June 30, 2014
Today, Kris Eisley had some contract decisions to make. The first, and easiest, were to renounce the rights to Jerome Randle, Ahmad Nivins and Stanley Robinson. Randle was our 3rd PG last season, but with Marcus Smart in the fold, his services were no longer needed. Nivins and Robinson were picked up just for the last week or two of the season to rest the regulars, so no need to bring them back.
The next decision to make was on Patrick Patterson. Playing the same exact minutes the last two seasons, his points and rebounds have declined and we believe he has reached his ceiling. His qualifying offer is for $6.2m. Since we are already $4m over the cap, we are going to decline his option and allow him to become an unrestricted free agent. The growth of Nerlens Noel and Cody Zeller make this decision a little easier as well as the arrival of the #2 pick Jabari Parker. Renouncing his rights gets us $2m under the cap.
Next up is the contract of Mickael Pietrus. He has a cap hold of $1.457m. After becoming the Kevin Durant stopper in the playoffs last season, we think it would behoove us to keep him around one more season if possible. If we find something better on the open market, we can always renounce his rights at that time.
Last, but not least, we pick up five rookie options. For Nerlens Noel, Cody Zeller and Trey Burke, we pick up their 4th year rookie options while for Marcus Smart and Jabari Parker it is their 3rd year options. Combined, they will be making about $17m during the 2016-2017 season, which will likely be peanuts compared to what they are really worth. No-brainer for Mr. Eisley.