Varejao on Cleveland: 'I don't want to play there anymore'
Updated: November 28, 2007, 9:44 PM ET
Last season, Anderson Varejao played a key role as the Cleveland
Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference title -- he was arguably the Cavs' best young player behind LeBron James.
This season, Varejao is playing in a gym more than a thousand
miles from Cleveland in Vitoria, Brazil, while the Cavs struggle to replace Varejao's defensive intensity in the
middle.
What's he doing? Working on his jump hook. Trying to stay in shape.
And most importantly, waiting.
He's waiting for the lucrative contract he thought he'd sign this
offseason.
And waiting for Cleveland
general manager Danny Ferry to "show me that he values my contribution to the team," Varejao told ESPN.com by phone in a rare
interview.
"I just want to be treated fairly and I don't think Danny's done
that."
Varejao expected to be helping the Cavs defend their East crown
by now.
"I wanted to come back," he said. "I love the fans and I really
love my teammates. But there are others there that have made it very difficult. It's gotten to the point that I don't want
to play there anymore. I'm just hoping for a sign-and-trade at this point."
Ferry isn't ready to give up on bring Varejao back.
"We fully understand that negotiations can be emotional," Ferry
told ESPN.com. "As for Anderson's potential to remain a Cavalier
and put this behind us, we value his presence in this organization, on and off the court, and that has not changed."
Varejao, who turned 25 in September, was a vital part of the Cavs'
run to the NBA Finals. As the Cavs' sixth man, his basic stats were modest: 6.8 points and 6.7 rebounds in 23 minutes per
game. But he led the league in drawing charges, and his energy and interior defense were invaluable to the team. His adjusted
plus-minus numbers last season said he was the 22nd-best player in the league.
The question for the Cavs is, how much do you pay for those less
tangible contributions?
That question has been at the heart of one of the most unusual
free-agent contract squabbles in NBA history.
(One of the handful of similar cases happened when Ferry himself
refused to sign with the team that drafted him, the Los Angeles Clippers, decided instead to play in Europe and eventually
forced the Clippers to trade him to, yes, Cleveland.)
As of now, Varejao has been unable to get another team to sign
him to an offer sheet. Because Varejao is a restricted free agent, the Cavs can match any offer he gets, and Ferry has threatened
to do just that.
This summer that scared off at least one team reluctant to tie
its own hands by making an offer that would ultimately result in Varejao merely returning to Cleveland.
The Memphis Grizzlies flirted with making Varejao a big offer
in July, but when the Cavs threatened to match and leave Memphis
empty-handed, the Grizzlies went after unrestricted free agent Darko Milicic instead.
Several other teams told ESPN.com they would have offered Varejao
their full midlevel exception (starting at $5.356 million per season), but Varejao has not been willing to sign for that amount
because he believes (a) the Cavs would match, and (b) he's worth more.
The Cavs' popular forward wants considerably more than the team
is offering. He turned down the Cavs' one-year, $1.2 million tender offer. (To retain a restricted free agent, a team must
make a tender offer.) He also refused Cleveland's opening
offer of five years, $20 million, and then its latest offer of five years, $32 million, with a starting salary slightly below
the midlevel exception.
But Varejao said media reports that he's asking for a contract
averaging $10-11 million a season "just aren't true. There are a lot of things being written that are wrong. I know they aren't
talking to me or my agent."
He said he and his agent, Dan Fegan, have been more than willing
to work out a fair deal with the Cavs. Varejao said he offered to sign a one-year deal at a discount, or to sign a longer-term
deal.
Varejao further said he would be willing to take the dispute to
an arbitrator, for a resolution similar to those found in Major League Baseball. That would minimize the role of Fegan, who
is known as a very tough bargainer.
"Much has been made about the negotiators in this process, but
for the record I have been prepared since training camp to submit our differences to a third-party mediator so that both parties
can be assured of more objectivity," Fegan says.
