songaila will sign with bulls

[Jerryaki]

http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13602910p-14443639c.html

Songaila receives go-ahead to sign one-year Bulls deal


By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 22, Story appeared in Sports section, Page C10

In a trade of the most unorthodox kind, the Kings rescinded their qualifying offer to restricted free-agent forward Darius Songaila on Wednesday and received good karma in return.



It can't shoot, can't rebound and can't dive for a loose ball the way Songaila can, but his agent insists it's the very sort of move that makes Geoff Petrie such a favorite in these circles. OAS_AD('Button20');

By letting Songaila go, the Kings executive did the third-year player a favor, giving him the freedom to a sign a one-year contract as an unrestricted free agent with the Chicago Bulls that should be finalized today and, more importantly, to avoid signing a long-term deal for below Songaila's market value.


"Geoff is a guy of great integrity, and I think he felt badly about the way the whole thing played out," agent Mark Bartelstein said. "That's why I enjoy working with the Kings, why I'm able to get a lot of deals done with them because Geoff operates in that kind of manner."

It's the least Petrie could do.

With the free-agent signing of forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim on Aug. 12 and holdover Kenny Thomas on contract until at least 2008, Songaila - who had already opted out of his Kings contract - was the odd man out. The midlevel exception money that could have gone toward bringing him back to Sacramento was used on Abdur-Rahim, not to mention the court time that came with hiring a new starter. The timing came so late that most teams that had shown interest in Songaila had moved on to Plan B. And Songaila was left with a dwindled list of suitors that held the bulk of the bargaining power.

While restricted free agents must sign multiyear deals, Songaila now can call this the mulligan of his free-agency periods, with all indications he'll do it all over again next summer in search of a bigger deal. After nearly a month trying to finalize Songaila's move to Chicago, Bartelstein said his client likely will sign a contract today that reportedly is for $2.2 million this season and has a player option for the second season. The 6-foot-8 Songaila averaged 20.6 minutes, 7.5 points, and 4.2 rebounds with the Kings last season, starting 21 games. "I think Geoff acknowledged that it wasn't going to be fair to Darius to A, make him take a deal below market value, or B, make him come back and play in a role (with the Kings) that isn't the kind of role he should have in this league because they have a glut of power forwards right now," Bartelstein said. "If they didn't rescind the offer, we probably would've been forced to sign a deal with someone else that we didn't want to sign."

****

good luck darius. i wish we'd gotten something for you, but i'm glad that you're receiving your market value.

 

[Gargamel]

They're gonna lose Curry.

 

[6th]

Way to go, Geoff! That was a way cool move to reward Darius' hard work by letting him go so he could do what was best for himself.


Good luck, Darius!

Thanks for your contribution to the Kings!

 

[thedofd]

Way to go, Geoff! That was a way cool move to reward Darius' hard work by letting him go so he could do what was best for himself.

Really? We let an asset get away for nothing and it's "Way to go, Geoff"? I mean, I'm happy for Darius, but we couldn't get a second-round draft pick and a ball bag from Charlotte or New Orleans or someone for a decent backup power forward?

 

[NoBonus]

Geoff probably could use the Karma after the Webber and Christie trades.

 

[Yoda]

Another bad move in a long string of such moves by Geoff.

 

[Warhawk]

Geoff probably could use the Karma after the Webber and Christie trades.

Well, that and a few million $$$ to spend will get you someone like Darius to play for your team. Letting him walk without getting a pick or trade exception, etc., is not a wise move in my book even if it was a good thing for Darius personally. You don't get anywhere in business by giving products away for nothing in return. We got nothing in return.

Again, none of us were listening to the phone calls and discussions, so maybe something we don't know about will come of this, but on it's face, I really don't like the move.

 

[6th]

Really? We let an asset get away for nothing and it's "Way to go, Geoff"? I mean, I'm happy for Darius, but we couldn't get a second-round draft pick and a ball bag from Charlotte or New Orleans or someone for a decent backup power forward?

Yes, really! In my book (and I know this is only for myself), being a decent caring human being should come before money. Darius should not have been forced into a long term (below his value) contract just so we could get a second-round pick who would, likely, not make the squad anyway. Darius deserves more than that from the Kings and I, for one, am happy that Geoff is a good enough person to care about him.

 

[AleksandarN]

Another bad move in a long string of such moves by Geoff.

I do not really think this is a bad move. These type of moves is all about building relationships that can help down the road with either the Bulls or the agency that works for Songaila in this case.

 

[Yoda]

I do not really think this is a bad. This is moves is all about building relationships that can help down the road with either the Bulls or the agency that works for Songaila

Its good to be nice and all. He does no longer have a role on this team now that we have filled his spot with NBA midget forwards. But you need to get something in return for a quality backup in the NBA. Again, another bad move. I am waiting for the Petrie of old. I would love to see some of his magic of years past, but I am fearful that it is gone.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

Geoff probably could use the Karma after the Webber and Christie trades.

