Suns trim roster to 14

[sunsfn]

Suns trim roster to 14 players


azcentral.com
Oct. 23, 2003 12:31 PM


PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns trimmed their roster to 14 players on Thursday after waiving center Dejan Koturovic, center/forward Nick Sheppard and guard Ray Weathers.

Koturovic was considered to be part of the mix in Frank Johnson’s “center by committee” when he signed with the team three weeks ago, but the Serbian big man never found his rhythm and averaged only 1.3 points and 2.0 rebounds in 8.0 minutes during the preseason.

The decision to let the 31-year-old veteran go leaves the Suns with only three centers on the roster, and of those, Scott Williams is out after suffering a thumb injury early in the preseason. The majority of the minutes will go to third year player Jake Voskhul, while Polish center Cezary Trybanski and Robert Archibald will also share reserve minutes until Williams returns.

The Suns also decided to cut ties with Sheppard and Weathers. Sheppard saw action in seven games during the preseason and averaged 1.6 points and 2.7 rebounds, while Weathers had averages of 0.6 points and 0.6 rebounds in six minutes per game.

 

[sunsfn]

I had said they may trim to 14, but not cut Dejan Koturovic.

I thought Brevin Knight would go.

I do not understand why they signed him just 3 weeks ago and already are letting him go.
They must have done this as a favor to Zarko and his agent.

 

[scotsman13]

well it looks like the suns hadnt signed him to a guaranteed contract. this is from the eastvalley trib yesterday.

http://www.aztrib.com/index.php?sty=11805

The prospects for Koturovic, a 31-year-old veteran of European basketball, could be even more limited.

He made brief, uneventful appearances during the Suns' three-game road trip in California and — though he understands English extremely well — appears to be trying to grasp the Suns system while playing against higher caliber competition than in Europe. He has not been particularly active during his 24 minutes on the floor, and he hasn't shot well (1-for-7). Johnson isn't saying whether Koturovic will make the team. But the Suns already have 14 guaranteed contracts. Koturovic's minimum deal (about $370,000) isn't guaranteed, so keeping him will add more than $700,000 to the Suns' projected losses, counting the luxury tax on teams with high payrolls. Still, keeping him early in the season shouldn't hurt the Suns because contracts don't become fully guaranteed until about midway through the season.

 

[Chaplin]

Joe mentioned a couple days ago that all contracts are guaranteed in the NBA. What I don't understand is where he was coming from. I thought he was aware that there were non-guaranteed contracts in basketball. Maybe he was talking about something else.

 

[elindholm]

He meant that guaranteed contracts are guaranteed, and virtually all contracts are of the guaranteed variety. Of course there are a few small non-guaranteed contracts offered to young players trying to make teams. The distinction is with the NFL, where contracts generally are not guaranteed and players can be cut once the team no longer wants to pay them. The discussion concerned suggestions to simply "cut" Brevin Knight rather than pay him.

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by elindholm
He meant that guaranteed contracts are guaranteed, and virtually all contracts are of the guaranteed variety. Of course there are a few small non-guaranteed contracts offered to young players trying to make teams. The distinction is with the NFL, where contracts generally are not guaranteed and players can be cut once the team no longer wants to pay them. The discussion concerned suggestions to simply "cut" Brevin Knight rather than pay him.

But I think at the time we were actually talking about Koturuvic or DerMarr.

 

[sly fly]

What a dissapointment Dejan must have been.

FJ saying Dejan at age 31, "Is what he is", is the worst insult you can make to a player.

Dejan must have been completely awe-struck by his brief NBA experience.

 

[fordronken]

I believe contracts can only stay unguaranteed for a certain period of time, and after that, you have to either cut them or pay them.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by Chaplin
But I think at the time we were actually talking about Koturuvic or DerMarr.

Actually we were talking about cutting Brevin Knight. You're right though. I said all NBA contracts are guaranteed, and that is not true. There are some nonguaranteed contract, but I believe they all must become guaranteed at some point. My point was that if you cut a player like Brevin Knight he still must be paid. It's not like the NFL.

Joe Mama

 

[Errntknght]

The article in the Trib said that contracts don't become guarantteed until about mid-season. I think this is correct when a team signs a player to a 'make good' contract before the season begins. Once the season begins you can sign a player to one of two 10 day contracts but if you want a player to continue after two such contracts then you have to give him a guaranttee for the rest of the year. (Maybe this only comes into force after the midseasonish guarantteed date for 'make good' contracts, but I seem to recall 10 day contracts in November and December...)

I guess that Koturovic looked so bad they didn't see any hope of him helping the team... it sounds strange but I think the Suns were just genuinely surprised at how poorly he played. It doesn't sound quite so strange in light of the fact that he tried out for an NBA team at least once before and didn't get past training camp.