From: rsmith@strobe.ATC.Olivetti.Com (Russ Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Re: Jimmy Jackson update
Keywords: Jimmy Jackson
Date: 16 Dec 92 00:14:13 GMT
Organization: Olivetti ATC; Cupertino CA, USA

In article <1992Dec15.211101.22793@uvmark.uucp> davem@uvmark.uucp (Dave Meeks) writes:
>Are you trying to say that you feel for Jimmy Jackson???  If I were an
>owner, I would be wary of spending millions of dollars on an unproven 
>talent like Jimmy Jackson.  He has a number of question marks surrounding
>him and Jimmy was offered a great deal of money.  Being greedy and playing
>hardball goes both ways.  If JJ was so sure of his being worth the money,
>and as he would obviously come in and be expected to get playing time,
>maybe he should have asked for a 1 year contract so he could re-negotiate
>after proving himself.  Or, maybe opt for a contract that was loaded with
>incentives (is that legal in the salary cap world??)  JJ may not have
>1/1000th of Carter's wealth, but he is asking for a whole hell of a lot more
>than my salary...  I have at least proven myself to get to where I am today...
>Do we typically pay the nation's top engineering prospects more than the
>nation's top engineers???  Not usually.  

A few points. One yes it seems ass backwards to pay draft picks more than
established players, but its the status quo so Jackson has every right to
assume he will be dealt with in the "normal" manner. Two, yes Jimmy has 
been offered alot of money, but not what a player drafted in this draft
in his position is worth(based on the established market value of players
picked before and after him). He entered the draft early because he was
told he would be a top 5 pick, would get top 5 money, and he had nothing
left to prove in college. Had he known what his salary offer would be, he
may very well have opted to finish school, so in a sense the NBA lied to
him. NBA teams love the great kids to come out early, agents love it too,
but apparently they do not love paying them equal value.

If JJ did sign one year contract, what real good would it do him? This
is what Stanley Roberts did with Orlando, one year deal, then he got
a huge contract offer as a restricted free agent and got rich. However,
JJ is a much higher pick than Stanley was and if he was not picked by
Dallas, he would have got a huge contract offer now instead of waiting
a year. Either way he does not choose where he wants to play, because 
he would be a restricted free agent and could be blocked from going where
he wants to play. Given his situation, Jimmy has only 2 options, sign
a contract he feels is not fair value for his services, or hold out
and either get traded or re-enter the draft next year. All of these options
will cost him money.   

Dallas is screwing with the kid, and he is the best pick they have made 
recently( I did not like Doug Smith last year, and neither Rooks nor
Hodge will ever be as good as JJ).




Russ Smith
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"Chapeau means hat, oeuf means egg, its as if those French have a different 
word for everything!" 
                                        Steve Martin
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