Allen walking away from the table during the summer, thereby ruining any chances of trading Rondo for a superstar.

Of course, you could extend Ray this fall and then trade him next summer--pretty shady, but I could see Ainge doing that if he had to.

All this speculation aside, I think it's clear that:
1. Rondo's worth 10 million per, based on current market value.
2. Rondo won't pout if he doesn't get what he wants--in fact, I think that if he doesn't get an extension this year it'll motivate him to become a max player. And I think he could do that...

I hope some accurate details emerge about the contract negotiations. I'd be really interested to know if the Cs make a definite monetary offer and, if they do, the exact nature of such an offer.

Celts17Pride · Post #19 » by **Celts17Pride** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 7:09 pm

This is pretty simple and will go one of two ways.

1. If Rondo is willing to take what Danny Ainge and the Celtics offer (my guess is something like 5 years, $40 million) then Rondo will get an extension.

2. Rondo doesn't like the Celtics offer and plays out this season and becomes a restricted free agent. The salary cap is going down and teams will be reluctant to offer anything because the Celtics can match. Think David Lee, Nate Robinson & Big Baby scenarios.

I'm guessing if the Celtics offer anything remotely good that Rondo will sign.

Scalamental · Post #20 » by **Scalamental** » Thu Sep 17, 2009 9:54 pm

Unless rondo starts shooting 3 for 6 a game from downtown he should be getting Jameer Nelson money.