The Cavs have rejected all of those counterproposals.
Ferry says the Cavs' offer is fair.
"We believe the Cavs' offers are very much in line with what is
widely perceived throughout the industry as fair market value. We have also included bonuses that would serve as upside protection
for Anderson," Ferry said.
"We are working to make decisions that are best for short- and
long-term interests of the organization, yet clearly stepping up and offering him long-term security at a very fair market
value."
Varejao said that if the two sides can't agree on a long-term
deal, they should agree on a one-year deal that allows both sides to explore their options next year.
From the Cavs' point of view, a one-year deal is counterproductive
because it would make Varejao an unrestricted free agent next year, and the team's right to match any offer would disappear.
In that case, Varejao could just walk away.
But Fegan says that if Cleveland
is willing to pay Varejao "fair market value," the Cavs would then be in the best position to sign him next year.
"It defies logic for the Cavs to accuse Anderson
of demanding too much money on a long-term deal while at the same time refusing to allow Anderson
to sign a one-year deal for less money, especially when they retain his Bird rights next year." Fegan said. "It begs the question:
If their offer is truly fair, what are they afraid of?"
The result has been a standoff that shows no sign of ending.
On each side, the frustration level has been rising the past few
weeks, as Varejao is left in limbo in Brazil,
and as the Cavs have struggled coming out of the gate in training camp and the regular season.
In October, Ferry made a surprise visit to see Varejao at his
parents' home in Brazil in an attempt
to convince him to sign.
The move backfired.
Ferry showed up without telling Fegan, and working around an agent
is a no-no in the NBA. While GMs are allowed to talk with players without an agent present, it is customary that all contract
talk goes through an agent.
"I was shocked," Varejao said. "He showed up and wanted me to
sign a contract. I told him he's got to talk to my agent. He didn't even up his offer. I guess he thought if he just showed
up, I would just sign whatever he gave me."
Ferry walked away with no deal and with an angry free agent on
his hands.
He defends his decision to appeal directly to Varejao.
"From the start of free agency, we told Anderson and his agent
that the ability to communicate with him directly was going to be very important to the process," Ferry said. "The trip was
done because our communication with Anderson was no longer
available to us."
Since that incident, there hasn't been much trust or movement
on either side.
While many around the NBA believe that Fegan is driving negotiations,
Varejao says he is responsible for his own bargaining position.
"This is me, nobody else," Varejao said. "He takes the offers
to me and I decide. He's told me he'll get a deal done for less. I've told him no. It's me. [The Cavs] told me how important
I was to the team. I just want to be treated fairly."
Other GMs in the league, while acknowledging that Fegan is a tough
negotiator, said that Ferry is equally tenacious.
One serious risk, on Ferry's side, is that the team's most important
player, James, might see this impasse as another sign of the Cavs' inability to improve the team.
Varejao says that the Cavs' players support him, and that his
conversations with James have been positive.
"He just says, 'We love you and we're waiting,'" Varejao said.
"He keeps telling me he wants me back but to get the best deal I can and to take care of my family. He's a great teammate.
He always supports us on and off the court."
That sentiment was confirmed by a source close to James, who said,
"LeBron wants Andy back. He wants him to get a fair deal. I think his frustration isn't with Andy, it's with the fact that
for the past two years, he's been waiting for more help and he hasn't gotten it. This is just a step in the wrong direction."
Over the past few weeks, several NBA general managers have told
ESPN.com that Fegan has been searching out potential sign-and-trade deals, in which Varejao would agree to terms with another
team and then be traded to that team. In recent days, there have been indications that the Cavs are open to the possibility
of a sign-and-trade.
Two GMs told ESPN.com they believe Varejao would agree to a five-year,
$45-million deal in a sign-and-trade, if such an offer were made.
"If that's the price, or close to it, I think Danny [Ferry] will
get some offers that make sense for the Cavs," one GM said. "I'm not sure he'll get equal value, but right now he has nothing
and I don't see it changing."
