From: creasman@cheshire.oxy.edu (Scott Michael Creasman)
Subject: Re: Oliver Miller signs with Suns & Lottery Bullshit
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.
Distribution: usa
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 00:32:14 GMT

In article <1992Oct9.213525.21115@ennews.eas.asu.edu> koehnema@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (Harry Koehnemann) writes:
>
>[If this makes it twice, I apologize - our news server has been rather
>unpredictable lately]
>
>You all can stop talking about Miller being dumped over Rambis/Nealy.
>The Suns signed Oliver Miller (6-8, 290!) to a 2 year contract - 500K,
>650K.  The money came from KJ, who renegotiated his contract.  Miller
>has stated he strongly desired to be in training camp, but couldn't
>participate if he wasn't under contract per NBA rules.  He has been
>playing with the team in informal workouts and Westphal has said that
>"he's the best passing Center I've ever seen".  His weight is also
>listed at 289, down from the 310 he was when drafted.  The Suns wanted
>to see him show some commitment to playing with them and that was
>signified by his loosing some weight.
>
This is real good news to hear.  And the "best passing Center" 
thing means a lot, especially coming from a guy who played
with Alvan Adams.  Miller really has shown his desire to play
with Phoenix, and it really is only fair that they give him a
reasonable contract.  It'll be interesting to see how the 
roster shapes up come November 6.

>Finally, someone that can handle the ball from dishes off KJ penetration.
>Lang and West could have led the league in scoring if they'd have had hands.

And a guy who can block shots like the other two.  Westphal
stated after drafting Miller that he was probably one of
the top eight players in the draft.  The gamble may prove
to have been worthwhile.  Of course, it was nice that the
Suns could afford such a gamble.

Another question comes to mind.  What's the status with 
Richard Dumas?  Will he be participating in camp?  Everything
I've heard has suggested, that had the substance abuse thing
never happened, there was a good chance that he would have
become a lottery pick.  It's always nice having another
athlete.

>On another note, this salary cap thing is bullshit.  As I learned from
>the Magic thing, a team can pay signed players any amount they want.
>If you need to sign someone, renegotiate your entire roster and pay them
>all in one year.  You're over the cap by millions that year, but you can
>sign anyone you want.  As long as your players are willing to adjust the
>time they see their money, the cap might as well be non-existent.  which
>is what I'm sure the Suns have done - KJ, Chambers, and Barkley will
>probably all see gobs of money in the same year (and I'd bet the Suns
>won't have a #1 pick that year either, imagine that).

But they also won't have to swallow 3 million dollars worth of 
contracts for Neally and Rambis either.  Really, the way the
Suns have structured things should work out okay.  They should
have quite a bit of money freed up, especially since three
of their big money players probably don't have many more than
two years left on the team (those being Rambis, Chambers, and 
Neally).

And what's this crap about the Suns trying to sign Kiki 
Vandeweigh?

Scott

>--
>Harry Koehnemann
>koehnema@enuxha.eas.asu.edu


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