Agreed, as alot of people got on his case for those deals(even though I agreed with them for our financial and health reasons) Oh, and I'd like to nominate Wayman Tisdale for the Kings hall of fame, btw.

 

[Jerryaki]

Its good to be nice and all. He does no longer have a role on this team now that we have filled his spot with NBA midget forwards. But you need to get something in return for a quality backup in the NBA. Again, another bad move. I am waiting for the Petrie of old. I would love to see some of his magic of years past, but I am fearful that it is gone.

it's definitely good to be nice, because if we were just another jack-a$$ team that did everything necessary, no matter how low or dirty or wrong, in order to win a title, i don't think i'd want to root for them. we might have gotten something for darius, but he's worked hard for us for two years; i think he deserves a little reward for that.

there's more to the sport than just winning for me. i want a team i can be proud of.

 

[AleksandarN]

Its good to be nice and all. He does no longer have a role on this team now that we have filled his spot with NBA midget forwards. But you need to get something in return for a quality backup in the NBA. Again, another bad move. I am waiting for the Petrie of old. I would love to see some of his magic of years past, but I am fearful that it is gone.

You also have to look at the reasons:

1.) There is no room for him here
2.) There is no more money to sign him if we did
3.) The teams that were interested in him did not only had the MLE and no trade exceptions so we would have to take back salary to anything back.

 

[Diabeticwonder]

Not a bad move at all. This whole thing took so long because I'm sure GP was seeking to get a pick or a trade exception in return. It would have been nice to have a trade exception, but if the best that he could have gotten was a 2nd round pick then it may be better to just get on the good side of his agent because who knows what will happen in the future. Agents dictate more than most people think as to where their clients end up.

 

[bozzwell]

Well this will be interesting. Chandler and Songalia will complement each other very well.

 

[sono]

Yes, really! In my book (and I know this is only for myself), being a decent caring human being should come before money. Darius should not have been forced into a long term (below his value) contract just so we could get a second-round pick who would, likely, not make the squad anyway. Darius deserves more than that from the Kings and I, for one, am happy that Geoff is a good enough person to care about him.

I don't think GP did it because he cares of Darius. NBA is all business, we've seen it. And we're not talking about his life savings, for gods sake he's still millionare no matter what.

 

[Kings113]

Malik Allen should be at PF, while Chandler at center. But if Curry stays, it's he and chandler.

I actually liked the DC trade. Mobley definitely helped us, but also had bad spots.

 

[LPKingsFan]

Who else does Bartlestein represent? If he could "help us out" in the future with another one of his guys, that would be nice.

 

[Kings113]

edit: He also reps. Jannero Pargo, House, Brian Grant, Devean George, Luke Jackson, Brian Cook, Ryan Humphrey (a unrestricted FA from Grizz, sounds like a decent young player), Dickau, Damien Wilkins, Mikki Moore, Bobby Simmons, Trenton Hassell, Luther Head, PJ Brown, Corie Blount, Raja Bell, Antoine Walker... might be more

 

[thedofd]

Yes, really! In my book (and I know this is only for myself), being a decent caring human being should come before money. Darius should not have been forced into a long term (below his value) contract just so we could get a second-round pick who would, likely, not make the squad anyway. Darius deserves more than that from the Kings and I, for one, am happy that Geoff is a good enough person to care about him.

Let's all sing "Kumbaya!" If you want to be a decent human being, volunteer for the Red Cross or write a large check to help hurricane victims. If you want to run an NBA team -- a successful NBA team that's competing with teams like the Spurs and Heat, who are continuing to improve their rosters -- get value for your assets.

It's not as if the alternative for Darius was making Nikes in a windowless room 16 hours a day for a bowl of rice. The guy was going to be a millionaire regardless of how this played out, so I have a hard time with getting all emotionally fuzzy about his fte.

Again, I'm glad it worked out for Darius' sake. I just wish the Kings had gotten something for him. Perhaps Geoff worked his tail off to make a trade and found no takers. If that's the case, there are some GMs around the league who missed the boat. On the other hand, I'd hate to think that Petrie got complacent simply because the Kings are well-stocked at power forward. If SAR's back goes out at some point or if Brian Skinner pulls his "Mr. Hide" routine again, they may miss Darius.

I do not really think this is a bad move. These type of moves is all about building relationships that can help down the road with either the Bulls or the agency that works for Songaila in this case.

I understand what you're saying, but I'd hope after all his years in this business that Petrie's relationships around the league are well-established. I think that goes for other teams as well as agents. As Diabeticwonder pointed out, agents have a lot of pull -- more than we realize, probably. And agents no doubt remember favors like this one. But I don't think that big-time agents like Bartelstein generally burn bridges over role players (no offense to Darius).

All in all, I just think it was a weird, disappointing situation.

