I'm sure aelliott, NIKE or hp can explain this better but here's a quick answer: It depends on the type of contract and whether or not there are Bird Rights involved. Ex 1 - Rashard Lewis Current contract is Player Option - totally unrestricted if the option is not exercised. Seattle does have Full Bird Rights to re-sign him. Ex 2 - Wang ZhiZhi 2 years with Dallas, so Early Bird Rights. Restricted FA, but Dallas can match anything up to the MCE. Above MCE and the choice is Wangs. Ex 3 - Raef LaFrentz - Full Bird Rights (transferred from Denver) and is a Qualifying Offer Restricted FA - Mavs can match any offer up to the Max for LaFrentz's years of NBA service. This will also be the case for Eddie Griffin going into his 5th season (as a 1st rounder, the Rockets have this option for year 4...probably will not be exercised next summer for Collier). Ex 7 - Walt Williams - Full Bird Rights but will probably be renounced by the Rockets making him an unrestricted FA