If Varejao leaves, it will be a bitter ending for both parties.
But at this point, that might be the most workable option.
"I'm willing to go and play in Europe
if that's what it takes," Varejao said. "I know it's a risk and I'll be a restricted free agent next year, but at least I'd
be happy. I don't think I'll be happy in Cleveland knowing that I was [almost] the lowest-paid player there for three years
and am still paid much less than players on the team that I outperform. Life's too short to be unhappy."
Jackson finally agrees to two-year extension to coach Lakers
Updated: November 30, 2007, 2:47 AM ET
Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he has agreed to terms
of a two-year contract extension believed to be worth about $24 million, putting him under contract through the 2009-10 season.
The Hall of Fame coach announced his decision and discussed his
contract situation before Thursday's 127-99 defeat of the Denver Nuggets. When asked if this was his final contract with the
Lakers, he hedged a bit and didn't give a direct answer.
"I was in my 50s in the last era, I'm in my 60s in this era, and
maybe I can go on into my 70s," he said. "But I really don't think so. "I mean, I'm losing a step as I go -- mentally and
physically. Being abreast of all these kids is not an easy task. I can hardly speak their language, but I'm trying."
When asked a second time if he was saying it's his last contract
with the Lakers, he laughed and replied: "No, I'm not."
The 62-year-old Jackson signed
a five-year, $30 million contract with the Lakers in June 1999, and coached them to three championships before they lost to
San Antonio in the Western Conference semifinals in 2003 and were beaten by Detroit in the NBA finals in 2004.
"I think it's great. He's clearly, in my opinion, the greatest
coach of all time," Kobe Bryant said after the Lakers' victory. "So when you can lock him in, that's always a great thing."
Jackson and the team parted ways in June 2004, and he took a year
off before signing a three-year, $30 million contract -- the richest deal for an NBA coach -- on June 14, 2005.
Rudy Tomjanovich had signed a five-year deal with the Lakers after
Jackson left, but stepped down after a half-season on the
job.
Jackson
had expressed uncertainty because he's undergone two hip replacement operations since October 2006 -- the second one last
June. He used a cane for four months, including the preseason, and put off his decision to return twice before meeting with
Lakers owner Jerry Buss this week.
"This offer was extended to me last year, and I promised Dr. Buss
that I would let them know before the end of the season whether I would continue on," Jackson
said. "But obviously, due to the health situation that went on this summer, it's delayed this decision 'til this particular
time."
Jackson
said his surgery last June was debilitating.
"Even simple tasks like putting on shoes and socks were very difficult,
so I kind of asked them to just be patient," he said. "Training camp wasn't easy, but after a couple of road trips, I felt
comfortable to make that decision."
Jackson
said his contract extension wasn't connected to whether Bryant stayed with the Lakers or is traded -- a subject that dominated
the local papers and airwaves for months after the two-time defending NBA scoring champion requested a trade last May.
"The decision to return as coach, and the decision to be asked
to return as coach, both had very little to do with Kobe Bryant and very little to do with the talent here," Jackson said. "It's about the proximity that I feel to this organization, the comfort I feel
working for this organization, and the progress I think we're making."
Jackson and former Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach each have
earned a record nine championship rings as a head coach. Jackson
guided the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls to six titles in the 1990s before taking a year off from coaching and then joining
the Lakers before the 1999-2000 season.
"I've had tremendous successes and ultimately some great highs
in this game, but the ultimate thing is about this team coming back into prominence in this game," Jackson said. "We want this team to get back that consistency of a team that wan win on a
consistent basis."
Jackson
took a 927-399 record as a head coach into Thursday night's game, including a 382-206 mark with the Lakers. His career playoff
record is 179-77.
"He's a championship coach,"
forward Lamar Odom said. "He's got a lot of insight, a lot of wisdom. His record speaks for itself."