[外電] Thrashers, Hawks freed of shackles o …
Thrashers, Hawks freed of shackles on player deals
By TIM TUCKER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/12/06
The ban on multiyear contracts lasted just four days.
The Maryland court that late last week prohibited the Hawks and
Thrashers from signing players to contracts of longer than one
year amended its order Tuesday, putting less stringent
restrictions on the teams while their ownership dispute plays
out in the appellate courts.
Montgomery County (Md.) Circuit Court Judge Eric Johnson said the
revised order came "upon ... the joint application of all parties
to this action," meaning the feuding owners finally agreed on
something.
Under the new order, which came on the eve of the NBA free agent
signing period, the Hawks and Thrashers can make whatever player
transactions they wish as long as their payrolls do not exceed
their respective leagues' salary caps and as long as they do not
enter into or acquire any player contracts of longer than four
years.
According to the order, transactions that exceed the new
conditions would require the unanimous approval of the Atlanta
Spirit ownership group's board of managers. That means estranged
part-owner Steve Belkin would have to agree with his rival owners
on such transactions.
The new conditions will be in place during the appeal of
Johnson's earlier order that Belkin is entitled to buy out the
other owners at cost. Johnson last week granted a stay of that
order, pending appeal, subject to certain conditions.
The condition of the stay that provoked the most angst was the
ban on initiating multiyear contracts for any players other
than draft picks.
The ban complicated the Hawks' plans to put togehter a
sign-and-trade deal involving their free agent forward, Al
Harrington. Such a deal involves signing Harrington to a
multiyear contract and then dealing him for another player or
players possibly carrying multiyear contracts.
The modified order stipulates that the Hawks can sign a player
to a contract of longer than four years for the purpose of
including him in a sign-and-trade deal — as long as the players
obtained don't have contracts of longer than four years.
Hawks and Thrashers President and Chief Executive Bernie Mullin,
who previously said the teams "couldn't live with" the ban on
multiyear contracts, called Tuesday's revised order "a very
welcomed development."
"This allows the kind of flexibility that we needed," Mullin
said. "And now we can move ahead and do the kind of deals that b
oth Billy [Knight, Hawks general manager] and Don [Waddell,
Thrashers general manager] need to do."
He said that the ruling positions the Hawks well for today's
official start of the NBA's off-season business.
"Every deal that Billy Knight has spoken to teams about that
we would consider to be in the best interests of the Hawks, we
can do now that this condition has been modified," Mullin said.
"So we are very comfortable going into the free agent period."
Mullin would not comment on how the feuding owners came together
to jointly apply for the modified order. But in an indication
that the leagues were involved, a court document filed Tuesday
noted the engagement of a Baltimore lawyer as "counsel for the
nonparty NBA and NHL."
The earlier order drew the concern of both leagues and their
player unions because it would have created an unlevel playing
field on which the Hawks and Thrashers would not have been able
to fully participate in their leagues' economic systems.
In an e-mail after Tuesday's modified order, National Hockey
League Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said: "We are satisfied
that the terms as amended are sufficient to allow Thrashers'
management to conduct business in the ordinary course consistent
with the terms of the NHL's CBA [collective bargaining agreement]."
"We are satisfied with the amended order," NBA spokesman Tim
Frank said. "The Atlanta Hawks will now be able to enter the
free agency period with the same opportunities as our other 29
teams."
Belkin did not return messages.
"Talk to someone else," part owner Bruce Levenson said in an
e-mail. "My name has been in your paper too much lately."
The Hawks and Thrashers still will face some restrictions not
faced by other teams. In the National Basketball Association,
for example, most teams exceed the league's soft salary cap,
and player contracts of up to six years are permitted.
But according to documents previously filed in court, the Hawks
and Thrashers had budgeted payrolls at or below the leagues'
salary caps for the foreseeable future.
The new order also extended until July 20 the deadline for the
non-Belkin owners to post the $11.4 million bond that is designed
to protect Belkin against loss during the appeal process.
Barring a settlement, the appeal process is expected to last a
year or longer.
資料來源
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/hawks/stories/0712spirit.html
--
天降甘霖！有請..翻譯達人？
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 61.230.34.179
Hawks 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