 

[Bricklayer]

Well this will be interesting. Chandler and Songalia will complement each other very well.

Ahem...as would Chandler and Brad.



We have a tendency to overvalue our players around here -- maybe there just wasn't much we could get back for Darius. I do think its almost ALWAYS better to get something back rather than lose talent for free, but who knows whether there was much of anything being realistically offered. And having SAR fall in our lap also helped stem the talent drain in Sacto for a moment, so it was less critical to get every bit back for everything we lost. So if nothing of value was being offered, guess the next best thing is to at least try to get back good will which might be of some small value in the future.

Still disappointing though that we basically got nothing back for ANY of our restricted guys this summer. Let 'em all walk for nothing.

 

[Kings113]

Skinner hid because of sprained thumbs and a sprained foot... He didn't get much time after that.

I also would of like to see us got something for Darius, namely a couple draft picks or Adrian Griffin, and a pick maybe.

 

[Bricklayer]

He also reps. Jannero Pargo, House, Brian Grant, Devean George, Luke Jackson, Brian Cook, Ryan Humphrey (a unrestricted FA from Grizz, sounds like a decent/solid young player), Dickau, Antoine Walker... might be more.

Man, so you're saying basically he reps a whole boatload of crap.

Can we rescind this -- if those are the sorts of players he reps I don't think his good will is worth bothering with. Yuck.

 

[Bricklayer]

Skinner hid because of sprained thumbs and a sprained foot... He didn't get much time after that.

Note though that's a major issue with Brian -- he has spent his entire CAREER with sprianed thumbs, feet, bad knees, hurt shoulders...you name it. He's actually MORE injury prone that Webb was if you look at games played. Mayeb quite a bit mroe when you take into account that he plays far fewer minutes but still gets hurt at least as much.

Significant concern backing up an injury prone starter with an injury prone reserve. Sampson's development could become very important to us at some point, or it will be back to pathetic small ball.

 

[Packt]

With the free-agent signing of forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim on Aug. 12 and holdover Kenny Thomas on contract until at least 2008, Songaila - who had already opted out of his Kings contract - was the odd man out. The midlevel exception money that could have gone toward bringing him back to Sacramento was used on Abdur-Rahim, not to mention the court time that came with hiring a new starter. The timing came so late that most teams that had shown interest in Songaila had moved on to Plan B. And Songaila was left with a dwindled list of suitors that held the bulk of the bargaining power.

Not to say it was malicious, but that's how Geoff wanted it to be. Songaila was probably our fall-back guy, and we wanted to get him as cheap as possible. Once Rahim was signed we didn't have any minutes for him so why spend the money to have him do nothing. I don't think this was Geoff being a nice guy, it was business, and Geoff played it for all he could.

This is exactly what you want from your GM. Play your hand for all it's worth, but fold when there's nothing left to gain.

 

[VF21]

I wish Darius well as a Chicago Bull.

I think Petrie did the right thing and I believe it was a combination of factors - both good business AND not standing in the way for a kid who had done everything asked of him while in a Kings uniform.

 

[Kings113]

Note though that's a major issue with Brian -- he has spent his entire CAREER with sprianed thumbs, feet, bad knees, hurt shoulders...you name it. He's actually MORE injury prone that Webb was if you look at games played. Mayeb quite a bit mroe when you take into account that he plays far fewer minutes but still gets hurt at least as much.

Significant concern backing up an injury prone starter with an injury prone reserve. Sampson's development could become very important to us at some point, or it will be back to pathetic small ball.

Man, I never knew that... (I never even heard of him till the Webber trade, I actually thought he was white ). Well, hopefully with a more limited role now (I know he was starting on Bucks/Clippers, but not Philly) he'll be solid. Regardless though, I think it's pretty crucial to sign/get a back-up big, whether it be before training camp (which I doubt) or in training camp.

 

[mr. moustache]

Darius thinks highly of the Kings. His agent things VERY highly of the Kings. This was an invenstment. Call it a sacrifice for PR. I just hope that agent has some players we'll need/want in the future.

 

[Kings113]

Darius thinks highly of the Kings. His agent things VERY highly of the Kings. This was an invenstment. Call it a sacrifice for PR. I just hope that agent has some players we'll need/want in the future.

edit: He also reps. Jannero Pargo, House, Brian Grant, Devean George, Luke Jackson, Brian Cook, Ryan Humphrey (a unrestricted FA from Grizz, sounds like a decent young player), Dickau, Damien Wilkins, Mikki Moore, Bobby Simmons, Trenton Hassell, Luther Head, PJ Brown, Corie Blount, Raja Bell, Antoine Walker... might be more

http://www.eurobasket.com/agent.asp?AgentName=Bartelstein%20Mark

Nothing much other than Simmons/Hassell/PJ Brown/Bell...

 

[HndsmCelt]

Sorry folks nothing to get upset about here, letitng Darius go had virtually no impact on the team, there simply were NO min for him.