Vescey is at it again...

let the rumor mongerer spread his tales...



Agent may rat out cap cheats


December 17, 2002 -- HAVEN'T thrown a blind item out there in many years, but this one is so scandalously juicy, it clamors to be at least partially publicized, if not entirely exposed.
OK, which team is in grave danger of being uncovered for tampering and ravaging salary cap rules (thereby risking severe punishment, a la the Timberwolves) regarding the signing of a fringe free agent?

A group cringe is now officially in session in many NBA cubbyholes.

Sources say the circumstances in this case are almost identical to what happened to the Minnesota Timberwolves franchise in relation to Joe Smith. A dumped agent swears there's proof documenting the desecration; he's weighing the consequences (ratting on himself figures to lead to decertification - temporary or irrevocable - unless given immunity) of turning over the evidence to David Stern.

Clamming up means a forfeiture of a fee (500G, I'm told; nothing like what was at stake concerning Smith's $85M contract) for services rendered.

I know what you're asking? Didn't these guys learn anything from Tricky Dick Nixon? Why would cheaters put anything in writing, or on tape that could come back to haunt them and theirs? Evidently, because there's no honor among mopes; trust in these situations is neither bestowed nor received, so protecting one's assets is essential.

The most baffling aspect of this latest squalor, submits this staggered subject, is the following:

Why in the world would owners and their management teams chance stigma, sentencing, the surrender of millions of dollars and being penalized multiple first round draft picks (ultimately three were deducted from the T'Wolves after the benevolent commissioner returned a pair), for the thrill of bagging a marginal starter? We're spotlighting Smith, Corliss Williamson (according to his ex-agent's testimony and common sense; meanwhile, the league has cleared the Kings of any wrongdoing), the player in this case and many others free agents whose talent was far more tangential than the above. Names are being withheld to protect the guilty.

Other than complete incompetence by the esteemed panel of judges representing those teams, nothing else comes to mind.

 

Nope, I'm in the right.

That fool posted in the wrong forum. Where on earth did Mo Taylor's name get extracted from?