At least we made a play for kandi....

[Chicago JK]

I just don't understand how Minnesota is the better option. Hasn't Cuban been marketing dallas as the place for free agents to come for years? I say screw the custom towels next year.....
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The Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks also offered their mid-level exception to the 7-foot, 260-pound Olowokandi, who opted to play alongside Timberwolves superstar forward Kevin Garnett.

The Memphis Grizzlies were trying to work a sign-and-trade with the Clippers for Olowokandi.

[Chicago JK]

Here is a another Kandi article. Wolves got them very good deal.
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Olowokandi lost ground after lost year
By Terry Brown
NBA Insider
Wednesday, July 16
Updated: July 16
9:57 AM ET

On Oct. 30, 2002, Michael Olowokandi scored 18 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked two shots on 9-for-18 shooting in the first game of the season. Two games later, it was 19 points, 20 rebounds and three blocks against the Pistons. A week later, it was 21 points and 10 rebounds against the Magic.


He was peaking and had no idea he would become, perhaps, the biggest casualty of the 2003 offseason.

It was only six games into the new 2002 season and the Los Angeles Clipper center was making good on his agent's claim that he was, indeed, the second best-center in the league. The year before, he had averaged career highs in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots and fully believed that the bidding for a restricted free agent averaging 11.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks would begin at $12 million a season, or the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement.

A week after the Magic game, he scored 24 points on 11-for-19 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds against the Golden State Warriors.

The Clippers, as had been their tradition, weren't going to pay him that amount and other teams seemed reluctant to invest a lot of time and effort in a player who could be taken away if his current team simply matched their offer as was allowed with restricted free agents. So, Olowokandi and his agent backed off the $12 million, saying they would accept $10 million, maybe even less. Instead, they decided to sign a one-year tender offer with the Clippers to finish out his five-year rookie contract and then become an unrestricted free agent the following season. His $12 million contract would have to wait.


Michael Olowokandi took more than a million dollar pay cut when he signed with the T-Wolves.
On Nov. 29, Olowokandi played only 25 minutes before exiting the game and sitting out the next six games while on injured reserve. In December, he would go on to score only 12 points per game on 42 percent shooting. The following month, he averaged only 9.4 points and 8.4 rebounds on 33 percent shooting.

He never played another game after Jan. 29, when he scored four points on 2-for- 15 shooting against the Chicago Bulls.

He returned later in the year, having recuperated from his injured knee, but the team didn't want anything to do with him anymore and kept him off the playing floor.

By then, Yao Ming had become the second-best center in the league. A few months after that, Radoslav Nesterovic is rumored to have accepted an offer with the San Antonio Spurs reportedly worth $42 million over six seasons. This was after Alonzo Mourning turned down the defending champs to, instead, commit to the New Jersey Nets. And, now, everybody seems to be talking about Indiana Pacer center and free-agent Brad Miller.

Just as easy as Olowokandi had become the second-best center in the league with career numbers of 9.9 points per game and eight rebounds on 43 percent shooting, he was now, at best, the fourth-best center on the free-agent market.

He and agent Bill Duffy were hoping the Denver Nuggets would make him an offer, wondering why the Miami Heat weren't even talking to them anymore and cursing under their breaths as the Memphis Grizzlies walked away from the table because the Clippers wouldn't touch a sign-and- trade deal.

Sure, Juwan Howard, Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone and Gary Payton will play for some form of mid-level or veteran's exception next season, but that's after they made $20.6 million, $19.7 million, $19.2 million and $12.6 million, respectively, the year before.

Last year, Olowokandi made $6 million after a scaled salary peaked since he was the No. 1 pick of the 1998 draft.

This year, Michael Olowokandi will make $4.9 million, or the league's mid-level exception, to replace Nesterovic, the No. 17 pick in the same draft that Kandi was No. 1, along the Minnesota Timberwolves' frontline.

"Last week, I said that Denver was my top choice," Olowokandi was quoted in the L.A. Times. "But I'm not disappointed. Minnesota wasn't available then. Now, they're my top choice."

Despite the fact that Olowokandi has continued to put up better numbers than Nesterovic, his constant fighting with the Clipper franchise and the stigma surrounding a No. 1 pick yet to fulfill expectations seem to have caught up with him.

Nesterovic averaged 11.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks on 52 percent shooting.

Olowokandi averaged 12.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks on 42 percent shooting in only 36 games last season and is about to sign a contract for half as many years as the man he is replacing and, at a total of $16.2 million, almost one-third the money.

"Michael's priority right now is to get better and reach his potential, and he wanted to go to a winning situation," Duffy is quoted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "We think the combination (of Garnett and Olowokandi) will be one of the most formidable front lines in basketball."

But he's still waiting for his $12 million payday.

[seelenjaeger]

Hot Air to justify a political deal by Duffy ... all about his own business ...

[Mavs Rule]

Don't understand why Kandi went to the wolves. KG will be gone next year, he gave this away by not helping recruit at all. Cassels was burning the phone lines but not KG. He knows he is out of there after this year and does not want to lead anyone on. Well if this is the case, Kandi wanting to play beside KG will only happen for one year. I wonder if he sees this? He had a much better play for a championship ring with the Mavs. Too bad.

[Usually Lurkin]

haven't the wolves made deals before that were better for the player in reality than they were on paper?

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: Usually Lurkin
haven't the wolves made deals before that were better for the player in reality than they were on paper?

Joe Smith anyone?