“The LeBron Card”
April 7, 2008Kenny Lofton Wants To Get Paid
April 7, 2008Though Eric Snow has been sporting a suit more often than a jersey (well, warm-ups) over the past few months, Brian Windhorst chimes in today with a solid piece on the inner-battle that Danny Ferry and the Cavs may be facing with Snow and his injured knee.
There is no denying that Snow’s future as a player is near end. But there is also no denying the impact that our point guard would have in the coaching ranks, as he’s displayed his leadership all season long despite a lack of minutes. Windhorst writes:
When he recently saw a disgruntled player sitting on the end of the bench during a timeout and not joining the huddle, Snow walked over and suggested he change his attitude. The young player did.
That role is where Snow is headed, he’s sure to have a second career as a coach. Four years ago in the annual NBA General Managers survey, Snow was voted as the player most likely to become a head coach someday. The respect for his knowledge and experience have only grown and he could be on a coaching staff as early as next year, be it in Cleveland or somewhere else.
But what to do next year is going to be an issue not just for Snow, but for the Cavs. He has one year and $7.3 million left on his contract, which will be the largest salary of his career. Understandably, he doesn’t plan on giving that money up because a knee injury prematurely ended his career. The decision probably won’t be made for some time, Cavs General Manager Danny Ferry has other pressing matters on his plate at the moment, but what to do with Snow could have an impact on next year’s roster.
We’ve casually joked in the header regarding Snow’s contract becoming exponentially more valuable next season when his $7+ million comes off of the books. However, if Snow were to file for disability, his contract would simply fall off of the books now – saving Dan Gilbert a bunch of money in terms of the luxury tax. But in the same, they would have that much less to trade come next season, making things harder for Ferry in terms of making any trades.
We saw what Ferry was able to do with little he had, so having a contract like Snow’s would be huge in acquiring a higher-calibur player. Thankfully, for Ferry, the contracts of Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith, Damon Jones, and Anderson Varejao all have contracts expiring in the same period – making Snow’s contract marginal in the grand scheme of things. Or is it?
Add in Snow’s and the Cavs have the ammo to acquire just about any two players in the NBA.
Talk about decision-making. I doubt that this will be the last we hear of the Eric Snow quandary. Whose side are you on?
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6 Comments
Seem like the best option would be to trade him to another team as an expiring contract, and have him verbally commit to returning as a coach after he files his retirement papers. What could go wrong there?
As long as Gilbert is ok with that, there isn’t anything wrong. But the fact that he could save about $10 million by having the contract come off now may ring a little louder than we would all like…
I think it’s a good situation either way. Use him as a piece to get Mike Miller or have him coach both young guards. It might be a good idea to keep him as a successor to Mike Brown.
That was kinda supposed to be a joke. Verbal commitments and all…
I’m going to be on the side of what ultimately makes the team better. It would be a nice heart warming story if snow signs on as a coach, but that doesn’t solve problems on the floor, namely a lack of all-star talent.
If keeping snow on the roster allows us to trade for 2 great players instead of one, Gilbert will more than make that $10mill back with repeat trips deep into the playoffs and one Mr. James finishing his career in Cleveland.
This snow situation may actually buy them some flexibility. If they want to go after a free agent, they could remove him from the payroll, if they want trade bait they have it.
Let’s think about this… Snow’s contract becomes “disability” and comes off the books this off season. He still gets his money through insurance (I think) and $7M plus comes off the Cavs cap. That plus a mid level exception could be enough to get Arenas for a year at the point. Sign Gilbert for a year, then after you can go over the cap with a big contract if needed to sign him long term. Any takers?
I’m meh on Arenas. He’ll demand a lot of money, so there won’t be much money for the role players. He doesn’t really play defense. Most importantly, I think he would be bad enough in the locker room to disrupt the chemistry (which I think the beginning of this year shows the importance of that).
I think we’d end up with a team like Denver, instead of a perennial championship contender.